Sunday, June 19, 2011

The Daily (Doggy) Grind: It's a Dog Eat Dog World Part 1 - Taste Test

When I felt Nikka has recovered enough to be put on a real carnivore's diet, we dove in head-first. Well, she did anyway. It was into a meal of raw meaty bones (equivalent to 2% of her ideal body weight (not a very active dog to begin with - strange for a Beagle).

We started off with a quarter chicken - also her humans' favorite chicken part - the thigh and leg. The meat was ribboned and the skin scored. The leg was frozen for 24 hours then thawed in the chiller overnight and put on the counter for the ten minutes it took me to scrub her food bowl clean, sanitize her eating space, and put the whole(!) chicken slab in her dish.

At first, she gave me a look that said "Mom, have you gone insane? Where's my kibble with wet dog food?" before walking away (her siblings had all finished their kibble meals so she had nowhere to forage). A few minutes later, she came back and licked at the skin. A few more licks later, she took the first bite.

She bit, chewed and chewed and chewed then swallowed. It took her thirty whole minutes to finish her meal - she had plenty of leftovers. I was so proud of her.

I still am!

I am happier still that Deedee the Basset Girl and Hunter the Cocker Spaniel lil man have gone the Nikka way and are on RMBs now. The proud momma (yours truly) has started giving them bits of liver with their chicken. Douglas and Lilly have followed suit and I am ecstatic! Soon we're going into the uncharted territory of pork ribs, beef heart and bull pen*ses. Oh yes, you read that right!

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