Question for you Raw Feeders or BARFers or however you self-identify… For folks who are feeding raw meat and bones to your dogs or cats, what are you looking for? We’ve started grinding chicken heads and feet for our farm cats. They are pleased with it.
Please send us a note or leave a comment if you are currently raw feeding your pets and let us know what you look for in your pet food. We’ve been raw feeding pets for many years, but we only know what we do. What types of products are you feeding? What size containers make sense for you (1 lb/1 pint or 2 lb/1 quart)? Thanks!
6 thoughts on “Raw Feeding Pets”
What kind of grinder are you using? We’ve been thinking about getting one, for exactly this purpose and also for grinding fatback before rendering for soap, but haven’t been sure how burly of a machine we need. I imagine it takes something fairly serious to grind up the feet.
The feet are pretty cartilaginous so they grind better than you might expect. We use a LEM 1 hp grinder. It works for our needs, but I’ve never found a situation where I’ve looked back and said “I wish I had a less powerful machine”, so if you can find a 1.5 hp or larger model at a decent price I’d recommend going bigger. The 1 hp unit occasionally catches on larger feet but it gets the job done. Similarly, when grinding frozen fat for rendering or sausage, I find that the 1 hp unit gets bogged down and chokes a little. For the amount that I use it, I’m OK with it but I need to pay attention to how aggressively I feed it.
Sorry- typo in the message I left…not 20% but 2%. 🙂
Thanks, that makes more sense. I’d hate to see the feed bill otherwise… We don’t measure much. The farm cats are mostly self-fed except in the winter when we help them out a little more, but when we used to have a herding dog we were more precise with him and that did work out to about 2%.
I’m from Southern Missouri, but if you were local, you would have my family for a steady customer; both for human consumption (meat & eggs), and pet goods. It is an inconvenience to prepare pet food this way, but in the long run it saves in vet bills, pet waste, etc. It would be nice to buy in 1 lb. increments, would be worth paying extra. No fancy packaging needed, old bread bags would work fine!
Greetings,
I have been feeding raw for 3 yrs. now, maybe longer. I have 4 dogs and 3 cats. I feed 20% of their healthy body weight as a rule. Having said, I have a English pointer thst is high energy and his routine route is exstensive; leaving him with the need for an extra portion to maintain weight. When I gain a fresh kill (any game), they consume ALL except guts as this is the parasite problem. If the hide is tick infested, I ditch it for obvious reasons. I get less desirable meats, mostly organs from my local butcher for free. I’m good for cleaning out his freezers! I also get a steady chicken supply for .69 a pound…cheaper than average dry junk! I throw in whole eggs including shell and some fish here and there for good measure.