Yuko, your pup is looking more and more like a dog.He is big! Must be from all those rabbits.my 5 year old loves Rabbits (as pets) but she watched your video and it did not bother her, she asked me if we were going to start feeding our dogs rabbits from the pet store .You mentioned you have rabbits that you raise but don't use as feed.Few years ago (1993) I was raising Angora Rabbits, love them, and I used to go to the Rabbit shows around the Bay area.Their was a lady I used to buy from and learn all about the Angora Rabbits ,she was from japan and her back yard had the best looking Rabbit pens I had ever seen.Anyways a little off topic but I had to tell you...What type of Rabbits are you keeping(no feeders)?

Jenni, In my first post I agreed with Steve because of the various parasites in wild game. You mentioned tapeworms are easy to cure which I agree with, but a dog can contract more that just tapeworms from wild game. As to the fact that freezing meat was covered in another thread, so what? If none of us can mention something covered in another thread, then that pretty much covers everything having to do with dogs!!!!

Susan, I did say tapeworms aren't the end of the world, as long as you stay on top of them like YOU SHOULD WITH ANY PARASITE. I never said a dog can only contract tapeworms from wild game. I worry much more about antibiotics, hormones, diseased, cancerous chunks of meat at the grocery store, but hey, that's a whole other topic. I only mentioned covering freezing in *other* threads b/c I was trying to point out that I'd said absolutely nothing in THIS thread about not freezing or freezing...which is why I am still confused as to why you posted that rather vehement message to ME, like I'd just given out some hazardous information/advice that someone might follow. Thought maybe you were crossing two threads in your mind or referring to something I'd said in the past. I read the entire thread 3 times and can't understand your reaction. Not a big deal at all; I was merely asking for clarity-not trying to start an argument of who said what. My message wasn't meant to be nasty, just sincerely confused and inquisitive .

People need to do what they feel is best and safest after doing extensive research on the meat they're feeding, it's origins, the potential dangers prevalent in that area, etc., and then go from there. I hope nobody blindly follows what someone else says is ok w/out any checking!

My gawd Jenni, what is your problem? No one is trying to argue with you, I was just pointing something out. The only vehemnt message I read is this back and forth over nothing you have started.

 Quote: susan tuck

My gawd Jenni, what is your problem? No one is trying to argue with you, I was just pointing something out. The only vehemnt message I read is this back and forth over nothing you have started.

Nevermind, Susan! It's nothing to get upset about! Just an internet misunderstanding! Like I said before-NO BIG DEAL!

Reread my last statement in the first paragraph .

Amber, see this is why I missed having you around here while you were gone

Thanks so much!! I love how healthy my pup is and how he's not developing any of the common problems that young dogs usually have from eating kibbles (like my other dog did when she was his age). Little things like bad stools, sickly teeth/gums, itching, dry skin, growing too quickly & related joint problems, allergies... they all start subtly enough, but escalate as the kibble-fed dog gets older
None of that for my baby at least!

Nope, there wasn't anything wrong with that rabbit. My friend just didn't have use for it in her breeding program and would've sold it to a pet shop if I hadn't taken it (she only breeds pets and show rabbits).
When I first suggested this trading system to feed my dogs her rabbits, she was a little reluctant. However, after seeing how efficiently I killed the rabbits, she was satisfied that there was no suffering involved and was happy to agree to my proposal )
(Especially as I'd bred & raised some exquisite young females that she really wanted to include into her breeding program!!)

I know what you mean about the hypocrisy in our reluctance to kill bunnies (or other prey)! I have to repeat to myself (constantly) "If I'm going to feed it, I should be willing to kill it" when I'm about to kill a rabbit for my dogs.
It doesn't get easy, but it's such a relief when it's over.

After all you're right; every piece of meat that we feed our dogs comes from an animal that someone had to kill. At least by doing it myself I can ensure that the rabbit had a good quality of life while alive and a humane death. I imagine that this isn't always the case in commercially raised livestock...

As for the pack leader appreciation issue.. I can only hope it helps
My dogs can tell the difference between me carrying a rabbit outside to let it play in the yard vs. carrying it outside to kill it. I think it's the tension and anxiety I feel about killing the rabbit that they pick up on. When I carry a rabbit out to the yard while smiling and relaxed, they seem disappointed

When I do take it out to kill it, the dogs go absolutely berserk -- whining, howling, screaming and jumping at the door. They know to stay inside and not to run out the door until I release them (once the killing is done), but it's too much excitment for their little brains to contain and they make a lot of noise while waiting. Lol.



