Feeding Raw on Vacation

Going on vacation takes some preparation with raw fed pets, whether they are coming with you or staying. With our two dogs and two cats all completely raw fed now it can be a little daunting. It's all about thinking ahead.

Our dogs have always come with us on vacation. A while back I got a big 48 quart cooler. Several days before our vacation I experimented with empty tupperwares to figure out the way they fit best. I also wanted to know how many meals I would be able to bring with me. I suggest using a plastic cooler. Fully loaded my cooler can easily weigh 30-40 lbs with all the meat and ice packs. I'm not sure how much those styrofoam coolers can handle but I'm not taking any chances. I can fit 24 tupperwares in my cooler which is 12 days of food for my dogs. Some of the bigger tupperwares I can even fit 2 meals in one container upping the meal count to about 40. That's almost 3 weeks worth of food, and then I can add chicken leg quarters too. I can fit enough food in one cooler to last a month or more for my dogs. If I leave out a few tupperwares I can fit bigger chunks of meat too. If I used only ziplock baggies I could fit much, much more however I hate wasting the baggies and I don't think I would ever need to bring that much meat anyway.

Think hard about how much meat you actually need to bring, and how much you can bring. If you're going to visit friends or relatives it's good to call ahead and explain that you may need some freezer space for pet food. I've made the mistake of not calling ahead and ended up having more meat than fit in the freezer. Fortunately there was room in the fridge and I didn't have too much extra. Really think about how much you need to bring. Are you going somewhere that you will be able to buy more meat? What will you be able to buy? What will you need to bring? For example it's tough for me to find beef hearts where my inlaws live, but it's easy to find whole chickens or chicken leg quarters so I'd rather put beef heart in the cooler and buy leg quarters there. It's also not a big deal if the dogs don't get beef heart for a couple weeks. They'd do fine eating leg quarters and pork roast or whatever I could find in that town. However, I like bringing as much meat as I will need to last for the vacation. It can be annoying to have to run to the grocery store, butcher meat, and package it while on vacation. I like having it all done and ready to go. As long as there is enough freezer space I will bring enough meat to last the entire vacation plus a couple extra. I bring extra because sometimes the dogs will have a very busy day hiking or swimming and I'll want to give them extra food.

I also take time (months in advance) to ask my friends who hunt if they can keep some parts for me. I have the cooler with me so it's the perfect way to get free meat!

There are some basics of loading a cooler that help keep the meat frozen. First, air is warmer than frozen meat. It's an obvious statement but means a lot here. It means that the more air there is, the warmer the cooler will be; and the more frozen meat or ice there is, the colder it will be. To keep the meat frozen you need to fill as much space as possible. Meat in tupperware will defrost faster than bigger pieces because of all the air in the tupperware. Meat that is frozen solid will actually stay frozen a very long time especially if it is surrounded by other frozen things. If you are going to be traveling for one day and have a freezer available at your destination you can get away with using tupperware in the cooler no problem. There is no reason to worry about the meat defrosting, let alone rotting. More than one day, just makes sure everything stays frozen. Using tupperware is ok but using bigger pieces of meat will help ensure the meat stays frozen. As long as you can keep the meat mostly frozen it will be fine. Our trip from San Diego to my in-laws' house is about 920 miles and takes 14-15 hours. We push through and do it in one day. I load the cooler in the morning right before we leave and when we arrive in Colorado everything is still at least semi-frozen, with things in the middle still completely frozen.

Ice is very important. I use cold packs to slide between the stacks or put on top of the stacks. If I know I am going to have a lot of extra room in the cooler then I fill empty 2 liter soda bottles with water and freeze them. Filling the warm air space with something frozen helps keep the temperature down in the entire cooler. I try to stay away from using bags of ice as they always leak, make a mess, and are not reusable.

Do not load any tupperware sideways and make sure the cooler stays upright. If they start to defrost you could have leakage. Speaking from experience it's not fun to have to clean every single other tupperware, baggie, ice pack, and the cooler itself because one stupid tupperware leaked. Again from experience, anything not in tupperware or ziplock should be wrapped in a plastic grocery bag or put into a ziplock, such as meat wrapped in butcher paper or tubes of ground meat . These always leak if they start to defrost so double bag them.

Finally, don't forget to bring a tarp or mat or whatever your pets eat on. Bring cleaning supplies like a small spray bottle of vinegar too.

Our vacation to Colorado last Christmas was a little more simple as the cats were still being fed kibble and all pets came with us. Our trip this summer was a little more challenging as we decided to leave the cats here and only take the dogs- and the cats are eating raw now. We have wonderful friends who were willing to feed the cats raw. I apologized and thanked them profusely for dealing with the grossness and yuck factor. I wanted to make it as simple and least gross for them as possible.

