"Phasing in" chicken wings

[Nuffi]

So, very slowly I am introducing more raw food into Jerry's diet (it's more a question of getting OH used to the idea  ). So we got a large pack of chicken wings this weekend.

Currently, Jerry gets two meals a day. Each meal consists of half of a 12.5 can of what I hope is a halfway decent canned food, and a smallish handful of dry food as "second" course; in the mornings he also gets carrots (Oweo, if anyone has heard of that). Jerry is a fairly large cocker, 45 cm and weighing around 17-18 kilos, 3 years old, not too thin, not overweight; just seems right. ( Avid eater, too, to say the least  )

Can I replace one of these meals, i.e. the evening one, with one chicken wing instead? These wings seemed surprisingly big to me, even cut in 3 parts they make rather large chunks. Or would that be a much greater calorie intake?

[Annette]

Buddy who is a little smaller than your fella usually has three chicken wings for a meal.

In my experience, if I cut them us small, he is much more likely to just swallow them. Whereas if I leave them whole he will chew them. What you can do for a beginner is smash them a bit with a hammer!

Yes, you can replace one meal with raw. Just be careful not to mix raw and cooked in the same meal as they take different times to digest apparently.

[Nicola]

Alfie is somewhere between 15 and 16kg and he has 5 medium or 4 large chicken wings for one meal, he's very lean though and I have to feed him a lot just to maintain some condition on him. Rodaidh is about 13kg and he has 3 medium or 2 large wings so I think your boy would need at least 3 wings to one meal.

[Nuffi]

Oh, ok. Thanks! (Jerry will be pleased: more chicken wings it is!).  But these wings just looked so enormous; definitely more meat / heavier than half a can of food... maybe it's a different type of wing? Has anyone ever weighed their average chicken wing?

[Rhona W]

Has anyone ever weighed their average chicken wing?

No! No! And Never! 

But at a guess mine have about 250gms worth of chicken wings for one meal. 

OK. So I have weighed them. 

[Annette]

Oh, ok. Thanks! (Jerry will be pleased: more chicken wings it is!).  But these wings just looked so enormous; definitely more meat / heavier than half a can of food... maybe it's a different type of wing? Has anyone ever weighed their average chicken wing?

Could they be albatross wings?

[Helen]

Jarv gets 3 small wings or 2 large wings and that is fine for him 

[mac]

fuse get 2 chicken wings.  the first time i gave him them i was a bit worried he might get some bone stuck etc, but he took the wing and ate it whole unsmashed with a hammer and really loves the chicken wings.  he only fed part raw chicken wings tripe and bones from the butcher with burns .  i was very apprehensive about raw feeding but he loves it there is so much advice here.  imust say his coat is fab and his teeth are great i don't have to brush them.  im a raw convert .

[screamingswifts]

Fargo weighs around 16kg and would have usually have 2 big wings for an evening meal. He puts weight on quiet easily though....I would feed 3 and see how his weight goes - it's easy enough to cut down a bit if he starts porking out

[SimonandMandy]

I wouldn't worry about smashing with hammer - I was apprehensive about chicken wings but Harvey at 10 weeks has just had his 3rd day with these with absolutely no problem at all.  I have stayed whilst he ate these given his age and am amazed at how quick how quick he inhales them - he is pretty quick with trip but chicken wings win!  Now just to get him to eat some veges at the same rate...

[Nuffi]

Jerry has been getting 2 wings for the past evenings now (I still think they are big - did check though: it certainly says "chicken", not albatross  ).

He's not too impressed tbh, staring at this bowl with an "oooh--keeey?" look when I put them in. I have to cut each up in 3 pieces, and then he will gingerly chew/crunch them at length. Then he will stare at me for minutes with the "alright, and where is my usual food?" - attitude    I think I will keep it up though.

[clairep4]

You could try flash frying them to encourage him (so you just slightly cook the skin so it smells better, but the meat/bone is still raw), as this can help sometimes. Try doing that and then feeding it whole rather than chopped so he has something to get his teeth into, as they usually quite like the actual crunching up bit. It can take them a few goes to get the hang of it though - Bella used to swallow hers whole at the start and inevitably bring them up again to have a second go... 

Zorro who's about 10-11kg gets 2 chicken wings for breakfast and they usually weigh around 100g per wing (I've weighed a few as Bella only needs 100g so I often have to chop the end bit off hers).

[Nuffi]

You could try flash frying them to encourage him (so you just slightly cook the skin so it smells better, but the meat/bone is still raw), as this can help sometimes. Try doing that and then feeding it whole rather than chopped so he has something to get his teeth into, as they usually quite like the actual crunching up bit. It can take them a few goes to get the hang of it though - Bella used to swallow hers whole at the start and inevitably bring them up again to have a second go... 

Zorro who's about 10-11kg gets 2 chicken wings for breakfast and they usually weigh around 100g per wing (I've weighed a few as Bella only needs 100g so I often have to chop the end bit off hers).

Great advice, thanks!!