How do I feed my dog a raw/homemade food diet?

I adopted a 16 month old female German Shepherd about a month ago. Her old owners had her on a natural homemade diet where they mixed meat, oatmeal and veggies, when we adopted her, we tried to slowly switch her to regular dog food slowly by mixing meat with food. We tried different brands of dog food (Nuro, Canadae, and Blue Buffalo) and she didn't like ANY of them. She refuses to eat more than half a cup a day of the dog food meat mix and that's when I have to obsessively cox her into eating it. She has lost weight, I took her to the vet and they said that she just has to transition and to keep doing what I'm doing and that no dog will starve themselves...well she is losing a considerale ammount of weight because she refuses to eat anything except if I give her actual meat like real chicken or turkey or somethig like that. She HATES dog food, even if I mix it with canned or the gravy flavoring, even warm water to make it more gravy-like.

So anyway, I've officially given up on the dry dog food because she's losing too much weight and she's healthy-just refuses to eat it and she IS starving herself, so I am going to give her a natural homeade recipe.

My question is, does anyone know what to put in it? What meat is healthiest for a gsd? Any organs mixed in as well like hearts or liver? What types of veggies, oats, and/or suppliments do I need to mix in? Do I boil it, cook it at all or just mix everything raw even the vegetables? How much do I feed her daily? Her healthy weight she'll need to maintain is about 80lbs. Also, how can I go about this in the best way financially? I think this might be the most expensive way to feed a dog, and I can't afford much more than what I've been spending on the different types of dog food I've been geting. I have another gsd, so two dogs eating it....thanks to anyone for the help! I need to gt her eating again soon!How do I feed my dog a raw/homemade food diet?
She's a smart dog! Raw food is the best, most natural food available for dogs and it seems your girl knows it. There's a little more work involved than scooping kibble out of a bag, but it really doesn't have to be difficult or expensive.



Here's a few tips. Adult dogs need to eat between 2-3% of their ideal body weight daily. So for her, this means 1.6-2.4 lbs. daily. I'd start her off at about 2 lbs. and see how she does from there.



I feed prey model raw, which is based on the fact that dogs are descended from wolves, and are therefore carnivores that do not need veggies, fruits, dairy products, or loads of supplements to maintain health. It's just meat, bones, and organs. Or more specifically, about 80% meat, 10% bone, and 10% organ. What this looks like in hand is a lot of meat, some edible bone, and a little bit of organ. Half of the organs fed should be liver. The other half can be kidney, sweetbreads, whatever you can find. Hearts, gizzards, and tripe are considered meat.



Most dogs do best starting on bone-in chicken (quarters, breasts, backs) with skin and extra organs removed. These can be added back in over time as the dog adjusts. After a week or two of normalcy on chicken, another protein, such as turkey, can be introduced. And then pork, and/or beef, and/or fish, etc. Chicken is usually the most economical meat to feed, and pork is generally the cheapest red meat. Sardines, mackerel, salmon, and anchovies are great fish to feed because they're high in Omega 3 fatty acids, but if all you can find is canned varieties that's okay too, and better than no fish at all.



With my dogs, I try to feed red meat 3-4 days a week, poultry 2-3 days a week, and fish one day (we usually have "Fish Friday"). I also like to give them an egg, shell and all, with their meals, one or two days a week. If you can't feed fish once or more a week, you should probably add salmon or fish oil for the Omega 3 content. Try shopping at ethnic markets or ordering from meat suppliers for the best values. Also don't forget about asking friends and relatives for old freezer burnt meats, or scraps leftover from hunting. If you don't have one, you may want to look into buying a separate freezer so that you can buy and store meat in bulk, and save more money over time. You can usually find cheap (or free) freezers on Craigslist or Freecycle.



