Who feeds their dog wild game?
General Topic
I recently started supplementing my lab with raw venison meat and bones. I pretty much cut up what was left of my last whitetail carcass into nice size chunks and froze in gallon Ziplocs. He gets a nice chunk with his morning meal every day in place of dry food.
I may convert him over to a pure raw diet by the end of this year. Gives me an excuse to harvest even more game and good use of stuff I would normally throw away. Lots of good info on the internet.
Anyone else feeding this way?
All my trim that doesn't make it into burger grind goes into quart size Ziplocs and into the freezer labeled "dogs" . They love it.
Raw meat has been used for decades as a part of performance dog rations. Harris Dunlap and others have used these rations in sled dogs as one example.
All the scraps from butchering get canned and we give our dogs a few tablespoons with dry food for their evening meal.
My Australian Cattle Dogs (red healers) love it when I kill something. They get leg bones to chew on.
I started my pup on a full raw diet at 9 weeks old, she hasn't had much wild game yet, but I plan on it being a large part of her diet in the near future! She loves everything she has been given so far, definitely not a picky eater!
Ours get raw occasionally as a treat, but normal dry dog food for maintenance daily. Dogs need a certain amount of grain for digestive health, and a good kibble with probiotics and certain grains are good for them. We do keep scraps and feed with normal food about once a week as a treat.
I sometimes bring back heart and liver an quickly boil it for them so it is not as messy.
My brother has lost two corgis about 10 years apart. The day after feeding them deer scraps they lost their faculties and died. It’s a weird deal as I know many people that will give their dogs fresh road kill with no issues. No doubt the scraps are what killed his dogs though.
Buck gets fed a lot of venison. He absolutely loves it and does very, very well on it. I supplement it with his regular diet of kibble. You can see he’s in fantastic shape.
I remember my buddy a moose outfitter would never let his dogs eat raw moose meat. I believe there was some type of parasite eggs that could be in the meat and if the dog consumed it they could become infected. Might have been some type of tapeworm.
I have been told by multiple different vets this is a bad idea for MANY reasons.
My dogs eat a lot of venison. I've been doing this for a while, with 5 different dogs over the years (4 labs and 1 Great Dane/St. Bernard). No issues.
I have always fed mine scraps as I am trimming undesirable pieces while butchering and cut it into small pieces and freeze in baggies. They love it and other than making them gassy they do fine.
I give them the trim and a few good bites when I’m prepping dinner. Would love to be able to give them more but the freezer is low right now!
Dog gets all the trim from my deer, I boil it up in a big pot, and put it into serving-size baggies for her. Nothing is wasted.
We used to give our beagles the fresh hearts from rabbits and pheasants after a kill. They loved it and we never saw any ill effect. If you missed, the dogs would give you a "not so pleased" look.
"I have been told by multiple different vets this is a bad idea for MANY reasons."
Like what?
Nick, the worst effect I have personally seen is probably the puddle of drool on the floor as I'm trimming my deer :)
I will add, the raw venison I feed is as a supplement to a regular dry food diet.
All the red meat trim gets saved for the Vizsla and the tallow for the birds. After double grinding our burger, I single grind the dog trim and it is zip locked bagged into 3-day portions. We cook it in the microwave with some fresh vegetables everyday and add in dry dog food. She loves it!
I packaged black bear trim with more fat last spring for her too....good for hunting season when she needs the calories. Cooked of course like all the ground trim she gets.
We’ve been feeding our bird dogs game meat trim for 35 years. No ill effects yet.
I ged my beagles game but I boiled it first. Actually they didn’t care for deer but would eat as many rabbits as they could circle back to me. Absolutely loved rabbit!
We can't have a dog due to my job, which requires me to travel the Midwest extensively. But recently the neighbor's cat has adopted our place as her second home. She visits our back deck daily for several hours. So with approval, we started feeding her some of our aging venison burger. Always cook it first to avoid parasites. She wolfs it down promptly. When I put processed food out there, like currently a frozen tamale, she typically rejects it. She is a great mouser though, and will go to patrolling our yard & garden for voles & mice immediately after dining. Not a dog, but we are just glad to have some pet company of any kind.
I wouldn't recommend feeding raw bear meat, cooked is ok, raw can introduce trichinosis.
Mine will sit and wait for me to toss them some trim when butchering. I also save the bones from the front shoulder and hind quarters if I have room in the freezer and they get them over the next year. The vet commented their teeth look really great from chewing those bones.
Don't Alaskan sled dog owners boil food for the dogs before feeding? Does this have to do with making sure meat is parasite free or something similar or am I mistaken?
I had a cat that loved raw venison, but just fed it some scraps here and there while I was cutting deer up.
My friend feeds her Shepard raw diet and feeds every other day. Lots of treats each day with training but the dog has kept weight in check,for ten years and seems to do fine. I guess ev her all my venison parts I don't use, shanks, intestine etc...
My dog gets some raw femur and shoulder bones and some scrap. I gave her some raw deer liver once and she wouldn't eat it!
