#feeding raw

I often supplement my pets’ diets with raw (usually cooked meats, but I do give raw eggs after washing the shell off first). Where are some good sources of information for properly supplementing a pet’s diet, or how to properly switch to raw completely and make sure they pets are getting all the nutrients they need to thrive? My dog is currently on Zignature (which she loves), the cats bounce back and forth from Orijen, Instinct, and Taste of the WIld (their current kibble), and the ferrets are on Instinct (they do very well on it). I don’t want to stop feeding kibble completely just yet, but I would really like to do more research and become knowledgeable about feeding raw so that I don’t make mistakes. I usually cook the meat because I am unbelievably paranoid about parasites (veterinary field will do that to you)....and I always freeze and thaw the meat before cooking and feeding. Right now, it has been salmon once a week (boneless, and thoroughly cooked), and a raw egg on a different day once a week for both cats and the dog (ferrets are a little pickier, haha, and I’ve had a harder time getting them to take to soupies). 

Sonia had her first raw meal today! Because of her teeth problems I'm trying my best to ease her into chewing, so for now (four days more I think, at least that's how many meals I have prepared already) I'll give her fully ground meals. Then we'll switch to only having the bones ground and the meat cut up in pieces, and then gradually make the pieces bigger and hopefully include some whole bone (chicken backs or necks, this kind of stuff. Nothing too hard or big.) eventually.

She pleasantly surprised me and ate her food within five minutes of it touching the ground and I'm amazingly happy about it! She hasn't eaten a meal straight away in YEARS. She's usually a slow and picky eater and acts like eating is a chore (largely due to her teeth being in bad condition) although she used to be a food-obsessed gulper when young. Let's hope she continues to enjoy the new food and other meats I'll be adding into her diet at a later date, and that it helps her feel better :) 

I'm also going to slowly increase her meal size once she's eating full PMR because I would like her to put on a little bit more weight. For now though we'll stay on a maintenance amount as I've found with Mariko it's easier for dogs to digest smaller meals at first. (in Mari's case it prevented diarrhea altogether, so I hope for similar results now)

And that means raw very soon! I doubt I'll give her a full meal tomorrow, she's a stubborn old lady and not likely to eat unfamiliar stuff right away (although she was given various pieces of raw over the last few weeks to get used to the taste and enjoyed most of them... except raw chicken meat. Which she's ALWAYS begged for when we made dinner. WTF, dog?) so I can bet my ass she'll be feeling rebellious and not eat.

I'll still offer her some food of course, but yeah, I'm not too hopeful because she really is a stubborn old fart :P