EAST TEXAS HOG DOGGERS FORUM

 Anyone else feed their dogs 100% meat? I use to feed all chicken but the price went up and the qoulity went to sheet. I went back to dry for about 150lbs....never again.  I now have a good contact for all the deer meat I need. Went yesterday and got enough for 10 days. All for nothing but the time to bag it up at the house. I still plan on feeding liver and heart once a week and giving bones every few days. I am also tring to put some weight on a lacy cross that I have. She is my tracking dog , it has been a battle from day one to get weght on her, any ideas? She is about 1.5 y/o.

We're getting the new Lacy board and blog up, and ironically Betty Leek just wrote an article on feeding deer meat, http://workinglacys.wordpress.com/2008/11/14/feeding-raw-deer/. There are some good tips about what cuts to serve. I bet if you post this over at the new board you'll get a really thorough answer from her.

Personally, I'm feeding a mix of about half boneless venison and half bony chicken. Just deer, with no small bony animals mixed in, is a pretty rich diet. Throwing chicken quarters, wings and drumsticks into the mix are probably the easiest way to keep the bone content high. Or you can shoot rabbits in the backyard and toss those in, the dogs will be able to digest all the bunny bones and get the same benefits.

Did Seven gain weight on kibble? Because it is so high in sugars, it usually gets dogs fattened up, but that weight is more fat than healthy lean mass. I know a lot of raw people feed these to put weight on skinny dogs, http://www.njboxers.com/satin-balls-recipe.htm, but that may be more work than you want to do. The only other thing I can think of is to increase her portions. An active dog can eat up to 6% of their body weight a day on raw.

you probably need to feed her something with a bit of fat.... deer meats so lean.

We feed 100% raw meat to our dogs.  We use a variety of chicken, turkey, deer, fish, and wild hog.  We get our meat by hunting, taxidermist, and meat processors.  RARELY pay for anything at all.  It is very important to include bone with every meat portion....many of the much needed vitamins/minerals necessary for good health on a raw diet are found in the bones and bone marrow.  Ripping and chewing big pieces of meat off the bone is also essential for good overall health.  To add weight give the dog meat with higher fat content like pork or whole chickens.....Can also feed tripe or brain which is also high in fat content......

I give each dog a few ribs with the meat. I will also get some tripe and or brain to fed the skinny one. I liked the chicken I was feeding but the price went up to 5.69 a bag(10lb). It would start to go bad withen a few days in the fridge. It took a total of 1.5 hrs to get enough deer meat for 10days, that includes the drive time .

I recently started feeding deer meat myself but wasn't sure about the vitamins and minerals part. Been feeding them half their normal dry dog food and half deer meat scraps, the scraps being what the butcher cuts off the good meat for people. Can anyone tell me if this is good or bad ?   Thanks.

Ok i have never done this but it seems interested with the feed bill rising... Do yall just cut sections of the deer off after quatering and put it straight in the pan? And for hog the same?? Or should i sum what cook it first? Thanks

 Dont cook it at all. Also, I was told to always freeze it first before you feed it. Most will have worms.
I get it from the deer process guy. It is already cut up into litle strips of bloody meat,fat etc.  But to be honest I have fed deer that I have shot to them. I take off what I want and then take a saz-all and go to town cutting 1lb chcuks of bone and meat out. I fed them a whole deer one time- meaning everything but 1/2 the hide, and the feet/head.  My dogo gets the spine after I cut the ribs off. It takes her about 2 -3 hrs to eat it all up. The dogs love the ribs. I have noticed that they crap more thrn what they did on chicken but it is still not near what they do on dry food. I dont like having to clean kennels every day. With chicken I would only have to to do it one time a week. Now I have to do it twice a week, not bad.  The dogs love it too!! The only real problem I have with it is that it can be a pain. I have a fridge/freezer that I only use for dog food and dead animal heads that are waiting to be mounted. The fridge doesnt smell good............

Yup, cantexduck is right, never cook the meat. A huge reason to feed raw is that is so much healthier, and cooking will leech some of those important nutrients. But more importantly, cooked bones can splinter and kill your dog, especially with chicken. Never ever feed cooked poultry bones!

As far as freezing the meat first, you should be able to feed deer right off the hoof, no freezing necessary. But you must freeze wild pork before you feed it to kill off pseudo-rabies. Six to eight weeks should be sufficient to kill anything bad living in hog meat.

Elliscountyhog, check out that blog link I posted above, it will give you some ideas on how to feed deer.

Buddylee, your dogs will get a lot more benefits with pure raw, no kibble at all. But I'm of the opinion that some raw is better than none. Also, as Black Gold noted, you should feed some ribs or vertebrae because bones are an important part of the raw equation.

Julie- where are you getting the 6-8 weeks thing at?