For your dog’s well being, Ask your Vet. I boil or pressure cook all my venison before giving it to my dog.
We cook scraps from the grind pile and add some to store bought dog food. Never fed him raw.
I feed my dog raw frozen lamb ordered online due to her food allergies. You will not hardly find a vet that supports any raw whether wild or farm raised but my dog looks great and if you read up their are many cases of dry dog food making dogs sick or even killing them.
Never crossed my mind. If you’re going to do it: either use it as supplement of a diet you’re already feeding or work with a vet to get the nutritional requirements. Please boil or cook it. Beyond parasites the biggest concern is bacteria. I don’t know of many people who eat raw meat because of food poisoning, your dog isn’t impervious to it either.
"I don’t know of many people who eat raw meat because of food poisoning..."
You haven't seen my steaks.
You eat your steaks right out of the refrigerator/freezer without the outside surface seeing any heat?
Guess I should have put a smiley face at the end of my post. You ever had steak tartare?
A lot of myths out there against feeding raw. Everyone should do their own research.
I have a friend who takes all the trim, tendons, bloodshot meat, anything with dirt/hair that he trims off processing at home and throws it in a pile. He grinds it at the end of his own processing and puts it in quart bags for his dog to eat raw. The scary thing is that scrappy mess LOOKS identical to normal ground burger meat...makes one wonder about commercial meat processors.
Always, and always raw. Never an issue. Also a raw fish once a week if I can get one the right size. I'm going to start ordering raw smelt for this. One of my friends' lab is on a 100% raw diet. She has it delivered once a month. That dog has a beautiful coat and never sheds, is super healthy. I don't do 100% raw but regularly supplement with wild game scraps.
Think about it - wild dogs eat 100% raw diet and they seem to do ok...
My brothers results aren’t myths. I’d be careful. I prefer to eat the meat myself and let my dog have cooked table scraps. What are the upsides Nick? It can’t be cheaper and I imagine any “health” benefits wouldnt be noticeable. My uncle was making his dogs food with ground beef, rice, all sorts of stuff. After the dog had issues the vet told him to add dog food back into her diet as a good manufactured food has things they need. I think dinovyte(sp) and others selling supplements have done a good job making people think their dog food is inadequate.
Lots of benefits that's easy to search.
I’m sure there are plenty of searchable negatives as well. You can find anything on the internet. I wish your dog well.
Commercial dog food has only been around roughly 100 years. What do you think dogs ate beforehand? The PH in a dog's digestive tract are not the same as humans. We tend to treat our dogs as humans when they are not! Raw meat is perfectly safe for dogs.
Always. Best diet for canines. Never cooked.
Antibiotics have only been around for 100 years. People lived just fine before that, right? ;)
My Labradors love venison, but the older one throws up or gets diarrhea if she eats too much of it. I feed them the silver skin that I trim off raw.
They definitely get all the bones that I don't use for soup bones. Especially the shoulders. They'll eat an entire shoulder blade in under 10 minutes - even the knuckle part.
As far as humans eating raw venison - I do it all the time. I eat raw venison while I butcher my animals (while it's still warm is best). Just don't eat anything that's got gut juice on it, obviously.
I make a tartar that's amazing.
Cut backstrap into small cubes (about 5/8") and pack them into a 1/2 or 1 cup measuring cup, then turn it upside down on to a plate to make a patty of sorts. Make sure to remove all the silver skin. The meat should be served between fridge temp and room temp - coldish, but not cold.
Reduce wild blue berries or huckleberries in a pan by mashing and adding bourbon, whiskey, or cognac, then sugar and salt to taste. Add the sugar and salt once it's reduced, not at the beginning. Once it's reduced to a thick syrup, pour it over the meat patty and add sesame seeds, finely grated lemon peel, and an herb of your choosing. Good options include green onion, finely chopped cilantro, fresh parsley, fresh lemon grass, etc.
Serve with various crackers or baguettes. It's delicious.
I've eaten raw venison from well over a dozen different animals; whitetail, blacktail, mule deer, and elk and I've never gotten sick. The best is backstrap from a fawn. It's has an amazing flavor and makes an amazing tartar.
Our beagle loves it and does well on it. We add it to her dry mix. I also use it in blood trail training and she goes nuts to find it.
For about the last month or so, every time my dog goes out, he wants to eat the piles of deer poop that are laying in the yard.
I like tartar on fried fish. The kind Captain D fries up.
All my trimmings go in small freezer bags and I pull them out periodically to mix with our dog’s dry kibble. He absolutely goes crazy for it.
We always did this our Plott Hounds too back in the day, especially during hunting season and never saw any ill effects from them eating it.
My black Lab’s favorite snack was deer head scraps he loved it when I was caping deer during guiding season. He lived to 15 yrs old. Mebbe I should make me some deer head soup...
Seems pretty prevalent from the people that have told me about feeding dogs venison here in Alaska, mostly caribou and moose, but other game too. I had never heard of this before moving to Alaska, other than a few neighbors dogs that would eat on some of the mule deer that died during difficult winter in our yard in Colorado.
