DAY 19 OF RAW MEATY BONES

Well we are now on Day 19 of the raw diet.... and generally things have been going well. We have had some minor issues but nothing major which is great.

Cleo & Mishka helping me clean my room

This is basically what they eat now: 

Morning meal:
Cleo (30kg) - a chicken wing and breast quarter (300g)
Lucky (22kg) - a chicken wing and breast quarter (200g) - I take off some of the breast meat for Mishka
Rascal (16kg) - chicken wing / meaty breast bone / feet (150g)
Belle (16.5kg) - chicken wing / meaty breast bone / feet (100g)

Evening Meal
Cleo (30kg) - a chicken leg quarter and a wing/feet (300g)
Lucky (22kg) - a leg quarter and feet (250g)
Rascal (16kg) - a chicken leg quarter (200g)
Belle (16.5kg) - a chicken leg quarter (200g)

Other supplements/additions:
Occasionally, they get 2 tablespoons of pureed apple and yoghurt.
2 tsps of apple cider vinegar in their water daily
Vitamin C, E and Oxyfresh
Hawthorn and CoQ10 for Cleo for her heart

I try to get the weight of the food as accurate as I can, but some days they get a bit more, and some days a bit less, as it's quite hard to get the chicken pieces to conform exactly to the weight that you would like. So Cleo and Lucky would, for example, get the larger leg quarters (with part of the back); while Belle and Rascal would get the smaller ones (without the back).

Also I am trying to keep the chicken pieces as large as possible to ensure that they don't choke and they get a good workout chewing their food!

Observations:
All of them are still enjoying their food thoroughly even though all they have been getting is plain old chicken for the last 19 days. The only variations that they have had so far is that small amount of minced beef last week when I was making a bolognaise sauce, and very small amounts of pureed apple with yoghurt which they have had only 4 times so far.... (I have only given it to them once every few days).

Everyone has also been having really good poos... all well formed and very firm. So it is very clear now that their tummies are doing perfectly fine on the raw chicken meat and bones. 

Cleo seems to be doing quite well. I have nothing much to report on her at the moment, except that she is managing her walks quite well now. We are still not back to the hour plus walks, but we have been managing about 40 minutes on a few occasions, but we can definitely do 30 minutes now.

Lucky is still itching but the redness seems to have gone. I have been applying Orgaderm (this is quite a good organic fruit based spray for skin issues and is non-toxic) on his skin everyday.

He was a bit moody yesterday though and refused to eat his breakfast and refused to go for his walk. His tummy was making lots of gurgling noises and I wasn't sure why. But he had his dinner and was back to normal after that.

Lucky snuggling up to Jan

His temperament seems to have also improved in a way. For those of you who know Lucky, you will know that he has been my most difficult dog to date. He seems calmer and less nervous. And yesterday, for the first time ever, he snuggled up to my best friend Janice!

Usually he would be watching her like a hawk and would occasionally snap at her. So I am quite pleased with that. I am not sure if this diet has anything to do with it, but I am inclined to think that it is contributing in a small way.

Belle's skin is clearing up. I was applying the antibiotic creams from the vet twice a day for 3 days. Then when it started to improve, I switched back to applying Orgaderm on all her spots twice daily.

Rascal is doing great and is definitely enjoying his meals a million times more than his kibble!

Thoughts:
My only concern at the moment is whether or not I am providing them with a balanced diet. As they have only been having chicken and the occasional pureed apple, I know that I need to start varying their diet soon and possibly adding some supplements like kelp and alfalfa as advised by my friend Vicki.

I am not in a hurry to do this yet, but will definitely have to start thinking and planning their meals