Cheap cuts of meat for the Dog?

jessica_rabbit_3

Mrs_B wrote: »

All credit to you as a vegetarian going out and buying meat for your dog.

Do read up on the BARF diet if you can - but by way of a few pointers from what you have posted I would suggest that you don't feed too much liver - perhaps once a week would be the recommendation. Pork can be fed to dogs - but is the meat they find least able to digest, so I do feed it, if I have it, but again would only feed it once a week. I ALWAYS freeze meat I buy for my dogs, and then defrost it again - helps kill off nasty stuff. As a very basic rule, never feed cooked bone, which is brittle, splinters and is harmful to them, only raw, which their jaws and digestions are designed to cope with - but do include some bone in their feeding, especially things like chicken wings or carcasses, although lamb bones and other meat bones are fine - it is part of what they need and bone content will improve the consistency of what comes out the other end too. And I'm sure you're not, but any rice or pasta for your greyhound should be boiled without salt.

You can buy DEFRA quality meat at good prices sold for the pet market - you do need some freezer space to cope with it though.

Thank you - that's all very useful, especially about liver and pork. Great to know about the freezing, I've already started to a bit, but I'm now going to fully portion out what I buy, freeze and defrost as necessary. (it also means I touch it all less! I've always been a vegetarian, so don't even consider meat human food IYSWIM but what it is - guts and flesh of an animal, so I'm not put off by all offal etc which I think so many people are, it's all the same to me) I usually boil the rice or pasta with the meat, so it absorbs/gets flavoured with the stock, so don't add any salt.

I was told not to feed chicken bones because they crunch them up and are too sharp - they do have a tray of chicken carcasses in the butchers always for sale - are these safe to feed? I presume raw?

Mrs_B

jessica_rabbit wrote: »

I was told not to feed chicken bones because they crunch them up and are too sharp - they do have a tray of chicken carcasses in the butchers always for sale - are these safe to feed? I presume raw?

Cooked chicken bones are indeed sharp - and along with any other cooked bones are a complete no-no.

Raw chicken carcasses on the other hand are really great for dogs - and eating the raw bones which are really pliable and bendy is excellent for them - and provides jaw exercise for them. It is best to teach your dog to tackle the whole carcass - but if he can't at first, just get hold of the carcass (gloves if needby) and firmly pull - and it will come apart quite readily so you can feed it in smaller portions, and then increase the size of these.

Oh, and one other thing, just in case it happens. Don't worry if food is swallowed whole and comes back up and re-eaten - that's dogs for you - some do it more than others, and it is absolutely fine for them to do that.

Enjoy your shopping.

quietheart

I am just looking into raw feeding for my greyhound and would be interested to know how your dogs are getting on with it.

materialgirl

Hi

theres a few companies on the market these days who specifically sell meat for dogs.

Some deliver depending on where you live.

Try Albion Meats http://www.albionmeatproducts.co.uk/

Natural Instinct

TPMS

Raw to go http://rawtogo.co.uk/default.aspx

Durham Animal Feeds

Landywoods

Berriewoods

Tripe Factory Sunderland


Our butcher does a Pet Mince which he sells very cheaply. I believe its just a minced up version of off cuts but our dogs love it.

Tescos sell big lots of Chicken wings too, if you're looking at feeding them aswell.


Also have a read on the internet and theres a few books you can buy from Amazon etc. My favourite is 'Give your dog a bone' By Dr Billinghurst.

Let me know if theres anything else you need to know.

zaksmum

materialgirl wrote: »

Hi

theres a few companies on the market these days who specifically sell meat for dogs.

Some deliver depending on where you live.

Try Albion Meats http://www.albionmeatproducts.co.uk/

Natural Instinct

TPMS

Raw to go http://rawtogo.co.uk/default.aspx

Durham Animal Feeds

Landywoods

Berriewoods

Tripe Factory Sunderland


Our butcher does a Pet Mince which he sells very cheaply. I believe its just a minced up version of off cuts but our dogs love it.

Tescos sell big lots of Chicken wings too, if you're looking at feeding them aswell.


Also have a read on the internet and theres a few books you can buy from Amazon etc. My favourite is 'Give your dog a bone' By Dr Billinghurst.

Let me know if theres anything else you need to know.

My butcher had mince for dogs last week - I'll ask him what's actually in it and give it a try for the dogs. Would I cook it though or give it raw?

krlyr

Butchers mince is often the offcuts (can be lots of fat) and offal they can't sell - and often no bone as they don't want to risk breaking their mincers. Not always, but do be wary. Fine as a supplement to a diet or a treat in small quantities but if you want to feed raw, it may not be the best source.
Dogs can definately cope with it fed raw but you might want to freeze it dependant on what's on it - for example, raw pork can transmit trichinella spirosis. I believe British pork is tested for it now but freezing will kill the parasite anyway (it's not a problem in humans because cooking will kill it too). You could cook it if it was for a treat but it does affect the nutritional value so a proper home-cooked diet may need various supplements. Never feed cooked bone either - this can shatter and cause damage to the dog's mouth, throat or digestive tract.

materialgirl

zaksmum wrote: »

My butcher had mince for dogs last week - I'll ask him what's actually in it and give it a try for the dogs. Would I cook it though or give it raw?

Raw. Definitely. and your dogs will love it!