Raw Food Diet, Day 6- More Meat!

Because of my tummy problems and the fact I spent the first half of my life living on frogs and lizards that I found in the grass, I am one skinny boy. Since my humans adopted me, I have put on 7 pounds. Now that I am eating the entirely raw food diet, I plan to gain even more and get to normal weight for my breed. This is because when I eat the raw meat, it goes straight into my muscles and not straight out my bum like the kibble I used to feast on. I have noticed that eating raw meat has made me stronger and more muscular. I know I have a lot of hard work and raw feasting ahead of me, but I do believe that one day I will be fast enough to catch a squirrel. My dad tells me I can do anything I believe in if I work hard enough. That's why I am asking my mommy to feed me a larger portion of raw meat. I already get more than my brother (I'm not sure if he notices because I eat faster), but that is not enough for a growing boy like me. I think I should probably get around 17 full chicken wings per day, along with a full oxtail. In fact, it would probably be good for me just to stay in my feasting cage and feast all day long on raw meat and then go outside and hunt squirrels. I want to become as large as a rottweiler, so larger portions are the way to go.

More meat please,

Stanislaw

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notes from bro's belly:

When first starting the raw diet, it is helpful for your human to have a scale that can measure your food in ounces to make sure that you are getting the right amount of meat each

day. A good starting point is to eat 2% of your ideal body weight if you're looking to maintain your physique or slim down, or 3% if you're in need of gaining some weight like my brother. For example, I'm just a little guy at a healthy lean 20 pounds, so to find my weight in ounces my human multiplied 20 by 16 (the number of ounces in every pound), then multiplied the resulting number by 0.02 (or 2%). It looked like this:

20 x 16 = 320 ounces

320 x 0.02 = 6.4 ounces

I should be eating 6.4 ounces of meat per day. Since my brother and I are fed breakfast and dinner, this amount is divided in half and I get 3.2 ounces of meat in the morning and another 3.2 at night. On the days that I am really active I get a little more. My mom isn't so obsessed about getting 6.4 right on the nose. As long as she's close she feels okay about it -- after all, it's tough to get chicken parts that weight the exact right amount!

As you make your way through those first few weeks of the diet, your person should be checking your weight. Ideally, your human should be able to place their hand on your rib cage and with some gentle petting be able to feel your ribs. They should not be extremely obvious and they should not be tough to find. You should also have a nice "tuck." This means that the soft part of your belly heading towards your groin should have a nice swoop to it, and it tucks up nicely at your groin. Also, if you're sporting a short haired look, your person should be able to look at you from above as see a slightly thinner "mid section" between your rib cage and hips.

Ideal Body Condition

Photo from www.longliveyourdog.com

Unfortunately, almost 50% of all dogs out there are overweight, so it's important to keep an eye on this. Have your human talk to your doctor if they are having trouble figuring your ideal weight. Of course, as your body changes on this new diet your person should adjust your feeding amounts accordingly.

The general rule of thumb when measuring food weight is to include everything that is completely edible. In other words, since we eat the whole chicken wing, bones and all, the weight of the entire thing goes into figuring our total food intake for the day. On the other side, if a recreational bone has lots of meat on it, the meat may be taken into account, but since we are unable to actually eat the bone part of one of those chewies, the bone weight does not count towards our total. Keep in mind that bone marrow is high calorie and high fat, so go easy on large marrow recreational bones if you are in need of a slimming down.

Since we has such sensitive tummies at the start, we got bland meals consisting of about a tablespoon of yogurt and a teaspoon of pumpkin at every meal with our wings.

However, because our tummies have behaved lately, we will get a meat meal tonight. This will include some ground or cut-up meat without bone, like turkey, beef, pork, or lamb, and we will get just a teaspoon of veggie mush with it. My mom is planning to go easy on the veggies until we're able to digest all that fiber without a problem. Veggie mush is very low calorie and its weight does not add in to your total food ounces for the day. If you need to put on a few pounds, however, the total calories of your food can be increased by adding a raw egg (shell can be added too), some yogurt, or cottage cheese.

Man, breakfast sure looked good.

This is big brother's belly signing off. Happy feasting!