Got to the store tonight on my way home from a seminar...

**CaliforniaLabLover** · 03-07-2008, 01:47 AM

...and I found 3 packaged turkey backs (all they had- no chicken backs, etc.) for $0.49-0.53 apiece, some sliced beef liver (for a bit later on), and some chicken hearts/gizzards (3 packages of those at about $2-2.15 apiece, all they had was Foster Farms). Both of my dogs occasionally get raw marrow bones (just the cut ones), so I'm hoping beef won't be a big deal to add in. I also grabbed a couple of large cans of canned mackeral, though I notice that the 3 ingredients are water, mackeral, and salt...I couldn't find any other mackeral (without salt) anywhere. Is this what most are giving? I hate giving excess salt, but I'm guessing in this instance, they are using it as a bit of a preservative.

I'm trying to get the total amounts "written in stone" more or less for Monty, and he apparently needs more than I would have guessed (which is why it is getting expensive on the pre-prepared). Would you cut the turkey backs in half and give one of those along with the patties (maybe in lieu of one of the patties) once a day? A whole turkey back seems like a lot, though perhaps I could substitute one for a meal occasionally... I need to get a food scale that weighs more than the little one my SU and I have for our diet (weighing out 4 oz of cottage cheese or 3.5 oz of 98% fat-free turkey), LOL. I know that the general rule here is to feed 2-3% body weight per day, but we're finding that at 2% (which is about what he's getting right now...in the patties, he is getting 2#/day...4 of the 8 oz patties), it just doesn't seem to be enough.

Other random things that people have been picking up for supplements?

**imported_eastcoastmom** · 03-07-2008, 07:55 AM

As far as the mackerel goes, I usually buy a whole fish at the fish market or fish counter at the grocery store and give it to Angus as-is...insides eyes & all.

**ObedienceLabs4Me** · 03-07-2008, 09:16 AM

The salt issue is why I use sardines. I can find sardines packed in water without salt that I give Caleb once a week.

**Fallriver** · 03-07-2008, 11:16 AM

I'm sure you can find whole frozen fish at your supermarket for a reasonable price.
I don't weight, I eyeball but on a typical day, I would feed the equivalent of 2 to 3 chicken backs in the am and about the equivalent of 1 1/2 to 2 cups of ground whatever. My dogs are very active.
Dont' know how big your patties are, but I used to get the Urban Carnivore patties when I traveled to shows until I figured out how many they would need to eat!!! I would need to feed about four patties a day per dog, meaning about $5 to $8 a day per dog....terrible!!!

**CaliforniaLabLover** · 03-07-2008, 11:51 AM

Originally Posted by FallRiver

Dont' know how big your patties are, but I used to get the Urban Carnivore patties when I traveled to shows until I figured out how many they would need to eat!!! I would need to feed about four patties a day per dog, meaning about $5 to $8 a day per dog....terrible!!!

They're each 8 oz or 1/2 pound. It is pretty costly when you have a dog that utilizes a lot of this quickly. Okay, laugh at me now, but I haven't ever purchased chicken backs so don't know how much they weigh when packaged for sale, how much is included of the "back," or what an "eyeballed" amount would look like.

**Cinder4evr** · 03-07-2008, 08:04 PM

See if you can find Nature's Variety in 12oz patties. I can buy them locally so I would think they were available where you are.

I think the really big 12oz ones only come in chicken though

Sorry I checked my freezer, it's not Nature's Variety it's a local company. I have to go to the store tomorrow I'll check and see if they ship and post any info I get

**imported_labracorn** · 03-07-2008, 10:16 PM

The boys get about 3/4 lbs of meat morning and night and if they are getting a little lean on that we just up it to almost the 1 lb. SU has this thing about weighing the meat portion I keep telling him he can just eyeball it and it should be about right

**CaliforniaLabLover** · 03-09-2008, 03:47 AM

We fed Monty one of the whole turkey backs tonight rather than his patties, just to see what he'd do. He LOVED it, and really took a while to finally consume the entire thing. I'm going to search around for some chicken wings and some various meats to give in lieu of patties all of the time. I wish I had a bigger freezer. Space around here is actually getting to be more of a problem than even time to go shopping! (sigh)