Yuko, you crack me up

Speaking of meats, I found a good supplier of beef hearts today...Walmart I couldn't believe it. And they were very reasonable, too. They also were .20 cheaper a pound for chicken quarters. I was also told that they'd order bulk for me, which is great news...now to find some "long necks"

Score one for a tapeworm outbreak from feeding wild rabbit.

That's ok though, because it's a more "natural" approach to feeding than the rest of these corporate sell-outs who feed domesticated flesh. "Natural", as we all know, is: #1. Not at all a loaded, convoluted, and misused term. #2. Always better than non-natural (according to my own personal and uncohesive definition).

Inspection, packaging, quality control, butchering is not natural. Being parasite free is CERTAINLY less natural, for both the food and your dog.

We all want to be natural, don't we?

)

Really, though, as mentioned the list of foodborne parasites able to both inhabit and harm your dog is pretty short. The list of those which are something to worry about is even shorter. Just avoid feeding the dog his carnivorous relatives (or those which practically act like him, like feral pig etc) and you should be in pretty good shape.

Oh, and the tapeworms (and treatment) weren't a big deal.

Mike - check at Walmart's again for turkey necks. That's where I buy all mine. You can get them pre-packaged either fresh or frozen, and each package has different sizes in it so you can combine a smaller neck with a chicken back or pork neck for a meal if you want. I can't remember the price offhand, but I'm guessing about $1.19/pound. I know one side of my freezer is full of turkey necks right now.

Walmart's is also where I buy my beef hearts. They are already pre-sliced and even though I pay more, it's much easier than hacking for hours at the semi-frozen whole hearts I used to get.

I also get the pre-packaged 74/26% hamburger in 5-lb. tubes at a decent price.

I have been experimenting with RAW and I have given ground deer. The deer was killed during hunting season and processed. However some of the deer was given to my dog to chew on that was unprocessed. I was told by the processor to freeze it for 48 to 72 hours and that would kill any parasites. My dog also has not had any signs of parasites.

just because your dog tests negative for worms does not mean he doesn't have them. they won't show up unless you just happen to catch them at a part of their life cycle when they are visible.

you can be certain if you are feeding wild game, gi tracts, etc. and not freezing for at least ten days, your dog has parasites. but that is the normal order of things. we all have parasites, too. especially if you've ever eaten sushi or rare meat.

just worm the dogs once or twice a year and don't worry about it.

phellostatin is available online. i don't think i've ever seen it in a health food store. i get mine from my doctor, who uses chinese herbs in her practice.

Lots of good info here. Quick question for Yuko. Just to clarify, you kill the rabbit and let the dog eat it as is? Fur and all? I feed my dog raw but have never introduced her to rabbit. Is it best to kill the rabbit yourself and let the dog eat it? Is letting the dog 'hunt' the rabbit in a closed fence or a closed environment cruel to the rabbit or is there just too much danger for the dog to get hurt or scratched to do it that way? I promise im not a sick individual, just thought i'd ask

Flu, I'm sure Yuko will speak to this but I do know she has pet rabbits as well and it wouldn't do to have her dogs making mistakes about what rabbits they could and couldn't eat!

Personally, I feel that her killing the rabbit prior to feeding is more humane for the rabbit, especially if you have a dog that isn't quite sure what to do with this new hopping food source. There is the small possibility the dog could get hurt, too, although I wouldn't imagine the risk is huge, why risk it?

If it were me and I had the stomach for it, I would kill the rabbit first. Less chance of dinner getting away, as well!
Actually, in a perfect world I could just bring rabbits over and let Yuko kill them for me until I manage to stop being such a hypocrite!

We used to have a kitty-cat that captured, tormented and ate wild rabbits (baby rabbits). If she brought them into the house the got thrown outside. More often than not our yellow-lab mix, would run up out of no where, catch the rabbit in mid-air and swallow it whole. This was a kibble fed dog. :-) I'm not sure why the cat didn't eat the dog next, but she just went and got a new rabbit.

Amber said it perfectly!

I will just add that no rabbit is ever going to hurt a dog.
The rabbit will panic and run, probably scream its head off once the dog catches up to it, but no, no way will the poor thing ever fight back.

I personally would NEVER put a rabbit through that kind of terror. Sure that's how it goes in the wild, but these are hand-raised domesticated rabbits that don't stand a chance of escaping - the least you can do is give them a humane death.

In my case, I use my dogs to protect my rabbits when they're playing in the yard. Obviously I wouldn't want them thinking it's ok to hunt them

Besides, my older female shepherd is so protective and motherly with anything small and helpless that she'd most certainly starve to death before she ever killed one of her charges. Hehe. She treats them like they're her babies.


Amber you're too funny
Then again, I have my rabbit-killing limit seeing as it breaks my heart a little every time I have to do it. I have 4 young rabbits now that I was supposed to have fed to my dogs over a month ago, but I just keep putting it off.
They're so cute and happy, playing around and snuggling up to eachother... too unpleasant to go through with the killing

Unfortunately I don't have the cage space to keep them all as pets indefinitely (they're mixed genders, which means I have about one more month AT MOST before they reach reproductive maturity and start procreating and fighting).

Hey, why don't we just pitch in and hire someone to kill all our meat rabbits for us? We could then all be happy hypocrites with healthy shiny dogs

I have to say that these pups I currently have are doing and looking much better than their half raw/half kibble-fed littermates. They've eaten nothing but raw and some THK, and at least 85% of it has been wild game...fresh and frozen, depending on the day. Fresh kill-fresh meat. Days old kill-frozen meat.

I feel much better taking my chances with Mother Nature, worming them every so often (until they get big enough that a few worms aren't impacting their weight/growth), than taking my chances with Wal-Mart. Not to say I never have bought their meat, I just really don't trust the selection and production process of huge chains like that. I have heard too many horror stories from inside sources regarding what fast-food restaurants, large grocers, etc. look for in buying meat (elderly, cancerous, etc) because it's CHEAPER. I can't afford to buy strictly organic meat for all my dogs, so I feed totally unprocessed whenever I can.

I'd much rather give my pups a deer that was frolicking in an open field seconds before it frolicked onto the highway.