Whant to feed my dogs a natural diet what do people think of going deer? - Page 1

Where we live they run around like dogs. Have talk to several people that would get (for lack of better word)
me a deer or two if I just payed for processing it. Other then needing a very large freezer what other supplaments would people suggest adding to diet?

oil and fat and veggies

Read up on raw diets. When carnivores eat their prey, they eat pretty much the WHOLE animal, including the tripe, liver, stomach, etc.

If you feed only muscle meat, a young dog will develop rickets from Vitamin D deficiency.  I've seen it happen to a young ocelot some idiot managed to import from S. America, and have heard of it happening to dogs fed raw.

With wild animals, you also need to worry about the flesh harbouring harmful parasites. I know bear meat can have trichimoniasis, but I'm not sure about deer.

You need to do your homework before doing this, to make sure your dogs are getting what they need.  I suggest you join a forum for people who feed raw. Some here are knowledgeable, and can steer you in the right direction.

You can't go just deer (but you can go deer for extended period of time just like I do it with chicken), raw is about balance over time. I don't feed veggies, they are not part of dogs natural diet, but my dogs love apples and carrots so they do get them every now and than, but there is minimal to no benefit to the dog from feeding them. My dogs get, chicken (since is fairly inexpensive it is the biggest part of their diet), beef, fish, salmon oil, pork (freez for at least 3 weeks before serving), lamb is a great way to put weight on a dog but expensive like hell where I live, and I supplement with Martinsk9 Energol & antioxidants. Join yahoo raw feeding group there is tons of info out there.

My perfect mix for a dog is:

1/4 of chicken (4 times a week)
2 chicken backs (2 times a week)
2 x 1/4lb paddies of beef (2 times a week)
2 whole eggs (2 times a week)
1/2 chicken liver (every day)
1/4 beef heart (2 times a week)
few shots of salmon oil every now and than (1-2 times a week)
1 tbsp of energol (twice a week)
1 tbsp of martins antioxidant (twice a week)
1 pork chop (once a week)
1 macrel or some kind of whole fish (depends on the time of the year fish is expensive no more than 2 a month)

if you just starting put the dog on chicken backs for a week at least before you add anything else. And start adding other sources of protein slowly and one at a time.

I feed deer meat almost exclusively for the last 2 months. Once the season is over, I will go back to:

raw chicken backs
raw sardines
raw green tripe
raw turkey
raw beef organ mix
raw beef liver
raw beef kidney
raw eggs
occasional (once a months, maybe) veggies/fruits

This is the first year I'm doing this (deer) and so far I really like it, especially that it's practically free. The dogs get meaty deer bones, and meat trimmings, but unfortunately, no organs. So I give them beef organ mix occasionally still.

Deer is very lean you will need to add fat and agree with vegetables. Watch and treat for whipworms.

Lucky people that can get multiple deer.........  Limit one in my state and not always successful at that.

Save some of it for you too.  Wonderful if processed right.

yES MAKE SURE  YOU WORM DOGS WITH A WORMED THAT KILLS WHIP WORMS....DEER IS FAMOUS AS A CARRIER.

BONES ARE ESSENTIAL   ADD WHOLE EGG ALSO   RAW.....FEED SMALL AMOUNTS FOR THE FIRST TWO WEEKS ..i WOULD ADD  FROM LIST ABOVE...

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