I've just seen pig's feet at my butchers and was wondering if anyone has fed these to their dogs and did they like them and is there any nutrition in them?
I asked the butcher if he could saw the toe&nail bit OFF as i just cant bring myself to see them gnawing on a piggy toe nail,I am quite proud of myself for even considering getting them as i am extremely squeemish when it comes to meat parts such as this and to be honest it totally grosses me out,i never even used to be able to look at them behind the glass,lettalone touch them or feed them to my dogs! When it comes to good nutrition and my dogs actually enjoying something then i will put my squeemishness aside for their sake,it's not their fault their mum has a soft tum :D

christine

I feed trotters to my dogs quite often; in the Middle East lambs head and trotters are a special dish!

If you are taking the trotters off you are cheating (and they are no longer trotters but stumps)! :D :D

Wimp! :D

Hudson enjoys eating trotters :)

My neighbour feeds her dog chickens feet.  The dogs love them but they aren't appetising to look at!

Cava didn't like trotters but he's a wussie :-) Never got them again since I got Zymi but I'm sure he'd eat 'em. Give it a try

                        Anne

:D Tohme,i'm embarrased to admit,i am a big wuss when it comes to animal body parts that are not considered the "norm"

Your'e absolutely right tho,i will bite the bullet and give em' whole,afterall they eat grosser things on their walks everyday ;)

There is one thing in the butchers window that i will never get used to,and that is the pig head they so proudly display,eyes and all! I dont ever go around that side of the counter anymore as it just sickens me and i truly think it is in bad taste,plonk right in the middle of their other meat products The reason i dont really eat meat is not because i dont like it BUT because i feel sorry for the poor animal that was slaughtered just to be on my dinner plate,plus i cant get the picture of the little cow or whatever out of my head! I just love all animals,a little too much!
Sorry for straying O.T

christine

My 3 Staffs get pigs trotters quite regular, they really enjoy them, and it's nice for them to have something longer than a few seconds. :D
But I'm a bit like you ozzie72, I can't look at them. I'm ok with raw meat that just looks like meat, but trotters are part of the animal you see, if you no what I mean.
The trotters usually come frozen from my butcher, and I just transfer straight to my freezer, they are wrapped so I can't see them. On the evening I'm going to feed, I defrost still wrapped. Then when I feed them I deliberately look the other way while I drop one in front of each dog, then make a quick escape for the back door, and no looking back :D :D

Mitch

How do you serve up trotters, do you cook them or anything or just raw raw.....I am a novice at all this but I didnt think dogs would eat raw meat...?

If they can what raw meat can they eat and does it have to be prepared??

At what age could they start eating things like this? I think mine would be too young.

Lisa

You serve them raw.
Dogs love raw meat, after all that is why in the wild they would be catching rabbits etc.
They can eat any raw meat (even with their fur coat on) no preparation is required.
They can start eating raw meat while still in the nest; again that is what happens in the wild, mum comes back and regurgitates a semi digested rodent etc :D

Ps by raw meat we also mean bones!

http://b-naturals.com/Sep2002.php

I still think my dogs human!! That explains why he devoured those sausages
silly me I thought he might get food poisoning!

My 15 wk staff could eat raw meat ....I might try and get him something nice from the butchers!

Could anyone give me a few dish ideas!

http://b-naturals.com/Feb2003.php
http://b-naturals.com/Jun2002.php

Lisa ..my 12 week old puppy is in the kitchen eating 4 chicken wings as I type ;) :D

I theres me slaving over a hot stove cooking the finest M&S chicken breast for him ha!

:D :D

What should I ask for then if I go too my butchers....pigs ears, trotters, chicken necks..?
Sounds gross urgh!

My friend had a yorkie which was only fed on chicken and all its teeth fell out????

Was the Yorkie fed raw chicken with the bones? If not, then where was it getting the calcium from to keep its teeth healthy?

no it was an ex-boyfriend of mine, his mums used to feed it cooked chicken, its breath STUNK! and the poor little mite had no teeth.

Thats why I though I wouldn't feed my dog chicken because I wouldn't want my baby ending up like that!

Also I though dogs weren't allowed chicken bones???

