I have some frozen minced chicken (pet food) that I'm defrosting for tonights treat.  Should I cook it, or just feed it raw mixed in with their normal dry food?

Thanks
 

Personaly I would say raw every time  Im sure they will love it, mine eat nothing but raw meat and bones. What breed are they? depending on size they would also enjoy chicken wings, thighs and things like whole rabbits (bones included) but it MUST be raw, this sort of food is great for them and cleans their teeth at the same time.

They're both Labs, 6 month old black boy and 19 month yellow bitch.

They haven't had any of the frozen types of pet mince before which was why I questioned how best to'serve' it.  They often have cooked chicken as treats.

They do have raw marrow bones normally at least one a week, but I have stopped these because of the hot weather and flies making the bones really yukky and smelly.  The dogs don't care though!!  Also yesterday the puppy found a dead squirrel and had a good old munch before I could get it off him.  That was really rank!!

They both scavange dead creatures, bits of bone and feathers, all types of poo and anything else they can find to eat.  The pup's favourite thing at the moment is wood of any type, especially my fence pannels!!   His poo is like woodchip, he eats so much.  I'm really having to keep an eye of him as it can't be doing his insides any good.

Thanks for your advice, I will give them the chicken raw, mixed with their Autarky.

P.S.  Just been to get more worming tablets for the both of them,  £7.66 for 2 tablets!!  anyone know where to buy them cheaper.

Try Vet-medic.

Have you read the reports on chicken in the mail. I cook mine always much safer!
                                                                                                              JP

It may need to be cooked for humans, but not dogs. Mine have been eating raw chicken for years without any problem :)

Daisy

I have just fed Raw!!!

The dogs went mad for it, carried on licking their bowls clean for about 5 minutes after they were empty!!

Having seen how much they really enjoyed it, I think I may feed them raw minced meat, perhaps a two or three times a week.  How would you go about mixing dry diet with raw.  How much raw meat to equal the same of dry.  I  reduced the dry by a handful and added a third of a pack of prize choice, just guesswork.

Can you successfully feed, say, dry for breakfast, and raw meat for tea?  How would you calculate amounts??  Are the prize choice packs of meat okay to feed, they are certainly very easy and convienient. 

Sorry for rambling and asking lots of questions, but I'm now considering feeding a lot more raw if it can be incorporated into a diet easily.  These packs of frozen meat are very easy to use but I wouldn't know how much to feed.    

Thanks for your comments.

Mrs Mop why bother mixing just feed raw. Prize choice is fine also you can experiment by visiting your local butcher to see what is available (ox heart, liver, breast of lamb, Rabbit) the list is endless try typing BARF into google search and see what comes up.

I find feeding a mixture of foods is the best way for me. Mine have complete for breakfast, and raw mince and mixer for supper. I use the Forthglade frozen mince, with occasionally a chicken wing to replace part of the meal. Sometimes I add some pureed raw veggies as well.

As for quantities of the meat, the packs say how much should be fed per day, so as it's only one meal I halve the amount. They seem to be thriving on this!
:)

I've looked on the packet of Prize choice and there doesn't seem to be any feeding guide, what would you recommend for a lightweight Lab.  The packet size is 400gm.  Also approx how many chicken wings per meal?

As for germs and other nasties from raw meat, my pup has just devoured the most stinkiest and rotteniest dead 'thing' while out this morning.  If that doesn't make him ill, I don't know what will!!   Serious 'LEAVE IT' training coming up I think.

I think I am still going to feed complete, at least for breakfast, and give raw chicken, tripe for tea a few times a week and see how we go.  It's doing the vegetable bit that puts me off and by feeding complete for a least one meal, I'd feel they were still getting plenty of vitamins etc.

