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Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 989
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my experiences of raw feeding
Hi,
Ill
try and keep this brief
as there are allready quite a few threads on this topic.
I have quite extensive experience of feeding raw meat as i have a butcher friend who often brings me meat for the dogs and I have a friend who runs a smallholding and I get all the leftovers when they do their annual kill of beasts for the freezer.
I like to see dogs tearing into a carcass, call me odd but there is a feeling of satisfaction in seeing dogs eating the way they would in the wild. I allow the dogs with the most trustworthy natures to eat a whole carcass (usually sheep or pig) in twos or thress, the competitive spirit is quite a joy to watch they will get hold of an end each and have a really good rag before tucking in, ususally they will stuff themselves silly for the first hour or so, which is supervised by me to make sure fights dont break out (the staffies get an individual bit hacked off for themselves, they dont get fed communally as they cant be trusted 100% not to fight
) and then after that initial mad rush, I hack the carcass into bits and let them eat at their leisure individually.
This is great for the first few days, the dogs love it, they are kept happy and busy and they are lively and have a glow about them.
however, if you keep them on meat alone for too long they become jaded and end up looking at the meat with disgust if you show them their normal biscuit food at this time they will launch into the bowls with a new found vigour
I have fed all sorts of meat from green tripes (literally the entire unwashed stomach of cows - :smt078 ) to hearts and livers, and whole carcasses, and I have found that the thing to sour a dog the quickest is liver, i have yet to meet a dog that will eat liver for more than a day, they sicken of it very quickly.
Tripe is excellent for beefing dogs up and putting weight on them, but if green it harbours a lot of tapeworm cysts so it means your dogs need to be wormed much more regular (I do mine every 3 months)
I enjoy feeding my dogs raw meat every so often, and they get raw bones and veg a couple of times a week, but I think its very important to remember that they cannot live and thrive on meat alone, they need other things to boost the raw diet, such as eggs, raw veg etc, meat alone will sicken a dog off, I have seen it happen when Ive had a glut of meat and no freezer space, the dogs cant be bothered after a couple of days and they start digging holes all over the paddock and burying food in their beds etc
The only meat I have found they will eat happily every day of the week is venison, they eat everything off a deer except the hooves and teeth
Im not sure if its because venison has a strong gamey flavour and smell, or because they know what deer are from chasing them in the woods
but they certainly seem to prefer wild gamey meat to domestic animal meat.
thats my experience of raw feeding, its great a couple of times per week, but you must balance the diet very carefully so the dog gets all his essentials, and it would be easy for a beginner to get things wrong through no fault of their own. Raw feeding also produces some really noxious smells (tripe especially) so I must admit I do not feed my housedogs raw apart from bones, I couldnt stand the smell
I like to feed a mix of raw and biscuit, a 22% working dog food, which has done them all well for years and they are fit and active on this diet.