[perfectly]

Hi all!,

My dog gets fed lathams dry food everyday and i try to give him some meat and left overs with his evening feed to make it more exciting! When i go to the supermarket i pick up any reduced meat or fish to give him that night, is it better to cook it for him as he isn't used to it? or is it more nutritious for him raw?

So far i have only given it to him cooked or at least partially cooked and its only steak that has given him an upset tum.

Should i stick with what i am doing or should i make a point of giving him raw meat with every meal so he gets used to it? thanks.

[CorkyMax]

I feed both raw and home cooked--no commercial dog food. Do not feed raw fish--unless you know if it is from cold waters--warm water fish have a parasite/fluke that can be dangerous for your dog! Pork is another meat not to feed raw---can have a worm--trichinosis that is bad for your dog too. I don't give bones at all. I use to feed raw chicken necks but stopped as I just wasn't that comfortable with it. If I could afford an expensive grinder, I would go back to the raw necks and other raw chicken bones. And NEVER feed any cooked bones--these are dried out and splinter--deadly to feed. Steak bones are just too sharp even raw.

Here is a link to a thread I did in this forum a while back that I hope you will check out. It is long but important and I'll bet there are at least several things you didn't know about--It is on food and other things that are hazardous to your dog: Foods that are hazardous to a dog

I am curious--Why do you have a link called Dog Food in your signature? Are you 'advertising' that site?

[threenorns]

i only feed my dog raw food - not fish, because it's so revolting when he belches; and not pork, because it makes him fart.


trichinosis is old school. in north america, less than a dozen cases a year and most of those are from wild game. the pork is manufactured and processed, highly unlikely to be contaminated.

i give him raw chicken with the bones all the time - chicken quarters, though: necks and backs don't have enough meat and he ends up pooping out cement pellets. raw bone is not a problem - it's not sharp and splintery, it's actually fibrous. when the dog chews it, the bone (in spite of the noise) more accurately separates, rather than splinters. cooking the bone tempers it and that's when you get the razor-sharp shards.

i absolutely do not feed him commercial food. when we lived in the middle of the bush, i couldn't afford to feed it to him - ran me min $135/mo bec he'd chew through a big bag every 10days. rec'd feeding 1-3/4c left him a rack of bones; he ended up closer to 3c a day just to maintain body weight. cheaper to feed him steak from the discount bin at the grocery store (more practical, too, as we eat them too).

[sandra0606]

Raw meat is great for dogs and they love it too. You should incorporate raw meat in your dog's diet. It has the following benefits

1. cleaner teeth
2. shinier coat
3. higher energy level
4. small stools

[threenorns]

speaking of poop: cleanup is a breeze!

first off, very little odour. you practically have to be face-down in it before you smell anything.

does not stick to your shoes - it's crumbly, not sticky.

leave it on the grass - it isn't acidic so it doesn't leave dead yellow spots (the urine is less acidic, too)

once it dries up and turns white, just smack it with a shovel or stomp on it with a rubber boot - it turns into a puff of white powder that's actually pretty good for the grass, being as it's mostly calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus.

[Gtmac]

I just started feeding my dog my "home made" dog food. No more commercial dog food for me. When I went to the grocery store and talked to the butcher I had plenty of questions (especially since I have been a vegetarian for 20 years and just started eating chicken myself). I wanted to incorporate raw and cooked meat but he told me to always cook the meat so as not to possibly have my dogs get worms. Is this something I should be worried about with beef or chicken ever? Also is it ok to feed raw eggs to my dogs?
Thanks, Tina

[Lunareclipse]

Originally Posted by Gtmac

I just started feeding my dog my "home made" dog food. No more commercial dog food for me. When I went to the grocery store and talked to the butcher I had plenty of questions (especially since I have been a vegetarian for 20 years and just started eating chicken myself). I wanted to incorporate raw and cooked meat but he told me to always cook the meat so as not to possibly have my dogs get worms. Is this something I should be worried about with beef or chicken ever? Also is it ok to feed raw eggs to my dogs?
Thanks, Tina

Raw eggs is great for doggies. You don't have to worry about worms if you keep up with worm preventative. The only worm to worry about in beef is the pin worm and that is more likely to effect humans because we can't digest them. Dogs have a natural immunity to salmonella so they can eat that raw without any problems bones and all. You have to debone it if you cook it. Cooked chicken bones are dangerous for dogs, while raw bones are completely digestible. I would suggest you feed the meat and bones completely raw if you can. They get the most nutrition out of it that way.

And incorporate tripe as part of their diet when you feed raw so they can get trace nutrients from that. Feed it twice a week.

[Gtmac]

What exactly is worm preventative? The heart worm pills my vet gave me? And not sure what tripe is either. I live in upstate ny and our supermarkets are somewhat limited.

[Lunareclipse]

Originally Posted by Gtmac

What exactly is worm preventative? The heart worm pills my vet gave me? And not sure what tripe is either. I live in upstate ny and our supermarkets are somewhat limited.

