|
 |
(Click on Photo for Pedigree) |
|
Sagacious C 'est Le Saint - "Remy" |
|
Remy was weaned on a raw
food diet. Now grown up, he doesn't know what commercial food is.
He's all muscle and stamina for the rigors of the show ring.
However, his most favorite thing to do is to fetch and retrieve a
"bouncy ball" until you drop. |
|
 
|
Sagacious Airedales, adults and weaned puppies eat a raw food diet.
My puppies are weaned to raw food. Raw food is biologically appropriate
for canines. Canines have lived on raw food for centuries and it wasn't
until commercial dog food became available that canines began to eat canned
food and dry kibble.
I start weaning my puppies to raw food when they are between four and five
weeks of age. At this time I am trying to help their Mother (she is eating
four times her normal maintenance diet) because by this time she is really
working hard to produce milk, especially if it is a large litter. They get
one raw meal a day consisting of oatmeal, almonds, powdered anise seed, honey
and powdered slippery elm bark, all of this is ground and mixed together into
milk and it will be fairly thick. The milk consists of mixing one-half
pint of whipping cream into one-half gallon of nonfat or skim milk. If you
have access to raw goat milk or raw cow milk all the better. All I am
trying to do is get their digestive tracks working a little harder. I will
feed this for several days. When they can handle the oatmeal meal I will
add one meal of ground chicken necks, mixed with Tree Bark Gruel, from www.naturalrearing.com,
and yogurt. All this time Mother is still nursing her puppies.
During the second week I add a another meal of ground chicken necks. And,
once again when they are handling that just fine I will add a muscle meat
meal. So, within two weeks of being weaned they will be eating one
oatmeal, one muscle meat, and two meals of ground chicken necks. At
this time I also quit grinding the necks and use a pruning shear to just cut
through them about five times. If all the
food is organic, there is less need for a supplement.
By the time the puppies are eight weeks old, they are eating whole chicken necks
cut through
(not ground), liver, heart, gizzards, and a wide variety of vegetables. At
eight weeks they are eating four raw food meals a day, one muscle meat with
veggies; one, two-thirds muscle meat with veggies and one-third chicken necks;
one, one-third muscle meat and two-thirds chicken necks; and one, chicken necks.
By that time, their Mother has pretty much told them it is time to quit
nursing. The amounts fed (volume) is based on two percent of their adult
weight (50 pounds) - one and one-half cups or 18 ounces. All meals are warmed to the puppies body
temperature.
The constant in their diet five days a week is Ester-C, Vitamin E,
Fish
Oil, the NR (Natural Rearing) Daily Health and NR Herbal Compound. I also
switch between a multivitamin mineral compound and equal parts of kelp and
alfalfa powder. I've been getting my organic or wild crafted bulk herbs
from www.frontiercoop.com and
have been very pleased with their quality and service.
At ten weeks, the puppies are eating backs and necks
(I still use the pruning shears on them), and are still eating four meals a day. Between four and five months I cut them back to three
meals a day, one muscle meat with veggies, one half muscle meat , half
chicken necks or backs, and one of chicken necks or backs. Between five and six
months they are on two meals a day and are being fed like my adults. Also,
at six months they are fasting for one-half day being given a milk meal with Tree
Bark Gruel and honey mixed in. They get this in the morning and a veggie
mush or oatmeal meal at night.
Puppies, especially those in the larger breeds, need to grow their bones
slowly, therefore the amount fed is not the amount they want to eat. Keep
them on the hungry side. They need to stay very lean and should show
nothing but muscle.
My adult Airedales also fast one whole day but they do get a milk meal in
the morning and another one at night. I fast them on Sunday. On
Saturday night I get them ready to fast by giving them a muscle meat meal.
I bring them out of their fast on Monday morning with a muscle meat meal.
The adults and puppies six months of age and over get in proportion to
their size and activity also to the size of the meat involved so these amounts are approximate:
Monday through Friday
AM - 3/4 cup muscle meat with their supplements added and three chicken
necks or back - puppies with the half day fast. 1
1/2 cups muscle meat with their supplements added.
PM - Nine to twelve chicken necks.
Saturday mornings all of them get an all bone
meal.
I also feed in smaller quantities because the bones are harder, chicken
leg quarters, turkey necks and pork neck bones. They also enjoy beef rib
bones and beef knuckles for recreational chewing.
When I do a batch of veggies ushing them in a blender, I
use the dark green leafy vegetables, a little broccoli, sometimes some cabbage
or cauliflower, parsnips, parsley, cilantro, mustard greens, garlic, etc.
Just a nice wide variety. The only vegetable that is not wise to feed is
white potatoes. Sweet potatoes or yams are very good either raw or
steamed. I very rarely use underground veggies. The meats for the
veggie mush are usually ground beef, ground turkey, ground whole chicken and to
that add a can or two of mackerel and a tub of whole milk yogurt and eggs with
shell. Feed fresh fish as a bone meal. Feed some overly ripe fresh
fruits, but separately. They love strawberries, blueberries, cantaloupe,
watermelon, almost everything. For treats try the dried fruits. They
like dates, figs, raisins (I put these in their Buster Cube), prunes, really any
of the dried fruits.
Something to keep on hand to use in a pinch is
pumpkin. Pumpkin is good for constipation and diarrhea. I also use
dried herbs instead of veggies as they can be sprinkled over both the muscle
meats and the raw meaty bones.
Of course, the volume of food fed is greater in winter as they burn more
calories playing, than in the summer months. I do lots of rib and backbone
feeling checking weight.
In feeding a fresh food diet you will notice a marked
decrease in the amount of water consumed. The other benefit is what comes
out the other end, small white, dry, poops that have very little odor.
I've also included a page
of Recipes for treats.
|
