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<\/a><\/p>\nIt is the case that old greydog<\/em> and his pups can occasionally be seen dining together on a mixture of bacon rind, out-of-date luncheon meat and leftovers. This is because greydog<\/em> himself is a professional writer, and therefore shockingly poor. But we\u2019ll pretend that doesn\u2019t happen, and stick to what we officially do, in the \u2018Raw Truth\u2019 expose which follows…<\/p>\n Lurchers are funny things. Our current two are Scottish deerhound crosses, and some have said that deerhounds will starve themselves rather than eat something they don\u2019t fancy. Our female, Chilli, is of that ilk, and turns her nose up if she\u2019s had the same thing too many days running, or if it\u2019s not exactly what she wants at the time. She is extremely fussy, and can even cross-question us over specific cuts. Too much fat on this meat, human servant-creature!<\/p>\n Django, on the other hand, is a complete gannet. He will reach up onto shelves to get a piece of dried up crusty bread, an empty yoghurt pot, or even a fork with a microgram of bolognese sauce on it. This tireless hunter has an impressive record of tracking down and killing innocent takeaway containers, margarine tubs and similar small creatures (our late Jade – a Bedlington cross – would be even more acrobatic and remove meat from the frying pan halfway through cooking).<\/p>\n But despite Django\u2019s unfortunate habits, all our dogs are raw fed. And yes, we recognise that not every one can stomach (?) filling little tummies with such a diet; not all vets understand or like raw feeding; some people haven\u2019t the facility to store sufficient meat or buy it cheaply enough, and occasionally a dog just doesn\u2019t like it. We<\/strong> think it\u2019s better for their health in the long run, and they love it, but it\u2019s entirely up to you. Preaching can be a sure-fire way of turning some people off \u2013 so we don\u2019t.<\/p>\n There are different schools of thought when it comes to raw feeding. We go for a straight forward approach \u2013 a range of meats, fish and organs (nothing to do with church services), and an adequate amount of bone. We don\u2019t weigh anything, or keep any records. We feed the dogs like we bake cakes \u2013 by instinct and sometimes rather incompetently.<\/p>\n A typical meal, which we feed twice a day, will be a standard doggie bowl which contains:<\/p>\n Ignore that last line \u2013 he actually went on a really long holiday, and had such a nice time he\u2019s never coming home. Just like we told the police.<\/i><\/p>\n If you\u2019re feeding raw, it\u2019s better not to overload on the cooked dinner remains, but the odd bit thrown in, or for a treat, is fine. Once a day, depending on the mix they had in their bowls, they get offered a separate bone, of which more later.<\/p>\n Although we\u2019ve never tried one, there are commercial raw complete mixes available if you feel that everything which follows sounds messy and hard work (it\u2019s not, especially, but we can see the appeal of pre-prepared packs).<\/p>\n Note that our approach involves NO kibble, dried mix or biscuits except as rewards when out walking, or for good behaviour. Our dogs are very fond of Morrisons\u2019 gravy bones, which they greet with ridiculous enthusiasm (we’re sure those things have some addictive drug in them). But you can buy dried liver strips, or make your own treats, if you don\u2019t want to go there. The occasional treat biscuit makes no discernible difference when raw feeding, so we don’t sweat about it.<\/p>\n You could alternatively carry raw liver and chicken wings in your pocket, of course, but that plays hell with the dry-cleaning bills. It also makes people worry about the blood dripping from your jacket \u2013 which can be an advantage or a disadvantage, depending on how sociable you\u2019re feeling.<\/p>\n IMPORTANT: We are not canine experts, vets or nutritional specialists – don\u2019t take our word for anything. What follows is what we do, not what we say YOU should do. Look everything up at least twice from different sources; don\u2019t always believe what you read on the Interweb; get advice from an actual vet, rescue or re-homing centre, whatever you feel you need.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n So, what do we mean by these complicated technical words \u2013 meat, organs, bones? Do read on…<\/p>\n Meat enters the hovel in large quantities – ours would be an ideal household for disposing of dead gangsters, unwanted politicians\u00a0 and other nuisances. The bulk of this meat is in the form of raw minced chicken, minced beef, minced pork, and when a story has sold, minced lamb. Unless you have one of those lurchers who starts taking against or reacting poorly to it, chicken mince is a reliable standard which is easily obtained in commercial quantities.<\/p>\n Once you have your basic range of raw meat, you can vary the mix that goes into the feeding bowls. It\u2019s true that some dogs are committed plodders and want the same thing again and again, but the idea is to provide variety.