Pigs feet - Page 1

My White German Sheperd (mix) loves the Stella and Chewy's freeze dried raw, but he will not eat the frozen patties.  It's too expensive to feed him a  big bag of freeze dried every day.  But he will eat meat off knuckle bones and marrow bones.  So I'd like to try some raw food from grocery stores that is on bones.  A farmer's market near me sells pigs feet.  Are they okay to give a German Sheperd for a raw meal?  Do they make good raw meals?  Should I freeze the pigs feet for  certain amount to kill bacteria of time before the dog eats it?

bump..

Not sure about pigs feet but I have seen chicken feet as a raw snack/treat. I have seen the pigs feet in stores but those are processed.

We feed raw pigs feet with good results. You can not make a meal of them because there is too much bone. We give them once a week or so, partially frozen just to clean teeth.

Melissa

they can be fed in place of a meal, or as a recreational chew...about once or twice a week sounds good, depending on what else you're feeding.  no need to freeze them, just make sure they are a decent quality and coming from a good source.  i personally don't like most supermarket meat because i choose not to support feedlot farming.  but the farmers market sounds like a great find, again, depending on how the animal is raised and what it's fed (personal preference).

also, most dogs typically don't like the pre-made patties or commercial pre-made mixes.  they tend to be too mushy or slimy.  if your dog prefers to gnaw meat off of bones, he should do pretty well with bone-in chicken (breasts, leg quarters, backs), as well as large chunks of meat (beef, lamb, pork).  

if you choose to buy meat from the supermarket, make note of the products that are going to expire, and go back the day of or day before to buy them because they will go on sale.  anything that looks like it would be "fun" to eat usually goes over really well with any dog.  

just make sure you get organs in his diet as well.

I always think pigs trotters (as we call them in the UK) are fine for a treat but not as a basis for a diet.

One thing I would add is that they are very fatty and this doesn't always sit well with some dogs. Our first GSD, a tough old boot from the old school, loved them and had no adverse digestive effects but our last GSD found them way too rich and always got a little too loose so we stopped feeding them him.

If you can get it a great cheap source of meat is beef heart, unfortunately our local abattoir shut down a few years ago and it's now tough to find.

AandA