As far as preparation, every couple weeks I spend about 30-45 minutes cutting meats into meal-sized portions, putting them in plastic Ziploc baggies, and storing them in the freezer. No need to grind anything, dogs' teeth are great grinders by themselves. Daily meal preparation for me simply involves taking out a bag to thaw, and then plopping it into a crate for the dog to eat. I prefer to feed my dogs in their crates, while others feed on tile floors, outside, on a patio, on a towel or sheet, or even in the bathtub. Just do what works best for you. And of course you may know that dogs are resistant to bacteria such as salmonella, but just remember to wash your hands, counters, and utensils with warm soapy water just as you would after preparing your own food.



In case you haven't seen these before, here are some great resources to check out for more information about proper raw feeding:



http://preymodelraw.com/how-to-get-start鈥?/a>

http://www.rawmeatybones.com/petowners/w鈥?/a>

http://www.rawmeatybones.com/diet/exp-di鈥?/a>

http://www.ukrmb.co.uk/images/ww.pdf

http://www.rawfed.com/myths/

http://dogfoodchat.com/forum/raw-feeding鈥?/a>

http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/rawfe鈥?/a>



Hope that helps! Good luck with your dog!How do I feed my dog a raw/homemade food diet?
If she won't, WON'T eat dry dog food, you HAVE to go raw...



And forget the oatmeal, these are carnivores, all meat...How do I feed my dog a raw/homemade food diet?
She doesnt need any grains, vegetables or fruits. A dog's natural diet is raw meat on the bone. Buy her a split fryer (a chicken sawn in half down the spine) and hand one half to her. She'll be a happy critter.



Small amounts of fruit can be used as treats if she likes them.



Use cheap cuts of meat, join a local rawfeeding co-op. Check craigslist and advertise for people to donate old, freezer burned meat to your special needs dog. Ask the local police if you can have any roadkilled deer they locate.



Proper amount of food is about 2% of her ideal body weight per day. However, a good-sized dog like a GSD will do better on big chunks of food, so you might not feed her every day. You don't have to; the diet averages out over time.



The prey model raw diet breaks down to 80% raw meat on the bone, 10% raw liver, 10% other organ meats and liver. In the grocery store you can get kidneys as well as liver. Some ethnic markets may have some other products, some seasonally. One great food that you cannot get from a human-food grocery or butcher shop is green tripe. But there is always www.greentripe.com so we're covered. :D



You can do your own research here:





http://www.rawmeatybones.com/

http://preymodelraw.com/how-to-get-start鈥?/a>

http://www.rawfed.com

http://www.rawfeddogs.net

http://www.rawfeeding.net

http://www.rawlearning.com

http://blacksheepcardigans.com/ruff/raw-鈥?/a>

http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/groups.rawf鈥?/a>



I recommend joining that yahoo group. There are very experienced feeders there, who can answer any questions you may have.



I've been feeding my dog this way for three years and her vet is astonished at how healthy she is on what vets are trained to consider is an inadequate and unscientific diet. :DHow do I feed my dog a raw/homemade food diet?
I'm sorry I haven't got time to put a long reply to this at the moment but going completely raw is your best bet, and it can work out a lot cheaper than the expensive dog foods.



It is fairly simple to raw feed a dog, and there are plenty of sites including one YA member who put this up yesterday.



http://diaryofarawfeeder.angelfire.com/



Literally start with just raw chicken for a week while learning what to add etc, and she will be fine.



Many dogs cannot go back to kibble easily once fed a natural diet as the acidity levels in the stomach are completely different. We had one in rescue whose new people refused to feed the raw she was used to, and unfortunately they have now had years of problem tummies with her.



Google raw food sites but start with Tom Lonsdales Raw Meaty Bones.



There is also loads on youtube now also.
Google is your friend. Here are some sites on raw feeding especially for GSDs.



http://www.total-german-shepherd.com/Fee鈥?/a>

http://www.kazaura.co.uk/#/feeding/45268鈥?/a>



Good luck! By the way, it's hard to mess this up. It's pretty simple when you think about it. Dogs are supposed to be carnivores. More meat, less veggies/grains is the way to go. What I usually do is make a kind of fish paste and freeze that in bulk. Some days, my pup will get some raw chicken, other days they get livers and things like that, and when it's hot outside, I bring out a fish block and he licks it all day long outside.