I do know some people allow their dogs to eat Salmon which is problematic around here because the streams are loaded with them and once they die rot and smell, lots of people that allow their dogs to eat salmon seem to have issues with the dog rolling around in rotting fish-
I have 3 bird dogs. After much research i started feeding them strictly raw meat (no more kibble) about 4 years ago. They have good coats; no allergies. Never looked back. It is a little more $$$ than the best kibble, but, IMO worth it.
Shot a hare today and wounded it. According to the tracker, my beagle was 220 yards away when he stopped howling and began moving slowly towards me. At 35 yards he popped out of a thicket, carrying the hare. He brought to my feet, dug a hole in the snow, and buried it. He then immediately started another hare. When we got done, I fed him the heart, liver, and kidneys. He really beat the daylights out of that hare, but I will try to salvage it, This is what I have to work with. My beagles are big on hare
DO NOT EVER MIX DRY FOOD, AND RAW!!! IT IS VERY BAD FOR YOUR DOG!!!
A little treat, and I mean little, is ok. Raw is digested much, much faster than dry. If you give a dog too much raw food, it can cause a blockage in their digestional tract that can kill them.
Now, with that being said, there are many benefits to a raw diet. And as someone mentioned earlier, kibble has only been around for about a hundred years. Started during the depression because it was cheaper, and had a longer shelf life. Also, as someone mentioned, yes, the PH in a dogs digestive tract can do amazing things, and can break down just about any raw foods.
You should never give your dog any cooked bones that they can break up. They splinter, and can cut, puncture the stomach and intestines. Again, very bad and can kill your family member. Anything raw that they can chew small enough to swallow, will not hurt them. I have an American bulldog. They have a tendency to gulp. He swallows some chunks that make me cringe, but they always pass, and no different than anything else he eats. He is on a total raw diet and does very well.
They also drink much less water, on a raw diet. And their stool is smaller, and degrades much quicker. Coat is healthier. It's easier to adjust for weight gain/loss due do the quicker digestion. And he absolutely loves it. He gets chicken, turkey, venison, fish, fruits, vegetables. His treats are home made sweet potato chips, and he will do just about anything for them. If you do raw, it has to be balanced. Do the research. A well blended raw diet is far superior to kibble. Teath, joints, coat, energy, etc... all better on raw.
Vet's don't like raw because they get sponsored by major kibble brands, as well as Vet schools. So they are taught from the get go to be against raw diets.
There are raw food co'ops all over the country. And it really is not much more that a higher quality kibble if you do it right. I would be more than happy to help anyone on the journey. Pm me.
If you do kibble and your dogs coat is a little dry, not shiny, add a raw egg, or some olive oil to the kibble and stir, 2-3 times a week, and you should see results pretty quick.
One of the reasons I hunt is because I know the quality of food my family eats. When I shop, I am particular about the food I purchase for the same reason. Fast food is a treat. Processed food is a treat. My dog is also my family, and deserves the same attention.
For those of you who believe raw is bad, then what about your dog being out and about and drinking water from a pond, a puddle, or a lake? Dogs are dogs, they lick their butts and drink from whatever is near, they certainly can handle raw meat. Wolves, coyotes do it all the time and they don't eat every day. The dog food industry is huge and take the time to read the feeding amounts they recommned for your dog. 4 cups twice day of whatever it comes out to be, I don't know anyone who feeds their dog the manufacturers recommendation, they just want to sell more food.
Our dog loves moose, but will not eat caribou. never raw
My dogs have been eating raw venison/chicken/rabbit/ squirrel for 6 years BUT I also freeze it solid first plus you have to supplement certain vitamins and minerals to ensure they get everything they need. Wild dogs eat a lot of grasses/weeds and get missing minerals from it.
My dogs materialize out of thin air when I run a knife on the sharpening steel, they know there is likely some trimmings to be had...
From Perfectly Rawsome....
70% muscle meat, 10% raw edible bones, 7% vegetables, 5% liver, 5% other organs, 2% seeds and nuts, 1% fruit.
...and no, these aren't pics of Ike's dinner. ;-)
If raw is bad for dogs, why are there so many yotes around? Must be because they're getting enough deer meat to condition their system to it. IMO
Buckeye x2, except I cook it about halfway first to kill any potentia parasites, per my vet's advice. Dont cook it all the way, but dont feed it raw he said.
Boiled trimmings yes mixed with regular dog food, bones, NO. Labs not not chew, they gulp stuff down.
When I rabbit hunted I always field dressed rabbits when I killed them, right away. My beagle loved the heart and liver. My wife and I used to shark fish and I cut up a 185 pound shark into steaks and my Malemute just loved that. I would freeze the steaks and thaw them out to feed him. He used to like to go fishing with me and would eat a perch, scales, fins, guts and all. He just gobbled them down.
Cooked or raw, doesn't matter, my dogs luv venison scraps...
I always give my dog tidbits as I'm butchering. She'll puke if too much...I've learned the correct amount. Cooked is a different story.
