Defrosting Raw Food!

[Bonnie]

I've had my Nature's Variety thawing in the fridge for about 17 hours and it's still hard & my puggies are hungry! What can I do?? This is my first time feeding raw.

[pugtown]

I usually thaw mine on the top shelf of the frig (farthest from the freezer and the air circulator between the frig & freezer) and it still takes 24 hours. I would just wait (they will be ok) or go ahead and give them a snack or just feed what you would normally feed and serve the raw at the next meal. And then pull another one out to thaw.

[pugtown]

Do you mean this is the first time ever your dog has eaten raw?? I had to transition to raw, it wasn't instantaneous. I'm not sure how others have started feeding raw. I first started giving my dogs just a bite or two as a treat when I first started. I have 4 dogs so 1 patty worked out just fine between the 4 of them. Then I gradually gave them a little more. Then I put some in their kibble meal. And then it was probably a week or so before they ate a whole raw meal by itself.

I tried giving a foster dog just 2 bites of raw one time and he just threw it up.

[ashbee03]

Not sure if this okay or not, but I have done this & haven't had any issues. I just actually posted my own thread asking if this was okay, but I have zapped the patties in the microwave on a defrost setting for about 45 seconds & it speeds up the process greatly. Not sure if its good, but stay tuned on my other thread & maybe someone will answer.

[snowsprite]

I leave the next morning's frozen patty thawing on the stove the night before, with plastic wrap on it to keep it from drying out. The meat doesn't sit out long enough to become dangerous or anything.
I take the evening's meat patty out to thaw on the stove before I go to work. I find it takes a couple of days to thaw a few 1/4lb patties, and sometimes I'm forgetful about taking it out 2-3 days beforehand to begin thawing. I find it helps to re-pack the patties in 1 or 2 day portions, in plastic containers or freezer bags.
I have thawed patties in the microwave. I know it's not the best answer, but I figure it's better than giving kibble....although I've never tried to defrost fully frozen patties, just half-thawed ones.
I keep a few cans of high-quality dog food on hand for days when I really miss the boat.

[6 Beautiful Pugs]

I feed 7 patties per day to my bunch. After I feed the evening meal, I put all 7 frozen patties for the next day into a ziploc bag and put it on the top shelf of the fridge. In the morning they are still mostly frozen, but I can break them up by hand. I then break up each dog's portions into smaller chunks with my hands and then flood with water. The water finishes the thawing process. If I forget to take some out, I will nuke them one at a time on the defrost setting of the microwave, but not until fully defrosted, just so they are soft enough I can break them.

Take care,
Lisa

[AbbyGus]

We warm the guy's chicken up in a bowl of hot water for about ten minutes before feeding it..they don't seem to like it cold.

I think a defrost setting on the microwave will be just fine. Even if the edges get cooked a little it doesn't seem to me like it would be that big a deal.

We keep rotating in frozen packages to a bowl in the fridge so they are thawed by the time we need them.

[Bonnie]

I'm actually thinking about using Honest Kitchen... seems easier yet still very beneficial!

[mick66]

I do not feed raw, but from what I've read here in this thread, if moving patties from the freezer to the fridge today for tomorrow wasn't soon enough for a full thaw I'd be two days ahead and just have twice as much in the fridge. That way even if I forgot one day, I could more easily make do with what I have.