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Updated, August 2019.
When any Pap from us is leaving our home for a new family, I always recommend keeping feeding the same items for a few days at minimum, to avoid additional digestive upset, besides the usual transfer stress.
Here is a updated list of the items I offer my Papillons on a weekly basis.
Puppies are eating a full-fledged meal, just in a somewhat smaller version, and meat is chopped into smaller parts. They get 3 meals per day at that age. (8 AM, 1 PM and no later than 5:30 PM.
Please note, I am on a budget, as I have multiple dogs. You, most likely, an owner of one or perhaps two small dogs can get very creative, by adding many more ingredients, and more of "organic" items, grass-fed meats, etc.
When you introduce your Pap to a new item later on, offer first a very small amount, next to a meat your dog is already eating on a regular base.
I always serve 2 kinds of different meats per meal.
A balanced diet is achieved over the course of a week, not a day.
Variety is the key- of meat!
Organ meat 2-3 times per week is also essential to create a balanced diet.
A bone- meal I offer 2 times per week.
Liver (Organ meat)
Boneless breast
Hearts
Gizzards
Ground Beef
Heart (I get that grind from the meat department)
Kidney (Organ meat)
Liver (Organ meat)
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| 1 Meal |
Gizzards (when available
- Pork (boneless)
- Some Fish
- Turkey (ground, hearts, liver etc., when available)
Above items are the main ingredients completing a meal. ((2.5 - 3 ounces for a 4-7 Lbs. dog/per meal, twice / day)
Each meal gets a little "topping" \.
Below is the list of these items I offer, one per meal:
- Greek yogurt
- 4 % Cottage Cheese
- Shredded Cheese
- Finely minced veggies (done in a blender); mostly green leave + carrot. (I serve between a teaspoon and a little less than a table spoon once/ day)
- Hard-boiled eggs with shell, minced (I hard-boil the eggs, and put them in the food processor with their shell for needed calcium, and blend them until minced) ---1 teaspoon to 1 table spoon, pending of the size of dog.
- Another egg version is: scrambled eggs, slightly runny, to retain a little more nutritional value of the egg.
Recreational bones:
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| Beef Back Ribs |
- Beef Back Ribs
- Soup Bones (the store cuts them into smaller parts)
(Updated August
2017)
I have gotten recently several messages from other Papillon owners, or small breed owners, that although they are switching, or already serving their dogs a menu of raw meat, they are afraid to serve their small friends chicken wings, drumettes, chicken necks etc., as a raw bone meal. Bones are actually essential, as they provide the dog with their calcium needs, among other things.
The fear that these bones get lodged in a small dog's esophagus is common, and I must say that I myself am in that group of "worrisome", and that I feed for that- , and some other reason less and less bones.
Here are the alternatives I apply to my dog's raw, and fresh diet:
- Hard -boiled eggs with eggshell.
Minced in a food processor, I add one table (maximum) spoon every evening to their meat dish
- OPTIONAL: Eggshells: I add a small amount of ground eggshells to the menu as needed calcium.
(Eggshells can be just dried, or, as I do, put into a small toaster oven to bake for a while, and then crushed/grind in a coffee bean grinder.
Half a teaspoon of ground eggshell provides approximately 900 milligrams of calcium, and should be served per pound of food.
If you are adding eggshell just to a typical 2-2.5 Oz serving, sprinkle just a tiny bit over the meal.
- Sardines, Herring or Mackerel
1-2 times / week I serve besides a meat source canned sardine. Sardines, or herring, as well as mackerels have small bones in them and are eatable for humans as well as pets.
Again, only very small amounts please, especially in the introduction of such food items.
The key is:
Everything in moderation to avoid stomach- upset, where the server/owner tends to come to a possible false solution of pet "allergy" or "intolerance".
I also provide my dogs on a very regular basis with "recreational" bones. Bones they cannot swallow, but will chew on for several days on and off. Not only will this keep their teeth in good, or better shape, it will provide entertainment, and satisfaction.
Beef back ribs, pork ribs and similar ribs are recommended.
What is
not advisable is to get "soup bones", as weight bearing bones (legs, from large livestock) may break the small dog's teeth, and the bone may have too much of the bone marrow.
Other alternatives to serving a bone meal are:
- Meat Grinder (Please be aware that not all grinders grind bones. Only some heavy-duty ones do this kind of a job)
(Updated December 2016)
These are the items my dogs love and get offered on a daily
basis.
Dogs should eat 2-3% of their total weight (Toy breeds on the higher amount side) (not the overweight!!), which comes to
about 2-4 Oz for Papillons- per day. My dogs weigh an average of 5 Lbs., and I offer all of them about 3-4 oz of food/ day.