No cooked chicken ...RAW chicken with the bones are fine. You can buy packs of chicken wings for about £1.28 in Tesco ..they are handy to start a dog off on

Never feed a dog cooked chicken bones they can splinter and damage their insides

My butcher sells chicken wings in packs of 10, they are only 30p.
It kills me, if for any reason I have to get them from the supermarket :D

Mitch

Unfortunately it is the cheapest place for me to get my chicken wings from :( Lambs ribs etc I can get from the butcher ...but not wings. The one good thing is that they often have wings in the 'approaching sell by date'

;)

Lambs' wings? ;)
:D

Shaddap pedant :D :D

Thats a shame Melodysk, :(  I used to pay about £1.20 for 12 from Morrisons, until I went to the butchers for other stuff and found out they did packs of 10 for 30p. Bargain :)
I do like going to Morrisons last thing though, and getting things reduced, the best buy is usually the Oxtail. I can normally get a big piece for half the normal price, and my dogs love Oxtail.

Mitch.

Hudson likes oxtail too ..but the butcher charges for it as it is still a delicacy around here ..so we don't get it very often :)

Dogs are not allowed cooked chicken bones..or cooked bones of any type but raw is fine.I avoid weight bearing bones(leg) for consumption(although allowed for recreational) since they are more dense.
Archer

Ozzie72
my lot eat the toes and the nails first...best bit so they tell me!!!
Archer

Chicken wings it is then, and thats served staright from the bag and both my 7 wk old and 15 week old can eat this safely??

Yep! Though they may not recognise it as being food at first!
:)

Took Delta about 5 seconds to know she could eat them :p :p :p

Especially if it's my older dog who tends to roll on any new raw meat - not so bad with chicken wings - but he (and the floor) did get a bit messy when he rolled in liver :D

Daisy

:D Archer.I went back to get them today and they had none left :( Have to wait till next week.

Lisa,dogs digestive systems are designed to handle raw meat,they could eat an off piece of meat that would kill a human with no worries!

Cooked food and especially commercial dry etc. is a "foreign" food for our dogs,it is NOT their natural diet!
Unfortunately the only raw meat my picky brats will touch are raw meaty bones,otherwise i could cut down on an awful lot of work cooking their meat,i only lightly sautee it tho,thet also get a little dry food as they wont eat enough variety imo of fresh food to get everything they need :( the dry i feed is called innova  www.naturapet.com it uses all human grade ingredients and is chock full of fruits,vegies,probiotics etc. i even know a few people who have tried it before feeding it to their dogs and they all give the thumbs up

On top of RAW chicken wings and necks you could also give: lamb/pork ribs,marrow bones,beef soup bones,lamb shank-briskett. the list goes on and on :)
I'm surprised the little yorkie didnt die of malnutrition!If you are going to feed meat you must also feed bone to balance out the calcium-phosphorous levels.Meat alone is deficient in calcium which is why his teeth fell out :(

christine

I bet everybody's teeth would fall out if all they ever ate was cooked chicken, and never brushed their teeth!

I started off with a pack of wings from Tesco :)  Lana had four wings and I watched nervously :rolleyes: but she knew what to do!  I did also give her natures diet packs every now and then (still do but not as often) because I was being a bit of a wuss - but we gradually moved on!  I'd say we are 99% raw now - I tend to stock up at the butchers on a Saturday morning (have to go further afield for rabbit, but worth it as Lana lurves bunny!)  Now we have wings, lamb necks, steak, liver, kidney, heart, rabbit, duck, cottage cheese, eggs, pilchards etc etc - My friend feeds trotters and whole pigs heads, but my butcher doesnt do them??  Have a look around today I think...My dog loves raw food, really enjoys it and looks fantastic!  Although I'm not too keen on the smell of my bin and my back garden this time of year   All those bloodstained bags and stinky bones!!!!
Sarah

Yeah that can be a downside :) I tend to refreeze the bags after I have taken the meat out and then put ALL the bags in the bin at the same time ...the day the bin men come around ;) Saves getting the bin to stinky :D

Has anyone mentioned the best bit about feeding raw? Smaller, less stinky poo :D :D :D

