Hello everyone

Have read the posts about the RAW diets and what you lot feed your dogs and I noticed chicken wings seem to be a favourite.

My question is, is it ok to give these to Molly as a treat? She's now 5 1/2 months old and eats Naturediet for her main meals but she also likes her treats and I would rather give her something more natural. Also what other bones would be good for her - most of her adult teeth seem to be through now but she's still only small so can't be lugging a big old bone around (She's a Westie).

Also, after reading the sardine posts i thought I'd treat her to some and mixed a tin of the ones in oil (couldn't get tomato) with some Burns (don't know if I should be mixing them). She seemed to like it, but only ate about a quarter before she was sick. Is this because she liked them too much and possibly ate too quickly or should she not be given them again?

Any advice?

You can by all means give your dog a chicken wing as a treat, remember to reduce her normal intake of food however as she will get fat :)

Trust me, you will be amazed at the size of bones that papillons, and the like drag around and gnaw. Remember RMBs such as chicken wings are FOOD, big bones such as shin, knuckle bones are RECREATION, these bones are not designed to be totally consumed but stripped of their meat/cartilage and marrow and then removed as they can break teeth.

If you are going to feed sardines/mackeral/pilchards a) don't mix them with other food, they are a complete meal in themselves; preferably give ones in brine (drained) or tomato sauce (if your dog is not allergic to maize); if you feed ones in oil drain the oil off. It would have been very rich for your dog and not surprising she threw up! Give her just one next time and see how she gets on.

Good Luck!

Are you sure about the fish in brine, Tohme? In tomato or oil, yes (but drain off the oil as you say!), but as brine is highly salted water it surely cannot be good for them. The salt will have penetrated into the flesh of the fish (which is how it works as a preservative) so even draining them would not be adequate.
:)

I feed mine a tin of fish in brine once a week; the amount of salt they would consume pales into insignificance to that of commercially prepared dog food; it is the only sodium, an essential ingredient to life, they get as the are fed raw and therefore would not be a problem. However I agree it would be contra indicated in a dog that was fed entirely on commercially prepared food and had this as an "extra" :)

Hello, thanks for the advice. I fed the whole tin - oil and all! Stupid me I feel guilty now for making her sick. Was prob getting confused with tuna which I was told on here was ok with the oil. will drain off next time and feed without the Burns.

When you say shin - what do I ask for in the Butchers? Is it lamb/pig/cow???

Sorry for asking what are prob really obvious questions.

You should still drain the oil off tuna; dogs are not built to consume vast quantities of oil; do you not drain it off before you eat it?

Shin is beef.

The only stupid question is the one you don't ask ;)

I asked the question about tuna maybe 1 or 2 weeks ago as I was draining it and the majority of answers was def to leave the oil, but only give a spoonful at a time. I still drain some off, but don't squeeze it out to the extent I would have it - but again, I feed it with Burns so that seems to soak the oil up. Thinking of giving up on the Burns though as I don't think she's that keen. So from now on it will be the fish by itself maybe once/twice a week as a change for her.

I think my original post also became a debate about the whole oil or brine issue as diff people seem to think diff things.

Thanks for your help.

Hi

Just wanted to add to my original post that Molly still doesn't like sardines. Got her a tin in tomato sauce and gave them to her last night. Gave her about half the tin but she really looked like she didn't enjoy - she only ate about half of what I put down and was really picking at it. About ten minutes later she started retching (SP?). She wasn't actually sick but was def not very keen on them. Don't think we'll be trying those again, but at least we know now and thanks for the advice.

It's just that I was preparing the brine for onion-pickling only this morning, and 2oz of salt in a pint of water (minimum recommended amount) is a huge quantity to ingest! But if it's only occasionally it should be okay - something to be aware of, though.
:)

I was going to do my plonions this weekend but we are HAVING to go to visit the Out-Laws Grrr. Missing a really good working weekend as well , the rigs and dogs will be out in force and we can't go :(

Waaaaaaaaah!

Ummm what are plonions she asks? :D :D Sorry you have a wasted weekend Melody

Gina :p

Pickled onions, Gina!
:)

ROFL :d :p :p