Bull Terrier Questions and Answers (FAQ)

This is a question someone who actually used my Low starch, grain-free homemade raw food recipe for dogs to produce his own homemade dog food has asked me.
 
The answer is: YES, you should cook vegetables you want to feed to your Bull Terrier or any other dog.
 
It is said that dogs are not able to digest raw, uncooked vegetables properly.
Although I feel like the frozen green beans and the pieces of baby carrots I feed to Mila raw during our training sessions seem to get digested, I think it is a different story when they are part of the daily food serving in larger amounts.
 
I have learned more about that on my own with one of her previous food batches:
In that batch I had used dried lentils and just did not cook them long enough to really get mushy. For the next 6 weeks I found the uncooked lentils merely unchanged in her stools – well, I did not really examine them, but they looked intact, which for me confirmed the digestion theory on vegetables and dogs.
 
This is why I recommend to cook them.
 
Cooking them to mush is especially important for legumes, because of the reasons given above.
For carrots and other vegetables it is sufficient to cook them until you are able to squeeze them with your fingers in order to work them into the meat dough and distribute them evenly when preparing my Low starch, grain-free homemade raw food recipe for dogs. They don’t have to be completely mushy.
The shorter vegetables get cooked, the less vitamins they loose during the process.
Therefore like when preparing food for humans, I also try to use as few water as possible in order to avoid flushing out all of the valuable water-soluble vitamins. So the cooking water almost completely goes into the veggis during cooking and there is only a very small rest of water remaining to pour away. You can also steam the veggis, if you have the tools to prepare such large amounts that way. That is even better to preserve the vitamins.
 
Have fun cooking!

This is only a sample calculation based on the food prices in 2014 in SW Florida with food supply for 45 days and for a 50lb dog:
$122.- for 30.5 lb Bottom flat meat (at BJ’s with BJ membership card, 3.99/lb)
$17.- for 10.5 lb chicken hearts/ liver (at Walmart)
$7.60 for 8 lb carrots (at BJ’s)
$8.- for 4 lb broccoli (at BJ’s)
$3.25 for 3 Bags of split dried green peas
$3.25 for 24 eggs (at BJ’s)
≈ $2 for 1/2 garlic bulb, limestone powder
(add $3.- for 1/2 bottle organic ACV (with mother!) if you use that)

≈ $3.60/ day (without added vitamins, yogurt and fish oil)
≈ $110/ month

The daily food intake of a dog is measured in percentage of body weight.
Note: This is a calculation for RAW food, not kibble!
Also these values are only for reference. Please adjust the daily amount depending on your dogs situation and condition. Just like humans, very active dogs may require more food than the average dog, for example.
2% of bodyweight for overweight dogs
2.5% – 3% to maintain the current weight
More % to fatten a skinny dog*
Please talk to your vet, if you intend to feed your puppy a raw diet. Puppies have special needs and require up to 10% of body their weight in food each day.
Calculation example for Mila: Mila weighs ≈ 50 lb. She has an average level of activity with some more active days sprinkled in. She also gets her homemade treats and a daily amount of yogurt, salmon oil and vitamin supplement.
All of these aspects lead to a daily amount of 600 grams (≈ 1.3 lb) as the perfect amount of our raw dog food mix.
*I have researched these values on the Internet. Please do your own research to confirm the correct amounts. I do not take over any responsibility for the published values.

A dog’s daily requirement of Calcium is calculated in relation to its body weight*:
25 lb dog needs about 800-900 mg Calcium
50 lb dog needs 1600-1750 mg Calcium
75 lb dog needs about 2600-2700 mg Calcium
*I have researched these values on the Internet. Please do your own research to confirm the correct amounts. I do not take over any responsibility for the published values.

Calcium is one of the most important minerals for a dog’s body, required in fairly high amounts for the bones, muscles, nerves and blood. In addition, the Calcium – Phosphorous ratio is a very important parameter in the nutrition of your dog, because those two minerals work together in the skeletal system.
If you do not feed bones to your dog or another source rich in calcium, you may want to supplement Calcium in your dog’s diet, when feeding raw. This is also true for Low starch, grain-free homemade raw food recipe for dogs, because it does not include bone.
While Phosphorous usually is automatically fed in sufficient amounts just by feeding meats in a raw diet, Calcium may need to be added to balance the ratio, which should be 1.2 – 1.3 parts of Calcium per 1 part of Phosphorous.
Both over and under supplementing can have health consequences for your dog. Therefore it is advisable to calculate the Calcium requirement of your own dog and supplement appropriately.
You will find more information on how to calculate the ratio in my Low starch, grain-free homemade raw food recipe for dogs or in this FAQ section.

One way to add Calcium is feeding bone, as it contains a lot of calcium.
Many people (myself included) do not feed bones to their dogs due to the involved risks (internal injury from sharp edges, choking). Or they do not want to grind bone or don’t have the means to do so (requires special grinders).
Therefore sometimes other sources need to be found.
There is a pretty easy way to add Calcium to a batch of raw food without using bone:
I simply use the egg shells from my Low starch, grain-free homemade raw food recipe for dogs and powder them in a porcelain mortar.
Note: Egg shells should be ground/powdered to aid absorption of the Calcium, because whole egg shells cannot be properly digested by the dog.
One egg shell weighs about 6-7 grams and contains about 37% Calcium*.
Meats do not deliver considerable amounts of Calcium, nor do innards. Vegetables deliver variable amounts of Calcium, wich can be taken into consideration.
Calcium that cannot be sufficiently supplemented by egg shells and vegetables can be increased by use of food grade limestone.
Food grade limestone contains 75-90% available Calcium*.
There are also other calcium sources that can be used as additive.
*I have researched these values on the Internet. Please do your own research to confirm the correct amounts. I do not take over any responsibility for the published values.

Excessive licking definitely is an alarm signal. Licking can have several causes:
Boredom
Injury like cuts and scrapes
Itching
When your Bull Terrier licks her paws excessively this can become a problem, because at some point the licking will cause the skin

While there are some dogs that are able to control their intake well by themselves, in general it is wise to use a feeding schedule for several reasons.
First of all, giving the food to your dog every time strengthens the bonding. Also dogs love routines – knowing what’s coming up makes them feel secure und comfortable.
If you are housebreaking a puppy, a feeding schedule will also make it a lot easier for you to do your potty training, because you will more likely know when the dog has to go … after eating.
Some dogs that have access to a nonrestricted amount of food all the time, can also develop obesity.
It is also a good idea to calculate the amount of food required daily – measured by the weight and size of your dog.
You will find a calculation example here in my FAQ’s under “Homemade food and treats”, question:”How can I calculate the daily food for my Bull Terrier any other dog?”
Note: Many people use plastic dishes which often come in neat designs to feed their dogs.
Unfortunately many plastic materials are porous and easily attract bacteria. Varnished porcelain is one good alternative, because it’s easier to keep clean and it’s usually heavier than plastic, which makes the dishes standing more stable. However, they  can crack or break, if handled too rough – which bears a risk of injury to you and your dog. The best choice are stainless steel dishes. While they usually don’t come in such fancy designs, they are easy to keep clean and they can’t break.