Raw VS Cooked, etc....Ramblings - Page 1

Many years ago, when I lived in Indiana and had a chest freezer, I used to have everyone at church save me all their left over chicken/turkey/duck....

When I would get a mess of it, I would put it in a pressure cooker and let it cook for about 4-6 hours, then I would toss it in a blender and make a gruel out of it.

I would then let it cool, store it in a cottage cheese container(empty and clean, of course) and freeze it.

Come winter....I would thaw a couple out, warm it up and feed it with the dogs' food.  Mind, many of my dogs were outside dog(kennel dogs).  They loved it!

Also, at that time, I was training Arabs for a guy(Hey, I had the top Arab Cow Pony for 5 yrs----she was awesome)....any way, every year around T-day, he would by me a bottle calf(holstein, bull calf).  You can buy them when they are 4-5 days old for around 100.00.  Some would survive, some not.  I would raise it up, and around T-day the next year(Thanksgiving Day), Les would haul my steer off to the butcher and pay to have him butchered(that was my x-mas present from him.

I always had the slaughter house, take whatever wasn't human(intestines, stomach, heart, lungs, fat, etc) and grind it all up together like hamburger....They would, and packaged it "non-edible".....and all the heavy bones were cut to suit me, and frozen....

Well, I ended up with about 500lbs of meat every year----talk about cool presents for the family---everyone got about  50lbs of meat at x-mas as a gift, and my dogs ended up with neat meals throughout the year!

Now, I also hunted----deer, squirrel, rabbit, etc....I never, ever gave game meat to my dogs uncooked(was the deer wormed by the deer gods?  Nope, so I don't want to pass on parasites to my dogs).   They liked that too---they would get a pot of "entrail" stew every winter....

Just some "food" for thought.....

Those are great ideas!  I have some thoughts on the raw diet as well.  I would be curious as to how many dogs have experienced bloat/torsion on a raw diet vs kibble?  I lost my 8yr old to torsion in June, my friends 9yr old torsioned last Saturday, $7,000 later he is home recuperating.  We both feed kibble.  I considered swapping to the raw but my 12 yr old has Lupis and has been on steriods for yrs, I feel she is too compromised to consider a raw diet for her.  My only other concern about a raw diet or the higher protein diets would be in relation to pet homes vs working homes.  My  gsd are my pets, although they do get daily excercise compared to most people on this board my dogs would be considered couch potatoes.  I do feel that most kibble has to much grain, moves thru their systems so slowly that it ferments and causes gas.  My husband and I have become so paranoid about our dogs, we adopted a 9month old sable and if she farts/burps we are on red alert.

Another thought,  this may be gross but I think it's important.  About a month ago my 12 yr old was very sick, no looses stool but very nausous, I had to take her in twice for blood work and injections for the nausau sorry about the spelling.  I hand fed her boiled chicken for 4 days.  She was very weak and sometimes would spit out the chicken, I also hand fed her as much crushed ice as she wanted as I did not want her to dehydrate.  All this time she would have normal but small bowel movements.  At the end of the 4th day she had a huge loose bowel movement.  I have cleaned alot of messes in my day having owned a boarding kennel, almost nothing bothers me in that respect but I tell you the stink of that mess was horrible!  It smelled like something had died inside of her!  I can't stress how bad it was!  My point is I think the cooked chicken cleaned her out so to speak,  I now add cooked chicken to my dogs kibble as I feel it keeps things running smoothly!

TDT - was that the slaughterhouse that ground it all up for you or the butcher?  Just wanting to clarify. 

I know most butchers today will not do that because of contamination issues.  I had the same basic plan until the USDA fined my butcher for the violation and he refused to do it anymore.  Can't even find one that won't laugh at the idea now. 

zukeeper - three decades of raw, no bloat.  I contribute it to the natural moisture in the raw diet.  Raw actually moves through the digestive system more slowly as the dog absorbes and uses more.  Stools are smaller.  Kibble, all kibble, is dry. 

I can't speak to your Lupus girl because I don't have personal experience with it and the raw diet.  I do have a friend who has a Lupus dog who feeds raw.  Vast improvement after switching from kibble.  I don't remember if she said she fed a digestive enzyme or not but I don't think so.

My personal experience on the activity level kibble vs. raw -- mine can be in the house with good jog alongside my chair in the morning and sometimes skip a day depending on the weather and can lounge around with no problem.  Nobody bounces off the walls or chews things to shreds.  On the days that they have to be inside 24/7 sometimes I use some "clicker" training to reinforce their obedience for mental stimulation, sometimes I don't.  Still nobody bouncing off the walls or getting underfoot.

zukeeper -- ok.  You added to your post while I was typing.

I can't say that the loose stools was what's (not so affectionately known as) detox, but it sure could have been a form of it.  Better food than kibble even though it was cooked. 

How was her health and activity after that?  Any improvement?  Maybe she'd benefit from a good home-cooked diet? 

How does she eat the cooked diet that you add now?

Lots to consider.

JustLurkin,

It was a slaughterhouse, and it was years ago(I have lived in Florida for 12 or more years now...)

I was just now able to get my local grocery store to let me have the bone dust from their blades a couple times per week.  When I explained and got through to them, that it was for the dogs, they finally agreed!