I decided a mixed up kitty buffet would be easiest for our friends. I got several kinds of meat and organ to use. My original plan was to use the food processor to chop it up really well so it was basically mush. I decided it wasn't worth the time and my gag reflex might not have been able to handle that anyway. I cut everything into chunks and left it at that.

Top row, left to right: Chicken hearts & gizzards, chicken thigh filet, pork shoulder roast
Bottom row, left to right: Moose (it was ground and frozen, I shaved "slices" off as it defrosted), beef kidney, beef liver, and slices of sardines. The dogs ate the heads and tails of the fish.

For bone content I would have liked to have Everest eat a mouse each week and for Zeb to have a chicken wing but I don't think it's reasonable to ask friends or family to give the more "extreme" and intense whole foods like that unless you know for sure they would be ok with it. The cats were with our friends for only 2 weeks and they did get some bone with the sardines. 2 weeks of less bone was not a big deal.

I put it all in a huge salad bowl and mixed it together, then scooped it into tupperware. Mixing it was disgusting, cold, and slimy, but ultimately I felt it was the best way to save our friends from having to do too much. Their willingness to feed raw was enough already! I combined everything the cats needed so all our friends had to do was scoop some out of the tupperware. All tupperwares had the same thing so there was no need to worry about what to feed each meal. Just scoop some out and done.

I also provided a piece of tarp and a box of plastic spoons for them. Raw is gross and I know this. I didn't want to expect them to use their own dishes with it. They chose to use their own plates and utensils anyway.


If you need to board your pets you must call ahead to find out their policy on raw food. Some boarding facilities will not allow raw food. They also might not have the freezer space for raw depending on how long the pets need to stay.


Camping with raw fed pets is another topic entirely, to be covered another day.

Fish Oil

The one supplement recommended for almost all raw fed dogs is fish oil.  Reason being is that meat in the grocery store is much lower in Omega 3 fatty acids than naturally raised meat would be. Feeding raw fish is not a good enough substitute to make up for lost Omega 3s though it does help. A dog fortunate enough to eat wild, non-farmed game such as venison, elk, moose, pheasant, and rabbit wouldn't need fish oil.

Omega 3s and 6s are very important so I want to briefly get into the science of it and talk about why adding fish oil is a good idea. This information is all based on human studies.

Fish oil contains both docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA). According to Mercola, "These two fatty acids are pivotal in preventing heart disease, cancer, and many other diseases. Your brain is also highly dependent on DHA -- low DHA levels have been linked to depression, schizophrenia, memory loss, and a higher risk of developing Alzheimer's." According to the Mayo clinic, "There is evidence from multiple studies supporting intake of recommended amounts of DHA and EPA in the form of dietary fish or fish oil supplements lowers triglycerides, reduces the risk of death, heart attack, dangerous abnormal heart rhythms, and strokes in people with known cardiovascular disease, slows the buildup of atherosclerotic plaques ("hardening of the arteries"), and lowers blood pressure slightly. However, high doses may have harmful effects, such as an increased risk of bleeding."

There should be balance between Omega 3s and 6s with a 1:1 ratio. Store bought meat is high in 6s but low in 3s. Also stated on the Mercola site, "[the] University of Michigan researchers also agreed that including more omega-3 than omega-6 in your diet may help protect your tissues and organs from inflammation, one of the underlying causes of countless chronic diseases and aging."

Choosing a fish oil: For dogs you want to give fish oil, not cod liver oil. Go to a pharmacy such as Walgreens or CVS. Buying pet specific supplements from a pet store or anywhere else is often not a good idea for a couple reasons. Pet supplements are usually not regulated, and certainly not to the point that human grade supplements are. Pet specific supplements can also get away with not listing every ingredient. They can therefore add ingredients that are pointless at best and harmful at worst like flavorings.

Go to the store and start looking at bottles. Look at the ingredients listed on the back. There should only be fish oil, gelatin, and glycerin. The gelatin and glycerin are the shell of the capsule. There should be no Vitamin E, which is soy; no mixed tocopherols, which is soy; and no rosemary extract, citrus flavoring, or anything else. With salmon oil you may need to proceed with caution. Do some research on farmed salmon. If you can't find any fish oil that doesn't have mixed tocopherols or Vitamin E and you don't want to order any, then I say it's fine to use it. There is very little soy in a gelcap and I think the benefits outweigh the "rule breaking" of giving the dog soy. It's definitely best to avoid it if you can though.

Here are a couple examples of what to look for on the bottle.

[Note: I'm not specifically promoting these brands, these are simply two examples of fish oils that are good to use and I will be using them as references for how to read the labels. Click to enlarge.]