You can get tripe at your local wal-mart. I use diatomaceous earth to prevent my dogs from getting worms, but a simple dewormer from the vet will take care of the most common and dangerous ones.

Heart worm is for a different type of worm. you can get liquid wormer too from the pet store, but I'm not sure how effective those are. I use holistic DE for my pooches and kitties and don't get worms.

[CorkyMax]

green tripe :: nutrition :: raw food for your dogs and cats :: truecarnivores.com You don't want the 'bleached' The nutrients are in the raw green tripe. Put dogs tripe in your browser if you want to search for more on this--I don't think this link I gave you here goes into enough detail!

I think I have seen it at my Walmart but it isn't green--It is bleached. Prob have a hard time finding what is called green. I have never had any---yuck-NOT for me--(Was looking for my dogs!) but I was interested a long time back because I couldn't find the right kind which I think is very gross and smelly--Don't think a human would even eat the green kind and prob. why I didn't find it! LOL--I wouldn't even want the bleached kind. If I remember right it is the stomach lining of a cow I think! (pig?) It is a big hunk of ugly crap for sure!!

[Gtmac]

Thanks. I will check ou Walmart and also look into the diatomaceous earth.

[lange]

Originally Posted by Lunareclipse

I use holistic DE for my pooches and kitties and don't get worms.

Does that work for the heart worm too? Sorry I'm a little slow...

[Lunareclipse]

Originally Posted by lange

Does that work for the heart worm too? Sorry I'm a little slow...

I don't think so. Heart worm effects the heart and not the intestines or stomach, so it would have no impact on heart worms. I would continue to give the heart worm preventative your vet gives out.

[Gtmac]

Just ordered the DE and it will be here tomorrow. Will start the pups on raw food tomorrow. Going from kibble/canned to raw meat. They'll think they went to heaven! What about organ meat (heart/liver)? Does anyone feed this raw to their dogs?

[Lunareclipse]

Originally Posted by Gtmac

Just ordered the DE and it will be here tomorrow. Will start the pups on raw food tomorrow. Going from kibble/canned to raw meat. They'll think they went to heaven! What about organ meat (heart/liver)? Does anyone feed this raw to their dogs?

yes, all parts of the animals is good for them. The more parts you can give them, the better.

[CorkyMax]

Originally Posted by Gtmac

Just ordered the DE and it will be here tomorrow. Will start the pups on raw food tomorrow. Going from kibble/canned to raw meat. They'll think they went to heaven! What about organ meat (heart/liver)? Does anyone feed this raw to their dogs?

You should feed raw organ meats but in small quantities and I wouldn't feed it every day----Liver is way high in Vitamin A and could be toxic if fed huge doses constantly! Not only that but too much organ meat may cause your dog to get sick--diarrhea or/and throw-up---Too rich! The problem with liver---You need good quality--organic best. Cows,etc are fed bad stuff--hormones and crap for the greedy profit made by all the extra pounds that can be put on them before slaughter--I have even heard of cement dust being added to their food! So there is a lot of junk in that liver--All the toxins the cow ingests goes to the liver--thus toxic liver. This is definitely harmful for the dog's health! (Yeh and that is what we are eating too!) The best of all the organ meats to feed is the beef heart and that is where the most taurine -(amino acid) is and is necessary for the dog to have taurine or may end up like my Corky did --with Dilated Cardiomyopathy!!! My dogs just loved beef heart--the only thing I didn't know better then about what happens to protein when it is cooked!!---The good is gone and it changes the protein to something your dog can't digest. Heart is hard for me to find here in my gro. stores or I would be feeding a lot of it. And want to say here too--Venison from the wild is the best meat for a dog IMO and I think along with the beef heart, these are the 2 favorite meats of my dogs--Guess they know what is good for them!! It is about the leanest meat too but of course if I was feeding a lot of that--wish I could get my hands on it--I would be making sure the dog got enough fat from other sources---but definitely no turkey fat or skin--densest fat of all--asking for pancreatitis there!!! And while I am on the subject of fat--Never give COOKED fat--useless and harmful for your dog!!
Darn it!--I'm writing a book again! I tried to find something on the net so I could just paste it here--as to ratio of organs to rest of food to feed. I found the info below but not the happiest with it--the first paragraph is too high on the % of organs and the fat too IMO.--but I give it for a 2nd opinion and the rest of the info. The link below is not from the same place and you can see how it is figured there along with a lot of other info you might like to see.

At least 60-80% of your dog's raw food diet should consist of raw meat. Further broken down, that meat allowance should be roughly 20% organs, 20% skin and fat, and 35% muscle meat


Spellcast Border Collie Raw Diet Information

If I remember right--You have a tiny breed! Luna has over 100# Saint Bernards. No offense Luna, but size of dog does make a big difference even prob. in the percentages of organ meats. I mean a big dog can prob. handle 20% organ meats a lot easier then a small dogs. For a small dog I would want to feed closer to 10%.