chicken wings or no chicken wings

[punter 0]

i want to give my pup a good start. at the moment shes on a complite dry food (BETA PUP) she never eats as much

as the pack recomends she should. she eats more if i mix it with table scraps ,so i do. I also give her a meal of eggs(cooked) and goats milk which she eats well.

Anyway i was going to add a couple of chicken wings/carcusses in to her diet but the vets says NO and i have read different things on this site some say yes some say no.

so what do uses think wings or no wings and has anyone had first hand experience of a dog getting sick because they were feed wings/bones ect. any other diet advice welcome.

 

pups 3 1/2 months old collie/whippet/grey and about 16 inchs tall

 

cheers punter

[dodger 2,701]

My dogs have never had any problems eating raw bones mate especially chicken wings and carcass.

I cant weigh up why the vet said no maybe its because they want you to buy expensive complete.

One of the many reasons i prefare to give them raw is i find when you feed them complete they shit out as much as what goes in.

on friday night my dogs had 2 8 oz beef stakes each with some raw veg an wholemeal bred and yesterday they had a whole rabbit each, from friday night till now they've only shit one very small turd each, what does that tell you?

Meat goes on the dog not on the lawn, the body uses all the goodness intead of were complete seems to go straight through them so how much goodness do they actually digest from it.

Edited April 12, 2009 by dodger

[Hannah4181 260]

My pup's always start on raw food at about 8 weeks, i think the diet your feeding now sounds very good. Adding the chicken can only be a good thing, start the pup on carcasses as the bones are softer, obviously watch it when you 1st feed them. I can honestly say none of mine have ever choked or struggled with raw bone as pups.

 

Once it's confident with the carcasses then try wings as well, and even raw minces (chicken, turkey,beef, lamb, tripe, rabbit) in with the complete will help her to eat more. I always give pups at least 1 kibble meal a day when they are young as it means you are covering all the nutrients and vitamins needed, if you decide to feed completely raw then as long as you vary the diet then all the animals nutritional needs will be met.

[skycat 6,173]

START with chicken wings: smash them up with a hammer if it makes you feel better, but I've had 8 week old pups swallow them whole with no ill effect.

 

IMO Beta puppy is rubbish: mostly cereal with lots of colouring and additives: if you are going to feed a complete food then make sure it is a meat based one rather than a cereal based food. The first ingredient listed on the bag is the one that there is the most of in content.

[hendo 1]

Feed my springer pup on Beta Puppy, never had no probs, and the pups before him, i always supplement with raw meat

weather it be beef, lamb, chicken or tripe...everyone has there own preferences, its finding out what works best for you.

 

Baz

[lawrence 657]

your pup will handle chicken wings with no problem, break them up if you wish but theres really no need. your vet hasn't a clue and he's not alone in that profession.

[punter 0]

thanks for the replys.

all 3 of you think that the wings and raw foods can only benifit the pup so it makes sense that i should give it a go.

I think i will add more raw foods to the diet wings , carcasses , meat + veg but keep some dry food(will look for better brand) in there for vitimins+minerials.

I'll also keep a eye on the amount of wastage ie food to sh*! ratio( good tip mate).

thanks again

[mackay 3,068]

thanks for the replys.

all 3 of you think that the wings and raw foods can only benifit the pup so it makes sense that i should give it a go.

I think i will add more raw foods to the diet wings , carcasses , meat + veg but keep some dry food(will look for better brand) in there for vitimins+minerials.

I'll also keep a eye on the amount of wastage ie food to sh*! ratio( good tip mate).

thanks again

 

 

and change your vet.

[Rainmaker 7]

At that size I'd be giving him whole chicken carcasses mate, not wings. The bigger the food item, the more the dog has to shear, chew and rip to get his food. This means more tooth cleaning and gum massage, which will help prevent periodontal disease from forming later in life. It'll also help with teething, prevent infection and give a quieter, calmer more contented puppy.

 

Anything soft, 'pappy', mushy or of similar consistency (this includes kibble, btw, which turns to mush in contact with saliva on the gingival margins) is bad for your dog's health. I always bring pups up on nothing but whole raw carcasses and parts thereof. Try to find a local supplier (abattoir, chicken wholesaler/factory, etc) and get things like chicken frames that have had the meat removed for human consumption, lamb breasts, rib racks, heads, and so on. I always try to feed a piece of food around the size of the dogs' head or bigger, which means they have to work at chewing and tearing and thus won't be gulping whole pieces and choking.

