I am currently feeding my dogs quite a natural diet which includes a raw lamb and beef tripe mix.  Its disgusting, it stinks, it makes everything it touches stink and my stomach turns everytime i give it to them.  I am down to my last couple of weeks worth and im thinking i might just order just raw lamb.  However, I am prepared to persevere with the tripe if it is of significant nutritional value to the dogs :O Please can anyone tell me if its worth the stink and keep on with it or should i just order lamb.

Thanks

Clair

My lot eat their tripe frozen    I used to carefully thaw it, in the sink in the utility room, under a bowl - but they kept taking the bowl off & pinching it & eating it raw - with no ill effects - so now, they get it frozen!  Saves the smell permeating everywhere :D

Margot

:) good idea thanks Margot, i defrost it in the utility room in a sealed vessel so the smell doesn't spread throughout the house but we have an old toothless cocker who i don't think would quite manage frozen meat, I just wondered if apart from being cheaper if there were any nutritional benefits to feeding lamb and trip mix as opposed to just raw lamb.  They do seem to love it though mmmmmmmmm nice.... green tripe.  Im not normally a squeamish person but my delicate sense of smell has got the better of me :( on of my other dog eats raw pigs trotters straight from the freezer with which i have absolutely no problem in handling, examining and pontificating the pig that once owned it.

Hi Storm,  I also give my dogs tripe as part of a raw diet but only because they love it so much!  My understanding is that it has little nutritional value.

Thanks Annie, I was just thinking when wolves bring down prey the first thing they all go for is the contents of the stomach and maybe there was some sort of nutritial lacking in just eating meat that would be of beneifit in tripe.  Wonder if the passion for horse manure is based on the same principle.

I think that is because the part digested contents have vits in that they cannot directly from the 'herbage'.

does the same apply to tripe then?

I had always assumed so, unless they clean it our first? I have been banned from having it in the house. OH has put up with a lot of bad smells for the animals but says he draws the line at that, the only things he thinks smell worse are fox poo and curry.

heheh i can see his point. 

Hi Bluebell, Long time no speak!  Hope all is well with you.

I remember a long time ago feeding one of my dogs very smelly green tripe - yuk!  Didn't think you could get the green stuff anymore, down to some EU regulation I understood?  Anyway, the stuff I give is the free-flow frozen tripe mince and that doesn't seem to smell nearly as bad, or perhaps my stomach has toughened up with age!!

Hi Annie. Im fine thanks, how are you?

Mine do sometimes get the frozen minced stuff, but dont tell OH. Yes Eu are doing their best to ban it fresh but they havnt managed it yet. A friend collects his from the slaughter house direct, but now has to have some special hauliers licence to do so. He says that it is still cheeper than frozen.

Hi Bluebell, I have PMd you.

how do you get a licence

Im not sure but I would suggest that you start with trading standards.

Hi Annie, you can still get the green tripe, there is a pet shop in Worcester that sells it but I don't know where they get it from.

Thanks colliemad, I think the free-flow frozen tripe I use is a mixture of green and white - still not sure I could cope with just green :-).  I'm such a wimp - I'm very much a raw feed convert but have real problems cutting up hearts!!

Possibly as Bluebell says they are eating vegetable matter which they need as well as the meat and I suppose this could also be true of horse manure!  Wish they would just restrict themselves to eating it and not rolling in the stuff!!

My other half hates the smell of it but to be honest i dont mind it at all..!! We just leave it out over night to defrost and feed it in the morning..whats left is placed in the fridge for his evening meal and taken out an hour before so its not ice cold..:)

It's green looking because it has partially digested grass etc that the cow has eaten. Tripe has an excellent source of fat, protein, enzymes, vitamins and phosphorous and calcium for healthy bones. As the additional benefit of providing good bacteria, which aids in digestion. I recently tried fresh tripe (as in walking round the field the previous day). If you can find a local supplier then fresh is nearly half the price of frozen. Unfortunately fresh tripe odour caused me to throw up and quickly went back to frozen, but the dogs loved it. But I've found that I can deal with just plain tripe better than I can tripe and beef etc, as there is no blood and same as others have already mentioned, served just before it's completely defrosted.

