Question about Bulk Buys

I am hoping to start raw feeding but I am in a predicament over how to go about it. My Tizer is around 23kg, and i think that he will need around 450g of food per day. But when you try and put together a bulk buy, what is an easy way of breaking it down into exactly what you will need for how long you want the bulk buy to last for, without screwing up? I am finding myself confused as to what I should get and how much I would need. I read someone else asking these questions in another thread but there were no answers in that one.

I could really do with a more clear-cut explanation of, for instance, what a typical bulk buy would need to consist of - what food and what weights of each food? As i am still unsure of what my dog will need on an entire daily/weekly/monthly basis (I am hoping to use Durham Animal Feeds for my orders). What food would/should be consumed in a typical week, what weights of said foods, and what amount of those would calculate into a bulk order? Example: Durham Feeds has a minimum order of £50.. what do I add to the basket for a well rounded menu, and how long will it last, Lol. Sorry repeating questions some else has asked in a previous thread i think, but I too am wondering these things. Could anyone help? It feels silly to have something that seems like it should be easy, making me and my wife almost give up on the idea.
With a 23kg dog, i just don't know the exact kind of foods and amounts I'm looking at and how to tailor a bulk buy to it. I am worried I will end up making an order than has something wrong with it, or i won't have the right amounts. Is there anyone who would be so kind as to lay this out a little for me?

Hi and welcome to the forum

Why don't you come over and introduce yourself ... https://staffy-bull-terrier.niceboard.com/f7-new-member-introductions

You don't need to get so focused on weights, ratios and things like that.

If you try and let that go and keep it simple you will find it's alot less stressful and more enjoyable

Right your dog weighs the same as my staff harvey whos also 23kg, harvey gets about 500g a day (average) but i never weigh anything. I also don't give the same amount of food each day some days he's gets over a kg some days only 100g, doing it that way they get to eat larger whole animals/bones etc

Have you fed raw before, or are you starting from scratch?

If you haven't fed raw before, you need to start with chicken only and slowly add other meats in at one new meat every 1-2 weeks once you get solid stools.

I order from DAF as my bulk buy but i add bits in from other places, but i order about £80-90 a time and thats enough food for me 2 boys (23kg and 50kg) for over 5 months.

I order a wide range of different bones, meat chunks and a small amount of mince.

Heres some links if you haven't read them to help

https://staffy-bull-terrier.niceboard.com/t14787-raw-diet
https://staffy-bull-terrier.niceboard.com/t38693-delivery-day-lots-of-photos
www.preymodelraw.com

I raw feed, however being in another country am not much help in regards to what to order and from who unfortunately!

Ella has great pics in these two threads though if you are looking for pictorial ideas

https://staffy-bull-terrier.niceboard.com/t14787-raw-diet

https://staffy-bull-terrier.niceboard.com/t38693-delivery-day-lots-of-photos?highlight=delivery+day

Thanks ladies! Ella your pics are great, you have some lucky dogs!
Ok so I can definately let up on some of the pressure if I don't over analyze precise meal weights! But I think we won't be feeding at any weight extremes either. Unfortunately we won't be able to get hold of any whole animals like you can (darn shame though), so basically Tizers whole diet will consist of only DAF items (unless there's anything that is a neccesity that they don't do). And as much as I wish I was the type who can be spontaneous, i know we are most likely to do more structured meal combos on a rotational type routine. (OCD perhaps, lol)

Yes I am at the beginning of the raw process, well havn't started at all yet. So when I start, it'll be chicken for at least a week or two right? I saw the list in another thread of the order to then start introducing other meat types. Am I right in thinking that a chunk of muscle meat and some kind of bone-in meat per day - different animals during the week for variety, with a bit of organ thrown in there once or twice a week is the basis? As I will find it easier to start off with being a little structured, without being *too* precise, as long as during say a week he got a total of around 3.5kg, would that be good?

Ella, as you use DAF, do you have any examples of typical meals i could feed him using their products? Maybe a weeks worth of meals (with a more pre-structured combo like i mentioned above) so i know the kind of thing that will give him the rough balance? If that's not too much to ask of course!

Yer try not to get to stressed or making things to precise!
You can feed the same amount if you want, as whole animals aren't necessary

Right seeing as though your new to raw this is the best guide there is to starting out so give it a good read if you haven't already
http://preymodelraw.com/how-to-get-started/

Yep you have the basis right, what you aim for eventually is a nice variety of different animal meat, bones and offal over a month.

Right if he's 23kg and lets say fully grown so:
2% is 460g and 3% is 690g.

I always recommend starting at the lower end and then adding more food if your dog needs it, it is easier to put weight on then lose it don't forget!

Meal wise:
I would order
chicken mince
wings
carcass
necks chunks

also tripe chunks
minced tripe and chicken
turkey products

Also all the chicken products from DAF have bone in them which is great for the bone content, but you need to top it up with boneless chicken meat which i would get from the butchers or supermarket. This in only when your first starting really as DAF do sell a lot of boneless chunks but you shouldn't feed these until you've transitioned

Week 1
I feed once a day so everything together but you can feed twice if you want

monday
chicken wings

tuesday
chicken neck chunks

wednesday
chicken carcass

thursday
chicken mince

friday
chicken wings

saturday
carcass

sunday
neck chunks

week 2
monday
tripe chunk and chicken wings

tuesday
tripe and chicken mince (this contains bone from the chicken)

wednesday
tripe and carcass

thursday
tripe and wings

friday
tripe and chicken mince

saturday
tripe and neck chunk

sunday
tripe and chicken mince

Thats a basic meal plan, the first week i have just put the boney meat but your dog may or may not get easily constipated, if he does then feed less of the bone and get some chicken breast/chicken meat form the supermarket

Also this doesn't need following to the letter it's just a basic idea.

