Hi all,

I live in Taiwan, and I'm a bit limited with my meat sources. All our beef is imported from the USA, Australia or New Zealand. So, it is not possible to get beef liver and bones etc.

I can buy my chicken wings in a supermarket, nicely wrapped but probably 1 to 3 days old, and I do not know how clean it is, because in Taiwan EVERYTHING is cooked (including vegetables).

Or, I can go to the traditional food market, watch the chicken being killed in front of me, and take home extremely fresh meat which then goes into the freezer. These markets are not always hygienic, but the usual practice here is to only buy things from vendors (or restaurants) that are busy.

Is it possible to 'decontaminate' chicken? If I dunk it in 95% ethanol ('Everclear' for those in the US)and then freeze it, will that kill any nasties, or will it affect my dog?

It is also easy to buy duck hearts here, and I use these for the meat content in my vegetable slop. I also cut them up fresh and use them as rewards during training.

Chicken livers (which I also use for making my own Pate), are NOT readily available here, but I can buy them from the traditional food market.

Goat meat is very popular, so I am in the process of sourcing meaty goat bones. Are these suitable for an 11 week old puppy?

I've also ordered numerous supplements from iherb.com (Vit C, vit E, cod liver oil and flax seed. I've also ordered the kelp and alfalfa from leerburg. So, soon my vegetable pulp will be enriched.

At the moment I feed my puppy 4 times a day. Three chicken wings and one bowl of vegetable slop. I will reduce that to three times soon, and start feeding her two chicken wings per meal.

Also, last night I took her to the park for the first time. Now, there are a lot of little frogs there, and before I knew it she had caught one, and before I could say GIVE (which she knows quite well), she took a gulp and swallowed the whole frog.

I kept an eye on her for about 8 hours, because I do not know what frogs they are. Nothing bad happened.

So, now I am thinking, are frogs suitable for the BARF diet? If she can chase, catch, kill and then eat her own dinner, that would be a great way of feeding her.

Taiwan, how cool.
I don't think a diet of frogs would be sufficient for a dog or pup.You have to also consider any diseases that might be carried by frogs. I think one frog won't hurt but a high volume might be a different story.
I hope someone else with more knowledge jumps in here and helps you out.
Good luck!

Unless I knew what kind of frogs were at the park, I'm not sure I would use them as a supplement to my dog's diet. There are several kinds of toads and/or frogs that are poisonous. There are lots of edible frogs, too, but I think I'd find out what exactly was hopping before I let my pup eat anymore of them.
Also, I would think if you buy a freshly-killed chicken at a farmer's market, you shouldn't need to do anything more than wash it off using an antibacterial soap, and then rinse completely clean before freezing. That ought to be enough.

Thought you should know that from a biological standpoint, frogs are a bad idea. Frogs are what's known as indicator species which means that any environmental poisons in the area are going to show up in them first.

As a general rule, I would stay away from anything if you don't know where it comes from. Even veggies can be risky: I had a friend who had a veggie garden and her son tested positive for lead poisoning. Turns out her house used to (years and years ago) have lead paint and it entered the soil and then grew into her plants. I test my soil now before I plant anything edible. Maybe it sounds paranoid, but that's the downfall to studying microbiology...you realize just how many things can go wrong.