Years ago I used to go direct to the slaughter house and buy whole paunches.  They were often still warm and steaming and very very smelly.  Then when home I would hang it on the fence and slice into big lumps.  The dogs were then thrown a large piece twice a day to rip up themselves and eat.
It wasn't washed as this would wash out a lot of the remains in the stomach and so the nutrients.
My dogs were in top show condition feeding this way.
The stuff you buy frozen now is of not much nutritional value as it has been washed and cleaned so thouroughly.
Bev

i bet your dogs were in canine heaven :) i get my meat delivered by tpms i'll check next time i order if they clean it or not.  I mean, if it is really good stuff and the frozen tripe is as near to fresh "dirty" tripe as poss then i'll keep feeding it but if its just been cleansed of all nutrients then its not worth the hassle.

I feed the frozen free flow stuff -- doesnt smell, does it?

If it does, all i can compare it to is a mild pong of cow muck!

Em

Hi Em, the stuff i got delivered isn't freeflow mince it comes in lb blocks and the smell certainly isn't mild.  The place that delivers also sell whole tripe so i assume they just mince it up without cleaning it.  it costs about 28p per pound of mixed tripe and lamb.

I have no idea why but I think the blocks smell a lot worse than the freeflow.

I think the free flow has less liquid in too (water ;) ) 

I usually mix in a little garlic and thyme to the tripe and this does help make it smell less disgusting ;)

The Jamie Oliver method :-)!!  Wonder if the dogs like it more with garlic or without???

hi if you dont mind me asking who are tmps

Anita,

I have to add that the ratio of phosporous to calcium in tripe is unbalanced and cannot be fed to puppies, I learnt this the hard way.   One of my dogs suffered from growth plate problems as a puppy through her diet of tripe.

Christine

Annie
If mine are anything to go by the garlic and thyme means that they can't wait to eat it :D

Totally agree with Christine, I wouldn't feed it alone, only as part of their diet :D

You've obviously got gourmet dogs there Dill :-).  Yes, I agree with you and Christine, I wouldn't feed tripe alone either.

LOL

Jamie O and Gordon R get all their ideas from me ;) :D :D :D :D

Seriously tho, Garlic is good for many things (infections, fleas etc. and so is Thyme, I also use Rosemary, Sage and Marjoram amongst others :) )

I thought that tripe contained balanced levels of phosphorous and calcium.

Thats what i thought Anita.

I am aflicted by having no sense of smell. Poor me as regards flowers and perfume but great for Gabi who loves her Tripe as part of her balanced diet of the BARF principal.

No it's higher in phosporous than calcium hence the reason Asti lost the density in her bones and her growth plates suffered so she had to be given large doses of calcium.

A few months prior to this my friend's Ridgeback puppy suffered similar and he had tripe as part of his diet and I also heard of a Wolfhound, fed again with tripe as part of the diet and again suffering from growth plate problems.   SO I never recommend tripe for puppies in such a critical growth period..

Trust me - it only takes around 20yrs to get used to the stench :D Only downside is if my neighbour feeds my dogs, they have to have Chappie as she can't take the lid off the tripe container without heaving :D :D .
I never feed my pups on tripe alone though, the adults have mixer and tripe & have done for years.

It is perfectly safe to feed tripe to both puppies and adult dogs AS LONG as it is part of a varied diet.

It is poor animal husbandry to feed most animals including man, a diet that consists of only one source of nutrition, unless they have been specifically designed so to do, eg silkworms, koala bears, pandas etc etc etc

My boys were both fed tripe as part of their diet as pups and they never had any problem, you just have to make sure the rest of the diet balances it :)

Taken from another site:

Tripe Analysis

A sample of green tripe was analyzed by Woodson-Tenent Laboratories, Inc. in Gainesville, Georgia. The results for sample #G97-16346 are as follows:

Moisture 71.37%
Crude Fat 11.70%
Protein 15.82%
Ash 1.23%
Phosphorous 0.14%
Calcium 0.12%
Calories 756.35 cal/lb.
pH 6.12
Lactic Acid Bacteria 12,000 CFU/G
Linoleic Acid (EFA) 2.72%
Linolenic Acid (EFA) 0.37%

In an analysis of a sample of green tripe by a Woodson-Tenant Lab in Atlanta, Georgia, it was discovered that the calcium:phosphorous ratio is 1:1, the overall pH is on the acidic side which is better for digestion, protein is 15.1, fat 11.7 and it contained the essential fatty acids, Linoleic and Linolenic, in their recommended proportions. Also discovered, was the presence of Lactic Acid Bacteria. Lactic Acid Bacteria, also known as Lactobacillus Acidophilus, is the good intestinal bacteria.

Due to its source, the above will vary according to species, country, diet etc.