Except they're upside down ;-) Thanks, I'll rest easy now. Kids don't think they're too appetizing (and definitely some leakage, I smelled meat when I was wiping them down but jars seem sealed - I will keep an eye on them). But if we get another freak Oct snowstorm - supposed to get really cold next week - at least we'll have something to throw in with the store-bought canned beans and Annie's salsa to heat on the grill's side burner ;-)

Hi Deb! Here is what I wrote to a friend's sister recently: Raw feeding your dog is not difficult, contrary to what you may read on some web sites, where ultra-high maintenance type people act like it is rocket science. Think about it, we feed ourselves pretty well so why can't we feed our dogs without a doctor okay or pet food company okay? It's all marketing! To start a newbie dog out, put down an old towel or plastic mat - I use a vinyl outdoor tablecloth - and give her a chicken leg. I warm up chicken pieces in a bowl of hot water for a few minutes since Odo doesn't like it cold out of the fridge. See how she reacts. If she doesn't pick it up or looks unsure what to do, pick up one end of it and hold it up to her to sniff and encourage her to eat it. if she is a food gulper, you might have to hold the end and get her to eat it more slowly. don't be afraid, dogs can swallow much larger things than we can. You do want to supervise any feeding of meaty bones, just in case the dog swallows too much and tries to hork it back up. �Sometimes a dog will do that. If Odo is hungry and excited, he might swallow too big a piece. He will hork it up and break it into more manageable pieces. Ideally, the dog will crunch the bone and scissor the meat and skin into pieces they can manage to swallow. Dogs don't really chew - they don't have molars. If she doesn't want to eat a chick leg, cut the meat off for her instead. If she is not accustomed to eating bones, you can feed her other raw food and meat-and-veg table scraps. You can also buy premade raw meat patties that contain ground bone, but this premade stuff is expensive. You can make your own patties and freeze them. �I did that in the beginning. Now I just give Odo the stuff separately. The ideal raw diet is mostly meat, bones, organ meats, eggs - dogs can eat egg shells too, cooked veggies, raw veggies. Don't feed garlic and absolutely no onion, which is deadly for dogs. Here is a list of food I feed Odo: Chicken legs, wings, necks Beef meaty bones Ground meats Turkey necks Pork chop bones Eggs - Odo doesn't like raw eggs unless they are mixed into a meat patty. i will give him scrambled egg when we eat them. Cooked veggie scraps like squash, green beans, broccoli, carrot, sweet potato, asparagus - whatever you are having. Feed starchy vegs like sweet potato and carrots sparingly since they are high in calories. Raw lettuces - Odo like this with salad dressing, he won't eat it plain! Dogs do have their likes and dislikes just like we do! Organ meats like liver - this is very nutritious but very rich. Try tiny portions first. Red meat like beef is richer than poultry, so start with small amounts. Regarding doggy taste buds - they do appreciate tasty stuff like we do, so sometimes when Odo looks longingly at our aromatic grilled meat, I'll do something extra like rub his raw chicken in my plate juices (after dinner!) or put a little cooking juice or broth on it. Dogs don't need grains. Dogs don't need dairy so don't feed yogurt or cheese, even though, like us, dogs love all that. Meat and bones should be 80 percent or more of what you feed. Dogs notoriously get sick with the runs when introduced to new foods. So introduce one new food at a time, a small amount at a time. Keep a can of unsweetened pumpkin onhand - it helps with diarrhea. If you give your dog bones that she gnaws on but doesn't eat up, that's okay. Some bones may be too hard for her to break. In fact, many raw feeders give their dogs bones that are too large for the purpose of gnawing on, which is good for the teeth, gums and jaw, and keeps the dog occupied in something that wild canines do. Just be sure to supervise, train her to keep bones in one place so she doesn't carry raw bones all over the house. Don't feed any commercial treats, edible bone treats, and absolutely no rawhide products. These are bad for dogs. For treats, those dried chicken breast pieces are good, and Kong toys stuffed with ground meat/egg mixtures (maybe a touch of peanut butter), then freeze the Kong. it will take her a while to work the stuff out. Odo is 20 lbs and he eats 2 chicken legs worth for dinner, and doesn't like to eat breakfast, just a couple of treats during the day. Best of luck!

I'm all for it! I fed raw to my Somali kitten for almost a year but Grace my new mom ( dad remarried) banned it until I have my own living arrangment/ expect for when we have a turkey and the guts are going to be thrown out anyway. Personally I'd do it in a heartbeat if I could but having special needs means that going out into the "real world" means going into a group home which may force me to de claw/abandon them to a shelter or due to limited income and a social security spend down, disallow even the proper brands of cat food. Leopalorn has a breeders agreement not to sell/give him away. which further complamates the mess morally/ and legally possibly that would happen if ever a suitation from the group home/new living arrangement ever did happen. Because of all this I'm happy to stay here until the cats pass away from old age. And I have the power to do just that until my parents die, Grace in her 50's still has her mom and dad, though they are very old. many people that age don't have their parents still around. Dad will probably had guardianship rights over to his wife when he passes. Right now I feed, Wellness grain free, Innova EVO,Instincts and Ziwi peak. Its not really raw but sometimes I do put in an egg yolk to help boost the protein.

I think a lot depends on the size and number of dogs you have to feed. Buying in bulk is good :-) And so is dedicating a freezer (or freezers) to dogfood storage also helps a lot if you can do it. I belong to a rawfeeder's co-op, once a month we make large purchases from local wholesalers and even directly from farms. We can then work out deals amongst ourselves, like splitting cases of stuff that you wouldn't typically feed a lot of (in particular, organs and expensive things). I keep a regular sized upright freezer for my 55lb lab, he eats about 1.25lb per day, and each month I aim to buy about 30-40lb ... and after a while you have enough in the freezer to provide good variety. Co-ops can really establish good relationships with local farms, they occasionally inform us when they are going to cull animals that wouldn't be suitable for human consumption. We get excellent ewes and goats this way, sometimes even older pork too. If you live in a region where a lot of hunting occurs, I hear that you can get venison from either hunters or butchers ... often they only want to keep the choicest parts. That can be an inexpensive way to stock up. I'd suggest joining the Y*hoogroups rawfeeding list and reading through the archives, lots of good info there !