Fresh meat

[TwoJack]

I have always thought in a theoretical way that feeding a dog fresh meat would make sense. Anyone do this? Tips or thoughts would be appreciated.

[Lassie]

I very occasionally feed my dog freshly ground hamburger (I grind all my meat myself) and she loves it, but I only feed it as a treat.

[Edith]

We sell fresh horse meat at my store for people to feed to their pets. I hate the idea of it, but some dogs seem to like it.

[Sarah]

I've worked ina few kennels, and they always fed the dogs a combination of fresh meat and kibble. I also found this, which makes an awful lot of sence:

"Raw food is the latest rage among dog lovers.
The raw diet is called BARF, for Biologically Appropriate Raw Food. Rob Mueller markets raw dog food through his Wyoming-based BARFWorld-dot-com Web site.

"The theory behind the BARF diet comes from an Australian veterinarian who notes dogs evolved eating prey they hunted. Mueller says sporting dogs seem to benefit particularly well from raw food. "

[Marty]

I have always thought in a theoretical way that feeding a dog fresh meat would make sense. Anyone do this? Tips or thoughts would be appreciated.Some info for ya :)
http://www.discussdogs.com/forum/showthread.php?p=248#post248

[redridinghood1313]

yeah...i sorta do. Well, kinda.
our terrier mix works as a ground dog. She has quite a bit of raw meat (served on the hoof) in her diet. Other than her stint of worms, it hasn't been a problem.

[StarWhisper]

I have always thought in a theoretical way that feeding a dog fresh meat would make sense. Anyone do this? Tips or thoughts would be appreciated.

I feed all my dogs and my cat a raw diet. I've been feeding raw for years now and wont even allow kibble in my house.

If your interested in learning more the first thing I would recommend is to do lots of research.

Research it throughly, talk to people who are both for and against raw feeding and look at both sides with an open mind.

There is a ton of information readily available to pet owners today that can help them make informed decisions in regards to their pets nutritional health.

[rottnbull]

I've been feediang a total raw diet for over 7 years. Not just frensh meat but ground up meat/bone, &skin, With 4 rotts and 4 french bulldogs.this works best for me Avoiding any fights, I also have a great veigie recipe that I add to the meat. make about 250lbs a week,. We also suipplement with a couple terrific immunity boosters. My dogs age form 20 months to 10 & 1/2 years
Never go to the vet and are never sick. For the little extra work I go through it has paid for itself 100 fold. I do not buy premade mixes. For small dogs these may be ok but people with large dogs or numerous dogs Find other sources and neve buy grocery store stuff. Not good for dogs at all

[rottnbull]

I've been feediang a total raw diet for over 7 years. Not just frensh meat but ground up meat/bone, &skin, With 4 rotts and 4 french bulldogs.this works best for me Avoiding any fights, I also have a great veigie recipe that I add to the meat. make about 250lbs a week,. We also suipplement with a couple terrific immunity boosters. My dogs age form 20 months to 10 & 1/2 years
Never go to the vet and are never sick. For the little extra work I go through it has paid for itself 100 fold. I do not buy premade mixes. For small dogs these may be ok but people with large dogs or numerous dogs Find other sources and neve buy grocery store stuff. Not good for dogs at all

[DiggityDogs]

you can get some good raw meat products at local meat packing plants etc... I have clients who feed raw and buy 150 pounds of chicken parts from a local chicken plant and pay around $40 or $50 for all of it! They have to keep it in an extra freezer they keep in thier garage :eek: They also pick up beef and deer from processors- Taxidermist type places (they often have bones and such left over from processing someone's home raised cattle or deer kills)

[LoveNewfies]

I usually buy meat 500 lbs at a time - lots of freezer space :D

I do buy most of my meat from a local meat packing/distributing plant that carries free range meat - a bit more expensive when buying free range, but, when you start buying 500 lbs at a time, they cut you a break. I do buy a lot of chicken necks & backs, thighs, liver, & hearts, lamb, and duck from this plant. Salmon I buy whole - that's a bit more expensive but the dogs have to share it with us. Unfortunatley, I'm still trying to find a reliable free range beef source. Venison and such I get from local hunters.

