who feeds their hogs to their dogs?

[kaycee]

I don't know about anybody else on here but would be interested in knowing if this is true for ya'll. I have had dogs around me my entire life but as a child growing up I had never seen a sack of dogfood. My grandmother cooked for the dogs. My grandpa said they should eat what they provided.  She would take a pot and boil meat(normally beef or pork) until it fell of the bone, add rice and oats, cook it until it kinda looked like funny oatmeal and feed it. Truth be known it seemed like there was a whole lot less problems with the dogs than then there is now.  She would normally crack the big bones in the meat before cooking, she said that was so the dogs got the marrow, and strain the little pieces of bone out before adding the grain. She told me one time that grandpa lost one of his best dogs when it choked on a bone so he didn't want them in there anymore but that was the only dog they lost to it so she really thought he was just being silly. Just wondering if any of ya'll grew up with dogs being fed like that.  She was also real big on throwing any extra veggies from the garden in the pot. The dogs normally died of old age or a hunting accident so it couldn't have been bad for them health wise, right?  

[Monteria]

I don't know about anybody else on here but would be interested in knowing if this is true for ya'll. I have had dogs around me my entire life but as a child growing up I had never seen a sack of dogfood. My grandmother cooked for the dogs. My grandpa said they should eat what they provided.  She would take a pot and boil meat(normally beef or pork) until it fell of the bone, add rice and oats, cook it until it kinda looked like funny oatmeal and feed it. Truth be known it seemed like there was a whole lot less problems with the dogs than then there is now.  She would normally crack the big bones in the meat before cooking, she said that was so the dogs got the marrow, and strain the little pieces of bone out before adding the grain. She told me one time that grandpa lost one of his best dogs when it choked on a bone so he didn't want them in there anymore but that was the only dog they lost to it so she really thought he was just being silly. Just wondering if any of ya'll grew up with dogs being fed like that.  She was also real big on throwing any extra veggies from the garden in the pot. The dogs normally died of old age or a hunting accident so it couldn't have been bad for them health wise, right?  

Agreed 100%!

The dogs 50 years ago were healthier than the dogs of today. They were not over vaccinated, they were not fed processed crap, and most of them died as pups, from accidents or of old age. Unvaccinated pups were not expected to die, dogs didn't die of genetic disorder between 2 and 5 years of age and we sure as hell didnt have a 10 to 15% cancer rate to deal with.

There is this thing we have interfeared with.... It is called natural selection.... Mother nature did her job best. We are doing nothing but do iting up her work.

Steve

[kaycee]

Weak puppies died, that was just part of life. He truly believed that only the strong and working dogs should survive to insure that the breed would remain strong. He never bred out of a "second" rate dog either. Said if you want good puppies breed the best to the best. Double up on the traits you want and try to minimize the traits you don't. I have been taking his advice for 35 yrs. and its working for me. I think that we might have lost some really good knowledge from the past that came from experience not a book or study done under certain conditions. The studies they used were conducted in real life situations and knowledge passed down from their fathers and grandfathers. If it worked, do it, if it didn't, try something else.

[BarrNinja]

it works good in the winter but the flies get pretty bad during the summer i hav cooked alot of pork for my dogs i skin it qauter it up and throw it in a big pot and boil it till the meat falls of the bones get all the bones out and dump 5 gallon bucket of dog food in it with rolled oats and cracked corn dogs love it good for them after a hard hunt

I used to do about the same and my dogs did great on it. I have recently been told by the "raw meat' guys that its better to feed it raw after freezing it solid. They also get better results rotating with raw chicken and they feed it all. Skin and bones.
It can turn into a lot of work but its worth it unless you are lazy like me.

[tonyamm30]

Ok, i'm beating myself up from the raw meat issue... I have read and understand that a raw diet is best and for the most part I agree.  Since my dogs are on a Hi Pro Plus diet only, do you think that him not having raw meat contributed to him getting psuedorabies or was it just freak thing and we got on a hog with the virus?  After loosing my dog, I am scared to let them eat the raw meat.  I just want to do whats best for my dogs and help thier immune systems toloerate life!  I too only give one set of shots to all my pups and usually they all do just fine.  We worm every other month with ivermectin and stay clear of all the worm issues.  Suggestions are appreciated. Thanks!

[Monteria]

Its not that a raw diet will increase any individual dogs immune system. That's not what I am advocating at all, and I guess that we derailed to some extent.

My belief is that by over vaccinating every pup, or otherwise over protecting them individually from all the threats out there, we are not allowing nature to take its course. Thereby weakening the K9 breed as a whole.

Regarding Pseudo-rabies, >70% of all wild hogs in Texas have the disease. The good news is that inter-species transmission is rather difficult, as viruses go. It is most often transmitted through saliva and sexually (obviously, we do not have to worry about sexual transmission(unless you have some really freaky hog dogs)). That being said, it can also be transferred through blood transfusion. I have not been able to find any conclusive evidence that Pseudo-rabies is transferred through ingestion, though it would make sense that intravenous transfusion could occur during the ingestion process if the dog had a cur in its mouth or esophagus.

In short, I think its much more likely that the dog actually contracted the virus during the hunt than by ingestion.

Steve

[muleman]

Great topic! i agree with just about all of whats been posted here. i only have one word of caution. Rabies (not pseudorabies) is a real threat here in texas. The percentage of skunks that test positive is amazing. i have tested 5 skunks in the past year and all were positive. Exposure to the 5 high risk rabies animals for our dogs is crazy high. Now, i also believe that we way overvaccinate for this disease. My example is this...In my job, we are required to receive pre-exposure shots for rabies. we then have our titer checked every year to ensure that we still have an acceptable amount of immunity to the disease.

I have been doing this 10 years nearly and received the shots about that long ago. i have had my titer checked every year since and my levels are still good. never had a booster.

the last couple of human rabies cases were from domestic animals. Puppies no less! they were sold at the local walmart. Just something to think about. Vaccines are most likely detrimental to your dogs when overdone. but if you get rabies YOU DIE!

[cajunl]

I do the rabies every year or 3 years because I do not want the $250 ticket per dog if I do not here in Florida. I take them to the feed store and the vets come and do it for $10 a shot.

I give ivomec every month here because of the Mosquitoes and heart worms. If you keep them outside and do not worm they all will have heartworms. Every dog I have got from other people that did not give Ivomec all had heartworms. 

[Bar M]

to get back on topic i tried feedin pork and they wont eat it. all we feed is raw beef and deer meat during deer season.and the pups get all they can eat purina puppy chow and beef along with the strike dogs.

[Wmwendler]

to get back on topic i tried feedin pork and they wont eat it. all we feed is raw beef and deer meat during deer season.and the pups get all they can eat purina puppy chow and beef along with the strike dogs.

Thats odd I've never met a dog that would'nt eat it untill they just about pop.

Waylon

[T-Bob Parker]

Well ill tell ya my dogs don't like pork that much, it seems to help if I leave the skin on. I don't always feed raw but every deer I find gets scarfed down QUICK. Same thing for all our left over beef bones heads and guts