Zoey's Mix

So little Miss Zoey (4# chihuahua) is extremely picky when it comes to organs.  So I make her up a mixture of everything she needs for a balanced diet.  I still give her boney meals a couple times a week alternating between rabbit, cornish hens and whole prey mice.  The she gets either chicken, pork, beef, turkey, fish, duck for her other meals that are made into little ice cube shaped cubes.   Zoey loves these little cubes and what she doesn't know is that she eats the organs without problems......won't hurt her :-)  Here is my 'recipe' that I use for her:
14oz meat (beef, chicken, pork, turkey, duck, fish)
4oz beef heart or chicken or rabbit hearts whatever I can find
or 1# Meat
1 oz Liver I use beef or chicken liver.
1 oz Other Secreting Organ kidney, spleen, thymus, pancreas, lung, testicles, or brains.  I mostly used Beef Kidneys as that is what was readily availabe.  I am running low on it so I am going to have to go hunt down some other organs.
1 sardine
1/2 teaspoon ground egg shell
1 raw egg
1 fish oil capsule (1000mg)
2 & 1/2 Vit E (400IU) Capsules
2 oz Vegetables/Blue Berries (I use these as antioxidants for Zoey since she has so many health issues).  I mainly use pumpkin, spinach, broccoli.  Notice if you feed Prey Model Raw, the veggies are usually omitted.  But after research I decided to include this small amount as she needs the antioxidant properties of them. 

Here is her meat thawing

 I put everything into the Ninja and chop/mix it up.

Here it is portioned out in the cubes.  After they are flash frozen, I put them into snack bags and then into a gallon sized ziplocked labeled with what meat it is. 

They are a little more than 1oz per cube, Zoey gets 1 cube twice a day.

Our Weekly Menu

So I am switching up our schedule/menu a little bit, I have been overfeeding a bit on organ days since they need roughly .7 oz of both Liver & Kidney per week, I am going to start offering both the organs (liver & kidney) twice a week each that way their meals won't be quite so big on organ nights.  We will try this for a week or two and see how it goes, we will watch poops etc.  I should mention I am still having to slightly sear Zoey's organs in butter/parmesan cheese otherwise she won't touch them.


Sunday: AM Turkey
PM  Bone in Cornish Hen .35oz Liver
Monday AM  Boneless Beef or Beef Heart
PM  Boneless Pork
Tuesday AM  RMB (Beef Ribs, or Turkey Neck, or Pork Neck or Rib Bones)
PM  Whole Prey Mice & .35 oz Liver
Wednesday AM  1 Egg & Shell
PM  Boneless Beef or Beef Heart
Thursday AM  Ground or Boneless Chicken
PM  Whole Prey Mice & .35oz Beef Kidney
Friday AM  RMB (Beef Ribs, or Turkey Neck, or Pork Neck or Rib Bones)
PM  Boneless Pork
Saturday AM  Fish
PM  Bone in Cornish Hen .35oz Beef Kidney

Eggshells N Organs Question

We have been battling a severe throat infection/eosophagitis with Zoey, the past week it got really bad & she didn't eat for 48 hours. So Tuesday back to the Vet we went, we are giving her a different (3rd) antibiotic, sprayed her throat with a topical numbing stuff 15 min before eating until last night JUST so she would eat, and are feeding her soupy ground meats 3 times a day. She lost 3oz which is a lot for such a little dog (4#). Anyways we normally do organs on Tuesdays & Fridays, and I was going to give her ground eggshells for her bone/calcium since she can't have bone for 2 weeks so her throat can heal. Would the eggshells counteract the rocket butt from organs? She's never had a problem with organs, but I've always given her bone with her organs. Also noticed this week she is red again, would being sick/under the weather make her skin red (head/legs)? I hope it's not allergies flaring up again, she's been doing so well. Her gums/mouth is really red too, but I think that's due to the infection going on.

Refusing Organs...

For the past 3-4 weeks Zoey has absolutely been refusing to eat organs. I have tried searing them, feeding frozen, feeding 1/2 frozen etc. The only way I get her to eat about 1/10th of them is to dice into pin point size pieces and hand thfeed, she still spits 1/2 of it out. Tonight I even tried mixing them in with the canned tripe, she ate all the tripe stuff and left the organs after she licked them clean! GRRRRRR Any suggestions? I will stuff them down her throat if I have to as I know she needs her organs, but she's being a pill about them. She's eating Calve Liver & Beef Kidneys as her organs, and she normally just loves them.  Apparently stuffing isn't going to be an option, I tried...even if I stuffed all the way in the back of her throat to where you couldn't see it anymore she hacked it up...the little stink!  So last night I tried just searing it and added a little butter & parmasan cheese, she still wouldn't touch it so I cooked it all the way through, then had to hand feed it to her like a treat....what a stubborn little diva!

 

You Want me to eat that?

Nope, not gonna happen

Oooh....I'll gladly eat it cooked though

This is good stuff maynard!

Why are organs important?

Over on Dogster, someone asked the question as to why organs are necessary for a raw diet, I've never really known the answer to that other than they need nutrients from them, & it helps balance out the diet.  So I did some research and this is what I found:

Liver
In this one product is a vast range of important nutrition. Liver is the most concentrated source of vitamin A and should be fed in small amounts on a regular basis. It also contains vitamins D, E, and K in substantial quantities. Liver is an excellent source of the minerals zinc, manganese, selenium and iron. It also contains all the B vitamins, particularly B2, B3, B5, biotin, folacin, B12, choline, and inositol. It contains B1 in adequate or smaller amounts and is a good source of vitamin C. Liver provides a source of good quality protein and the essential fatty acids, both the omega-3 and omega-6 type.

Kidneys
Not unlike liver, kidney supplies good quality protein, essential fatty acids and many vitamins including all the fat soluble vitamins A, D, E and K. Kidneys are a rich source of iron and all the B vitamins. They also have good levels of zinc.

So even if your dog is having a harder time adjusting with organs, they are still a good idea to give, otherwise you'd have to supplement with tons of vitamins etc.  We have found that with Georgie he needs a bone meal before, during & after all organ meals, Zoey only needs the bone meal with her organs.  Shellie also needs the bone meals, before, during & after her organs.  Each dog is different but that helps eliminate the splarts/rocket butt etc.

Say Cheese!

Look at how good she is starting to look!  I'm so pleased!

Working her cornish hen leg around

As you can see, Zoey's rash is going away, she's looking great!

Georgie eating some Cornish Hen Ribs, love his expressions!

Georgie investigates his 2nd Beef Kidney piece...he gobbled it up in an instant!  So far they both LOVE the organs I have given them!  YEAH!  That means easy to balance their diet!

Organ Question For Y'all

I am getting ready to start feeding organs to my dogs, and just wanted to know would it be easier to try to offer every day, or once a week?

My chihuahua needs (of each liver & other) about .03oz per day or .5oz per week
My Pomeranian needs (of each liver & other) about .19oz per day or 1.34oz per week
My golden isn't quite ready for organs so we haven't figured out what she needs yet.

Or would it be best to offer every day so they get used to them/build up a tolerance to them, then offer once a week?