# How many chicken wings?



## rachy (Dec 9, 2009)

So for the first time today i tried my older dog on a raw chicken wing! Must admit i was so paranoid about it and it made me gag hearing him crunch the bones but he seemed to really enjoy it!

I am not feeding him on a raw diet, so this was just a snack. Was wondering is 1 enough in one day or should i give him another one?

Rachel
x


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## babycham2002 (Oct 18, 2009)

I think he could have another one, or wait and see what his poo comes out first  Its up to you. 
I gave Willow quite a large raw lamb bone for a treat the other day, so another chicken wing couldnt hurt I wouldn't have thought.


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## dodigna (Feb 19, 2009)

I have started with one, once a week (blessed he licked it to death), then increased to one twice a week. I just give the wings to supplement his meals with extra cartilage. I can easily give him two in a row (twice a week and one wing once more) and I am rewarded with a lot of tail wagging. But I do decrease his food to compensate. I might promote him to a drumstick soon as a meal, but that is because I am planning to feed raw in the future and want to start real slow.

Hopefully some one with more experience will come along to advice more accurately.


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## katiefranke (Oct 6, 2008)

Just a suggestion, but just make sure you are feeding 'appropriately' sized pieces to your dogs...chicken wings are ok but pretty small for medium+ dogs - there is a higher risk that as they get used to them they could try and gulp/swallow them down in an awkward way.

A safer bet would be to use chicken thigh quarters (leg & thigh joined) or chicken breat quarters (ribs/breast and wing attached), which are a little more substantial.

Just as an idea, I feed Maggie (and the cats) on a completely raw diet and maggie is about 16.5kg and a quarter like the ones I mention above of an average size chicken would be 1/2 her daily allowance...so you could feed one of these quarters and just miss a morning or evening meal that day (obviously adjust the above to the weight of the dog).

Hope that is of some use!


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## dodigna (Feb 19, 2009)

That is sound advice katiefranke, as I was worried of overfeeding Ray adding the wings. He is 24kg and sooo greedy! He would easily go through a whole chicken on top of his dry feed.

When I give the extra wing I take 1/3 of his kibble out, but weight is a big issue with him as he has dysplasia, needs to stay trim and as I want to start feeding a bigger piece of chicken (a thigh as you suggest sounds good), I might replace the whole eve meal. Would you say (sorry! I am hijacking this thread!), start with one and feed a 1/4 kibble allowance and then give two thighs as a full replacement. I cannot go completely raw as yet, and need his complete meal not to miss out on nutrients (I feed orijen)


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## Robertdavid (Aug 4, 2009)

Your dog should be on about 2-3% of his ideal body weight per day, if you were feeding raw completely. If you're worried about him not getting his nutrients, try Natural Instinct - High Quality Natural Dog Food for their raw meals - all the work is done for you, and they contain added nutrients to ensure a balanced meal. Delivery is free too. They also do lamb ribs and neck bones.


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## dodigna (Feb 19, 2009)

Robertdavid said:


> Your dog should be on about 2-3% of his ideal body weight per day, if you were feeding raw completely. If you're worried about him not getting his nutrients, try Natural Instinct - High Quality Natural Dog Food for their raw meals - all the work is done for you, and they contain added nutrients to ensure a balanced meal. Delivery is free too. They also do lamb ribs and neck bones.


That is true, I do have that site bookmarked as I thought it would be a good starter packet, it does turn up a bit pricy done long term though. I mainly give the wings for the cartilage. For bones I give the odd recreational one split in two or three chewing sessions to avoid over marrowing him.

Feeding from the complete raw bag worries me that he might not get enough cartilage though.


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## katiefranke (Oct 6, 2008)

dodigna said:


> That is true, I do have that site bookmarked as I thought it would be a good starter packet, it does turn up a bit pricy done long term though. I mainly give the wings for the cartilage. For bones I give the odd recreational one split in two or three chewing sessions to avoid over marrowing him.
> 
> Feeding from the complete raw bag worries me that he might not get enough cartilage though.


