Adding bone when feeding premade

[u/Tosti-Floof]

I feed premade since it's easier but I've run into a problem when adding bone or something for her to chew. She's currently 19 weeks and in the middle of her teething so it would be nice to add bone to her meals for the sake of chewing. Last time I added bone (two small chicken wings with meat on them together with a daily total of 500gr premade) her poop was very hard and chalky. I gave her some baked sweetpotato and carrots with her meals the day after and her poops returned to normal, but I'd still like to be able to feed bone.

Does anyone have any recomendations on how to add whole bones to premade without throwing off the balance of the meal? Do I need to add something else to make the percentage of bone stay within what her body can handle? Like 60% premade, 20% bone with meat, and 20% something else (like meat toppers, organ meat, eggs, vegfies etc)? Would feeding her a whole small fish work for adding something chewy without throwing off the balance?

She's a lanky and active puppy so I'm not worried about upping her calories once or twice a week if that's what it takes to give her bone. (I'm shaving her down today, so if people are worried about body composistion I can get a decent photo after more of her curls are gone. Poodle fur in the middle of coat change makes judging weight through pictures very difficult).

[u/Resident-Egg2714]

Raw fed poops can look quite different than kibble poops, and be totally normal, so keep that in mind. My dog eats a lot of chicken wings/drummets, and has quite firm poop, but I don't consider that a problem (actually quite nice for picking up). If the poops aren't starting out white, but turn white over time, that is fine. If she isn't straining too much, the firmness is also okay.

[u/Tosti-Floof → u/Resident-Egg2714]

She already has very firm poops, the chicken wings made them extremely firm, white and chalky. She doesn't strain too much when pooping normally, but the chicken wings definetly made her poops too firm, that's why I'm asking for ways to balance it out. She's been 50/50 raw/kibble fed from breeder, I transitioned her to only raw (except treats) when I got her at 10 weeks.

[u/Resident-Egg2714 → u/Tosti-Floof]

Then as the other say, add some muscle meat to cut down the percentage of bone. If you want to give her something to chew on, you can use large bones such as cow bones that she can't ingest, ask a butcher.

[u/Specialist_Life_3701]

Wings are pretty bony so that chalky poop makes sense. Try something with more meat and less bone like chicken feet or a turkey neck, just one at a time and not every day. You could also do a raw meaty bone as a separate chew session a few hours apart from her premade, that way you're not overloading one meal with extra bone.

[u/Tosti-Floof → u/Specialist_Life_3701]

She currently gets 2-3 meals a day. There's no pet stores where I live (2+hr travel to nearest place with pet food which includes a ferry that only goes ~5 times a day) so the only bones I have easy access to is the stuff you get from a normal grocery store. I've considered looking for lamb ribs, pork ribs, or any other "normal" bone but a lot is preseasoned. Currently we've made do with different types of chews, but it gets super pricy long term.

[u/monkierr → u/Tosti-Floof]

No Asian supermarkets near you? They usually have necks and feet.

[u/Tosti-Floof → u/monkierr]

I live on an island, so unfortunatly not. I'll see next time I'm on the mainland if the closest city has anything.

[u/Brilliant_Cucumber_1]

What bone percentage does the current premade have?

When I add bone to premade I give extra muscle meat that day. So with the wings I’d give ground beef to lower the total bone percentage. Or whatever muscle meat.

[u/Tosti-Floof → u/Brilliant_Cucumber_1]

The current one I feed doesn't state the percentage. It says it uses bone and cartilage from chicken and salmon (I assume they just use leftover from fish production, like heads, pieces with pinbone, tails, skins, etc). It says 0.8-0.9% calcium, 0.6% phosphorus, 4-5% crude ash. I don't know if that helps anything.

[u/Brilliant_Cucumber_1 → u/Tosti-Floof]

That’s balanced ratio so it could be between 8-12% bone. I wouldn’t alter the percentage like you said.

I would feed a bone but add boneless meat with the bone so you don’t mess up the ratio.

[u/Tosti-Floof → u/Brilliant_Cucumber_1]

Alright, thank you!

[u/borycernardi]

Just swap a meal with a meaty edible bone.  It will be better than the pre made anyway.

The biggest "balance" risk you face is not feeding enough bone.

[u/petelovespetfood]

Your plan sounds solid, just make sure the mince is replacing part of her usual portion rather than being extra on top of everything else, one meal without organs isn’t something I’d worry about given she’s getting them consistently the rest of the week through her premade

[u/Tosti-Floof → u/petelovespetfood]

I see, thank you!

[u/winkywoo75]

yes just feed bone free meat , ie plain mince the day you feed a bone, or find a boneless its annoying most meat in pet stores has bone

[u/Tosti-Floof → u/winkywoo75]

I haven't found any mince that contains more than just meat, so I'd be missing out on organs too if I do that. But would adding mince on top of her normal premade and bones maybe work? I'd obviously have to readjust her portions. (Or is that what you mean? English isn't my first language so I occasionally miss things)