<\/p>\n Meat doesn\u2019t always have to be minced up, of course. Bargain cuts of all the above go down nicely – some fat is good, but try to keep the fat content down overall. And experiment – a raw chicken carcass makes a lovely toy, especially when you have visitors you don\u2019t like. Or why not wait until someone calls round, and give your pup half a trimmed pig\u2019s trotter to present to their new friend?<\/p>\n People ask if raw feeding is expensive. It\u2019s not, really, but your economy is seriously helped if you have a large freezer. All the meats are cheaper frozen \u2013 we buy both frozen blocks* aimed at dog owners and cheap supermarket mega-packs of mince.<\/p>\n In addition, we haunt the supermarkets and buy heaps of anything raw and meat-shaped which is on offer or on its sell-by date. And thus we have strange conversations with check-out staff on why we have a trolley piled high with out-of-date pork. As greydog<\/em> is a shambling old bearded wreck, most of them just assume he\u2019s mad, and is making a modern sculpture out of rotting chops in his living room. Which saves time.<\/p>\n * There is one advantage to frozen meat blocks designed for dogs \u2013 many of them have a guaranteed bone content, which helps regularity (see also below).<\/em><\/p>\n The insides, innards – or as scientists call them, the icky bits – are Jolly Good for most dogs. They contain a number of vitamins and minerals that help keep up tip-top condition. However, you don\u2019t want to overload your pup\u2019s system with an excess of any one organ at a time. Variety, and not too much too often, is the key.<\/p>\n Top of our own dogs\u2019 Want List is raw heart, which they adore. It\u2019s relatively cheap, and can be bought pre-chopped if you can’t be bothered to hack it up. Liver and kidneys are cool, except that some dogs are unenthusiastic when presented with their first raw ox liver (usually the cheapest form). It\u2019s common to find that flash-frying liver, or dipping kidneys in boiling water for a moment, gets over the suspicious sniffing.<\/p>\n Tripe is also popular \u2013 green tripe is the best if you can get some. The white supermarket tripe has been boiled and bleached, so has lost a lot of its oomph, though there\u2019s no harm in feeding it for a change. Go for chicken gizzards and anything else you can get hold of \u2013 experiment, and grab bargains.<\/p>\n We could go into some of the other organ meats, but then you might stop reading. We\u2019re from Yorkshire, and grew up at a time when you could buy pressed cow udder to put in your sandwiches, so are not easily grossed-out.<\/p>\n Fish is Jolly Good (but only in moderation, as with organs) for the range of vitamins and healthy molecules. Django once ate a large raw fish-head quite happily, but we\u2019ve never quite conquered our concerns about fish-bones. We supplement the usual meats now and then with a portion of anchovies, herring, mackerel etc, and white fish when it\u2019s on offer \u2013 checking the larger fish for hazardous bones first*.\u00a0 We find that overdosing on oily fish tends to promote noxious back passage explosions, and we don\u2019t just mean gas. See http:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/lurchers-beginners-12-poo\/<\/a><\/p>\n People have two other reasonable concerns about feeding fish. One is parasites, and the simple answer to a lot of parasites is to freeze the fish for a couple of weeks before feeding \u2013 that deals with most of them. The other is toxins and preservatives \u2013 which can usually be managed by not feeding fish too often. Some fish, especially larger ones, accumulate toxins as they grow. Preservatives are added by the commercial food industry, and you can check the labels (if they\u2019ve been honest).<\/p>\n * A non-raw alternative is just to give the pups a can of sardines or similar oily fish (canned in water) now and then as a treat.<\/em><\/p>\n Here we\u2019re going to say what works for us, because we\u2019ve had plenty of discussions on the subject. A certain amount of bone in the diet keeps teeth healthy and bowel movements firm. One approach is to feed products with a stated bone content, as mentioned above. The other is to provide bones or a very bony piece of raw meat as an extra at some point in the day \u2013 in our case, in the evening to shut the mad puppies up for a while and let us watch television in peace.<\/p>\n The RAW<\/strong> bit is very important here. An uncooked chicken leg is a treat \u2013 a cooked chicken leg can be a serious choking hazard, as the bones become hard and brittle during cooking. Although less worrisome than splintery chicken, we use the same rule for things like meaty ribs these days, and give raw ribs, but not cooked ones.<\/p>\n Nowadays we feed only lamb and pork bones. These are relatively easy for most dogs to crunch through, and are very popular. We don\u2019t give our dogs large beef bones, whether raw or cooked, because they\u2019re damned hard. Experiences vary, but we\u2019ve come across three problems \u2013 the dog getting a tooth stuck in the bone; damage to the teeth, and too many large hard splinters being created.