# How much raw to feed Gemma per day?



## LittleGemma (Apr 1, 2012)

So Gemma is going to be eating raw for the next couple of weeks since the Acana distributor here is having issues getting a 2.5kg bag and she won't eat her dry ZP. Once we get her Acana, she's going to be eating Acana for breakfast and raw for dinner.

I would like to know how much pure raw I should be feeding her per day right now. She'll be eating two meals, so I'd like to know how much per meal I should give her. She is 6 months old and weighs 2.7lbs. I guess when we start feeding her Acana in the morning, I'll just cut the total amount of raw per day in half. I don't know if I'm supposed to base how much she eats on her estimated adult weight or a percent of what she weighs now. Can anyone help me out?

Edit: Oops, I meant to post this in the raw feeding section.


----------



## LittleGemma (Apr 1, 2012)

I am thinking 20-25g per meal is about right. Her estimated adult weight should be somewhere around 3.75lbs. If I feed her 2.5% of that weight, that's 42g per day. Can anyone confirm this?


----------



## rache (Nov 10, 2009)

This may help. I'm sure this is the calculator I used when I first started raw feeding...

Calculate


----------



## Brodysmom (Jan 8, 2009)

Yes that's correct Caitlin. Adjust up or down as needed.  Good luck and let us know how it is going!


----------



## LittleGemma (Apr 1, 2012)

Thanks, girls! I'm starting with the 20-25g per day. I just went and made up a whole week's worth of portions for her. She's been eating raw chicken mixed with a spoonful of canned ZP for the past week, so we're moving up to beef meat with chicken bones and liver. I measured out roughly 10% bone and 10% organ, but it might not be completely accurate. I'll adjust as I see needed. I'm not going to kill her if I'm a few % off the first week, right?

She's been doing well so far on the ZP and chicken, so I hope beef works out as well for her. I know some dogs have problems with beef. She did have a bit of ground burger one night and she didn't have an issues. Her Acana is also the beef and bison flavor and she does fine with it.

I'm so happy to finally be feeding her raw. And she absolutely LOVES it. She was going nuts in the kitchen while I was preparing all those portions, lol. I had to slip her a couple little bites while I was doing it.


----------



## Brodysmom (Jan 8, 2009)

Sounds good! You are off to a great start! 

One little warning though.... sometimes dogs fed raw decide that's the only way to eat.... and they refuse to eat kibble. I mean can you blame them? What would you rather eat? A big juicy fresh steak or a cup of cereal?


----------



## LittleGemma (Apr 1, 2012)

Brodysmom said:


> Sounds good! You are off to a great start!
> 
> One little warning though.... sometimes dogs fed raw decide that's the only way to eat.... and they refuse to eat kibble. I mean can you blame them? What would you rather eat? A big juicy fresh steak or a cup of cereal?


LOL! Yes, I've heard about this... She really loves her Acana, but I think she might be loving this raw a little more! We'll have to see what happens when I try to offer her Acana again in about two weeks. Should be interesting, lol.


----------



## Brodysmom (Jan 8, 2009)

She may do fine on acana and raw being rotated. That will make it easier for you as the calcium/phosphorus is over 150% in kibble, so you don't have to worry about that, as well as the organ requirement is met which makes feeding 1/2 raw very easy.

Brody thinks kibble is a novelty so if we are at my mom or sisters house, he is the first to grab any leftover kibble and think its a treat.


----------



## Wicked Pixie (Oct 14, 2011)

LOL I just had a look at that feeding calculator, (it offers good advice I am not laughing at that) what tickled me was 'if he/she acts hungry, add 1/2 pound'. Bambi's tummy would literally be dragging on the ground if I gave her half a pound of food every time she acted hungry


----------



## Brodysmom (Jan 8, 2009)

Wicked Pixie said:


> LOL I just had a look at that feeding calculator, (it offers good advice I am not laughing at that) what tickled me was 'if he/she acts hungry, add 1/2 pound'. Bambi's tummy would literally be dragging on the ground if I gave her half a pound of food every time she acted hungry


OMG I never noticed it said that!!!! LOL!!!! Yeah, adding a half pound would be a gorge meal at its best.


