My freinds dog has been ill recently and lost a lot of weight. I have heared that tripe is good for putting weight on but do you have to cook it 1st? If so for how long.
Many thanks, Aimi.

Hi Aimi,

re tripe, it's the un-washed/un-bleached version you'll have heard of so basically it's dark green and should not be cooked (the smell of it raw is bad enough LOL)

A word of caution though, before embarking on a diet to add weight to a dog in recovery, first establish that diet played no part in the dog's illness.  Foods high in fat can cause problems and may indeed make worse some conditions.

If the illness was not nutritionally related, tripe, breast of lamb and oily fish are all good for weight gain.  Additionally, if you use the [search] facility on here, check out "satin balls" - often recommended for dogs needing to body up.

HTH, Teri :) 

i give my dog tripe with her dry food as she keeps her weight much better with it and is much more happy to eat all of her dinner.
i buy in bulk and spend a hour or so bagging it all into small bags to put in the freezer so every morning i bring 1 out to defrost buy dinner time its perfect for her.just remember to put a peg on your nose when bagging it up! lol!

I thought that tripe was considered tobe quite low in fat?
Kat

Green tripe

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%

I think one of the reasons dogs may body up when fed tripe is because of the high amount of enzymes it contains.Enzymes equal better digestion and absorbtion of food,so in turn it helps them to uptake the nutrients in the other foods they are fed that much better and easier instead of being passed through un used.Remember kibble and cooked foods are completely void of enzymes :( Enzymes are easily destroyed by heat.

AFAIK the analysis given by 'Ktee' for Green Tripe refers to the (seemingly) one and only analysis done by GreenTripe.com [GTC], some years ago.

The information from the USDA database is not any more recent, but does have somewhat different values from the GTC analysis, probably because the GTC values reflect the contents of that particular sample of their minced product, rather than reflecting what might be obtained from a particular tripe, of which there are four varieties in ruminants, from each of the 4 stomach compartments.  Where a product is minced, then likely all 4 compartments would be minced together by many suppliers :-

Moisture  84.2%  [71.4%]
Total lipid (fat) 3.7%  [11.7%]
Protein 12.1%  [15.8%]
Ash 0.55%  [1.23%
Phosphorus 0.064%  [0.14%]
Calcium 0.069%  [0.12%]
Calories  386Cal/lb  [756Cal/lb]

(First values are from the USDA database Release 19 - 2006, though the values have been the same for (at least) the past 3 years.  GreenTripe.com analysis figures are in the square brackets for comparison.)

There are major differences with the moisture and fat contents, and hence the major difference in the energy content of these samples.  The seemingly lower protein content in the USDA analysis is probably explained by the other values being higher, rather than there being any major protein content differences in the stomach walls of these two samples.  USDA also, only seemed to have based their values on one sample.

One extremely useful property that tripe exhibits is the much lower phosphorus content, than is found in most meat and other offals.  Along with the higher calcium content, though these analyses differ slightly in the amounts and Ca:P ratio, they both illustrate this property of the Ca:P ratio being almost balanced, though personally I would not depend on these values as being either accurate or relevant for the tripe that I regularly feed my own dogs.  Accordingly they also get bones of various sorts.

Use of bone as a Ca:P regulator in the diet means that very little bone is required to balance out a lot of boneless meat.  I once calculated that 100g of bone could supply the additional calcium to (theoretically) balance out the phosphorus in around 9kg of boneless meat.  If using offal such as liver, then only about 5kg would be 'balanced' with the same 100g of bone.  This is for a (purely theoretical) ratio of 1:1, which is not quite the ideal ratio, but the calculation was only ever meant to be illustrative.

I don't think that any enzymes that come with tripe are going to be much use at all, unless perhaps you are planning to feed your dog exclusively on grass or veggie gloop!   :rolleyes:

Much the same argument applies to the enzymes present in any so-called "live foods", that have not had their cellular enzymes destroyed, usually by processing or by heat as 'Ktee' mentioned.  Enzymes are extremely specific in what they do, so that with regard to digestion of food in a canine stomach and beyond:-

(a)  The purpose they normally fulfil may not be at all relevant to the primary digestion of any or all of the food the dog is actually being fed.
(b)  It is fairly certain that the pH environment these enzymes would find in the (lower part of the) stomach would denature them to a greater or lesser degree, at least temporarily.
(c)  Even if not completely denatured, most of them would be partially digested by the pepsin in the stomach.
(d)  Those that survived partial digestion in the stomach would then have to survive digestion by the pancreatic and other proteases present in the duodenum.
(e)  Even if they survived all this, though enzymatic action is fairly swift for those enzymes functioning in their normal and appropriate environment, to 'digest' food for those that in some way could, would be so slow and incomplete that they would be would be wheeched (an appropriate Scottish expression!) through the rest of the GI tract before they could do much if anything, probably then only to be digested themselves by bacteria in the large intestine or merely excreted along with the rest of the detritus.

By partial digestion, here I only mean the splitting of protein chains into two or more pieces.  Enzymes are merely very specialised proteins.  Once denatured by a change of shape due to the temperature or pH of the environment, or modification by other enzymes, they can no longer function.

Using the likes of pig's pancreas for helping EPI dogs digest their food is a whole different ballgame.  As is the use of specific plant proteolytic enzymes like papain and bromelain.  

Thank you for a very informative post, Derek :)  From a programme I listened to a while ago on the sale of Yakult et al, I understand the benefits of adding digestive enzymes to a diet are only reaped by those that have a deficiency in the first place, in humans anyway, I don't see it would be any different for other animals, the population in a healthy specimen being self generating.

Dogzilla, you don't happen to know the purine level of the protein in tripe, do you? I can't find it anywhere.

JG, I can find references on human site for low purine diets to prevent gout and other related illnesses. This doctor lists tripe in the moderate group; up to 75 mg per 200g. Have you seen this [url=www.britishdalmatianclub.org.uk/downloads/CarrollWeissStones.pdf?]download [/url]from the British Dalmation club. (probably but just in case it might be interesting)

Unfortunately that download's in a form of .pdf that my system won't recognise, despite having the most up-to-date reader it can take. :( But thanks for the figures for tripe, that's very helpful. :) It gets very confusing, because another site about gout says that tripe is purine-rich, like liver and kidney, and should be avoided.

This ones a little long to precis in total ;) but the lowest purines are listed as beverages (coffee, tea, soda & cocoa), butter, bread & cereal (except whole grain), cheese, eggs, fats, fish roe (including caviar)!!!!! so Piglet can continue to live it up with the caviar at least :D  If you want me to list the moderately high stuff in a pm to you I will be happy to do so.

Yes, without specific values it would be confusing. And is tripe in lists for humans the same as the tripe we buy for dogs. I can see why you are having trouble, I can't believe it, a list of 224 foods with purine content and no tripe! I'll stop now so I don't hijack this thread.

not pdf :D

Brilliant! Thanks,Zarah! :) :) :)

Dogzilla do you have any references re; the enzymes are not much use at all in green tripe? Is this your opinion or something you've read?

I believe one of the main reasons poor doers do so well on green tripe is because of the abundance of enzymes it contains.