Here, we go through an average of about 900 lbs a month, but, I do prepare diets for many other dogs, not just my two. Honestly, since feeding my dogs this way, they have become very healthy - no sick or unhealthy dogs here. Yearly check-up at the vets is all they need - even with that, I no longer vaccinate yearly - I have titers checked - but, that's for another dicsussion.

[Dogwise]

Honestly, since feeding my dogs this way, they have become very healthy - no sick or unhealthy dogs here. Yearly check-up at the vets is all they need - even with that, I no longer vaccinate yearly - I have titers checked - but, that's for another dicsussion.

Wow, things must be VERY different in your part of the world, than they are here in Texas. Trainers/Behavior experts including myself, as well as groomers and especially *vets* won't even touch a dog that hasn't had it's shots. And then there's city laws. How are you managing to get around all that.

[DiggityDogs]

DW- some vets here in dallas will allow you to get away with it (the holistic vets) and state law changed now to only requiring rabies once every three years. Some states up north only require it once every 5 years, and they don't require it for getting city registration. You're right though- Most places in Texas won't touch a dog that hasn't had shots within the last year. You can't board, train, go to daycare, or even have your pet treated for an emergency unless you agree to let them update the shots. It's a bit much, IMO.

[LoveNewfies]

Only vaccinations my dogs get are rabies - required every three years. Rabies is required for yearly license with the state. Prior to my dogs coming to me, they did have vaccinations.

I'm not advocating no vaccinations for every dog in every scenario, just firmly don't believe it is necessary to subject my dogs to the toxins in vaccinations on a yearly basis. More and more proof is surfacing regarding the effects vaccinations have and the fact that it certainly isn't necessary to vaccinate every year as many vets tell us.

As much as I'm not 100% confident as to the accuracy of titers, I have them tested at yearly check-ups just so I have the numbers on paper. Vets here and most kennels & groomers will accept that in place of yearly vaccinations.
It's not an unusual practice here for allopathic vets to do the titer testing instead of insisting on yearly vaccinations, not just holistic vets. Many only do titer testing if their dogs are going to be kenneled or at the groomers.

A friend of mine whose dog is completely UTD on all vaccinations, KC and all, and is not fed a natural diet, contracted KC - pretty bad. Funny thing is, my dogs didn't come down with it and they were in direct contact with this dog. Jillian hasn't received a KC vaccination in over a year and a half. Obviously KC vaccination does not protect against every strain of KC, just thought it was interesting that my unvaccinated dogs did not contract what the vaccinated dog did. Stronger immune systems?

[StarWhisper]

Like LoveNewfies the only vaccine my dogs receive are the rabies vaccine (KV form) because law requires it...

I try to use therapies that are the least invasive with my pets and don't feel that subjecting them to drugs, steroids, ect... is the answer. I believe in building up a healthy immune system and not allowing the immune system to be compromised.

[DiggityDogs]

In TX we it's difficult to get away with that, but I'm fortunate that my friend owns a small boarding kennel and will allow me to board my dogs there without having done the vaccines. I do not do a raw diet, but I don't believe in over-vaccination either. After my guys are over a year old, the only time I have them done is when I MUST, like if I take an agility class that requires it, or something like that. I have been fortunate there, too, in that I found an instructor that doesn't require it. My boxer got sick once when he was about a year old, but has been healthy since. My other two have yet to be sick. (except once when the chihuahua mix jumped on the table when we were out of the room and stole some people food and threw up a few times, and the dobe ate something outside that didn't agree with him once as well) :rolleyes:
Every state is different regarding the laws on vaccines- TX requires rabies only every 3 years, (down from once a year due to a terrible rabies problem) and the cities are allowed to determine what registration services they wish to implement, so a lot of the smaller towns don't require registration.