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Raw feeders: gross-out question

ruthcatrin

Well-Known Member
So hubby has been working lots of mandetory overtime lately, which means basically double paychecks. I hate barely seeing him, but thats a difference topic. Anyway, he told me to go put together a big splurge order at Hare-today since we've got the money. So I'm poking around the site....whole quail (minus feathers and intestine)......skinned rabbit heads.....

Not sure where my tolerance is lol. Arty'll eat pretty much anything edible (and alot of things that aren't), and Apollo's right there with him, so I figure what the heck. But anyone tried feeding any of that sort of thing who can gove me an idea on the gross factor?

---------- Post added at 08:46 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:44 PM ----------

How dis this end up in adoptions??
 

Duetsche_Doggen

Well-Known Member
Nothing to add Ruth but congrats on getting the extra meat. I looked at the site today and saw the last shipment date is the 12 December. I just ran out of tripe but I have to save up for since shipping is kind of expensive for me.

PS Someone wasn't paying attention. Its an extra charge troubleshoot that. :razzberry:
 

NYDDB

Well-Known Member
So timely-- i just placed an order from Hare-Today this morning. I was able to split some shipping costs with a raw-food feeder here in the city I just met. Otherwise, yeah-- the shipping makes my stomach hurt... :(

I have never tried the whole prey items......yet (except for whole fish- i buy a lot of that...and tripe, which I can't get locally.)

I would say go for it-- maybe try one of each, see how it goes. I think you get over the gross factor after a few feedings; it just becomes dog food.
 

ruthcatrin

Well-Known Member
If I get a full box (60lbs Counting the weight of the box and packing) the shipping works out to an extra $0.60/lb for me. Which isn't bad, but I do generally try to reserve ordering from her for things I can't get local. Which means ordering once every other month or so for extra organs and chicken feet and occasional other stuff to fill out the box. We were due to order anyway, so I did our usual order, which shipped today, and I'm poking at filling up another box with extras......trying to decide how grossed out I'll be lol. I didn't expect the buffalo tongue to bother me as much as it did!
 

angelbears

Well-Known Member
Duck heads are pretty gross and it didn't bother us at all. Their little eyes and bills are so cute. For some reason heads are what I try to get when I'm looking for something different. I think there has to be nutrients in there that you don't find in muscle meat. I have not researched it, yet.

BTW, they take the tongues out of the ducks, they sell those for 12.00 a pound. The heads sans tongue .99
 

ruthcatrin

Well-Known Member
BTW, they take the tongues out of the ducks, they sell those for 12.00 a pound. The heads sans tongue .99

There's something wrong with that....

Yah, I vaugely recall there being nutrients in brains that can be hard to find elsewhere....
 

NYDDB

Well-Known Member
Probably the grossest thing I have fed Mateo was chicken heads. At first I was just a little freaked, looking at the open and sometimes half closed eyes...now, I find them fascinating.

Probably not as cute as little duck heads, though... :)
 
You people are crazy! Don't by raw pet food from a pet food supplier, as they bend you over on the price. You'd be surprised at what your local butcher can provide you with. My 235 lb. American Mastiff eats an all raw diet that actually costs less than kibble. Chicken thighs can be had for under $.90/lb. and there's all sorts very cheap animal byproducts that your butcher will just about give away. Throw in a raw egg once a week for a soft coat, and you've got a really solid diet.

I hear all the time about people getting their dogs everything from duck heads to Kangaroo meat and it's just not necessary. 1 chicken thigh per 50 lbs. of dog daily (bone in, skin on). You can mix the diet up with just about what ever the butcher has lying around, but I think you'll find that once your dog gets used to the chicken thighs that they're content with that diet 24/7/365. Throw in an egg once a week or every other week to keep a soft coat.
 

angelbears

Well-Known Member
I disagree. Chicken thighs, 24/7 is not a balanced diet. I would much rather feed cheap krabble than try to do a raw diet in that way. Different proteins are needed to provide different nutrients. You have to at least have some red meat and organs. Most who feed raw do so, to try and provide a better diet not a cheaper diet.

Most dogs will survive on a chicken thigh diet or krabble but most don't thrive on it.
 

ruthcatrin

Well-Known Member
You people are crazy! Don't by raw pet food from a pet food supplier, as they bend you over on the price. You'd be surprised at what your local butcher can provide you with. My 235 lb. American Mastiff eats an all raw diet that actually costs less than kibble. Chicken thighs can be had for under $.90/lb. and there's all sorts very cheap animal byproducts that your butcher will just about give away. Throw in a raw egg once a week for a soft coat, and you've got a really solid diet.

I hear all the time about people getting their dogs everything from duck heads to Kangaroo meat and it's just not necessary. 1 chicken thigh per 50 lbs. of dog daily (bone in, skin on). You can mix the diet up with just about what ever the butcher has lying around, but I think you'll find that once your dog gets used to the chicken thighs that they're content with that diet 24/7/365. Throw in an egg once a week or every other week to keep a soft coat.

I sincerely hope you don't instruct others to feed their dogs that way. That is so incredibely NOT balanced, and lacking in SO MANY vitamins and nutrients you're doing your dog incredible harm. Chicken meat, skin on and bone in or not, plus the occasional egg is so far from balanced its scary.....
 

