I think I'll have to, it's weird like a buttery smell? :smt078

Thing is her breath smells of it too!

Bet it won`t be round long enough for you to get a sniff of Or you could put 1 of those little masks on while you put it in her bowl but the best way to give her nice breath is by sprinkling a few chopped herbs over it such as mint, parsley, thyme, rosemary etc

And thats the thing with the ch/wings at puppy age, they do keep them occupied, as would a nice meaty rib or marrow bone

You could add a little chopped fresh parsley to the mince or, if you don't object to the smell of garlic, rub a cut clove around the inside of her food bowl

Yeah that's definitely true, after finishing her own food she goes round the other twos dishes to see if they've anything left!

I'll give the herb thing a try, my Mam grows them in the garden so they'll be easily accessible.

Will also try the garlic SB, it's supposed to be good for them anyway isn't it?

Yes it is Start off with a little sliver of it crushed, every other day or so & in between times rubbed round her bowl like S/B suggests

great stuff your mam growing them herself

To get an idea of storage vicki until I get another freezer we are currently using about 4 1/2 drawers to store stuff. We get one order once a month from the butchers wholesaler delivered to our front door...We order in tripe as and when and the rest comes from the store (mostly chicken wings and mince from the store) We get in the biggest part of the order (from wholesalers) first, see what space we have left and buy the rest as and when throughout the month.

To give you an idea of menu: a week may be like this:

whole half a chicken...
Breast of lamb...
Ox tail...
a couple days of meat only meals, which can obviously include any meat also heart and tripe and tin fish (heart and tripe i include as meat, they are organs but muscles none the less) I also include eggs in the meat only part of the diet, without the shells (I allow them to have the shells sometimes if they are having a few boneless meals, but not all the time as you dont want to over do calcium)...
a day of combined chicken wing and meat meals
...and another day of maybe some whole fresh fish in one meal and meat in another. All days include offal = liver / kidney etc.

Try to vary the animal meats come from. Dont overdose them on the bone and maybe keep a little note of what you are giving them to see how they are going on it and to check you are varying the diet enough.

Once you get used to it, it is so easy.

The best way I would say to get started to anyone...chop a chicken into an appropriate days food for an adult dog and hand it to it and watch. For a puppy chop it into meal size portions and feed till its gone...You have then tried your first meat and can check it off the list and try others.

Simplicity is best to start with for you and the dogs...but I wouldnt worry about weaning them off the kibble and trying to do kibble / real food meals...for most dogs the way the two digest differently causes more problems then it prevents doing it that way. My dogs had there last bowl of kibble one meal and just went straight on to raw no probs. Just introduce the diff meats etc carefully is all.

...but yes..change to raw...you wont regret it...especially clearing up after them

Have to say I think Isla has decided for me. Gave her a chicken thigh for the first time the other night expecting her to have a go, but play with it mostly. She ate the whole thing in 15 minutes!!!!

She's going to be a little porker!

Thanks for your replies everyone. Extra thanks to Mys - such a detailed answer

As mentioned, I do have a storage problem, so feeding raw may not be possible from a cost angle, but the *kids* sure are enjoying their wings...