The internet 8) I think six to eight weeks is the super safe estimate. According the CDC's trichinellosis fact sheet, which is another parasite you need to look out for, "freeze pork less than 6 inches thick for 20 days at 5 degrees Fahrenheit to kill any worms."

There is debate on the necessity of freezing........but in this day in age there is debate on everything on the internet... ::) :D
From what I understand pseudorabies can only be transfered to dogs thru saliva......who knows for sure.  I feed deer fresh and have fed wild hog fresh, but do like to freeze wild hog before I feed just to be safe......I dont freeze for a certain time always.....The way I see it is frozen is frozen and that is dead......I do follow a strict worming regimen and believe that is necessary when feeding raw.......2-3% of body weight per day on small dogs and 1-2% on big dogs......most my dogs get 1-2 pounds per day.....I've stopped weighing and just guestimate.....

i only feed my dog meat . i just go up to my property and shoot roos every now and then when i need dog food or i kill a sheep for him.

i just want to say that i had a dog die from psuedorabies and he only bit a hog through th e ear in a pen, so be careful.

 What are some of the signs of  psuedorabies ? In no way do I plan on freezeing wild pork that long, I dont have the room to do that. I am with Black on this one, frozen is frozen.

Frozen is frozen however the local vet told me some germs and viruses need to be frozen for an extended period before they are no longer harmful. 

Mike,

I dont think that there are any physical signs that a hog has psudorabies.

If a dog gets psudorabies, there will be no question. By day two, it will be scratching its face off and by day three, it will be dead.

If a hogs balls are swollen, its a sign of Brucellosis which is another one to watch out for. I just wouldnt feed one with signs of Brucellosis.

So far as freezing is concerned, I also subscribe to the frozen is frozen theory! I have fed nothing but raw meat for a while and have not had any bad experiences.

Steve

Again.....If a hog-dog is caught even just on an ear the opportunity to come in contact with hog saliva is great and can happen in a split second.  Hog Dogs have a much greater chance of contracting pseudorabies while in the woods hunting hogs than they do from eating their meat......Again....I'm not a vet, but hearing one vet say one thing and another say the exact opposite does not give me a great trust in someone's opinions just because they have a "DVM" behind their name.......I'd love to hear from a biologist who actually works with this disease specifically.......

The following is copied/pasted.....

Pseudorabies
Pseudorabies (PRV) is an infectious disease of swine caused by porcine herpesvirus-1. Also known as Aujeszky’s disease or “mad itch,” PRV rarely causes morbidity or mortality in adult swine but frequently causes abortion in pregnant sows and death of neonatal piglets, especially in naive domestic herds. Infection of domestic swine usually occurs by oronasal or aerosol transmission, but feral swine most often are infected via venereal transmission. Once infected, swine are carriers for life, sporadically shedding virus in the saliva and/or reproductive mucosa. PRV does not appear to limit the growth of feral populations and, once infected, populations remain infected indefinitely. In secondary hosts, such as cats, cattle, dogs, goats, and sheep, PRV produces an acute, fatal infection of the central nervous system marked by pruritus, convulsions, excessive salivation, and other rabies-like symptoms (hence the name pseudorabies). PRV does not affect humans, but it has been implicated as an infrequent cause of mortality among numerous wildlife species including coyotes, black bears, brown bears, mink, raccoons, and the endangered Florida panther.

I'm no expert on veterinary medicine, I just like to research things. I've heard many times that deer meat doesn't need to be frozen, that it is perfectly safe for dogs as is, but wild pork should be frozen or avoided, because hogs are carriers for all sorts of things. A lot of non-hunting dog owners that feed raw are very wary of feral pig meat. I did some more reading, and it appears freezing doesn't truly kill most parasites and bacteria, it simply stops their growth and reproduction. So the goal of freezing for an extended period time is that the organisms will die off on their own, and if they can't reproduce they continue to decrease in number until they are gone.

Of course our dogs are exposed to all sorts of dangers every time they run into a bay and our expectations of disease and injury are a little different. I guess I err on the cautious side because my dog is still a pet even if she does hunt. Essentially, I have no problem feeding any part of the deer in any state, but wouldn't feed pork unless it was frozen for at least a few weeks.

Savoy, just feed the raw deer, throw in more edible bones to keep the kennels clean, and quit yer yatchin ;)

my dog was fine for 3-4 days. .. came home and he was having convulsions and scratching at his head took hjm to the vet and he was dead in the morning, thats all i know about it.

Talking about dogs with poor weight have you considerd using WEAT GERM oil, Man it will really put the weight on them,But be carefull to  much can give a dog the scowers I like to give a tea spoon of this stuff in their feed twice a week depending on the dog and his over all apperance It won't take long a real good picker up'er for dogs under weight. Hope this might of helped ya'll