DMikeM

Well-Known Member
At least add some ground or whole beef, fish and lamb on different days during the week. Heck even canned sardines or Mackerel will work. Lamb necks are cheap and so are beef neck bones, very meaty and crunchy satisfying for the eater.
 
I sincerely hope you don't instruct others to feed their dogs that way. That is so incredibely NOT balanced, and lacking in SO MANY vitamins and nutrients you're doing your dog incredible harm. Chicken meat, skin on and bone in or not, plus the occasional egg is so far from balanced its scary.....

So you must be a doggy dietician right? Would you care to tell me the nutrients and vitamins that my dog is missing due to this diet? You can't, because you buy into all the BS that raw dog food company's feed you, and have no real facts to back your arguement. Your information is all marketing propaganda and not based on cold hard facts. I would absolutely instruct anyone with a mastiff to feed them in this manner, as a matter of fact I'm pretty sure that's what I was doing in the first post. The only reason I would not recommend it for a smaller dog is smaller dogs can have problems chewing through the bones, and that causes a choking hazard. By all means, please continue to feed your own dog on zebra brains and unicorn lips. Just realize that while it might make you feel better as then owner, it is no better for the health of your dog. As a matter of fact an overly varied diet can be very hard on your dogs digestive tract and will often produce loose stools, but I'm sure you knew that from picking up all the watery, uncomfortable poops your dogs been taking.
 

ruthcatrin

Well-Known Member
So you must be a doggy dietician right? Would you care to tell me the nutrients and vitamins that my dog is missing due to this diet? You can't, because you buy into all the BS that raw dog food company's feed you, and have no real facts to back your arguement. Your information is all marketing propaganda and not based on cold hard facts. I would absolutely instruct anyone with a mastiff to feed them in this manner, as a matter of fact I'm pretty sure that's what I was doing in the first post. The only reason I would not recommend it for a smaller dog is smaller dogs can have problems chewing through the bones, and that causes a choking hazard. By all means, please continue to feed your own dog on zebra brains and unicorn lips. Just realize that while it might make you feel better as then owner, it is no better for the health of your dog. As a matter of fact an overly varied diet can be very hard on your dogs digestive tract and will often produce loose stools, but I'm sure you knew that from picking up all the watery, uncomfortable poops your dogs been taking.

Can I call troll yet?

Seriously? I'm not talking about buying pre-packaged raw (which you'd know if you'd bothered to read the thread). I'm talking animal parts that I cannot buy locally for a variety of reasons. My dogs have nice hard, little, normal raw fed, poops, not loose water ones (where are you finding me complaining about my dogs' diarrhea since obviously you have?). And yes my dogs get a huge variety of meat sources, as do the dogs of every other raw feeder I've talked to on here, as well as the dogs of a couple thousand more raw feeders in the raw feeding communities I'm part of.

You're feeding chicken thighs and the occasional egg?

You're not feeding anywhere enough vitamins A, B, D, or K, or thiamin, riboflavin, niacin or folate. Your dog is not getting any C. Or anywhere near enough taurine....all these bits of nutritional data are availible publicly, online for free. Please do WAY more research before recommending that poor imitation of a raw diet to anyone.
 

Joeottobre

Well-Known Member
At least we can all agree that Bas Rutten could fight.

Since we're doing this, can I get input on my CC's diet? Meals are primarily - yep - chicken thighs, with eggs and chicken livers in the morning and green tripe and gizzards at night. At night i also mix in salmon oil. He also gets a few meaty beef ribs every week.

Is there anything you would add? Thanks in advance.
 

ruthcatrin

Well-Known Member
How long has he been on raw?

you need to get red meat in there, it has different nutrient profiles than the poultry, and also organs from a wider variety of animals (for the same reasons). I also recommend a wider variety of organs in general, including kidneys. Unfortunetly gizzards and tripe (along with heart and lung and skin), though medically considered organs, aren't considered organs for raw feeding because they don't contain signifigant nutrients above and beyond what normal muscle meat does. There are exceptions, taurine for example is often found in hearts in higher quantities than most muscle meat.

Also eggs that frequently at the same time as the liver (and other organs) puts the dog at risk for biotin deficancy.

 

Joeottobre

Well-Known Member
How long has he been on raw?

you need to get red meat in there, it has different nutrient profiles than the poultry, and also organs from a wider variety of animals (for the same reasons). I also recommend a wider variety of organs in general, including kidneys. Unfortunetly gizzards and tripe (along with heart and lung and skin), though medically considered organs, aren't considered organs for raw feeding because they don't contain signifigant nutrients above and beyond what normal muscle meat does. There are exceptions, taurine for example is often found in hearts in higher quantities than most muscle meat.

Also eggs that frequently at the same time as the liver (and other organs) puts the dog at risk for biotin deficancy.

He's been raw for about 7 months. He seems to be doing great, but I know not all deficiencies show externally.

I didn't realize gizzards weren't (feed-wise) organs. I'll trade them in for hearts for now, and start looking for a good organ source. I may buy the beef ribs in bulk since that seems to make him quite content.

Thanks!