Ingredients are only fish oil, gelatin, and glycerin. It also specifies which fish are used.

Dosage: Look on the BACK of the bottle for the EPA and DHA information. Do not rely on what the front of the bottle says. The maintenance dose to bring Omega 3s and 6s back into balance is to give 100mg DHA+EPA per 10lb. For example, a 100 lb dog would need 1000mg, and a 15 lb dog would need 150mg.

On the first bottle look about 2/3 of the way down the label where it says "Fish Body Oil Concentrate." One serving size is 1760mg which is what the front of the bottle says. The next line down says 870mg of Omega 3s. That's why you need to look at the back of the bottle for the numbers, not the front! Then look at the top of the label- Serving size is 2 softgels. That means each gel is 435mg of Omega 3s. More typical is what is shown on the label of the second bottle, with each gel containing 300mg of Omega 3s.

A 300mg gel would be the perfect daily dosage for a 30 lb dog, or two per day for a 60 lb dog, or 3 for a 90 lb dog. What if your dog is in the middle like mine are? Both my huskies weigh about 40 lbs. They would need 400mg per day. If I give them one gel per day they would end up short by 700mg for the week. So I give them an extra gel twice a week to make up the difference. It does not have to be an exact or perfect dosage.

Feeding Fish

In a raw diet feeding raw fish is not necessary, but the right fish offer good variety and can be beneficial. Fish is not a main part of a wild canid's diet (or of cats, despite what cartoons would have you believe) so ideally it shouldn't be a main part of your dog's diet but it's fine to feed often. It's ok to never feed fish, and it's ok to add fish every day. One reason I like to add fish is because it's possible to feed the complete, whole animal including the organs that are tough to get in a regular grocery store separately.

The best fish to feed are oily ones like mackerel, sardines, herring, anchovies, and smelt. This is because they offer Omega 3s; scroll down to the bit about fish oil for more info. Wild-caught salmon is also good but farm-raised salmon is high in mercury (more on that below too) and also high in other toxic chemicals. I would personally steer clear of all farm-raised salmon. Other than salmon, to my knowledge, any farm-raised store-bought fish is fine to feed and there is no need to worry about parasites or anything else. If you aren't sure if the fish was wild or farmed then freeze it for a couple weeks just to be safe. Non-oily fish like tilapia is pointless to feed unless you're desperate for variety. If you're looking to add fish, skip the tilapia.

If you do choose for some reason to give tilapia it may be wise to cut off any spiky fins. With sardines, mackerel, etc. you don't need to cut anything off. The fish should be fed whole. Head to tail, skin and scales, guts included. Removing the head or guts is removing nutrition.  

Make sure the fish is raw. Do not buy cooked, canned, smoked, breaded, or seasoned fish. Whole fish are best and I personally wouldn't bother feeding any kind of filet or gutted/headless fish.

Some dogs don't like fish very much or seem puzzled when a whole fish is set in front of them. Try cutting the fish in half or making some deep slices into it at first to get the dog interested. Do this when the fish is still semi-frozen or else guts come out and it's extra smelly and disgusting. I typically feed the fish semi-frozen to keep the smell and goo at a minimum. Denali refused all fish at first and thought they were revolting. She would snort and curl her lips and shake her fur. She loves them now and I'm not sure why she changed her mind. Don't stock up your freezer until you're sure the dog will eat it.
 
As mentioned in the Bacteria & Parasites post, most fish are fine to feed but there is specific concern with wild-caught salmonids in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. "Salmonids" includes salmon of course (see pic) but also trout, whitefish, grayling, and char. These specific fish in this specific location from southern Alaska to mid California may have the parasite responsible for salmon poisoning. Freezing the fish solid will kill the parasite. One week of freezing is surely enough, but 2 weeks is what I would personally do. If you are not comfortable feeding these specific wild-caught fish from this area due to the chance of the parasite being present then simply don't feed it. Again, fish is not a necessary part of a dog's diet and there are other good options for fish to feed anyway.

Mercury levels are also important to know. I keep this picture on hand and only buy fish in the low category. Fish in the medium category are ok to feed but don't feed them as often or in large quantities. Personally I would avoid any fish in the high category, which includes farmed and Atlantic salmon. Other sea critters like crab, crawfish, and scallops are listed here as well. These are basically in the same category with tilapia of being pointless variety for dogs. If you're going to feed anything that comes from the ocean, make it worthwhile by feeding oily fish and skip the rest.

Click to enlarge.

