Starter diet - 9 week old pup

[Gene]

Hello all, I wanted to get some of your thoughts on this starter diet for my pup who should be here tomorrow.  Question 1 is the only starter question, ther rest is diet type in gerneral questions. 

 

The pups dad weighs approx 170-175lbs as per the breeder and at 2% equals 3.4 - 3.5 lbs/day.

 

Question # 1

I only have thickly ground chicken breast (formed into patties) and chicken necks to start with.  Should I lead off with just the necks because of the bone content to help firm up his stools?  Or should i start of with just chicken patties to help him get started.

 

Question #2

Living in Japan presents some unique challenges in trying to obtain cheaper cuts of meat.  Chicken necks are the cheapest thing I can find at the market sold at around $.50-.60/each.  Fresh quarter are a bit more expensive out there, however I can purchase Ice Glazed frozen quarters much cheaper in the base commissary.  Would it be ok to feed ice glazed chicken.

 

Question #3

Concerning red meat, again out in town can be a bit expensive but I can get fresh beef or frozen beef and pork cuts on base also.  Can someone recommend some cheap alternative on red meats, is beef tongue considered red meat?

 

Questions #4

Organ Meat, I can buy beef and chicken liver, and beef tripe, is this enough variety in his diet?

 

[Sweet Pea]

Hi Gene,

It's up to you, but if it were me, I'd go with around 3 lbs/day. 175 lbs is pretty big, and who knows where your pup will end up. It will be easier to just add a bit more food if he looks too skinny. Do you know how big he is now?

1) Are the chicken breast patties boneless?  And are you feeding him 3x/day? If they are boneless, and you are feeding him 3x/day, you could do his noon meal as necks. If you are only feeding twice daily, I wouldn't do more than 1/3 of the total as necks. Necks alone will be too much bone. They are mostly bone and just a little bit of meat. I would expect a little tummy upset at first and maybe a little loose stool, but stick to your plan for a few days, then adjust as needed. 

2) The ice glazed chicken quarters will be absolutely fine assuming it's not enhanced with anything or has added sodium, so check the labels. If the fine print says it's injected with "broth", skip it. Also check the sodium content. Sometimes it's not listed and you can only tell by the sodium content. Enhanced chicken will have 300 mg - 450 mg of sodium.

3) Beef and pork tongue and heart are both considered red muscle meat and both are great options. I would wait for a few weeks before adding other meats though. 

4) I would also wait a few weeks to start organs. And I would just start with one chicken liver at a time. Liver is a must in the diet and should make up half of all his organ consumption. He will eventually really need other organs too. I have no idea what Japan is like, but if they have butchers and meat markets, maybe you can ask around for pork and beef kidney. Here in the US, I can only find my kidney at local farms. If there are any farm areas around, that may be a good place to check too. Once he is tolerating organs well, you can just add them twice per week. For example: My 100 lb female needs 1.4 lbs weekly of organs to make up 10% of her diet. The beginning of the week she gets 0.7 lbs beef liver and the end of the week 0.7 lbs kidney. Occasionally I can get pork spleen, so that replaces the kidney. Remember every meal does not need to be balanced. Balance over time. 

Tripe is great too, but is fed more as a muscle meat. 

How long are you going to be in Japan? You will definitely have better options in the US or Europe, wherever you are from. In the meantime, if you can only feed beef, pork and chicken, that will be fine. 

Good luck with your pup! Make sure to post some pics.

Kim