[Z B]

Got a bag of SSLL premix last week, finally got around to using it today. I defrosted a beef heart I had in the freezer. Cubed most of it and puréed some of it In my vitamix blender so I could blend the premix powder in with the heart purée. The dogs were delighted and scarfed it down.

Questions:
1) I added a bit of beef liver, because I had some on hand. Is adding liver necessary or recommended when using this premix?
2) What about bonemeal or ground bone,,is it necessary or recommended with this premix ? ( I didn’t use any this time but I can also grind chicken wings in my blender if it is needed).

I feed water packed sardines a couple times a week. Occasionally eggs. Occasionally turmeric and ground flax.

I try to do all raw on weekends. Weekdays are a mix of 4-5 star kibble mixed,with 5 star Canned or sometimes Raw (I have lots of Darwin’s raw cat food leftover….the cat can’t eat it anymore bc of constipation issues, so the dogs have been enjoying it)

I’m not doing RMB at the moment because little dog is a gulper and big dog gave me a scare getting a chicken neck stuck in her throat. It finally went down but spooked me pretty bad. 🙁

[crazy4cats]

No, this mix is to be used with boneless meat. It has calcium in the ingredients. I read that in the spring of 2015, they will offer a mix for bone-in meat. Adding sardines once a week is recommended. I don’t know the answers to your other questions, but I have emailed them with questions before and they have gotten right back to me. Good luck. My dogs love it.

[Z B]

Thanks crazy4cats! So,I won’t add any bone. Good to know. hopefully someone can answer my question about the liver, otherwise I will call the company, thanks for suggesting that.

[Kristin C]

Hey Bri- I use SSLL and I

1. Add liver (5%) and other organs (10%) if I have them.
2. Don’t add bone due to the ingredients in the mix.

I emailed the company in the past and I believe it’s a complete meal if you use the mx, regardless of what you add.

[Akari_32]

Just a note for the bones, I use this mix and offer bone in meat about once a week, and give it with no mix, just the bone in meat. Seems to be working just fine so far. I was offering the mix at the same time, but Bentley would have a hard time pooping afterwards. This mix does not require the addition of organ meats, though if you did use them, I’d not use the mix at the same time, personally. However, I do throw in the occational small piece of liver or kidney (like one chicken liver, or a 1×1 cube of beef kidney) to his normal meals to make it interesting. Anything more substantial, I would be careful with.

And for mixing with the meat, I feed slabs of meat (half breasts, whole thighs, whole tenders, large chuncks of hearts, etc) or ground because he doesn’t chew small pieces. When I don’t feed ground, I mix the premix with a little bit of water, about 3 tablespoons of water to one tablespoon of mix– I just eye ball it– and he licks it up after he eats his meat. I so also add a small splash of water when using ground to make it mix easier.

Bentley eats fast, but he’s a good strong chewer. Start with a piece of meat that is mostly meat with some bone that’s a decent size (like a chicken thigh or leg) and go from there. Bentley is 7 or so pounds. He inhales 1-2 inch cubes of meats and gizzards (he no longer gets gizzards because they do a number on his tummy while they try and digest whole, and he’s quite the baby when he’s even remotely uncomfortable lol), but is good with larger pieces and bones. Takes him about 10 minutes to finish off a chicken leg, and about 45 seconds to eat 5 oz of ground pork.

[theBCnut]

You don’t need to add liver or other organs, but as long as you keep them to very small amounts, it’s OK.

[USA]

Hi Bri,

It’s good to see you feeding raw twice a week. For most dogs this is a big improvement over ANY kibble!

Heart – I notice the meal you added the liver to was Beef Heart. Even though heart is a muscle, it is a different kind of muscle than the breast or leg or thigh, etc. The heart is a non-striated muscle, while the muscles everyone usually thinks about are all striated muscles.

I like to say that nutrient-wise, heart is about halfway between regular muscle meat (breast thigh, etc) and the much richer organ meats (liver, kidneys, etc). Now that is just an estimate. The point is that heart is richer than breast but not as rich as liver, so it should still be used in moderation (up to 20% of meal).

As others have said, the calcium in the Dinner Mixes is calculated based on meat without bone. So the extra calcium that would come from you adding bones is not needed, and could actually be detrimental!

This is what Steve Brown had to say about adding organs to his Dinner Mixes:

“Thanks for the note.

Yes, it’s okay to add muscle meat and some organ meat, but please don’t
add a lot of liver. Keep the liver to less than 10% of the total meat.
Adding up to 20% hearts is fine.

Steve Brown”

On a side note (cause I’m a dog man), constipation can be pretty common in raw diets ESPECIALLY if they contain bone! Your cat probably could use some fiber added to the Darwins to ease any constipation issues. I use a couple of different types. Psyllium husks are very fiber rich and I add no more than 1 teaspoon per pound of food. Flax, Chia and Hemp seeds are not as rich in fiber as Psyllium, but they are also good for the skin. I add about 1 tablespoon per pound of meat.

Keep up the Good Work!

[Z B]

Thanks for the input everyone ! Much appreciated!

USA dog treats – thanks for sharing the feedback from Steve. I had been doing the ABC day once or twice a week, that’s why I had the heart and liver on hand, and I thought Steve recommended that for the ABC day raw meals you could use all heart as the muscle meat ? But since I’m trying to feed raw more than once a week I’ll definitely reduce the Amount of heart and search out other muscle meats. If liver isn’t necessary with the premix I’ll prob forgo that, the dogs aren’t crazy about liver and it kinda grosses me out, too.

Also ordered his books and used some of his recipes for a few batches of Raw meals, but it was a little too much work keeping up with all the necessary ingredients and mixing it all up, etc, since I work full time. So I’ll see how the premix works out. So,far the dogs like it but I’ve been walking them before sunup and after sundown so I haven’t gotten a good inspection of how their poops are reacting.

The cats constipation emergency required a thousand dollar overnite stay at the pet ER, so I’m hesitant to put her back on the raw. I’ve found some good Canned foods that’s she’s doing well on, so will stick to that for now, but thanks for the suggestion to add fiber.

[Author]

Posts