We usually take 9-10 deer at my friends farm every season. We have several hunters that go there and hunt. All the meat has previously been donated to the homless kitchens. I am now feeding the BARF diet to my rotties and the cost is killing me. I am considering using the venison as the lions share of their raw meat with a little beef/chicken for variety.

Is there any problem with this? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" /> Any input would be welcomed.

Yes!

I have fed all of my dogs venison for quite sometime with no problem. I notice it is pretty rich and some of the "easy get fat" dogs get smaller rations of it.

The dogs love it just as much as they like beef liver. I prefer the texture of the venison any day over slimey beef liver <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />

Lorenzo, thanks for your post. Feeding venison is sure going to save me a bundle. Rottie's can sure eat. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />

I feed venison every year. Be careful with the bones. I have found that I can feed the ribcages as a meaty bone but most other bones in the deer here splinter and I do not use them. Depending on the size of the deer where you are, your mileage may vary.

If you can find someone who processes game it is likely that they will let you haul all the ribcages you want. Otherwise, they have to pay to get rid of the waste. You can freeze them and then hacksaw them down into portions.

If you use the search feature you should find plenty of other information.

Would grinding the bones in some manner solve the problem with the splintering and still provide the nutritional value?

Bones are too large to grind.

Again, I have no idea what size the deer are in your area.


Chances are that you will still be in the same perdicament. You will have to feed another source of raw meaty bones as well, but it is still a welcome source of free muscle meat.

Hi! Of course it is up to you to decide what's best for your own dog, but I would not feed raw wild game of any kind to my dogs. Wild game harbor too many parasites in their muscle tissue to feed raw, in my opinion. I don't eat wild game rare for that very reason. Always cook it thoroughly before I eat it.
Janice Jarman

Janice

It sounds like you need to educate yourself in this area before "blabbing".

Many have used raw for years with no problem

Try the search button for more insight on this subject

I thank everyone for their input. Some good points have been brought up. I would like to attempt to counter a few of these points for the sake of debate. I want to get as much input as possible on this matter.

First, on the venison bone splintering. I was afraid of chicken because of the bones splintering. Is the chicken less likely to cause problems? Even without splintering, some of the chicken bones just look problematic to me. Am I missing something about the chicken bones?

Second, on the parasites. So this sort of negates the argument that the canine digestive system is meant to handle raw food in the wild? Are there any parts of the deer that are safer to feed than others? Should I just give up on the venison BARF diet idea entirely?

I am trying to learn how to do whats best for my dogs within my own limitations. I am not well to do and I am not much of a shopper, in fact I hate it. After working to earn a living and taking time to work with my dogs I am exhausted. I don't have the time or the energy to do the bargain hunting, even if there were any good bargains to be found around here. Shopping around here is getting more and more frustrating due to traffic, crowds, lines, incompetent employees and the simple fact that you can't go to one store to get good deals on everything. By the time you wait in all those lines, and use all that gas, where is the savings? I avoid wally world like the plague because of those reasons, it's a full time job to bargain hunt for a household. I suppose what I really need is a good woman. LoL But thats another matter....

I am also having a fun time finding this fresh green tripe stuff. Perhaps my grocer is too ghetto?

i live in montana and have fed wild game to my mastiffs for the past four years. i probably can answer just about any question you have about it, as i questioned the fish and game people very closely about these issues.

first off, you should get yourself a copy of "give your dog a bone" by ian billinghurst. he goes into quite a bit of depth about feeding wild game.

first of all, freezing at -20 degrees centigrade for at least ten days is essential. it kills the tapeworm cysts. while it is true that dogs in the wild eat these, those dogs don't have owners. and the dog WILL transmit tapeworm to you if you don't kill the cysts before feeding. it can be very dangerous.

second, never ever ever feed any part of the digestive system to the dogs. this means from the trachea on down to the anus. this is where the more developed tapeworms live, and they may be harder to completely kill.

third, never feed wild mountain lion or bear to dogs. they carry trichinosis.

third, chronic wasting disease does not jump species. you can safely feed wild game even if there is cwd in your area.

fourth,
wild game is not an easier alternative to buying at the supermarket. it is a huge amount of work.

however, the food quality of wild game is far higher than anything you can get at the supermarket, so it is well worth it.

if you can, feed whole prey model: i.e., feed chunks of meat, bone, with skin and fur still attached, that is the best. the fur helps smooth the way through the intestines, and helps prevent punctures from bones. whole heads are great! the nose, tongue, eyes, and brains are the delicacies they go for first.

ok, fifth, don't feed any weight supporting bones, like leg bones. raw bones do not splinter, but these harder bones can break your dogs' teeth. only feed cartilegenous bones, like necks, backs, ribs.

like i said, this is ten times the work of buying at the supermarket or butcher. if you want to save time and energy, develop a good relationship with just one or two suppliers, buy in bulk, watch for sales, and order up all your stuff by the case lot, all at once. if you have a large chest freezer it makes the job a lot easier. it will pay for itself very soon with your savings from buying in bulk.

make friends with your suppliers and they'll call you on the days stuff expires and they were just going to throw it away. my dogs get by most of the year on case lots of pork necks, turkey necks, whole chickens, beef hearts, and the occasional special on beef ribs. i never spend more than .99 cents/lb. i average about .60/.lb. the meat department prewraps everything for me in one-day portions so all i have to do when i get home is toss it in the freezer. i place an order for everything i need about once a month, go down to the supermarket, haul it out to the car, toss it in the freezer in the garage, and i'm done. all i have to do then is remember to take it out far enough ahead to defrost.

when i get wild game, i have to go to the meat processors with a carload of empty plastic yogurt tubs, thick rubber gloves, and some black plastic lawn and leaf bags to haul off heads and rib cages. sifting through bins of scrap wild game meat and packing it in tubs is not fun, let me tell you. it's a huge amount of work, time consuming and politically difficult, because i am dependent on the good will of the owner of the plant and his workers. they aren't allowed to sell this stuff, and i am in the way.

make certain you freeze all wild game at least ten days at 20 below zero C. mark the tubs with the date you packed so you'll be sure.