I was wondering cause things that are not cooked do you have to worry about your animals getting worms? I no there are certain worms in fish as well as other meat.

I have given them this treat which looked like fish skin... Think its called fish skin chews or something like that- they seemed to really like it- I no rawhide is not safe so was wondering is their any worry with this stuff? The one I had was rolled and looked like a dogbone.

No idea about the fish skin rolls, mind don't get treats, because I'm such a meanie ;)  They shouldn't get worms as long as you regularly treat your dogs.  One reason I don't feed raw pork from the butchers, is that unless you can be sure of where it's from, it can carry parasites such as tapeworm, and although pigs in the UK are supposedly kept to a certain standard, a lot of meat is imported.  I don't feed beef either, but that's simply because chicken is better nutritionally imo, and I get a lot of free lamb bones, that are softer as they are from a younger animal (obviously), so aren't as hard wearing on the teeth.  I don't raw feed fish, because mine seem to bring it back up more often than not, and then eat it again, and it absolutely stinks, so mine only get tinned fish. 

If you mean meat from human grade sources - no, worms really are not an issue. Freezing meat for a certain amount of time and below a certain temp (and your freezer/chest freezer willd o this, though iceboxes in a fridge may not) will also kill parasites in meat. Even in pork, as long as its british pork and anyone selling meat legally needs to know where its from there should be NO doubt about the source of meat.

I fyou are using wild caught game, then freeze it first - I am not sure how long for as I don't tend to get fresh game, only that which has already been frozen for me.

Raw fish for human consumption CAN contain parasites (and commonly does!) - I dont feed fresh raw fish to my dogs anyway as I hate fish and find they tend to gack it back up later anyway.

Cooked (or dried) fish is not going to have this issue so the fish skin treat rolls should be fine.

"Even in pork, as long as its british pork and anyone selling meat legally needs to know where its from there should be NO doubt about the source of meat."

Not every butcher advertises exactly where there meat comes from though?  So if you buy two pork chops, unlabelled, and there's no information on the counter telling you where the meat is from, you wouldn't know if it's from Yorkshire or Lithuania, if you see what I mean ;)  I'm just lucky to have a good local butchers where I know the majority of their produce is sourced within a set radius, and anything that isn't British is labelled clearly where it's from. 

Mine do the gacking thing too btw, even though they've had raw fish since pups, so I tend to avoid it, it bloomin well stinks second time round!

I think they have to tell you if you ask and all carcases should be traceable (or trading standards and various other agencies would be v keen to know!) - I wouldnt buy any meat (or quite a lot of other things come to think of it) without knowing exactly where it came from.

These days the old issues with pork just arent relevant because of modern farming/animal husbandry methods.

I take your point though - not wise to feed unknown origin meat - after all if the butcher wont or cant tell you where it came from, is he sure he knows WHAT it is too? (Anyone remember League of Gentlemen... Royston Vasey.... 'special' meat...)

> Anyone remember League of Gentlemen... Royston Vasey.... 'special' meat...

Presumably only available in local shops for local people, though :)

'we didnt burn him..."

Sorry slightly off topic (and the quotes i recall from the 'special stuff' storylines are a bit... risky!)

Chuckling away now remembering the "special" meat .........