If you've ever sat down to work out a recipe for your raw fed pet, then the chances of you sitting there trying to calculate how much muscle meat is on the raw meaty bone (RMB) are probably very high. It is also possible that many of you reading this right now, are not even aware that you are supposed to factor the muscle meat on your RMBs, into the muscle meat portion of a raw meal for your pet...
While this is not a post discussing how to balance the amount of bone or muscle meat fed in a species appropriate raw diet, I did want to take some time to share my "bone percentage spreadsheet" with my fellow raw feeders!
Not all RMBs are created equal. It is your responsibility to feed the appropriate bones to your pet!
That means feeding ribs from appropriate animals & in pairs (or groups of 3+), steering clear of weight bearing bones (like knuckles or femurs from cows or pigs etc...save those for some diy bone broth!), but it also means selecting appropriately sized RMBs for your pet.
For instance, while chicken drumsticks may be a "safe" raw meaty bone to feed, my dog, Nolo, is a "smol boi." Feeding him a drumstick, turkey wing, or even a pig foot could potentially lead to a chipped/cracked tooth or even worse complications, so instead of taking the risk, I choose to err on the side of caution when feeding RMBs. This narrows my selection to bones like duck or chicken feet & necks, duck wings, chicken heads, rabbit bones, quail etc...
If you head on over to my Instagram Highlights, under my "Sourcing" highlight, the first 4 slides go over appropriate and safe to feed- RMBs, and I also share some general guidelines for what cuts count towards muscle meat versus secreting organs, and some safe seafood options!
With that being said, if you didn't already know, I live for structure, organisation & any chance I get to colour-code something! So, below, you will find my personal "bone-to-muscle meat-percentage" spreadsheet!
**IMPORTANT NOTE**
Remember the nutrient content in every RMB varies. Substituting one for another may impact the nutrient breakdown of your recipe, so be sure to do your research before swapping out bones in a balanced recipe!
Nutritional data can be found on the United States Department of Agriculture FoodData Search site!
In some instances, external resources are required when gathering the nutritional data on some raw meaty bones because they are not listed on the usda's site. I have personally purchased additional reading materials that detail animal/canine nutrition and provide specifics on some RMBs. If available to you, Monica Segal's books are one source that can provide such information to you as well!
Hope this was helpful to some!
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