I have been exploring a raw diet with my girl and am a bit confused about the following, I know that a puppy can need up to 10% of it's body weight but mine is 8 months old and has done most of her growing, so what % would you advise until she is 12 months?  I have been getting her turkey drumsticks, chicken pieces etc and have now found a butcher who does roughly minced chicken (including bones) too. I would like to add some veg or fruit, do you add the weight of the veg in with the meat or bones when preparing a meal or is it a separate extra, also if you do include the fruit or veg in the weight of the meal, what proportion should it be in   ie  4 parts meat and bone to ? parts veg?? any ideas anyone?? :-)

Shanti, I would love to help, but I only know the very basics about raw feeding, I kind of stuck my toe in the water and decided I couldn't swim! At a very big guess I would have thought that the amount to feed is the amount that keeps your dog not too thin, and not too fat, if she starts getting a belly cut back a bit, if she starts to get a bit waif like up the intake, but, it is a complete guess, and with how complicated most other things are to do with raw feeding, I would probably put a fiver on it that the amounts are even more complicated!!

Have a look out for Tohme, she seems to know everything there is to know about BARF and raw feeding, and I am sure will be more than willing to point you in the right directions :)

Good luck with it all :D

At this age I would be looking at feeding her  between 2 - 3% of her projected adult bodyweight per day, however this is only a guide and needs to be adapted to the individual; for some this would be insufficient and for others it would be overdoing it.

Don't get too scientific about it, it is not necessary for a dog to have a "balanced" meal at each feeding time, balance over time is what you are looking for, you may give fruits and veg as snacks or mini meals instead of adding to RMBs or meat only.  Fruit and veg should not make up more than 10% of the total diet.

Calorific density is the thing you need to watch and providing high quality protein and plenty of it will ensure that your dog develops the way nature intended as well as ensuring that RMBs make up around 50 - 60% of the diet so that calcium requirements are met.

HTH

ty for responses, the roughly minced chicken carcases I am feeding her contains bones, meat and skin, would this be ok as a staple with other bits thrown in now and again?? eg the odd raw egg, also it is ok to give her bones to munch on as well as feeding the minced chicken, the chicken is raw and does seem to have alot of 'meat' in it.  

Many people successfully feed their dogs on the raw packs found at PAH and other outlets which contain around 4% bone, this should prove sufficient for your dog.

When you say bones to munch, do you mean to eat for nutritive value or for recreation?

The answer to both is yes provided that a) the dog does not get too fat and b) that the dog does not consume so much bone that it is in danger of becoming impacted.

HTH

Ty Tohme for your knowledge - thanks for sharing :-) I want to feed bones as part of her everyday diet as she really loves them, the reaction you get when she sees it's bones for tea and not kibble is tremendous, but it's recreation as well, she can spend hours sitting in the garden happily munching her bone. Definately will watch her weight, thx again, xx