If split up to 2 meals / day, the amount
per meal is about the size of a golf ball. My Papillons eat a "golf ball of about 2 OZ" in the morning, and, if not a bone meal, another golf ball, same size, in the late afternoon.
Puppies should get about 10 % of their weight, split up to
3-4 meals /day.
Here is a small book I can very much recommend reading. I
agree with the writer 100% and follow her directions.
It is also down-loadable
available to your devise (I Pad, Kindle)
Raw Meaty Bones (RMBs)
As far as meat with bones, I feed my dogs to the most part
 |
| Chicken Drumettes |
Drumettes (part of a chicken wing). They are a perfect one meal size of a small dog, and the bones will be eaten from my dogs, either all, or a big portion of it.
Chicken Drumsticks also work well. I cut some of the meat + skin of, and use it for another meal.
I also get beef back ribs, or pork ribs from the grocery store which serve as a "recreational bone". The bones last for several days, and keep the dogs, besides white teeth, entertained and happy.
Muscle Meat
Beef heart, Chicken Heart
Chicken, Turkey gizzards
Turkey,
Chicken,
Ground Beef,
Pork
Chicken Gizzards
Fish
all either ground, or chopped.
Organ Meat (5-10%)
Liver: beef, chicken
Kidney: beef, (ground)
X tras
Eggs, organic (we have laying hens!!)
Greek yogurt (Probiotics)
Cottage cheese
Shredded cheese
Bone broth
Supplements:
Please note, raw-meaty bones should be the primary source of calcium, but feeding the right bone to a 5 -7 Lbs. dog is somewhat complicated. If your diet does not include meaty bones, you must add calcium to your dog's meal. Sources of cottage cheese, and yogurt alone is not sufficient.
Simply dry out eggshells overnight, and grind them to a powder in a coffee grinder.
Half a teaspoon of ground eggshell provides approximately 900 milligrams of calcium, and should be served per pound of food.
Sea Vegetable
I added Seaweed
(Kelp) to my menu for my Papillons. Sea
Vegetables will be the only vegetable I will feed, as these plants are the best
sources for trace minerals, and are very easy to digest (unlikely other
vegetables) Maximum 1/4 teaspoon for small dog daily
Alfalfa (legume)
I get Alfalfa in a dried pellet form from the Feed + Seed
farm store. I grind the pellets to a fine powder in a coffee grinder, and I add
it just like the kelp.
I feed my dogs in the morning a meal consisting out of 2
different muscle meats (90%) the rest is divided up into dairy, raw egg, or 2
times /week an organ meat (only 5 % of the meal). Lately I have mixed a lesser
amount of organ meat to their meals, but a bit more frequent.
All of it gets mixed into one big mash, and it includes also
one scoop of Diatomaceous Earth (DE)
I always add to my morning menu a small amount of Alfalfa, Spirulina, and Kelp (a powdered mix) and in the evening they get finely shredded leafy vegetable added to their meats; also, only in small amounts.
At night they get a bone meal 2-3 times / week, the remaining days, I will feed them a similar meal as I serve in the morning.
Of course, if you have only a couple of dogs, you should
seek grass-fed animals, organic feeds, or try feeding buffalo, venison, or any other not so popular, and more
wild meat. Exposure to antibiotics, growth hormones, fertilizers, and all other
chemicals is a lot less in those animals' tissues than the popular chicken,
turkey, etc.
But if it is not affordable, the plain, basic raw meat diet is 100% better than any commercial
processed food.
Beef back ribs are also a fairly inexpensive item, in relation to all
those bones available in pet shops, which many of them have been basted,
painted, dipped in all kinds of chemicals to make them look better.
Offer bones, and you
will see bright, shiny teeth within a few weeks.
A great way to eliminate tooth scales at the vet, and
anesthesia, which Papillons are known to be highly sensitive to, and may never
recover from.
How to prepare for 1-, or 2 dogs? get different meats in larger quantities, chop, grind, and store in your freezer. Add the fresh ingredients, like yogurt, raw egg, or cottage cheese just before serving.
Here are friends' comments and photos of this. (She is the owner of 2 Papillons)
I store all my dog food and prep things in a rectangular container in my fridge (so Ron knows not to eat it - lol)
I use a plastic Ziplock type bag (or bowl) to thoroughly mix raw meat, DE, Alphalpha, probiotic (generic Forti Flora), 1-2 Tbsp of ground egg shells and a raw egg into. I put mixture into a square blue plastic Glad storage container. It lasts both my Pap's about 5 days.
I use plastic silverware to scoop into their bowls at feeding time. I will at times mix Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, shredded cheese, scrambled eggs, or warmed homemade bone broth into their bowls.
