My 2 dogs, 11 month old GS and 13 year old Lab don't seem to care for chicken backs anymore. They love pork neck bones, turkey necks and even seem to still be o.k. with chicken necks. I've noticed recently that they snub the chicken backs and just won't eat. I feed RMBs in the a.m. so this morning was chicken back day. I rubbed the backs down with yogurt hoping it might help and also let them sit in room temp. water for a while after thawing overnight. They didn't eat them so I picked them up and put them away - no breakfast. I put them back out tonight. Again, they pretty much ignored them at first. The GS gets 2 and has taken both out of the bowl and is now eating but it took her about 30 mins to start to eat. The Lab still isn't eating. My current plan is simply not to buy them anymore but I do have an inventory of them I'd like to get rid of. I'm just curious - has anyone else had a problem with their dogs not liking chicken backs? It just doesn't seem right.

 Quote: Cathi Kemp

My 2 dogs, 11 month old GS and 13 year old Lab don't seem to care for chicken backs anymore. They love pork neck bones, turkey necks and even seem to still be o.k. with chicken necks. I've noticed recently that they snub the chicken backs and just won't eat. I feed RMBs in the a.m. so this morning was chicken back day. I rubbed the backs down with yogurt hoping it might help and also let them sit in room temp. water for a while after thawing overnight. They didn't eat them so I picked them up and put them away - no breakfast. I put them back out tonight. Again, they pretty much ignored them at first. The GS gets 2 and has taken both out of the bowl and is now eating but it took her about 30 mins to start to eat. The Lab still isn't eating. My current plan is simply not to buy them anymore but I do have an inventory of them I'd like to get rid of. I'm just curious - has anyone else had a problem with their dogs not liking chicken backs? It just doesn't seem right.

Two different dogs refusing the same food item? I would toss it.

I suppose you could buy a couple new ones from another source and see what happens.... but my feeling is that if two different dogs don't want it, it's very suspect indeed..... *especially* if they are eating other things with no problem.

is it a new supplier? different producer?

my dog will only eat one brand of chickens. i finally figured out that it's the only brand that doesn't brine their chickens. i suspect the other ones are too salty.

I've been feeding raw for about 3 months now. When I first started I bought a case from my local meat market but I gotta be honest and say that I think I only got necks from them. I then joined a co-op and that is the only other place I have even seen backs. I was really confused tonight - couldn't decide if I should toss them or put something else out to test if they just weren't hungry but since they didn't eat this morning I thought they had to be. The backs have been in the freezer for about 1.5 months. Is that bad? What is the longest amount of time chicken should stay in the freezer? As I stated previously they seem to be o.k. with the necks but there is nothing saying that the necks and backs are from the same chickens. I just went out to check and my GS only ate one of two backs and I think my Lab ate his one of one because I don't see it in his house where he took it earlier but I suppose he could have taken it somewhere and buried it when I wasn't looking. Thanks for letting me think outloud - I realize I have to figure this out. I think I'll just make sure to always have other stuff thawed when feeding backs and if they don't eat the backs I'll conduct a little taste test to see if they'll eat something different. Thank you for your responses - it helps to have some support even if there are no bottom line answers. I'd still like to know the max freezer times for meat if you know.

A month and a half in the freezer is not a hazard at all unless the power went off and everything rotted and then re-froze. :>

Poorly-wrapped meat could lose flavor and be freezer-burnt in 6 weeks..... but not dangerous, and not so flavorless that two dogs would refuse it.

Because it's TWO dogs, I still think the meat is suspect.

Per the USDA site:
QUOTE: At home, immediately place chicken in a refrigerator that maintains 40 °F, and use within 1 or 2 days, or freeze at 0 °F. If kept frozen continuously, it will be safe indefinitely. ... Chicken may be frozen in its original packaging or repackaged. If freezing longer than two months, over wrap the porous store plastic packages with airtight heavy-duty foil, plastic wrap or freezer paper, or place the package inside a freezer bag. Use these materials or airtight freezer containers to repackage family packs into smaller amounts or freeze the chicken from opened packages. ... Proper wrapping prevents "freezer burn," which appears as grayish-brown leathery spots and is caused by air reaching the surface of food. Cut freezer-burned portions away either before or after cooking the chicken. Heavily freezer-burned products may have to be discarded because they might be too dry or tasteless. END

But, of course, food that had something wrong with it before freezing doesn't get better in the freezer.

hunter's rule of thumb: toss stuff that's been in the freezer a year or more.

if the meat smells good it is good. if it smells a little off, toss it.

I've got all the chicken in freezer bags and it doesn't smell bad and doesn't have freezer burn. I'll just keep monitoring and hope that this was a fluke. Thanks again for your help here and with everyone else's problems. I'm not sure what some of us would do without you.

If it makes you feel a little better I have the exact same problem you do, Cathi, except my pup doesn't want to eat anything BUT chicken backs/necks. I have a freezer full of other meats that I have to keep offering until he gets so hungry he decides to eat. It's the biggest problem I've had switching my pup over to raw.

Well, yes, I think it does make me feel a little bit better. I've read so much about necks and backs being the staples so it distresses me a bit (doesn't take much - lol). I think that those are the staples because of their availability and price. I know you're supposed to provide a variety so if I continue to use primarily chicken necks, pork neck bones and turkey necks is that sufficient? It seems to me that it would be but I'm certainly not an expert.

Necks don't seem very meaty so if your dogs are getting enough meat at their other meal then I would think the bony necks are OK. The meat/bone ratio thing causes me a lot of anxiety.