At the grocery store we shop at I can find whole frozen sardines, so that's what I get. They are $2/lb here which is about twice what I like to pay for food for the pets. I find them in the frozen food aisle. If the main grocery store doesn't have anything good then check Asian markets as they typically have a wider variety of fish. Again, stick to the oily fish! I usually give each dog one fish, once or twice a week. The price is one reason I don't give it more. If they were very cheap I might give a fish 4-5x a week or even 1/2 fish every day but I like to keep things cheap.

On a final note I want to mention that yes, fish bones are fine to feed as long as they are raw. There is no need to worry about the dog choking on them or about the bones causing harm to the dog's digestive tract. Raw fish bones are very soft and flexible and they digest easily. Cooking the bones makes them brittle. Brittle bones break into sharp pointy little shards capable of causing harm. Raw bones only! Fish is great for dentally challenged dogs or cats who may not have any teeth or have bad teeth and cannot chomp down on harder bones, or for cats who don't seem to "get" chomping and eating bones. Fish bones are often so small that cats will eat them easily. Bones are an important part of a raw diet and if a dog has trouble with bigger or harder bones then fish bones are a great option- Cornish game hens and rabbits are also great for those dogs to get bone in their diet.

Bath Time, Mud Time

People frequently comment about how white Denali is. The question I'm most asked, other than what breed she is, is how I keep her so clean. Huskies quite simply don't tend to stay dirty. Their fur repels dirt. That's not to say they never need a bath but a bit of dirt or mud will usually come right off. Sometimes a bath is necessary, as is the case for Denali after a beach day or an extra muddy stinky day.

Less than a week after getting Denali I introduced her to the bath tub. The previous 5 days I had played with her using a red rhino towel frequently. I'd toss the towel over her, play tug with the towel, hide the kitty under the towel, and most importantly I would rub her down as if I was drying her off. I always start with her face by tossing the towel over her then rubbing her face. To this day it's one of her favorite things!

Find that naughty kitty!

Many dogs hate baths. I didn't want Denali to. Baths should be fun, not scary or stressful! Before bringing the little puppy into the bathroom I first plugged the tub and filled it just a little bit. So little that there was still a dry side at the other end of the tub. I did this because 1) The faucet and pouring water is very loud and could startle my skittish puppy, 2) Going into the water needs to be her choice and not done by force, 3) Deep water is too much to handle for an introduction to water, and 4) By excluding her from the process she was extra interested in what I had been doing in there. I gently set her down on the dry side of the tub and was super excited for her to be in there, lots of praise and use of my high-pitched excited voice. I don't think I used any treats but if she had been hesitant I would have. I tapped the water to make little splashes and get her interested. She lowered her shoulders and head down and copied me, hitting the water with her paw. We played in it for a few minutes. I would get my hand wet and rub it on her legs, sides, back, and neck. She was having a lot of fun so I turned the faucet on a tiny little bit so a trickle of water came out.

She loved it! She bit at it, pawed, hopped around, and was having a blast. I turned the faucet on more to let the tub slowly fill as we continued to play. That was her bath. Play time. No shampoo, no making her stand still, only fun.


Then I drained the tub and dried her off. I tossed the towel over her and rubbed her face, then all over her body. We ran around the living room playing tug and she bounced on the cat and rolled on the towel and it seemed like the best day of her life. Zebulon is a good sport and while he didn't appreciate getting wet they snuggled up after their romp.

She didn't need a bath often until we started going to the beach every week, but she has always liked baths and has especially loved drying off. As her adult coat grew in it took longer to dry her and I started using a hair dryer. Maybe one day I'll get a fancy high power one designed for drying animals but for now mine works well enough.

Bath days are the worst, aren't they??

The best part is before the bath. The mud. Oh so much mud! Here are some of my favorite moments of mud. Click to enlarge.

The best of all was on a trip to Colorado when she was 7 months old. The case of the creeping mud. It didn't start so bad, but by the end she was brown up to her belly!

Did someone say bath?

R.I.P rhino towel. You are greatly missed.

Update

Pardon my absence, we've been on vacation!

First things first, here are some pictures. We visited my husband's parents in western Colorado for his 10 year high school reunion. We also went to the front range to visit my parents and some friends.

There's grass here!

Bitey face

Loving on my Grandpa

Squirrel!!

When will it come down?

In the neighbor's yard.

Back in our yard she taught my nephew to drink from the pool.

In other news, the dogs got heartworm meds today. I keep an eye on the weather and the low hasn't been under 57* F in quite some time meaning the larvae aren't killed off in the mosquitoes. We were also on vacation in Colorado recently and while I'm sure it was cool enough I neglected to check the weather for about 3 weeks. It might get under 57* some time this week but more than likely I'll be giving the dogs another dose in a few months to be on the safe side. I haven't seen any mosquitoes but that doesn't mean they aren't around.