Wow. Dr. Google found the electric one for me at $560. I have no problem with $59.99.

Thanks!

I also used a grinder for Nico's meat when I put her back on raw as a senior.
It added some work it made me feel so much safer feeding her with her bad teeth and gulping tendencies.

This brings up another question for me. I've just been on Amazon, reading reviews for different grinders. A lot of the reviewers mention using them for dog or cat food. It sounds to me like some of them are talking about grinding raw meat with bones and others are maybe talking about grinding cooked meat with bones.

I know that you cannot feed a dog whole cooked bones because of the danger of splintering, but every time I cook chicken, I end up throwing out all the bones, which seems like a waste. What are the pros and cons of grinding and feeding cooked bones? I'm assuming that would eliminate the need for me to supplement with calcium?

I'm sure most of you are going to say just feed raw, already, for gosh sakes! And I'm not saying grinding cooked bones is what I'm going to do, but I am curious to know if it can be done. I'm the type who likes to know what all my options are.

 Quote: Meredith Hamilton

Wow. Dr. Google found the electric one for me at $560. I have no problem with $59.99.

Thanks!

Meredith - that is a manual model - I'm assuming you realized that. I'd want to make sure the manual one can do the job, and that your hands and wrists are up to manually grinding bones before ordering. Just a thought.

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_36989_36989

This one will grind up just about anything you want.

I would not feed cooked bones, even ground, unless they were ground to a powder. A meat grinder would reduce them to sharp shards, I fear.

I use this grinder, but only for cat food. It easily grinds chicken thighs.....I'm not sure how it would hold up to a higher volume of grinding for dog food.

http://www.sambaere.com/Personal-Grinders/TS-110-10-12-Grinder-Extra-Blades-p22.html

Thanks to all of you for sharing your great advice and experiences. I have a much clearer picture now of the nuts and bolts, so to speak, of raw feeding.

Niomi, the gulper is a gulper no matter where he eats or who's around. Melissa, I also live in SE MI, so if you have found all those sources, I'm sure I could, too.

Jessica and Aaron, it's true that feeding in crates would contain the mess and make for easy clean-up. Unfortunately (and I'm a little embarrassed to admit this), I had to fold up my crates and put them away. Right now, I couldn't find space in my house for a chihuahua-sized crate, let alone two Dobie-sized crates. Long story short: Very small two-bedroom house, one story, no basement. Second bedroom was my office, had to move all the office furniture into master bedroom (where the crates were) so mother-in-law has a place to stay when she's here. Honestly, there isn't even space in the kitchen to put down two decent-sized rubber mats under the dog dishes. A chest freezer is out of the question, too, for the same reasons.

Michael, that is a nice grinder for a reasonable price. That's the one I was looking at that's got all the good reviews on Amazon from people who make their own pet food.

Anyway, I will have to put a lot more thought into how I would work this all out. Thanks again everybody for all your input.

Who needs a grinder when one could have a cleaver? Grinders for show, cleaver - for a pro!

Cheers! Happy NY!

 Quote: Cheri Grissom

Melissa, I also live in SE MI, so if you have found all those sources, I'm sure I could, too.

Cherri,

A fantastic starting point.

http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/SEMichiganRAWCo-op/

I am doing a drop off at my house on Jan. 15th for G&C products - I am in Redford. Their price list is up on the co-op's list. If you are interested, go ahead and join the co-op for more info. We also have an Oma's Pride supplier who does periodic orders, My Pet Carnivore comes once a month to the area. Otto's can be picked up at the Royal Oak farmer's market. Lots of good resources There is the Pet Beastro in Madison Heights that has raw available in the store.

Lots of good resources around here.

You could do it without a freezer, just would have to strategically plan