Thanks for your help

The Forthglade meat comes in frozen blocks of 454gm, so pretty much the same size as the Prize choice. The feeding suggestions are: "Giant breeds, 2 packets; Large breeds 1 packet; Medium/Small breeds ½ packet. Add biscuits for balanced diet." So for your lab half a packet and an equal volume of biscuit should be fine. I tend to only give one chicken wing at a meal, but it's only part of the meal - if I'm giving a wing I give them half the usual amount of meat with the wing making up the difference. These are the three-joint wings, not just the wing tips.

I also have to hold the wing for a few seconds while the dogs crunch them and break up the bone so I know they're not swallowing enormous pieces of bone (even though the wings are raw (never ever give cooked bones) I still worry).

Sounds about right, JG :) Mine get a pack of Prize Choice between them over two meals - so a quarter per meal, two meals a day (with mixer). This is probably a bit less than they need, but they get two chicken wings with some mixer (and veggies) at other meals (which is probably a bit much) so it balances itself out. Other meals they get pilchards, offal etc. My dogs weigh about 18kg and 21kg.

Daisy

My Labs get a mix of raw and dry foods. I generally find that if I feed a similar volume of raw to dry, ie aprox 1 cup of dry in the morning and 1 cup of meat in the evening they are fine. In the evening they will also get any left over veg smashed up and if they have had or are going to have a busy day they get a dollop of porrige cooked in water or stock to stop them getting too hungry!

As for leaving yummy rotten carcases, I have one who is 9 and can swallow a whole dead rabbit in about 10 seconds flat and whilst the leave it command works for just about everything else it has never worked on such delights, but then he is hard mouthed and would rather eat then retrieve. 

jdp1962, dogs systems are designed a lot differently to ours, if you do some research on this, you will learn an awful lot :)

Dogs are actually designed to eat raw food, many thousands of years ago, do you actually think that wolves/wild dogs ate man made commercial food, or had someone on hand to cook all of their kill for them? If this was a prerequisite for a Canine/Lupine, then they wouldn't be here today

Easy, Tiger.  Go back and read what I actually said.  I asked if people had read a recent newspaper article, the reason being that it was reporting a recent development in bird flu & how it might affect the food chain.  I then expressed the fact that I prefer to feed my dog cooked meat.  I didn't at any time criticise those who don't. 

If you wish to feed your dogs raw meat, fine, but don't you think it's then a good idea to keep abreast of potential new risk, which was what I was referring to?

If you're going to respond, respond to what you see, not what you choose to infer, OK?

What you said was "I cook mine always much safer"  Lets face it if we took everything in news papers as fact we would eat nothing our selves, we all have to balance risks against possible benefits in my opinion raw wins over cooking and loosing most of the nutients.

Ive never heard of raw chicken hurting a dog.  Alot of people do the RAW diet.  The only thing is bones cannot be cooked.  Increases the risk of them splintering.

Its perfectly ok to give it raw foods.  It cannot get ecolie or salmanilla (sorry for spelling) plus raw is healtier because when you cook it you cook alot of the nurtients out.

Sorry to correct you krytia2000 but dogs can and do get salmonella, e-coli, campylobacter, giardia etc etc etc.

However dogs who are commercially fed contract these too as the sources are varied and many.

This is an interesting post.  I've had Kiera just over a week - she's a nine week old Lab.  Our vet was horrified that the breeder had told me to feed her raw mince for a lunchtime meal and told me to stop immediately and also not give her milk.  She said that dogs often develop problems as a result of an intolerance to milk and that it's old fashioned and no longer thought to be good practice to feed a dog raw meat - she said that if I wouldn't eat it - I shouldn't feed it my dog.  I've stopped the raw mince and moved over to a complete food for large breeds and only give her water to drink - there has been no change in her development and she's eating just fine.  In fact, if anything she's more satisfied - what do you reckon?  Just a cautious vet?

>she said that if I wouldn't eat it - I shouldn't feed it my dog.

I guess your vet doesn't eat steak tartare, then - ie, raw minced steak! ;) :D

So using the logic of the vet if you would not eat grass you should not feed it to your horse? :rolleyes:

What exactly does she think dogs ate before the advent of tins and packets?

