Raw meat diet

[sbrooks]

Just curious how you guys feel about supplementing dogs diets with raw meat.  Saw a guy chunking up boar meat and feeding raw to his dogs.  What do yall think?

[Noah]

I've considered doing it more often myself, probably need to supplement some organ meat to stay balanced... from what I've read.   I do wonder about trichinosis though, a nasty parasitic worm that lives in raw pork meat and will infect all who eat it.  I wonder if a standard worming regimen would eliminate this risk?

[bayhard]

i boil it and add corn meal and make what i call mush and it cuts down on dog food they dont even mind if its a old boar

[aussiedogger]

experts say there is no better diet for a dog than almost 100% meat no matter what suppliment and vegetable is in dog feed they've evolved for hundreds of thousands of years eating almost only meat. supposedly an almost all meat diet is the best possible thing.

[Critter]

Mine get a steady ration of beaver during trapping season, and they get raw pork regularly. They love it and do well on it. I was of the idea that a regular monthly worming would take care of anything they got from the pork Noah. Somebody tell me if I'm mistaken here.--John

[slimpickins]

If I have no room in the freezer the dogs get it.
When I am done processing one, the only thing left is the hide and the skull.
They get every bone, including backbone chunks and pelvis split into quarters.
The dogs have great energy and the feces turns white almost immediately, then just crumbles to dust.
If I could they would eat only that, and yes, a regular deworming schedule will protect them.

[Black Gold]

For about 3 months I had my dogs on a 100% raw meat diet.  Mainly chicken necks mixed with venison and wild pork.  I felt they did better (energy and looks) than they do on kibble.  I give 1 pound of meat/bones per 50 pounds of grown body weight.  So if a puppy will weigh around 100 pounds when full grown he gets 2 pounds a day.  Been feeding kibble for the last few months but once deer season rolls around and I can get a steady supply of meat from my taxidermist I will go back to feeding 100% raw meat diet.  It's amazing how much meat you can get from a deer head/neck that is being caped out.....I cut up the neck meat and also the tongue and mix it with chicken necks (we can get chicken necks for $12 for a 40 pound case).....They love it.  I know a guy who runs an egg production farm and they only use the chickens for about 14-16 months then destroy thousands of them and start with new birds.....Have seriously thought about getting a large grinder or small wood chipper and throwing in the chickens whole feathers and all and grinding everything and then freezing it in bags and feeding that......figure it would just add vitamins, minerals, and fiber to the diet by getting feathers and guts.....

Here is some good reading on it:

http://www.canadasguidetodogs.com/health/nutritionarticle14.htm

http://leerburg.com/feedingarawdiet.htm

REMEMBER:  Do not cook the bones/meat.....that changes the diet and makes the bones (especially poultry bones) splinter which can cause serious problems.....cooking also destroys many of the useful ingredients that your dog needs to get out of the bones......

[jlingle]

A couple of my hunting buddies have gone to 100% raw meat and other bone scraps from a local packing plant.  I've gotta tell ya, their dogs have never looked better.  They look absolutely fantastic.  They are thicker, more muscular, and have TONS of energy on the new diet.  If I had access to the meat, I don't believe I'd even think twice.  I've seen the results.

[aussiedogger]

i know if you exercise your dogs allot you can feed em pretty much as much as u want. but say if you were busy and couldnt exercise say a 70 pound catch dog. what and how much do you think you'd feed em to keep em trim. i've always been able to excersize our dogs a lot so i've just fed em as much as they can eat. but next year when i start work i probably wont get too.

[WestTexasCurs]

I feed ALOT of raw meat all year round.I give them dog food a few times a week also.My dogs do real good on this diet.I maintain a regular wormings,and have never had problems.

[Black Gold]

Been feeding 100% RAW now again for the last 3 weeks and absolutely love it......Made the decision to stick with it and purchased a few used deep freezes to stock up on food.  Purchased 40 pound cases of chicken necks for $13.30 a case and then had a meat packing company clean out a freezer and had 1,500 pounds of de-boned turkey breasts we got for free......Friends and I split up the turkey.  Also purchased a 2.5 HP electric wood chipper from e-bay and will begin to grind bones from a local processor to add to the pure meat.  Right now have about 6 months worth of food in the freezers.....SURE is nice knowing that I wont have to buy a bag of dog food....
I plan to keep it up.......Been also cleaning a few of the hogs we get and after freezing for a few days to kill anything have been feeding that as well.  Committed to keeping with this diet for my dogs......After all I have read I feel it is the healthiest choice out there by far and the easiest on my pocket book!  Probaly wont buy any more meat as it has amazed me how much free meat is out there......from what I get fishing and hunting, to scraps from local taxidermists, meat processors, and packing plants....A couple of cheap used freezers and a day of working and you can put away some serious dog food.........

[Cristina]

It definately is a good, natural and healthy diet. We fed raw meat to our dogs when they were younger, but then they started hunting to eat the dang hogs. By the time we would get to the hog it was so tore up we would have to kill it and give them the meat. Every now and then we'll give them raw meat, with how dog food prices are going I think we are going to have to start doing it again.

[shawn]

that is kinda messed up, its cheaper to feed a dog meat than dog food anymore, im considering doing it myself, its just easier to stop by atwoods and buy a bag or two than cut up meat, lol

[Boardog]

I perfer feeding just meat i know when i kill a hog and feed it to my dogs they look great and act like they feel real good the even seem to hunt better but thats just my opinion.

Michael Conatser

[Noah]

For all yall that feed hog to the dogs, are you skinning them or just chunking and letting the dogs do the work?

What's your "fillet plan" for processing swine?  Head and all? Organs and all? 10# chunks, 2# chunks, or are you dicing into 1" cubes???

I've been feeding mine deer for the last couple days, and they can about swallow a 10# chunk of venison whole

[capt jack]

noah

i feed my dogs hog hide. i would cut it up in pieces and let them have it to chew on. i would feed the dog that struck the hog the liver and the other dogs got hide and the feet. gave them a little more will to catch the hog.

i never feed the dogs any thing but hog parts. i would not feed deer or rabbits or any thing i did not want them to hunt. my thinking was if they knew they were eating deer, then they would run deer. just an opinion of an old hunter. good hunting.

[Noah]

Now you've got me all paranoid my dogs are gonna start running deer    I also feed them beef and they don't run cattle...  It is an interesting thought though, I'd love to hear more people's thoughts...

I've actually been considering just throwing a whole(gutted) hog in with them and letting them go at it. After skinning and chunking the last couple hogs... there's GOT to be an easier way

[Silverton Boar Dogs]

Noah, I cut off the shoulders and hams hide and feet attached, and give that to 4 dogs. The back straps to 2 more, the head to another. I throw the rest into my puppy pen guts and all, they will clean it up real fast.

[aussiedogger]

if you shoot say a deer and bring it home with hide intact and skin it in front of the dogs and feed them the meat id say when they smelt a deer e.g out huntin they'd know the smell and remember the taste and maybe give it a chase. if they were fed the same meat but only in meat form and never saw the animal being cut up or fed to them with hide i dont think they would trash on that animal in the woods. because without the skin and natural smell of that animal (in the hide) they could not tell an animal in the woods just by going on the smell of the meat. if you's get what i mean. lol