Anyone do homemade food for a beast of a dog?

[verarae]

Our mastiff is around 150 (on the light end because of hip dysplasia) and we also have a 35 pound lab/pit mix. Our little dog is not looking healthy and hasn't for sometime. She has really dry skin, she chews the fur off her tail, has gunky ears and is really stiff and sore but she is only about 7 or 8 years old. The mastiff is pretty healthy looking but his coat gets greasy pretty fast. I have been reading The Whole Pet Diet by Andi Brown and want to start cooking for the dogs. But...between the two of them I think I'd be cooking twice a week and I don't think I can keep up with that. I have cooked some for them but it is a lot of work. So, does anyone else cook for their extra-large dog and if so, how do you do it?

[Magelet]

I know on the rawfeeding yahoo group there are some people who raw feed multiple very large dogs. I'd personally never consider cooking for a large dog, partly because of the amount of work it would involve and partly because dogs (imo) need to be eating raw meat, and pretty much only raw meat.

[greenmagick]

Doing a homecooked diet is a LOT of work...I wouldnt advise it unless under direction of a canine nutritionist. However, a RAW diet is easy to do and very very healthy for them

[verarae]

Thanks for the feedback. I was reading a little bit about going RAW last night and wondered if that might be the route. Could you give me some resources? Amounts per dog per day, type of meat, supplements, etc...(not the actual info. unless you want to but point me in the right direction). Thanks again!

[greenmagick]

There are a lot of great resources out there for raw feeding.

There is a huge yahoo group that has a bunch of information.

There are several forums as well...I am on one that caters to big/giant breeds. The owner is a canine nutritionist who feeds her mastiff raw It is not just about raw feeding...but it does have a very helpful section on it and many of the members feed raw. Pm me if you want the link.

Basically its feeding 2-3% of their ideal body weight....that is an estimate, you mainly go by how they look. Its mostly raw meat and bones with a bit of organ. Some people feed whole prey, like a whole rabbit or whole chicken, others feed prey model..trying to simulate whole prey. Its about balance over time, not every meal. A variety of meat is important. Supplements usually only include fish oil if you are not feeding fish regularly...if there are any special issues of course you would supplement for those. Like my lab mix is starting to get older and stiff so I supplement with some MSM and DGP.

[Ola_]

I totally agree with greenmagick that a raw diet is much easier to do well. A cooked diet tends to have a lot more ingredients and supplements (since there's some things, like bones, that you can't feed cooked so alternate sources are needed).

2-3% of their weight per day is the recommended starting point, but you'll likely find that for a giant breed you normally stick to the low end of that (even a bit lower maybe) while toy breeds go on the higher end. It's just a formula that doesn't scale linearly. My bigger dog is a 75 lb greyhound while the smaller one is about 35 lbs, so while I don't have quite as large of a dog as you, I can probably help a bit. I feed once a day also, so if you're splitting the food into more than one meal we'd probably be right on! LOL

[greenmagick]

Oh, I forgot to mention....one of the dogs I feed RAW is a great dane. She is on the small side and is still a puppy really....she is 14 months and around 110...still has to fill out. She goes sometimes for days with eating a very small amount and then will hit a growth spurt where she is starving again.

[verarae]

Thanks so much for all your help! So where can I start looking for prices on meat? Do you shop at the grocery store or do you go to a butcher? I think this sounds like the best idea for us. And we are in Idaho so my IL are big hunters, I wondered about deer and/or elk. Any experience with that?

[Ola_]

Deer and elk are great, although I personally don't have access to them. Just stay away from the leg bones of these large animals because they are very dense and can crack teeth. Most "wild" meat is also quite lean because it wasn't fattened up in a factory farm, so some folks find they need to feed a bit more or add some fat to it (since fat is very important for skin, coat, joints, etc.).

We shop at regular grocery stores when stuff is on sale and at ethnic markets. Around here there is a number of chinese and vietnamese groceries that carry meat for very good prices and also often have items you wouldn't see at a "regular" store. Plus try Googling around for local raw-feeding groups - it can be a good way to get in on some bulk purchases for a great price (having a freezer helps with this).