Hi - wonder if anyone has time to share their knowledge of raw feeding for me.  I have a small 6kg utility breed at ten months old and have decided I would like to try and change her to a raw diet.  I've heard many people mention chicken wings but not sure what else I need to know/quantities etc

thanks

Are you on Facebook?  If so there are several very helpful raw feeding pages there with advice on how to switch and what to feed.   I sometimes frequent Barf Diet Chat & it's very good.

My breed has a breed specific one which also covers vaccination and general health issues (called Vizslas Raw and Natural)

It seems a little daunting to start with - but a good theme to keep in mind is that approx. 60% of the diet should be raw meaty bones (like chicken wings) and I feed as wide a variety of things as possible.  I would never go back - and when I decide to breed I will likely wean on raw.   The only disadvantage is the freezer space required to get the best deals - oh yes, and people can get a bit bored with you being evangelical about what you feed your dog!

We are about to move house and move out of London just so I can have a dog freezer (well - there might be a couple of other reasons as well)

Thanks - I'll have a look on FB too.  I've only got the one freezer with the fridge and with 4 kids it's usually pretty full but I'll maybe keep a look out for any managers specials as might be able to fit a small one in the garage .... I'm not so daunted by the thought of raw feeding, more so I think as I only have one small bitch to feed and storage is at a premium here at the moment but I'll investigate further :)

As you only have one dog, and not much storage space, see if any pet shops near you stock frozen raw minces. Then you need only buy a week or so's amount at one time, and the blocks are usually very easy to slot into spare freezer space. It works out slightly more expensive than buying in bulk but only to the tune of 20-30p per pound, which won't make much difference in the long run, as your dog won't need a great amount per meal.

With a small dog I'd recommend Natural Instinct or Honey's Real Dog Food. As a large dog owner, I find they work out too expensive but they're great quality and fantastically easy compared to other minces I've used.

> Honey's Real Dog Food

Honey's is a very nice food, organic, but a bit pricey, my girls loved it. Depending on where you are then Basils dog food is also a really good product.

You could also check out Berriwoods, they do 12x454g packs in various meats for around £8 to £9 for the 12. They're slim well sealed packs that can slip into all awkward small places in the freezer.
They also do a dried veg mix that can be added to the meat mix.

I switched my then 6 month pup along with all of my other girls over to raw 6 months ago, I'm still on a learning curve with it but my girls are all doing well.

If you're not scared to bone out a chicken then you could kill two birds with one stone when you buy a 'human chicken' bone it out and give the carcass to your young one, I do it now with every chicken I buy.

Happy raw 'cooking' to you

a big thanks to you all for your replies ... with only the one (and a small one at that!) cost isn't as relevant as it might if I had bigger/more dogs so I see what I can find locally.   Don't mind having to pop out once a week to stock up so am also going to make a shelf or drawer free in the freezer too +++

I'd always suggest you do some background reading first.  Have a look at books by Ian Billinghurst, Tom Lonsdale and Kymythy Schultze... I like these three authors for good common sense advice and each offers a fairly well rounded perspective on the notion of raw feeding

Once you've got feel for what's needed then you can tweak things for your dog, your budget and the space available.

Check out Ann Ridyard
Raw feeding UK on fb- lotsa great help there :-)

I spoke at length to the owner and workers at Honey's and they were so knowledgable and passionate about their food and what goes into it. If I had a smaller dog I would definitely feed it.

> Check out Ann Ridyard

here's her site.