Oh, but I must add too, that ever since I read your post about not washing the stainless steel bowls every meal, I've tried it (just to be a rebel) and the dog is fine, fine! Think I will scrub after the tripe though.

I feed the tripe in a paper plate, that way it does not makes it way to my kitchen for clean up.I simply throw it away..
By the way you have read my mind too, I would love a stainless steel table , big grinders, a sink, all that in my garage.I better be Xtra nice to my Santa
With 3 dogs to feed I need a flippin stainless steel kitchen in the garage to accommodate the dog feedings...maybe my next house

Okay, I love my dog, I have even been known to sawsall up a deer carcass for my dog, but I draw the line at processing tripe.

You folks are BRAVE

My raw food manufacturer can't get tripe. They would have to build a seperated plant to process it they claim. I buy it processed form another company. Worth every penny not to have to handle it. I don't even usually defrost it. Just feed it as a "tripesicle".

Hope your doggies give you many tripe kisses for loving them enough to process tripe for them

I have never seen smelled nor handled tripe, but it sounds really sick and its a wonder any of you bother when theres perfectly happy healthy dogs out there that are as clueless about tripe as I am

Dog people are weird :P

 Quote: Mike J Schoonbrood

Dog people are weird :P

You know you are a dog people, right?

Edited by Michele McAtee (07/24/2007 05:47 AM)
Edit reason: sp

Nah I dunno what you're talking about, I don't have any dogs... those 4 hairballs are what my neighbors cat coughed up.

I decided not to feed green tripe anymore. My dog had a case of tapeworm and although it could have been a flea, it seems green tripe could have been the contributor. To me, the benefit of green tripe doesn't outweigh the tapeworm potential.

No telling how long Lear had tapeworm and how much nutrition they sucked out of him during his crucially important formative months before I found out. I'm absolutely sick about it. And ticked off. He may have had it a short time, but I'll never know. They're gone now!

The whole thing is positively sickening.

A tapeworm is not the end of the world; if it's something that's of great concern, why not worm periodically? I would never restrict some of the healthiest food a dog can eat "just in case."

 Quote:

No telling how long Lear had tapeworm and how much nutrition they sucked out of him during his crucially important formative months before I found out.

Tapeworms just lie there and absorb nutrition passively as it passes by them. We're talking about a small, primitive organism with a miniscule metabolism. It does not behoove the tapeworm to appreciably compromise it's host, otherwise the host doesn't live to pass them on.

I gaurantee no harm was done.

 Quote: sandy moore

I decided not to feed green tripe anymore. My dog had a case of tapeworm and although it could have been a flea...

According to the CDC*, that's a virtual certainty (that it was a flea).

It's common, it's found all over the world, and the way dogs get it is by swallowing a flea infected with a tapeworm larvae.

QUOTE from the CDC site:

What kind of problems do tapeworms cause for the dog?

Tapeworms are not usually harmful to your pet. Weight loss may occur if your pet is heavily infected. Sometimes, an infected dog will "scoot" or drag its anus across the ground or carpet because the segments are irritating to the skin in this area.

How is tapeworm infection diagnosed?

Tapeworm infection is usually diagnosed when the moving segments are seen crawling around the anus or in a bowel movement. Dipylidium tapeworm eggs are rarely released into the feces and are therefore not usually detected by routine fecal exams performed by your veterinarian. Because of this, veterinarians depend on you to notify them of possible tapeworm infection in your pet.

Can I get a tapeworm infection from my pet?

Yes. For a person to become infected with Dipylidium, he or she must accidentally swallow an infected flea. Most reported cases involve children. The risk of infection with this tapeworm in humans is low. The most effective way to prevent infections in pets and humans is through flea control. END

It goes on to say that the treatment for Dipylidium caninum is simple, effective, and generally well tolerated.


*
http://www.CDC.gov