# Raw Diet Pet Foods?



## apocalypse910 (Jul 28, 2012)

I know that in general dog food is a very bad choice for tegus but I was wondering how people felt about some of the raw diet specialty frozen dog foods. I don't believe that any pre-packaged foods are suitable as a complete diet but I was considering adding it to the food rotation for some variety. 

http://www.answerspetfood.com/products.html

The ingredients look fairly good especially the chicken one and the meat is not heat treated in any way. 

The rough ingredient list -
meat, organ meat, ground bone, eggs, vegetables, fish oil, montmorillonite, Kombucha, and natural trace minerals.

Just curious to get some thoughts on the food for intermittent use.


----------



## chelvis (Jul 28, 2012)

I use Bravo sometimes, its just ground meat, bone and organ meat. Some has fruits and veggie in it.


----------



## Dana C (Jul 28, 2012)

Actually there are a handful of frozen raw foods that are great if you can find them. I don't know the names right off hand but I visited a couple of web sites a while back. Some of them give you a choice of base meats including chicken, turkey, venison, duck, goose, quail, rabbit, fish, beef, lamb and more. They also contain fruits, vegetables, and NO grain or other fillers. It is however VERY expensive and not readily available in many or most localities.
Bravo is a good one as Chelvis said.


----------



## Dubya (Jul 29, 2012)

Usually, those frozen pet foods are more expensive than their human equivalents. Look at the ingredients in dog cookies. They are the exact same thing as Pathmark vanilla creme cookies, sugar and all. Dog ice cream too. For my money, I buy stuff on sale, mix up a big batch, then vacuum seal it in portions good enough for several days each. I thaw out one at a time and put it on a tupperware container in the fridge labeled TEGU so nobody fries it and eats it.


----------



## chelvis (Jul 29, 2012)

Human ground meat is just meat and fat. The ones made for dog food (at least the good ones) have organ meat, bone, some with fur and fruits and veggies. I just read through the ingerant list to make sure there is nothing that I don't like feeding my tegus (like corn and potatoes) or stuff that I don't know what it is. This is not a bulk of the diet as it does not have nearly enough binding agents or fiber to keep stools from being runny. Right now summer diet is bravo rabbit and chicken, small/med rats, fish, fresh berries, chicken/duck necks and some fresh greens. If I had a meat grinder I could make my own as we get rabbits and chickens donated all the time at work.


----------



## Dubya (Jul 29, 2012)

chelvis said:


> Human ground meat is just meat and fat. The ones made for dog food (at least the good ones) have organ meat, bone, some with fur and fruits and veggies. I just read through the ingerant list to make sure there is nothing that I don't like feeding my tegus (like corn and potatoes) or stuff that I don't know what it is. This is not a bulk of the diet as it does not have nearly enough binding agents or fiber to keep stools from being runny. Right now summer diet is bravo rabbit and chicken, small/med rats, fish, fresh berries, chicken/duck necks and some fresh greens. If I had a meat grinder I could make my own as we get rabbits and chickens donated all the time at work.



If you work at an animal rescue, I'd keep it quiet about the meat grinder.


----------



## chelvis (Jul 29, 2012)

Nope wildlife conservation center with wolves. All the chicken and rabbits are dead and frozen and used a wolf food.


----------



## Dana C (Jul 29, 2012)

If you have a good size blender it will work great to grind everything up. I have a large Cuisinart which I use a lot. I paid around $150 or a little more but it is worth it.
Occasionally, feed the poultry or whatever in chunks just for something different.


----------



## tommylee22 (Jul 29, 2012)

chelvis said:


> Human ground meat is just meat and fat. The ones made for dog food (at least the good ones) have organ meat, bone, some with fur and fruits and veggies. I just read through the ingerant list to make sure there is nothing that I don't like feeding my tegus (like corn and potatoes) or stuff that I don't know what it is. This is not a bulk of the diet as it does not have nearly enough binding agents or fiber to keep stools from being runny. Right now summer diet is bravo rabbit and chicken, small/med rats, fish, fresh berries, chicken/duck necks and some fresh greens. If I had a meat grinder I could make my own as we get rabbits and chickens donated all the time at work.



Here is where I ordered my Tegu(Biggin) some food. He's never ate turkey and eggs the way he eats quail eggs and whole rabbit!! check these guys out I highly recomend their food.

https://www.hare-today.com/


----------



## apocalypse910 (Jul 29, 2012)

tommylee22 said:


> chelvis said:
> 
> 
> > Human ground meat is just meat and fat. The ones made for dog food (at least the good ones) have organ meat, bone, some with fur and fruits and veggies. I just read through the ingerant list to make sure there is nothing that I don't like feeding my tegus (like corn and potatoes) or stuff that I don't know what it is. This is not a bulk of the diet as it does not have nearly enough binding agents or fiber to keep stools from being runny. Right now summer diet is bravo rabbit and chicken, small/med rats, fish, fresh berries, chicken/duck necks and some fresh greens. If I had a meat grinder I could make my own as we get rabbits and chickens donated all the time at work.
> ...




Yeah I almost put an order in with them the other day but wasn't quite ready to buy 5 pounds of food in a go. When he is a bit older and goes through more food I plan to start using them as my main source. They seem to be the only place with reasonably priced baby quail - and their raw pet foods is what made me start looking for sources of bone-in ground meat in the first place. They do look like an excellent source - thanks!


----------



## Dana C (Jul 30, 2012)

I just looked at the web site and I would feed most of their foods to my lizards.


----------



## apocalypse910 (Aug 3, 2012)

Well I think the food I got is pretty healthy but he doesn't really like it all that much. It is also a pain to portion out frozen. By the time I get it on to the plate it is mush and he won't eat more than a few bites of it at a time. 

I just broke down and bought ground duck, salmon, beef, and turkey with organs and bones mixed in as well as whole baby quail from hare-today. That place is dangerous.


----------

