[ Post a Response | Rhodesian Ridgebacks And Friends ]
Posted by Elizabeth
on June 22, 2009, 10:14 pm, in reply to "Re: teeth tarter build-up"
209.81.106.28
Alyssa can probably give you better advice than I can, but as a rule of thumb I figure that each dog eats 2-3% of it's body weight each day. So, if the dog weighs 100 pounds it would get 2-3 pounds of meat/bones/whatever each day. I actually follow this very loosely- I am not scientific about my dogs' diets at all. If they start getting heavy I cut back- if too thin, I increase the amount of food till I like their weight. In fact, all last winter I fed them free-choice, straight from the carcass. I had one horse and two beef calves and the dogs just ate whatever they wanted and/or could chew off the frozen carcasses. I would not do that again because of the risk of broken teeth, but it actually worked out great this time. Then, once every couple of days I would give them each a bowl of rice, or oatmeal, or kibble, or a huge serving of scrambled eggs w/ powdered eggshells. It was a very easy way to feed- I did not have to butcher anything, nor cut, wrap, or freeze it. The dogs ate almost every part of the carcasses- hide, hair, hooves, bones, meat, innards, heads, etc. The only things they did not eat were the stomach contents of the horse, and the mane and tail. I am convinced that the reason Tsavo is so healthy this year is due to his diet all winter.
Not sure if you can do this where you live or not, but here in MN the meat processors send all of their scraps to the renderer. They do not get paid for the material, and the processor takes all of their hides. The processors don't like the arrangement but they are over a barrel. They give me all of the scraps and bones I can carry, for free. I get a lot of beef bones that way, and also deer during hunting season. If I had room in my freezer I could fill it with deer heads- the dogs love them.
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