Meatless day on raw??

[phoebesmom]

Do any of you who feed raw give your dogs a meatless day? I have been told that this is a good idea in order to give their systems a rest, as even animals in the wild don't eat meat every single day. I tried Phoebe this morning with raw, soaked oats, mixed with honey and yoghurt, but she just turned her nose up at it :lol: . What do you feed your dogs if they do indeed have a 'day off'?

Also, a tripe question. Up till now I have been feeding Phoebe raw ostrich tripe, but I have collected her food order for this coming week and I ordered dirty, green beef tripe. Eeeewwwwwww, I can even smell it in its frozen form :eek: . Do dogs really like it???

[gmacleod]

The only theory I've ever heard about "meatless" days is complete fasting ;) Some people do that one day a week, or one day every two weeks.

Thing is, feeding a dog on something other than meat (fruits, vegetables, grains) isn't giving their digestive systems a rest. It's causing more work ;) Dogs can't digest those things well, especially the grains (I would not give grains at any time - the beauty of a raw diet is that you get to throw unnatural foods like that completely OUT of the diet).

Anyway, when it comes to scheduled fasting, I'm really not a big fan. That same theory exists for humans too, btw (and I'm not keen on there either! LOL).

What I will do with fasting is allow the dog to fast themselves ;) And they do sometimes - especially in particularly hot weather. So if Henri doesn't want to eat a meal, or even eat for the whole day - I don't try tempting him, I just let him go hungry if he feels the need. It happens occassionally - maybe one day a month on average (more in the summer when it's hot, less in the winter). I don't deliberately fast him though. I'm of the view that it causes more upsets than it cures, and even though in a "natural" environment dogs (and people!) may not have had the luxury of regular meals every day, it's not "worse" or detrimental that they get them.

[franp]

Carol,
I don't fast Dari, in any manner...don't see the point..

Tripe, smelly,yucky ,stinky tripe...Dari LOVES TRIPE...as does every dog I know..Yes, it smells even when it is frozen...

Dari sits at the counter when I am slicing it up into portions...(we call it "doggie crack":) After she is finished eating,she pushes the bowl around the kitchen..licking it for the imaginary crumb left...:lol: I think she might even ignore a squirrel for green tripe..

[phoebesmom]

I think she might even ignore a squirrel for green tripe..

LOL Fran - it must be danged good, knowing how our Frenchies lurrrv squirrels :lol: .

Thanks for the reply Gwyneth - with what you and Fran say, Phoebe can breathe easy again... no fast days for her :) .

Tonight is THE night... the tripe has been defrosting all day, and getting smellier and smellier in the process. I can't wait to see how Phoebes reacts to it!!

[tati]

Hi :)

In my opinion meatless is not good for dogs. They are carniverous!! Like gmacleod said they dont digest good grains. And I do believe they dont digest good fruit and vegetable as well, but I know that many ppl feed it regularly and the dogs are fine with, but actually I give very rarely a piece of fruit to my dogs. From 2 weeks ago I started to feed the 2 of my youngest (1 and 1 and a half year old) dogs every other day and they are doing very well! appicon In the fast days I only give lean bones to them to play play with and to clean the teeth. The senior one (11 y.o) gets feed twice a day. Varies all the time.Their menu representing 2 weeks is +/- like this:

Whole chicken/ whole egg
FAST
Whole Sardines
FAST
Whole Rabbit
FAST
Lamb ribs/extra lamb meat/lamb organs
FAST
Pork roast/pork organs/offal
FAST
Whole Duck/ salmon oil
FAST
Beef with bones/beef organs/offal/green tripe/
FAST

Cheers!! ;)

[tati]

Correcting my last post. I did many mistakes there...sorry, I hope now its better!

Hi :)

In my opinion meatless days is not good for dogs. They are carniverous!! Like gmacleod said they dont digest grains good. And I do believe they dont digest good fruits and vegetables as well. But I know that many people feed it regularly and the dogs are fine with. Actually rarely I give them a piece of fruit. From 2 weeks ago I started to feed the 2 of my youngest dogs (1 and 1 and a half year old) every other day and they are doing very well! appicon In the fast days I only give them clean bones to play with and to clean their teeth. The senior one (11 y.o) gets feed twice a day. Varies all the time.Their menu representing 2 weeks is +/- like this:

Whole chicken/ whole egg
FAST
Whole Sardines
FAST
Whole Rabbit
FAST
Lamb ribs/extra lamb meat/lamb organs
FAST
Pork roast/pork organs/offal
FAST
Whole Duck/ salmon oil
FAST
Beef with bones/beef organs/offal/green tripe/
FAST

Cheers!! ;)