----------



## LittleGemma (Apr 1, 2012)

Brodysmom said:


> She may do fine on acana and raw being rotated. That will make it easier for you as the calcium/phosphorus is over 150% in kibble, so you don't have to worry about that, as well as the organ requirement is met which makes feeding 1/2 raw very easy.
> 
> Brody thinks kibble is a novelty so if we are at my mom or sisters house, he is the first to grab any leftover kibble and think its a treat.


Yes, when I give her Acana in the morning I'd just be feeding her meat in the evening since the Acana has all the other nutrients she needs. Right now I am crushing chicken bones with pliers and then cutting them in to small bite-sized pieces with scissors because if I try to feed her a whole bone, she never really ingests any of the bone. She just licks and chews it for a bit and gets every piece of meat off, and then she leave the whole bone. It's painful crushing up all these bones for her though, even if it's just a few to meet that 10%. It sure doesn't feel like just 35 grams being cut up, lol.


----------



## teetee (Aug 25, 2011)

Caitlin, is 100% raw an option? I mean, she likes it so much!


----------



## LittleGemma (Apr 1, 2012)

teetee said:


> Caitlin, is 100% raw an option? I mean, she likes it so much!


I want to, but my boyfriend would have to agree because he's paying for it too, and right now I think I'm lucky getting to feed 50/50. It's also so stupidly difficult finding organs and bone to feed her. These stores have nothing. I wanted to get chicken necks today and ask if the butcher at the grocery store could grind them, but they didn't have any chicken necks or even a meat grinder in the meat department. Don't even think there was a real butcher or anything. It's so weird. It's even tough finding fairly priced meat. We got lucky and found some beef cuts that were $15 per kg today ($7 per lb) and that's the cheapest beef I have ever seen.

I swear if I ever move back to the US, Gemma will be eating 100% raw. It would be so cheap and easy compared to this... special country. Wow, I have turned into such an American snob after living here, lol.

Oh, also, the woman we spoke to at the grocery store was telling us we can't feed raw chicken because of the "bacteria" in it that will make dogs sick. She's a dog owner of 54 years, so we were supposed to take her word for it, lmao. Bet all of her dogs eat RC or Pedigree crap that almost everyone feeds here. I didn't know that she was saying that because she was speaking to my boyfriend in Swedish, but after we walked away he told me and I almost lost it. I really wish she had said it in English because I would have argued about raw feeding with her to the death. I just hate how ignorant some people are.


----------



## Wicked Pixie (Oct 14, 2011)

Have you tried looking for frozen meat Caitlin? Usually cheaper than fresh, plus it tends to come in bigger packs so you also get the advantage of buying in bulk.


----------



## LittleGemma (Apr 1, 2012)

Wicked Pixie said:


> Have you tried looking for frozen meat Caitlin? Usually cheaper than fresh, plus it tends to come in bigger packs so you also get the advantage of buying in bulk.


I have, but there's only frozen chicken, and it's all sodium solution enhanced.  Literally all of it is enhanced with that crap. The best I've found is 90% chicken. That's what we have to eat because we can't even afford fresh chicken for ourselves. It's pretty gross.


----------



## LittleGemma (Apr 1, 2012)

But even if it wasn't sodium enhanced, we need red meats anyways for Gemma.


----------



## Wicked Pixie (Oct 14, 2011)

I can't believe a country that has such awesome views on things like childcare and education can be so backwards when it comes to nutrition!


----------



## LittleGemma (Apr 1, 2012)

Wicked Pixie said:


> I can't believe a country that has such awesome views on things like childcare and education can be so backwards when it comes to nutrition!


EXACTLY! Even human nutrition. Their quality of food is awful, in my opinion. And this is coming from an American, someone from the fattest country in the world, lol. At least there was a wide availability of wholesome, healthy foods along with all the junk.

It's probably the biggest issue for me living in Sweden. I never ever ate processed foods and always ate fresh meat dinners while I lived in the US, but now I'm eating sodium enhanced frozen chicken and stuff like bread and sandwich meat that just has tons of fillers and preservatives. Not even just because it's what I can afford, but often because there are no alternatives. That's just what everyone eats here. All natural is very difficult to find. It just doesn't exist with some things.

I kind of expect to get no help with feeding raw here based off of what I've already been told and have seen.


----------

