Chey's raw diet has evolved over a period of months/years. I started originally with beef marrow bones. Those were always a big hit, but the marrow was sometimes to rich for Chey's stomach.
Chey has always had a somewhat sensitive stomach. Any time she endured stress she would get the runs the next day. Thunderstorms were the bane of my life. With the raw diet, she rarely has diarrhea or any stomach upset.
It was the success that I had with Chey's diet that enabled me to comfortably feed my puppy, Dax, the same basic diet from when he was 8 weeks old onward.
After giving marrow bones to Chey I moved to adding raw chicken necks to her diet.
Chey has always eaten the last bite of almost every meal that I eat. Because of that her diet has always been somewhat varied. She enjoys lettuce (no nutritional value), tomatoes, chick peas, celery, green pepper, and a variety of other fruits, vegetables, and meats.
After chicken necks, I worked my way up to chicken backs. After chicken backs came turkey backs. The last step was beef neck bones.
Currently Chey's daily intake consists of one evening meal. I no longer feed kibble during the day, but I do have to make sure that she gets a milkbone or two in the mornings because an empty stomach causes the urka-gurkas. Her evening meal generally consists of this:
The veggie mix that I make is composed of one or more of the following items:
I've modified the veggie mix as time has passed. Initially I used frozen veggies because of my lack of capacity in the kitchen, however currently I use some fresh and some frozen.
Chey also gets liver treats for tracking and training. I also give her a couple of IAMS milkbones every morning. Generally, for agility, I use Jump and Sit Bits which are the most natural of the prepared treats that I can find. I also use Rollover or hot dogs for tracking and training. Sometimes I get sausage on sale and use that for tracking - Chey thinks turkey sausage is a wonderful thing.
I want to start including a morning meal, but I haven't gotten around to it. When Chey was eating primarily kibble she ate 2 meals a day of her own accord which makes me want to continue with what her body feels to be normal. On the other hand I may not bother since the evening meal seems to be fine in her opinion.
I started Dax on raw by grinding up everything, bones and all. Initially, I would see white flecks in his poop, indicating that he wasn't digesting the bone. As time passed, the white flecks disappeared. Once they had disappared completely, I started giving him chicken necks and worked up to chicken backs. Dax gets two meals a day currently.
I sometimes add nutritional supplements to her diet. I use children's multivitamins and vitamin E tablets.
She gets some grains in the form of rice or pasta, but not on a regular basis.
I've been thinking about fish, but most fish is a bit expensive to use as a staple.
I sometimes feed raw hamburger. I feed raw ground turkey as well.
Some veggies can interfere with calcium uptake.
I feed veggies 2-3 times a week.
Organ meats are a good thing.
I don't feed pork. It's not something that I'm comfortable with.
I don't fast any days of the week.