<\/p>\n On a separate note, quite a few of those big commercial pre-cooked bones seem rather stale and dubious to us. There\u2019s no doubt that some big dogs absolutely love bought prepared beef bones and will easily go through a large marrowbone, so again, it\u2019s up to you. A big part of having dogs is getting informed, making conscious decisions, and then observing carefully.<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n Pig trotters also work, cut in half, but we\u2019ve found it\u2019s best to cleaver off the hard nails at the end, which don\u2019t seem to break down.<\/p>\n Whatever you give, make sure they have a bowl of fresh water to hand\/paw, and try to keep an eye on them until they’re done. We usually pick up any small slivers and fragments left afterwards, to be safe.<\/p>\n Another huge area of debate. We\u2019ve never seen any harm in putting things like a bit of grated carrot into the mix \u2013 a number of dogs like carrot, and we had one that would eat whole carrots. Peas are quite popular as well, and cooked sweet potato. People argue over whether or not dogs get vegetable matter from eating innards in the wild, and so on. We can\u2019t be bothered to argue. Django likes the cooked potato that rolled onto the floor; Chilli doesn\u2019t. Raw animal protein is still the largest part of their diet by far, every single meal, which is the point.<\/p>\n What really matters is to look up ANY<\/strong> fruit and veg you give your dogs beforehand, checking that there aren\u2019t any compounds in them which would affect their kidneys and other organs. Fruit and vegetables (including nuts) are tricky little sods, and some naturally contain chemicals you do NOT<\/strong> want in your pup. Others are only safe if given in small quantities every so often. Onions are a good example of the latter. If you dog eats something from your plate that had onion in it, chances are it will have no effect whatsoever \u2013 it\u2019s not one of those Omigod! foods. But consumption of too much onion, or onion too often, can be dangerous.<\/p>\n Incidentally, we\u2019re not panicky folk. Dogs, like humans, are pretty resilient. Just err on the safe side – don\u2019t live in paranoia – and get veterinary assistance if you’re worried about what your dog might have eaten.<\/p>\n Vegetarian note:<\/strong> Yes, it’s possible to bring up a dog on a vegetarian diet – but if you make your companion do this, you’d better be darned sure you’re providing all their essential requirements. Dogs are still primarily carnivores, and no, the physiology of dogs has not altered appreciably since their origins. Do eat veggie or vegan yourself by all means<\/strong> – we have long meat-free phases and are all for it, practically and philosophically – but please remember to put the dog’s needs before your personal beliefs. It doesn’t have the choices you have.<\/span> <\/em><\/p>\n Finally, and of no real relevance, our dogs really do love raw sausages, as if they lived in one of those kids’ cartoons with an angry butcher running down the street. It wasn\u2019t our idea, and we\u2019re fairly sure there\u2019s a lot of useless filler in most sausages, but hey, give a dog a break.<\/p>\n Before we close, we should probably say something about transition from a cooked\/processed diet to a raw one. We have successfully shifted an adult dog over from commercial processed food to an entirely raw diet, and she loved it. She experienced no ill effects whatsoever, and was probably perkier afterwards. But you should probably get advice, because it can be a big move for small tummies, and their digestive systems might be in flux for a while. Some recommend a one week to two week period where you gradually move the diet over, to allow for shifts in the digestive tract. There\u2019s only so many times you want to buy a new living room carpet.<\/p>\n And that, best beloveds, is what happens chez greydogtales<\/em>. Which may not be as amusing as usual, but life\u2019s like that, and parts of it may have at least been informative. What do we know? We\u2019re too busy herding lurchers…<\/p>\n A load of other Lurcher-y entries can be found by this Index Page<\/strong>, which is now conveniently out of date. A bit like us.<\/p>\n http:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/lurchers-triumphant-secret-index\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Dare you read about a mighty hound stalking and bringing down an innocent pork chop, in the thrilling life-or-death struggle that is the lot of the modern lurcher? Have you fed your lurcher too many sardines and then had to move house? Today, dear listener, we let you in on the secret of our amazing, … Continue reading Lurchers for Beginners: The Raw Truth<\/span> <\/a><\/a>\n
<\/a>RAW FEEDING<\/h1>\n
1) MEAT<\/h4>\n
<\/a>2) ORGANS<\/h3>\n
<\/a>3) FISH<\/h3>\n
<\/a>4) BONES<\/h3>\n
<\/a>5) NON-ANIMAL STUFF<\/h3>\n
<\/a>6) SAUSAGES<\/h3>\n
<\/a>
\nTRANSITION<\/h1>\n
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