GIANT MEALS

We have moved the kids to eating once a day now. And they seem to enjoy eating giant meals!  

Cleo is chomping happily through her meal in the picture above... She's chomping on about 600g worth of beef steak, and there's a chicken quarter which is about 300g and a pork rib of about 300g as well...

This is a 1.2 kg meal of pork meat and ribs

Basically, I have moved all the kids to eating once a day now, where they eat their whole 2% of meat (against their body weight) in one sitting. Cleo gets 600g, Lucky 500g, Rascal 400g and Belle 300g. They seem to eat better this way and their digestion seem to work even better... Their poop is now even less than it was before!

And then as previously, they have a massive meal on Saturday and rest (i.e. have no food on Sundays), and they seem to be quite content to do this too... Of course, now that they eat once a day, their meal on Saturday is really HUGE... i.e. Cleo gets 1.2kgs, Lucky 1kg, Rascal 800g and Belle 600g.

Interestingly enough, I have noticed that they actually seem less hungry with being fed once a day. I no longer have to feed them exactly at a specific time... Feeding times have varied by half an hour to an hour these days and they don't seem to mind it. Previously, (esp when they were still in kibble), I literally could not even be a minute late with their meals!

I am now thinking of going for the BFFLO (Big Food Fed Less Often) method of feeding. This method mimics how wolves would eat in the wild, where you give your doggies a really LARGE serving and let them eat as much as they want (with you knowing how much they have eaten of course so that you know how many days they have eaten for), and then skipping meals for a couple of days.

I will keep you guys posted if I decide to adopt the BFFLO method...

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Feeding Dogs a Raw Diet: Practical Answers to Practical Questions

HOME MADE DEHYDRATED RAW TREATS

Dehydrated Raw Buffalo Treats - ready to serve!

I recently learnt from Ntombi Peters (a friend on a Raw Feeding Group that I joined) how to make home made raw dehydrated treats! My first batch is now ready and I can't wait to let the kids try them!

So how do you make your own dehydrated raw treats? Well firstly, cut some fresh raw, super lean meat into small pieces. Arrange them on a plate (see picture above) and stick the plate into the fridge uncovered.

The meat should dry out slowly, and after two days or so, it should start to look like this. You may turn the treats over, or if you're lazy like me, just leave them in the fridge for another 2 days or so. When completely dried, remove and store in a container. The best part is, you don't have to refrigerate the treats once they are done!

By preparing the treats in this manner, you preserve all the nutrients of the meat and so your kiddo will be getting good treats instead of treats that have been cooked to death... ;-) I will let you know if the kids like them soon!

HOME MADE CRACKLING

Went to get the kids' supply of pork ribs, steaks and hearts this morning, and my butcher asked if I wanted to have some pork skin... I said okay and gosh he gave me like 2kg worth of it for just a few bucks.

I wasn't quite sure what to do with it when I came home when I suddenly thought I'd turn it into crackling for the kids...

Basically, I gave the skin a good scrub and then used a pair of tweezers to get some of the hair that was still stuck in the skin out. You don't really have to do this cause the kids don't mind it, but I'm just fussy that way.

I then cut the skin into strips... and dried them as thoroughly as I could with paper towels. Then I laid them out on a baking tray lined with baking paper and stuck it in the oven. You need to turn up the heat in your oven to the max and then leave the crackling in there for about 30 mins or till it gets all golden and crunchy!

Once it's done, take it out and put it on a paper towel to drain the excess oil and let it cool! Can't wait till the kids try some a little later!