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Ideas on how you keep your floors clean for a PMR fed dog.

This is a dedicated place for all of your questions and answers about Raw Diets. There are also some really cool groups like "Raw Fed" on the topic you can join. This forum is for people who already know they like the raw diet or sincerely want to learn more. Please remember that you are receiving advice from peers and not professionals. If you have specific health-related questions about your dog's diet, please contact your vet!

  
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Member Since
02/02/2013		 
 
Barked: Sat Feb 2, '13 10:25am PST 
Hi. I am half a kibble bag away from starting PMR for my 3 dogs. I got the cooler, got the meats and meat sources, got the feeding schedule (I've been researching on and off for the better part of 2012)...

But, my only problem now is how to feed the dogs so I can minimize the mess they leave on the floor. I don't want to feed outside as 2 of my dogs are English Bulldogs and it can get too hot or too cold for them outside. The EBs don't have crates. Currently, they eat on stainless steel bowls that I put on a rug as the 2 EBs have a way of getting kibbles in their drooping jowls that gets scattered as they eat. So, they just eat the kibbles off the rug after their bowls get empty. I have laminate wood-looking floors.

I'm thinking of training the dogs to eat their meat off the bowls but in my "raw feed tests" the EBs always seem to take the meat out of the bowl and chew it outside the bowl, oftentimes with their paws holding the stuff. I don't want to use the rug for this because the rug is tougher to sanitize, so I'm thinking of cutting up tarps to use as rugs and wiping down the tarp with HCl after a meal. I don't know if this a good idea.

I also have a bichon with all that white fluffy hair. He is a "hair freak" that he doesn't even eat off a bowl. He eats his kibbles off a pan so his hair would't touch the sides of the bowl. I have found in my "raw feed tests" that he will not eat the meat unless I'm holding the thing and then he'll take bites at it "ladylike". He left the bone untouched after he ate the meat. Any ideas on how to feed this kind of dog?

So, I'm asking you guys how you feed your dogs PMR (or how you think I should feed my dogs PMR) to give me some more ideas.

Thank you very much.
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Kolbe

Where can I run- today?		 
 
Barked: Sat Feb 2, '13 11:13am PST 
I trained mine to eat on a towel. I also sometimes feed outside or in the garage. Towel training is good though...then you throw said towel in the washing machine. Mine gets done about weekly.

Edited by author Sat Feb 2, '13 11:14am PST

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Maxwell

I'm triple- superior MAD- now!		 
 
Barked: Sat Feb 2, '13 11:37am PST 
I can gate off a short tiled hallway for Max. Then I go over the floor with a vinegar soaked rag to clean any mess. He will leave bits of bone and meat juice behind, not great at cleaning up after himself that one. You could try tethering them in a corner so they have to stay on the towel and gradually wean them from it. You could use an xpen with the mat under it and gradually fold up the xpen. I love the idea of feeding in the bath or shower, a quick wipe up and rinse and done but haven't needed to try that. Some dogs can eat in the crate, seems a bit confining to me but you could try it.

Remember raw food is very high value and the dogs could get possessive so plan to feed them far apart at first and always supervise. If you haven't been try practicing good meal time manners and trading so they are familiar with waiting to eat until cued to do so, losing and getting food items back. I really like the xpen as if I need to get something away from a possessive dog I can distract with a goodie and move the xpen over the problem item. The dogs I have used with an xpen seem to understand that it is keeping trouble away so they don't need to snark about a dog wandering 'innocently' by.

I know what you mean about needing to move around. Max usually moves quite a bit if eating something interesting like a beef rib, boring chicken he can crunch on the spot though.

I imagine offering stuff your little fluffy dog can just pick up, crunch and swallow would work best at first. I like using a dish I can put some water in but if she needs a flat plate then that is fine. Many raw feeders don't use a dish at all, just give the meal to the dog and crunch-crunch-down the hatch it goes. Max only uses his feet for really special meals and can do quite a bit bracing bony stuff between the ground and his muzzle. You might look into a snood and long legged t shirts to keep most of the rest clean. Or sacrifice some fuzz and keep her short enough that you can wipe her clean until you figure it out.
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Cookie

the chi-weenie		 
 
Barked: Sat Feb 2, '13 1:37pm PST 
I've tried multiple things with my small dog.
I've done the rug (ew)
I've done the food mat (yuck)
I've done the bathtub (ew)
and outside (uhg)

I also did newspaper, which I liked, but it was hard to keep her on it.

and now I've got her eating it out of an oversized ceramic bowl. She's pretty good at this. If she happens to take it out, I tell her to 'get her food' and 'put it in' and she puts it back in because she knows those commands.