 

Wings in themselves aren't too great a food, as they have a high bone:meat ratio and are small enough to constitute a choking hazard to most dogs. They also offer little to no benefit to oral health due to their small size. Diet should be of the correct content AND consistency. Generally aim to feed around 5% of a pup's bodyweight daily in carcasses and/or raw meaty bones. There should be enough meat that you can't see the bone itself (obviously not counting any 'ends' poking out the sides - I mean the actual bulk of the item should be well covered in meat). With a large food item you can just leave it down for the pup to help itself at will, or in warmer weather let the pup eat until full and then wrap it in a carrier bag in the fridge for later in the day. Easy.

 

Here's a book called Work Wonders by Dr Tom Lonsdale you might find useful... It is basically a brief "Why should I?..." and "How-to" guide for feeding a dog on raw food properly. Oh, and I agree... change your vet.

 

RIGHT CLICK ME, CHOOSE "SAVE AS" or "SAVE LINK AS...", AND PUT ME ON YOUR DESKTOP.

 

Cheers, and good luck with the pup.

[skycat 6,173]

The reason I suggested starting with wings is that the owner is obviously worried about what to feed: wings offer an owner friendly, not too scary starting point in feeding raw: plus: if swallowed whole then nothing to worry about.

 

I agree about wings not containing a great deal of meat though.

[lawrence 657]

good post Rainmaker, don't think anyone could argue with that.

[Hannah4181 260]

The reason I suggested starting with wings is that the owner is obviously worried about what to feed: wings offer an owner friendly, not too scary starting point in feeding raw: plus: if swallowed whole then nothing to worry about.

 

I agree about wings not containing a great deal of meat though.

 

 

I thing carcasses are much better for a pup with an owner worried about the choking hazard. Carcasses are much softer bone and as mentioned above, do require the dog to gnaw and shear pieces off, as opposed to an over zealous pup gulping down a whole wing, which could terrify an owner new to raw feeding!

[punter 0]

excelent responces with what seems like good advice.

thanks for the book rainmaker i'll read it as soon as .

The vet was young (prob just out of uni) so i think i,ll look round for one with a few more years under his belt.

But to be fair to him he didn't realy mention choking i think he was more worried about sharp pieces of bone cuting through the inside of the pups belly. But i suppose if i go with carcasses which have the softer less brittel bones, then there would be no real worry of that occuring anyway.

thanks again, i'll get some picks of the pup up once i work out how.

cheers punter

[inan 841]

The reason I suggested starting with wings is that the owner is obviously worried about what to feed: wings offer an owner friendly, not too scary starting point in feeding raw: plus: if swallowed whole then nothing to worry about.

 

I agree about wings not containing a great deal of meat though.

That's a great tip which not everyone is aware of P ,ie the main ingredient in the bag is allways first on the list .Must look for a supplier for chicken carcasses ,nearly out of Bunnies now.

[Irish Setter 1]

Anyway i was going to add a couple of chicken wings/carcusses in to her diet but the vets says NO and i have read different things on this site some say yes some say no.

so what do uses think wings or no wings and has anyone had first hand experience of a dog getting sick because they were feed wings/bones ect. any other diet advice welcome.

 

The nutritional training vets receive in college is based on complete kibble, the young uns don't have a clue about feeding dogs anything other than processed food. I have changed vets umpteen times because of arguments about raw feeding

I was advised to have my 18 month old Akita down because he had awful food allergies, his kidneys and liver were showing signs of failing, open sores, weeping ears and eyes etc. There was not a single food on the market that did not bring him out in a reaction he was constantly on steroids. I changed him to raw back then and now at 13 years old he is still alive and kicking and not needing any medications. The other dogs are fed a mix of kibble and raw and any pups i breed are weaned onto raw food and only get kibble at 6-8 weeks old for the first time. I have had only one scary incident where he tried to swallow a whole chicken (he is a big dog ) because he thought the other one was after it, other than that no incidents.

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