I had them all on orijen (maggie and the cats), but decided to switch them all cold turkey after researching for a good 3 months i think it was.

I have been feeding them all like this since Jan and it has been the best decision over their food ever! They are all loving it too and it was so easy once I was confident in the choice 

Personally, I follow the full raw feeding model of whole pieces (not necessarily whole prey carcusses as difficult to get) but having looked into it carefully I do not think that I want to swap from one processed commercial food to a raw processed commerical food ...so am now steering clear of anything like the above. it doesnt provide the brilliant teeth cleaning action that whole pieces does - nor the enjoyment they get from crunching and tearing and chewing through their meals...even the cats are now crunching away on bones and loving it!!

*Anyway, sorry back to your question -* for a 24kg dog, the raw feeding guideline per day would be anything from 480g-720g (2-3% of adult body weight) per day. So yep if you gave one chicken quarter, which is on average somewhere around 250-300g depending on the size of the chicken, then a good start would be to remove 1/4-1/2 of the kibble allowance to account for this...I would suggest keeping the raw meal and the kibble meals completely separate though, as feeding them together CAN lead to stomach upsets or the raw food being 'held up' as it were in their intestines longer than it would naturally...

Hope that helps!!  If you are interested to read more about the raw diet have a look at the links in my signature - full of really useful info. Also just ask away if you have any more questions! Having seen the benefits for myself now I am pretty passionate about it!!


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## dodigna (Feb 19, 2009)

Thanks. I have no doubt Ray would love to go raw. I have to be careful as he seems not to bother to chew.  I was eyeing up a pork shop with bone and considering whether to give it to him for his dinner tonight, although he is used to chicken and I should really not have mixed up (well, we wait and see what he produce in the rear end result), I cut a piece for him to try and I am sure he swallowed it whole. Quite worrying, he would have to be give big chunky pieces with bones attached or mince and large bones. He gets quite hyped up at the sight of raw meat (don't blame him, it is more natural then dry biscuits)

My main issue not to go raw is the freezer space, which is very little at the mo and already full with wings and bones, to make it cost effective is best to buy bulk and I would rather buy stuff from supermarket rather then nuggets type meat you see in pet stores. Will check your links, again, thank you for taking the time to explain.

And, again, sorry OP for hijacking!!!


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## katiefranke (Oct 6, 2008)

dodigna said:


> Thanks. I have no doubt Ray would love to go raw. I have to be careful as he seems not to bother to chew.


yep see this is why IMHO the real way to feed raw is to feed BIG! so big appropriately sized pieces for your dog - that way they cant choke on it as they have to rip pieces off to eat it!

so if I give maggie pork (for one of her no bone meals for instance), i would literally give her all of her daily allowance in one meal most likely that day - so just a nice big 500g lump of pork (any cut really, doesnt matter, just as long as it is big) - and she will then rip and chew and tear to eat it. if i gave it to her in pieces she would inhale it!!! lol 

personally i would steer clear of pork chops - pretty small really for a big dog. and the bones are just one small piece which are so easy to swallow the wrong way.

for pork bones I give maggie meaty ribs - but not one at a time, a slab of maybe 4 joined together with the meat to ensure she eats it correctly or maybe even 8 depending on whether i am giving her one meal or two that day.

yep i had the issue with the freezer too, but i started off just picking stuff up from the supermarkets every few days and dedicating one drawer in our normal freezer for it - then my husband went out and got a small freezer for me, so now I have a dedicated one for maggie and the cats!! 

apart from the fact that the nuggets are not appropriately sized so have no teeth cleaning benefit, you also cannot tell where the meat has come from and it works out blimin expensive for most of them!

*and yes sorry rachy for hijacking your thread but hopefully this has been of some use to you too!!!? *

PS guys, morrisons is brill for cheap ribs, massive turkey legs, and heart/kidney/liver! i never shopped there until we started feeding the gang raw but now i am there all the time!


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