She eats boneless beef, organs, and chicken necks out of the bowl without any problem. I'm soon going to try giving her bigger bones that she can't just eat in two seconds, so it will be harder to stay in the bowl, but I think she's good enough to eat the meat off in the bowl and then I'd allow her to take the bone to somewhere else in the house. If the weather's nice, I'll put her outside with it.

I think the easiest thing to do would be to block off a section of tiled floor and then mop or wipe the area with bleach or whatever solution after they eat. Maybe put a smooth matt down on the area if you'd rather clean that than the floor.
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UCH Onyx TT

Do you even- lift?
 
 
Barked: Sat Feb 2, '13 5:38pm PST 
When I feed inside, I use the same method as Kolbe. Was pretty easy to teach him to keep his food on a towel. If he moved it off, I just placed it back on the towel. After a couple repetitions, he figured out that's where I wanted him to eat.

That does require that the dog allow you to pick up their food though, and since like Max said, raw is very high value, some dogs aren't going to be okay with that, especially ones new to the diet. If your dog(s) won't let you touch their food, the tethering or x-pen idea are a good ones.

I don't use a bowl unless feeding something quite liquid, like egg or really bloody liver. Most dogs will take a raw item that requires any chewing out of a bowl to eat it.
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Crash- Dynamite

Live up to your- Name!		 
 
Barked: Sat Feb 2, '13 6:05pm PST 
We feed outside, but occasionally, when Crash eats in the house, he does it in his kennel
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Bellatrix

Crazy Ball'O Fur		 
 
Barked: Sat Feb 2, '13 8:43pm PST 
Bella's trained to eat on a large glass cutting board, we have carpeting in our kitchen (Who came up that stupid idea?!?!) so it's very important to keep the floors clean. I just bought a large glass cutting board, and trained her to keep her food on that, it was quite easy. I simply just sat with her while eating, if she moved the raw off the glass or close to off the glass, I'd redirect her back to the center. After a few times she got the hint and kept her food on the glass. All I do is make sure to watch her while eating (Which should be done anyway, just in case the dog has problems with a bone or something) a sometimes she will get it a tiny bit off the plate then remembers to go back to the center, in that case I just take note of it and spray some vinegar on it. Then after she's done eating, I just wash down the glass with some vinegar (I'm very anti harmful chemicals and use vinegar for all cleaning, it's works amazing!)`
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Member Since
02/02/2013		 
 
Barked: Sat Feb 2, '13 8:48pm PST 
I'm going to try the towel idea first. Than you very much for your suggestions!

I've gotten good with the dogs. The EBs are known for resource guarding food so I've been through that with the kibbles. I can put my hand over the bowl when they do this crazy EB habit of gulping their food down like they haven't eaten in years causing them to swallow a lot of air. They can eat side by side but they're not allowed to stick their nose in another dog's bowl. EBs can be quite stubborn too. They basically taught me how to be a better trainer. Lol.

I just fed them today and realized I have at most 4 days worth of kibbles left... I'm starting to get really nervous. My dogs are in excellent health and I'm really only switching to raw because that's how my mom raised all our dogs in Asia and all her dogs rarely go to the vet. The EBs are so prone to health issues that I want to go with what I know is a tried and true nutrition.
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Member Since
02/02/2013		 
 
Barked: Sat Feb 2, '13 8:55pm PST 
Hmmm. The glass cutting board might be a better idea for my purposes. I have a dishwasher that has the sanitize setting that I use for my human food cutting boards. The only downside is it won't fit in their travel bag. But it might be easier than bringing a ton of towels.
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Bellatrix

Crazy Ball'O Fur		 
 
Barked: Sun Feb 3, '13 1:49am PST 
If you want to use the towels while on trips, and the glass plate at home, you can just teach them to keep their food on both, I did this with Bella just in case we need to go somewhere. I just first had her learn how to do it on the glass plate, and then did the same for the towel, she got the second one really quickly, because she already knew what it meant when I redirected her and her food back into the center, so it only took a few tries before she got the gist that it was the same thing, just on a different object.
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