Advice from all you RAW feeders. - Page 2

Bob,

What your butcher has, is called 'saw filings', and probably it is the most nutritional thing you can feed your dog with (especially from beef). I've been using it for 6 years now with excellent results. My girl was started on kibble and didn't have any interest in chewing on bones. I tried to find some kind of product that would add the gristle, bone and marrow to her diet. My butcher (who is selling prepared raw dog food) didn't know how to grind the bones, but then I saw the pink piles under their saws. When I asked what it was - he called it 'saw filings' - thing they were throwing out by truckloads.  Since he started to do dog food mixture for us with 25% of 'saw filings' in them - he started to use it in his other dog food. Other owners (and their pooches) loved the change - and both sides are more than happy now.  
 
However there is there is a big downside to it worth mentioning - it spoils really quick. It won't survive 48 hours in the fridge. The good thing is that it defrosts quickly in room temperature.
 
You will have to experiment with how much of it you can feed to your dog. My 'rule of thumb' is about 25% of a total meal. If you put too much - your dog may get constipated. Saw filings act as a 'poop firmer' - so observe it (stools too loose - add more, hard and white - reduce).
 
I agree with the posts above warning about raw pork - my dogs never liked it and I don't think it would agree with them. On the opposite - they love cooked pork.
 
They like raw fish (head and all) for a good snack as well...

Regarding 1GSD1 comment on it being mainly fat - I don't know about the butcher store that doesn't process whole carcasses. Mine processes whole cows so his saw filings have bits of every piece of the cow. I imagine that if the butcher cuts only already processed  stakes, ribs and chucks - than  maybe there is a big fat content in it... However my dogs never got fat by eating it. Only time they gain weight is when I add cooked grains to their diet. If I want to slim them down (for a show) - pure RAW for a week does the trick.

 
Great decision - good luck.

For everybody who is convinced that RAW diet is bad for their dogs, I recommend a book:

Give Your Dog a Bone: The Practical Commonsense Way to Feed Dogs for a Long Healthy Life by Ian Billinghurst.

It has been recommended to me by a friend of mine who is in the marketing business. Years back he got a new big account - a pet food company. After visiting the processing plant he quit the job and started to home fed his dog... I won't even go into what he saw with his own eyes that was going into boilers...

 

For a simple (but not cheap) solution,consider K-9 Kraving pre-packaged raw diet. Been using it for several years with EXCELLENT results. Slow,steady growth,teeth like ivory,gorgeous coats,improved vigor and vitality,(much) smaller,less malodorous stools. Can't say enough about it !
Best of luck!!

P.S: In reference to above comment, "cheap" and "not so cheap" are,of course,relative concepts. K-9 Kraving is very cost effective if you are feeding one dog,but the cost rises significantly if you are feeding multiple ones.

Bob, I never fed the saw/meat "dust" because my butcher said it would spoil very quickly.  I could have had it for free, but didn't bother. 

Some dogs do not handle pork well.  I have fed it for years and never had an issue with it.  Most premixes are very expensive though I do buy a tripe/gullet/trachea mix from http://www.mypetcarnivore.com/  I also get some other stuff from them like mutton chunks (when my sheep farmer friend isn't butchering) and baby beef chunks.  Friend uses their premixes, but she is only feeding one GSD and a small mix. 

Lisa
http://www.zutreuenhanden.com/

  That is good to know about the   sawblade shavings>

  I would have never fed it till now..  I was afraid of what else was in it from the saw blade?

   GOOD info ...I may ask the butcher ...but most places here have no butcher..everything comes from  a package....


   Thanks

  Yr

Hi Bob, 


You will likely be very pleased by the good condition your dogs will exhibit.

One of the things that I have changed in recent years is using Honest Kitchen Preference.  I mix the preference with water, apple cider vingegar, salmon oil, and a few drops of Vit E.  I grind up a couple of whole chickens and mix it all up into a mush and freeze portions to make less work.  Then, I give them chicken legs and thighs and other meaty bones.  Every couple of days, I defrost a few portions.

When I run out of frozen mush, and I am too lazy to grind chickens, I just give them raw meaty bones for a couple of days.  They LOVE their food.

I prepare mush about twice a month.

Michele

I feed my dogs everything and they eat everything....table scraps...raw pork, beef, chicken, fish, vegetables, fruit, eggs, bones....steamed at times.....no grinding....even for pups:-) Kibble when travelling....Never had a problem!