Food - Feeding -Bones *IMP*

[Gina Heitz <brier@oregonsbest.com>]

This is a really important post for everyone to read.

Recreational Bones:

Bones should only be offered raw.  Never feed a dog cooked bones.  Once 
bone is cooked it becomes brittle and hence a lethal weapon.  It is ok to 
give big soup bones to your dog even if you feed kibble, but it's a good 
idea to at first pull off some of the fat and if there is marrow poke it 
out too.  What I do when starting puppies on bones is to buy soup bones and 
I soak them in a pan of hot tap water to soften up the marrow and I just 
pop the marrow out with my finger.  If the bone has a lot of fat on it I 
strip that off with a knife.  I leave the meat, there is not enough raw 
meat to make a big difference.  Big knuckle bones are also a good 
choice.  As your puppy grows and is more use to bones you can leave the 
marrow in the bone it's chalked full of nutrients.  A once a week bone 
feast on soup bones/knuckle bone will help keep teeth clean and breath 
fresh.   Just give puppy a bone in their crate and put in your favorite 
movie and all will be quiet...

  For the most part if you are going to feed kibble I mainly suggest the 
soup bones once a week but if you want to treat once in a while with a 
chicken wing that is fine too, but you  or your dog won't get as much 
benefit from just one wing as you will a soup bone.  With the soup bones 
puppies don't usually eat them but rather just chew on them for hours on 
end.  It's ok if the do eat it though.  Wings will be gone in 30 seconds 
and won't do the job that a soup bone does.

Ground bone:

Grandad's and similar products offer  preps w/ ground bone.  This must be 
fed raw, and not mixed with kibble.  You do not want to mix raw with kibble 
as a steady diet, kibble slows down digestion and you don't want raw meat 
sitting in the intestine fermenting on a regular basis. There are no 
absolutes so when I say a wing or two here and there or soup bones are ok 
you just have to be reasonable about amounts.

Fresh Meat:

If you want to add fresh meat to your dog's diet do, just cook it.  Also 
take away some kibble, or you will have a fat puppy and no one wants a fat 
puppy.  Ground beef, turkey, chicken are all goo to supplement with.

Dehydrated Meat products:

Dehydrated products are fine they are not raw. by virtue of the 
processing.  Flint River Ranch (FFR) makes a product called Drywater to add 
to kibble.  This has veggies, meat probiotics ect in it.  IIene sent an 
attachment a few days ago from FFR on the Drywater product.  This product 
can be used as a whole food or as a supplement to kibble.  I suggest 
supplementation over feeding as a whole food personally.

Fresh Fruits and Veggies:

Yes Yes Yes!  Please feed your puppy fresh veggies and fruits.  Juiced pulp 
added back in, crushed, blended or processed is best but even giving 
carrots or apples are good.  Carrots are great for teething.  I feed a lot 
of green veggies and carrots too.  Fruits I use are mostly apples, pears 
and blueberries.  The berries as we have what 1500 plants out there.  In 
the summer I feed very little fruit as the dogs help themselves most of the 
time to the apples and berries here on the farm.

Note on poops:

The One litter has been eating whole veggies and fruits for some time and 
often their pops indicate this.  This is fine, what goes in comes out and 
it's proof that veggies and fruits whole are not digested.

Ok off of this thing for the night,

Gina