I know that many of you feed this stuff, looking for some advice..

So my collegue got a nice white tail buck and saved me the heart and liver and I will be getting trimings as well as meaty vertabrea and ribs.

I took the head from him too.

He sawsalled the antlers off of the head leaving a very large hole into the brain. Now my dog has never had brain that I know of. Will eating a bunch of it at once give him the poops like organ meat would? Eyeballs, tougue and stuff is all still there, the neck has a fair amount of meat as well.

Seeing as though my dog is only 40 lbs and usually has his meals broken down to to one pound in the morning and one pound in the evening, should I just let him go at the head or should I take it up and put it back in the freezer after a bit?

I can't wait to watch him go at this but I suppose I should freeze it for a while first...

Thanks for any advice.

I would have it frozen solid, let him chew it for a while, put it back, check poop, and go from there. I give Caleb HUGE things, and then just tell him that's enough, and put it away for later.

Yep, what Jenni said - slow introduction to make sure he can handle it

And I'd also probably deep freeze it for a while first.

Frankly I don't really care what my dogs' poop looks like so if I have a whole head I'll toss it to them and let 'em gorge on it. Same for any carcass part. In fact, if I have a large carcass, I'll also let them gorge on it in the yard and they usually finish it all off within a few days.
At that point, they're fasted for a day or two and their meals are reduced after that so they don't put on weight.
They always go for the stomach, organs & bloodiest muscle meats first and will scarf those down in a hurry.
They then move on to the "drier" muscles and once everything good is gone, they'll munch up the bones. (Their stools will obviously change from loose to dry&firm as they progress through the carcass).

Yes, large quantities of bloody or fatty organs such as brains will cause loose & very dark stools. If the dog's digestive system can handle that kind of gorging, the loose stools shouldn't be excessive and should not last once the dog returns to eating a more bony diet.

If the dog has explosive diarrhea or vomiting or if his poop doesn't solidify after you start feeding "normal" meals again, then there's a problem and you should definitely slow down and introduce the parts in teeny little portions

Otherwise, if the dog can handle it, I will let them follow the true whole prey model and let them decide which parts to eat when and how much to eat. I focus on making sure their diet is balanced over time and that they stay in good shape, but I won't go and nitpick over daily balance.

Of course if you feed this way and you know that loose stools are coming, you might want to take the dog into some remote woody area to eliminateso you don't have to deal with trying to pick up the mess. Eww. Lol.

If you ever take a glance at some wild coyote poops, you can instantly tell if they've recently ingested fresh bloody organ meats or bony parts. Again, eww, but somewhat fascinating nonetheless

My main concern with the stool issue is twofold. Getting up in the middle of the night, and the fact that he is kenneled at work for much of the day, no one to hear him if he REALY hased to go.

I think I will take the advice and freeze it solid and intoduce it on a weekend when we don't have to go to work. Because we are always on call I try not to let him gorge/or fast too much because I never know when I might need to work him.

I will just let him go at it a bit and put it back in the freezer.

I haven't told my husband about the head yet, I still have it hiding in the car. He is not into me feeding the dog that kinda stuff but I can't wait

Thanks guys.

WELL,

I just slipped it in to casual conversation to my husband that I had a deer head in my trunk. THAT did NOT go over well.

Looks like all your great advice is for nothing. I got shut down on putting a deer head in the freezer or my backyard.

He says I feed every part of all sort of the animals...he is drawing the line at the heads

Husband 1, Me 0...

 Quote: Jennifer Coulter

WELL,

I just slipped it in to casual conversation to my husband that I had a deer head in my trunk. THAT did NOT go over well.

Looks like all your great advice is for nothing. I got shut down on putting a deer head in the freezer or my backyard.

He says I feed every part of all sort of the animals...he is drawing the line at the heads

Husband 1, Me 0...

AHAHAHAHAHA....better than opening the freezer to get steaks and opening the wrong one and seeing all the dog food.....boy did I get razzed for that....thank goodness he did not open my source freezer......

Can't you stick it in a snowbank by now there Jennifer?

 Quote: jennifer coulter

WELL, I just slipped it in to casual conversation to my husband that I had a deer head in my trunk. THAT did NOT go over well.

LOL! How do you "casually" insert a deer head into a conversation? This just cracks me up

You could try the "Godfather" technique and slip it under the bed covers. "Let me feed deer head...or else!"

 Quote:

He says I feed every part of all sort of the animals...he is drawing the line at the heads

Why would he be drawing lines? Was he asked to go kill a deer or bring home a head? Was he asked to feed it to his dog? Was he asked to watch while the head is being fed? Or to have it inside the house?

Jeez. Farley is your dog, the deer doesn't need his head anymore and if you feed the head away from your home/yard where your husband doesn't see it, who's he to tell you what you can and cannot do with your own dog?

Deer heads don't come along every day - I wouldn't let it go to waste. Maybe you could find some other place to freeze it, or just feed it right away and skip the freezing. Can't you just take Farley and the head out in the woods and feed him there?

I can understand his reluctance of having a deer head in his home or yard (though I'd still tease him for being a wimp ) but I don't see why it would be an issue if you fed it elsewhere. You could even ask a butcher to slice up the head into pieces for quicker meals.

Lol... Your post got me thinking; if a boyfriend ever started telling me what I could or couldn't feed my own dogs, he would not stay around for very long, that's for sure!

Anyway, good luck with everything.

And in sticking to the topic of feeding dogs, I definitely agree with you that it's a good idea to limit portion sizes when you never know when your dog's going to be called out for strenuous physical activity!!
They tend to nap (a lot) after gorging so not a good idea if you're planning on working them anytime soon

lucky you got the heart,liver,head.my husband came home with 2 quartered deer,in a cooler,he didnt save that other stuff for the dog.it took me 5 hours to cut up and freeze,jake had a feast!
the big buck is at the butcher getting ground up,he did good this season,we have lots to eat and there is still mussel loader season coming,maybe i can talk him into the other stuff if he shoots one

 Quote: sarah morris

 Quote: jennifer coulter

WELL, I just slipped it in to casual conversation to my husband that I had a deer head in my trunk. THAT did NOT go over well.

LOL! How do you "casually" insert a deer head into a conversation? This just cracks me up

You could try the "Godfather" technique and slip it under the bed covers. "Let me feed deer head...or else!"

Yeah, I meant to ask about that too!!!
I have no trouble imagining us people on the forum "casually" discussing deer heads for the fun of it, but it usually isn't the case for """normal""" folks! Lol.

Now Sarah, Jennifer may very well want to keep her husband. I'd say it's a little premature for the Godfather tactic (although I would PAY to see the reaction to THAT!! LOL)