One little tip don't rush and try to speed up giving lots of meats you will probably get an upset belly and have to start again, also don't overfeed normally it doesn't look a lot in the bowl thats normal! Also don't try adding offal in until about 8-10 weeks in at least and only start with a fingernail sized bit to start with and build it up

My Herbie is 23kg & I weigh out 500g of raw meat a day, he gets half in the morning with either a handful of kibble or some rice & for dinner he gets the same but I give some mashed sweet potato, whether this is the correct way I don't know but Herbie seems to be fine & not loosing condition. He can be fussy so if not eaten we take it away but he's getting the jist now when he's given he eats xxxx

I finally feel like my brain might be taking things in, lol! That meal plan idea is fantastic Ella, thanks so much I appreciate that so much!
So for week 1, I'd be looking at feeding say some boneless chicken along with those items everyday? Maybe half and half or something? Then with week 2, would tripe count as the boneless meat or would I still need to feed boneless chicken?

For the DAF products, are the 'chunks' in convenient portion sizes? As in, when you are going to feed that particular meat it would just be one chunk?
Is it easy to figure out how long one of there bulk products will last? I'm trying (and somewhat failing at times) to keep my OCD low, but I would be a bit in trouble if I hadn't ordered enough to cover everything until the next bulk order - it's not easy for me to just go out and grab something at short notice you see. I'm trying to figure out in my head how to calculate what I would need to cover me for some months worth at a time, but I don't know how mant of each product you get per box or anything

Laura that sounds great! I have read that it isn't a good idea to mix raw food with kibble though, as I believe they digest at different rates? But I would think it isn't always the case if your dog is doing fine! I have read alot about sweet potato being a nice addition, I was perhaps thinking about it as a treat here and there! How do you prepare it?

Oh, I also meant to ask what supplements are a good idea to have on hand? Some places say supplements arn't needed but some say you should?

I just did some rough calculations and if I'm sort of right, over the course of a week I'd be looking at feeding something like 2.54kg muscle meat, 320g bone, 158g liver and 158g other organs. I guess if it worked out simpler to spread it out over a longer period, I'd just multiply that over the course of however long it was ie, a couple of weeks or a month and that would be fine too. That's made numbers clearer to me anyway, lol

TizersDad wrote:I finally feel like my brain might be taking things in, lol! That meal plan idea is fantastic Ella, thanks so much I appreciate that so much!
So for week 1, I'd be looking at feeding say some boneless chicken along with those items everyday? Maybe half and half or something? Then with week 2, would tripe count as the boneless meat or would I still need to feed boneless chicken?

For the DAF products, are the 'chunks' in convenient portion sizes? As in, when you are going to feed that particular meat it would just be one chunk?
Is it easy to figure out how long one of there bulk products will last? I'm trying (and somewhat failing at times) to keep my OCD low, but I would be a bit in trouble if I hadn't ordered enough to cover everything until the next bulk order - it's not easy for me to just go out and grab something at short notice you see. I'm trying to figure out in my head how to calculate what I would need to cover me for some months worth at a time, but I don't know how mant of each product you get per box or anything

Laura that sounds great! I have read that it isn't a good idea to mix raw food with kibble though, as I believe they digest at different rates? But I would think it isn't always the case if your dog is doing fine! I have read alot about sweet potato being a nice addition, I was perhaps thinking about it as a treat here and there! How do you prepare it?

Well i hope it made sense to you lol!

Yes add boneless chicken meat to the bones, 50:50 is a good start but you will soon learn to poo watch if it's sloppy add more bone if hard and crumbly cut down the bone and feed more boneless.

Week 2 i would personally alternate with tripe and boneless chicken, but feeding more of the tripe. However if you want to save money just use tripe as boneless!

I LOVE the chunks DAF sell, they come in nice big chunks, i tend to feed one along with some sort of bone, so yes very convenient.

I will add dogs have no nutritional value of fruit, veggies or sweat potato, oh or grains so no rice or anything are needed.

TizersDad wrote:Oh, I also meant to ask what supplements are a good idea to have on hand? Some places say supplements arn't needed but some say you should?

I just did some rough calculations and if I'm sort of right, over the course of a week I'd be looking at feeding something like 2.54kg muscle meat, 320g bone, 158g liver and 158g other organs. I guess if it worked out simpler to spread it out over a longer period, I'd just multiply that over the course of however long it was ie, a couple of weeks or a month and that would be fine too. That's made numbers clearer to me anyway, lol

No supplements aren't needed, a good varied raw diet does provide all they need.

However if you would like to add supps for the health benefits then it's perfectly fine, i only add:

salmon oil/fish body oil (also give vitamin e with this) - this i give as i can't get good oily fish all the time
apple cider vinegar (organic with the mother)
coconut oil

Your calculations sounds about right to me One tip don't try and get all the ratios correct over a day, alot of people try this and get so confused and stressed! I feed a diet that works out over about 3 month period so my ratios are easy to work out over 3 months