Angelique, your daughter is so adorable!!!!!! Pet shops are horrible though; I know for a fact that my friend sells her baby mini-rex males for 5$ each to the pet shop. They then turn around and sell the same animals for 45-50$!!!!!!!!!!!! It's insane!!!
At least the bunnies are much better cared for in pet shops than puppies

As for which breeds I raise, they're not all purebreds. The only purebreds I raise are mini-rexes. Once you feel the fur of a mini-rex (or rex) you'll never want to touch another breed of rabbit again!
My favourite rabbit now is a wonderful female mini-rex - such a friendly and playful bunny. The most amusing rabbit I have is a grumpy female Dutch lop. The most beautiful rabbit I've ever owned is an exquisite young female tan.
One (mini-rex) male stud rabbit and the three females I just mentioned are my pets. The babies come and go... so far I've retained 3 of them cause I got too attached to let them go

The rest are either given away to friends or sold as pets (or traded in with my breeder-friend in exchange for dog food rabbits).

 Quote: amber morgan

....Sandy:

This is probably something you've already explored, but have you talked to butchers as opposed to stores? I can't get anything but "normal" pieces of chicken from my local Stop and Shop, but my butcher has tons of backs/necks etc., and cheap, too.
.....
On a side note:

When I asked the butcher if he has people that come in to get chicken parts for their dogs he told me that he has many who do, but that he doesn't do it with his dogs because of the bones.

I explained to him that the raw bones don't cause a problem and he said that it's not the choking he would be worried about. He said he regularly gets his hands badly cut from the bones in chicken necks. He said they're really sharp, even raw. I have to admit, it set me back a bit and made me worry!
....

Amber, I've only contacted 2 butchers, I should (and will) contact more about getting chicken backs.

About what the butcher said about the sharp raw chicken bones...I had the same fear when I first gave my pup a chicken wing (all previous raw had been ground with the bone ground in). I was afraid to give him the whole bone so tried to beat the bones to death with a mallet which only exposed sharp pointed pieces of bone. This made me even more afraid! I posted about this and got the excellent advice to just let the pup do the work of crunching the bones and to NOT do it myself. I took the leap and there's never been an undigested bone in my pup's "aftermath" The only thing that has ever come out sharp and hard was a very thin 2-3 inch piece of stick....if you don't think THAT had me freaked, that it was even able to come out without having poked him somewhere along the way!!! Dang! Don't ever want to see that again...I'm faint of heart.

Sandy,

The butcher didn't say anything about the wings or the backs. It was specifically the necks that he said were seriously sharp. But again...a dog would eat bird necks in the wild and I've personally never heard of a rash of coyote deaths because of internal bleeding due to neck bones! I believe dogs are built to eat this stuff, no matter how freaked out it can make us!

I mean accidents happen. People choke all the time. That doesn't mean we humans shouold stick to soup!

Don't I sound all confident? Actually, my reluctance to go full RAW is not because I think the bones will be a problem but because I'm SO paranoid that I'll screw it up and somehow make my dog deficient in some way. I can't even eat a balanced diet myself! I want to have a better grasp on what I'm doing.

Right now I'm doing Innova at night and premade raw patties in the am. He's shiney and healthy and active. When I make changes I want to be pretty confident that those changes will only improve his health. I'm paranoid by nature! I will do it...I just need to read more books first!

Yuko...ah, it's good to be missed! I know exactly what you mean!

Yeah, that was weird about the neck bones being so sharp. I would never have guessed that.

I hear you about worrying about deficiencies. I've been moving away from the ground raw Omaspride and feeding meats and poultry from the store (except for Omaspride rabbit and venison, which I still get). Only problem is since the stuff at the store isn't ground, I was finding it hard to give Lear his supplements, and the store won't grind the chicken for me, so I have to give him a glop of hamburger meat on the side (or the ground rabbit/venison) so I can mix in the supplements. I've tried just giving it to him in a veggie mix and after he starts to eat that, he gives me this mournful look, probably cause of the vitamin C powder which is extremely tart

Sandy I have the same problem. I stopped getting the Bravo chubbs (ground mixture)and was just ordering their RMB's but forgot about the supplements I feed! Now I give the Bravo raw blends in AM so I can mix in supplements and feed RMB's in the PM. I like the blends too because of the organ meats in them. I still get all my stuff from Bravo because everything is free of hormones and is grass fed.