Good idea Mel, there are a few things that I find a bit 'orrible really with the raw feeding - Mostly Lana putting her paws up on the side after she has dragged raw chicken across the kitchen floor (good job I dont have kids,) once her lamb hearts dripped blood onto some garlic bread on the shelf below, finding all the internal organs of bunnies whilst checking for shot   Flies everywhere, esp. this time of year!  Her fishy breath after a tin of pilchards, blood smeared along my very expensive cream leather sofa, where she likes to wipe her chops....And the other half constantly moaning that the dog eats better than him - but apart from that this raw feeding is great :D :D
Sarah

:D ditto Sarah,youv'e just explained my place :)
What about the greasy/bloody stains on the carpets from the all of the bones the dogs drag around the house!
AAAHHHH the things we put up with from our dogs,i sure wouldnt put up with the same from a man ;) :D

christine

Sorry to but in on your thread but I learned today of some poor people who have just lost their 14 month old Boxer bitch with NEOSPOROSIS from feeding a mouthful of raw fresh minced beef. I found it alarming as I feed my dogs a natural diet but when I read about it further it seems that if the mince had been frozen and not fresh it wouldn`t have happened as the spors are killed if the meat has been frozen for 24 hours or more. It dosen`t affect us because the acidity of our stomachs kills off the spors. It dosen`t bear thinking about as the initial symptoms are similar to that of a stroke, so I wonder how many dogs have been misdiagnosed in the past!
There is a web site that can tell you more
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Otavi/EducationalMN.htm
Thanks for listening
Ester

Yup but not new news there :) It is always good to hear anpther view on raw feeding. Unfortunately, it is rather like CJD in humans ..a few unfortunate people have caught it and died..but the vast majority have not ....

There are dangers in feeding anything to anything or anyone ;) You pays your money and you takes your choice in the long run. I could come up with page after page of information about the *nasties* that some people think there dogs have suffered from eating complete foods ...it is down to choice at the end of the day. I fed complete to my older dog for a couple of years, with NO ill effects. Now I feed raw to him and to my puppy, again, with no ill effect.

;)

<<It dosen`t affect us because the acidity of our stomachs kills off the spors.>>

I find it hard to believe that's the reason because the acids in a dog's stomach are stronger and more concentrated than ours! ;) I think it's more likely to be the fact that not many people eat raw mince ... It's a tragedy, but there are hazards in all types of feeding.

AS Melodysk rightly says there are risks in everthing; you have to carry out a risk assessment and decide how likely this is and what real risk it poses to your dog;  we all do this all the time whether it is wormers,medecines, vaccinations, food, etc etc et whether for us or our dogs/children etc.

Well i gave them the trotters,they sniffed at them and walked off! But i have not lost hope yet as they usually like to leave their bones lying around for a couple of days before eating them :D

As for the mince,that is so sad,i'm wondering if there was more to it tho,was the dog in excellent health etc.

I have read(Juliette Levy) that freezing green tripe makes it indigestable for dogs,it must be fed fresh!

Christine

Christine..that is exactly what Hudson did the first time ...in fact, he buried it! However, he went back to reexamine it a few hours later and decided to have a go at easting it ...no holding him back now ;) :D

JBL writes from when fresh green tripe was readily available; it is not now and for those of us that work etc the frozen variety will have to suffice; my dogs look well on it!  I would like to understand how the process of freezing renders it indigestible.

Tohme i dont understand it either :rolleyes:
One thing that really bugs me about Juliette's books is that she never explains why or how she comes about her findings,when she gives remedies she doesnt explain how or why they work,her books leave me with more questions than answers :(

Christine

Christine the unfortunate dog that died was a young fit healthy dog it is a very nasty disease but as Tohme says we have to weigh up the pros and cons of what we feed and eat ourselves and do what we feel comfortable with.Gillian

talking about raw feeding the dogs at work and my own dogs have now been BARFing since april, they are all looking so much better, happier and fitter not to mention quieter and better behaved, the pup that i bred that is now owned by my boss if she is fed complete food becomes hyper messes in the house and wrecks the garden fed raw meat and she is the perfect pup.
last week i managed to get some pigs heads from the butchers, i asked the butcher to cut them in half for me as (silly as it may seem) feeding half a head doesnt seem as greusome as a whole head, i have been asked not to leave the pigs heads for my boss to feed the dogs on my day off, but to leave wings or mince when im not there :D as some of the dogs are in boarding kennels they also said the same, i wouldnt mind but im a veggie and these people eat meat, cant understand it myself
tanya