It is not old fashioned to give raw meat however it should not be fed alone, it is important for the correct calcium:phosphorus ratio to be fed for healthy bones, meat alone is calcium deficient, hence those of us who feed raw, like me, include raw bones.

No animal bar man consumes milk post weaning, there is no need as everything they need can be better supplied in other foods.  Most animals, certainly dogs, do not have the enzyme lactase to process milk sugar, lactose; if they do it is usually in very small quantities.

So I would agree with your vet on the milk question, it is unecessary at best and at worst can be harmful in some cases.

Most vets have had no training in specific nutrition during their studies and so will err on the side of caution.

If you are inexperienced I would recommend that you do feed a good quality commercial dog diet rather than experimenting with raw food to avoid problems.

Everyone will have their own idea's on feeding.  It doesn't mean anyone is wrong, just go with what suits you and your dog.  I feed complete with a little raw beef mince, tuna or an egg added.

I like to feed puppies some milk, just me, no idea whether it is any good for them.  But I have always fed goats milk, they seem to tolerate it better then cows.  You can buy it in the supermarket these days, I used to go miles for mine.

I think i know what you mean here, but.

It is entirley possible to be 'wrong' in feeding certain things!

Grapes, poisonous, chocolate is poisonous. Most dogs gain no benefit from milk and many will get the squits from it.
I personally wouldnt mix raw and complete foods in the same meal, they digest at different rates. At best one will go through undigested, at worst you could cause a serious stomach ache or bloat.

I know a lot of people who seem to think puppies need milk/weetabix etc meals.  To my mind though, if you are feeding four meals and one is milk/bread/weetabix, then you m ight as well be feeding just three meals, as the cereal/milk meal is doing nothing but creating poop.

It would also be wrong to feed JUST meat with no bone content.

So it IS possible to be wrong and it IS possible to do harm, andnot just wtih a raw diet either -- feed a dog a complete food that he is allergic to, and ytou can do serious damage.

Em

Just a thought - do you eat a 'complete food for large breeds' - or any other kind of dog food? If not, according to your vet's logic, you shouldn't be giving it to your dog! ;) :D :D

I'd eat raw steak before I ate a tin of dog food bleurgh

ROFLMAO at JG and ChloeH :D :D

Dogs can get ecoli cut it does not caluse clinical disease in dogs as it does in humans.

Can someone help me out with this "Raw" feeding. Where do you buy the raw food is it just from our aupermarket shelf (our food) or is it from a specialist pet shop?

As I have a 11 week old shih tzu that is so fussy its unbelieveable, one min she will eat her food the next she just looks at it. At the moment she is in the just look at it phrase, and i am getting worried, as she didn't eat any food yesterday. Others say she will eat when she is hungry but she only has a small tummy surely she is hungry by now.

You can buy raw food from pets at home in the form of mince in large bages Chicken,tripe etc,and small packs all different flavours,with these i always add veggies and fruit that have been put through the food processor do quite a bit and freeze it,most veg excluding nightshade veg ,ie: potatoes tomatoes peppers,i was advised that by my breeder,but i beleive some people do feed tomatoes,or cooked potatoes,fruits are bananas,apples,pears,strawberries,etc,not grapes though think they may be toxic to dogs,or you can buy bags of nature diet frozen which includes veggies,use to be £1.99 i brought some the other day and had gone up to £2.20,still good value though.I am sure a lot of other pet suppliers will stock it also maybe ring a few and ask,there will be a lot of other people who can probably help you with this also.   
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[link]http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=10367359&dopt=Abstract[/link]

krytia2000

I think you will find it does, there was a recent outbreak in the West of England which affected many dogs. There are differing strains of E-coli and depending on the immune system of the dog and various other factors clinical disease may indeed be caused by e-coli.

BARF made me laugh. Where I come from its slang for vomit.

(As in "I drank so many Black Russians I barfed my guts up")

You're not alone Old Timer, it originally meant 'vomit' to me too. :p