Diann, if I were you i would just watch for sales at the local grocery store. When chicken goes below a buck a pound, i buy it. At thanksgiving I get the free turkeys for my dogs. If you check out the sunday coupons in the newspaper, you'll find cheap stuff locally. Shipping across the country is going to be alot. I know I couldn't afford it.

I just re-read that your dogs are allergic to poultry. There's still other meats available on sale. Good Luck out in WV.

Yes Scott there are, but again, no offal, or tripe, which I feel my dogs need. Although they are very good with the pork neck bones, they do tend to throw them up in shards the next morning if they seemed to have a larger than normal amount. I really think they tripe would help. I wouldn't mind buying just the tripe and a few other things, not my main meat source.

The ONLY thing I can find in my area is beef liver. I used to be able to find heart every week at wal-mart, but no more.

The list of ingredients I have availible is this:

Jack Mackeral
Pork Neck Bones
Hamburger
Beef Liver
Eggs

Supplements are a different story as I give a childrens chewable vitamin.

Can a dog live on just those??? I thought if I added some tripe and maybe I don't know some sort of cartilage thing, they would be alright.

I did this for about a year and they really looked good and smelled like flowers. Maybe I could've done better, I don't know. I never bought the Billinghurst book just because money is always tight with 2 of us 4 kids and 5 furkids.

When the chicken thing came about, it really limited my options. I don't think it was necessarily the meat, but the supplements, or antibiotics, or something that was given to them. Because I had problems with all poultry duck, turkey, chicken....even in kibble. Wellness duck and sweet potato-forget it! Same thing. Xena welts Alf crappy ears within a week of eating it. Goes away within two weeks of stopping it.

hi guys seems like i'm spoilt ,my local butchers are a dream, human grade meat and bones at very little price and if he's not got it he will get it for me,my boy loves pigs trotters,i get them for free ,hubbie swears i'm having an affair to feed my dog <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Ok so I called Simon. The cost to fly 180 pounds of anything from him is $85-90. NOBODY here will even talk to me about tripe. I guess it's illegal to sell or give it away here in WV or OH. They all act like I am the Dept. of Agriculture asking trick questions, so no headway there. Not that I blame them...heck I'd be wary too with all the mad cow stuff.

So the question is....
Do I need tripe? Can I just give a probiotic and get the same results or what? I'd LOVE to feed them tripe and I have the freezer for it and all, but If I buy from Simon, and have it shipped here, I have to drive to Charleston (2 hours at least round trip) and pick it up. Even though the cost would only be $1.50 a pound for tripe and other organ meats not availible here, I would get the items needed for maybe 4 months of feeding the dogs. Alf 106 and Xena 85.

I can buy hamburger here for $1.58 a pound and all my veggies cheap. So the cost to feed is about what I would pay for kibble, but it would be some trouble to go about this every 4 months.

Any thoughts? Experience with 180 pounds of tripe in the trunk of your car? Is it worth it?

Some people go whole hog spending $4.00 a rabbit and state anything is worth it for "thier darlings" which is great, I mean I love my dogs and all, but I don't have $8 a meal to spend on my dogs.

Anybody?

Do dogs really need tripe?

Can I substitute probioticsand get the same affect?

Ok, I've been reading and i'm mystified. I'm black, so I know what chitlins are, but what is tripe? I'm in Cleveland, OH, and I'm sure they don't sell it in Tops or Giant Eagle.

Also, if chitlins are too clean, what condition is tripe in? I've cleaned chitlins before, and man they stink! There's a lot of fat and waste still left on them, depending on which brand you buy.

Tripe is the lining of the cow, sheep or goat stomach. Cleaned and bleached, it can be found at some grocery stores. Uncleaned, it is unfit for human consumption, so you won't find it in the grocery store.

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Also, if chitlins are too clean, what condition is tripe in?

Heh, heh, heh. Just trust me on this one. It smells like sweet, fermenting feces.

Betcha didn't want to have those three words in assocasion locked in your head... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Denise,
I've found tripe in Giant Eagles around Pittsburgh but I couldn't find any at a Giant Eagle about an hour north of the city.
I would assume that a bigger market like Cleveland would have them but I guess I'm wrong.

Speaking of tripe...does anyone know if a freezer holding frozen tripe can get "contaminated' or infiltrated with the smell so badly that it cannot be used for human food anymore???

I found a supplier in NJ and was considering going this route, but maybe not if it ruins the freezer.