Such thing as too much variety?

no, eating a wide variety of fresh foods is the key to good nutrition. it's not hard on their systems at all. People eat a wide variety of foods and do you feel it is "hard on your system" to do so? If you feed a dog nothing but one food all the time the digestive system gears itself towards ONLY digesting that one food and thus you create an artificially "delicate" digestive system, which is NOT good for the dog. Such dogs are likely to get sick when aunty comes to visit and slips the dog half her dinner, or die from pancreatitis after eating a hotdog. Your dogs, used to variety, can handle such things no problem.

Beejou

way more raw lamb and beef than I used to feed

   Just a word of caution; if you're feeding more than a few ounces of cooked or raw meat, you need to add calcium to balance the phosphorus at the rate of 250mg of calcium for every three and a half ounces of meat. When you feed raw meaty bones, the calcium in the bones balances the phosphorus in the meat, but that's not the case when meat is fed by itself. It may be a good idea to freeze the meat first, depending on your comfort level. Freezing kills toxoplasmosis;   http://www.crvetcenter.com/images/Newsletters/crvcnewsletterDec02p1.pdf;

"Toxoplasma gondii is a single-cell parasite that infects cats and dogs. Signs of infection
include neurologic disorders, muscle wasting (myositis), liver disease, and pneumonia
depending on the migration of the parasite.
Cats can transmit toxoplasma to humans and dogs who ingest cysts in the cat ***.
Recently an article in the New York Times reported that pregnant women are more
likely to acquire toxoplasmosis from eating undercooked meat than they are from handling
a cat. The Times article goes on to report that an estimated 8 percent of beef and
20 percent of lamb and pork contain the parasite. Pregnant women are advised to wear
gloves when digging in fecal-contaminated soil or when cleaning the cat’s litter pan to
avoid infection.
With more pet owners feeding natural diets (including raw meat) to their cat or dog, I
wondered if the hazard of toxoplasma infection included frozen meats. There are at
least a dozen manufacturers of raw frozen pet foods in this country, and most are
shipped frozen to consumers or retail outlets.
I contacted Dr. Arthur Liang, Director of Food Safety at the Center for Disease Control
to find out if freezing would destroy toxoplasma cysts in raw meat. According to Dr.
Liang’s contact, Dr. Dubey at USDA wrote: “cysts are killed by exposure to -12° C.”
(ref: Kotula et al, Journal of Food Protection 54:687-690, 1991).
Consumers can keep a thermometer in their freezer to determine what temperature their
food is stored at (-12° C = +10.4° F). Raw frozen pet food diets held at temperatures
above 10° F could potentially hold viable toxoplasma cysts. Toxoplasma and other
food-borne pathogens are destroyed by cooking the meat."

     In addition to links on nutrition already given to you, this one has a lot of helpful information; 
 http://www.petdiets.com/default.asp?Menu=FAQs&PageName=/faqs/default.asp
    The site is staffed by veterinary nutritionists.

all with fish oil and vitamin E.

   You may already know this, but only add small amounts of vitamin E;

10-25lbs dog 50-100 IU,

26-50 lbs    100-200 IU

51-80 lbs 200-300 IU

over 80 lbs 300-400 IU 

 It's great that your dogs can handle the variety.

Thanks for the info! Is it okay to use human grade calcium tablets and just grind it over the meat? I can do that no problem. I will also start freezing the meat (luckily almost all of it has been previously frozen) and I am sparing with the Vitamin E and fish oil. I don't know why I had the idea in my head that it's best to stick with one dry kibble and dry milk bones, and maybe very occasionally give a can of moist food. Common misconception I guess? Also I wondered if it is okay to grate fresh carrots/chop celery over their food? I am really starting to have fun with this! As a matter of fact, after more research on nutrition and of course, learning things like supplementing calcium with raw meat, I am going to get a food processor at Costco and try making my own! This has also been a positive nutrition change for ME personally, when I noticed a lot of what I eat had nothing but flour, corn meal, etc. I realized I wouldn't feed it to my dogs now, why would I eat it? So out went the pancake mix, corn bread mix, etc. Anyway, I'd appreciate it if someone could tell me what fresh veggies/fruits are good to add to a dogs diet. Thanks in advance :)

 I personally don't feed any veggies or fruit on a regular basis(as I sit here sharing a banana with my dog LOL) but if you do a google search of foods that are toxic to dogs you will come up with a good list.  Anything that isn't on the list is ok for dogs in moderation.  Carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, apples, bananas, you name it.

As for the Calcium tablets, I use them once in a while, but not often.  I try to make sure my dogs get enough bone to balance their phospherous, chicken necks have a high bone to meat ratio as compared to other cuts.  I feed them when I feel they are low on calcium.  Another thing you can do is grind up egg shells with a mortar and pestal, or buy bonemeal.

It is a common idea that dogs need to be on one type of food and thats it.  Its an idea sent to us courtosy of the, guess who?  The dog food companies.  Why?  So you will only buy their product.  They don't make much money off people that only buy a bag every few months cause their dogs are eating so much fresh food.  I haven't had a bag of dog food in my house for months. 

Congrats on you new found knowledge and welcome to the world of dog nutrition fanatics!

Ohh, I bet your dogs are just thrilled with the new variety! It's great, for them.

You can get calcium powder at the health food store, or you can get Solid Gold bone meal at the pet supply store. You can also dry and grind the shells of the eggs your dogs are eating. Egg shells are calcium carbonate. For egg shells, I think it's 1/2 teaspoon per lb of meat, so not much at all. You can use a coffee grinder (that hasn't been used for coffee) to grind the egg shells. I used that, for a looooong time.

Emma has a big sweet tooth. She likes a bit of baked sweet potato, with cinnamon on it. YUM! She is also a big fan of broccoli. Veggies are good for adding bulk without calories, and insoluble fiber. If you pulp them, completely, or cook and mash them, the dogs can get some of the vitamins in them. Many dogs will do backflips for bits of apple or banana, as well.  

Beejou

!Is it okay to use human grade calcium tablets and just grind it over the meat?

   Yes; I use NOW calcium carbonate in powdered form.

Beejou

I am really starting to have fun with this! As a matter of fact, after more research on nutrition and of course, learning things like supplementing calcium with raw meat, I am going to get a food processor at Costco and try making my own

  I cook part of Jessie's food too, but I use recipes from a booklet by Monica Segal, an animal nutritionist. If you're only cooking a small amount of food for a kibble topper, you don't need to worry much about balance, but if you plan on cooking more than that, it's very important that you feed your dogs a properly balanced diet. Here's a link to her website;  http://www.monicasegal.com/, and a link to her recipe booklet;   http://www.monicasegal.com/catalog/product.php?cPath=25_26&products_id=87   The booklet is about $7.00.

  Petdiets.com  has veterinary nutritionists  who will formulate balanced home cooked diets  for you;      https://www.petdiets.com/CustomDiet/default.asp

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