A Q for the 'Raw' feeders.

A

Alec Swan

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No one would deny that the best food for dogs is raw. For the last 20 years I've fed complete feeds, simply for convenience and the dogs always seem to do reasonably well. In our local feed store, I saw a 15kgs bag of dried meat for (from memory) £20+ a bit. It resembled African Biltong in that it was strips of dried meat. The name of the producer is Hollings Ltd. and I'm wondering if anyone has any experience of it. Hollings also produce 'tit-bits' for dogs, for those who may be interested!!

I sent Hollings an e-mail, and their sales manager replied. The meat is made up of beef, lamb, poultry and pork. I don't feed pork to dogs, but as it's already there, I ignored my previous prejudice.

I am staggered at the results; I feed half the amount by volume, which I previously fed and the dogs look SO well, the kennels in the mornings are still clean, what comes out doesn't resemble what went in, the dog's stools are perfectly formed and firm, and it has come as a bit of a revelation! Storage is simple, as is the feeding regime.

I should add that along with the dried meat they also have a small pinched handful of a complete feed, Dr Johns.

I'd be interested to hear if anyone else uses it, or has tried it. Currently, I'm seriously impressed! :)

Alec.
 
I would be interested too as currently feeding prepared raw which is costing me a fortune ! I will go off and google them !
Don't suppose it stops their blimming hair coming out too does it Alec, Im drowning under spaniel hair

OK have googled, they seem to produce mainly treats. Which product is it you used ?
 
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I've used it for my dogs for several years - I use it along with prepacked blocks of frozen actual meat, tripe and fish, that come pre-packed with veg, and offal, as well as bone. I keep the dried meat in the same type of large lidded bin that I use for horse/chicken/geese/sheep feed ( in a locked room to prevent accidental access by anyone ) I defrost a block of frozen meat each day that they have as an evening meal. They get a scoop ( large coffee mug sized ) of the dried stuff, soaked in warm water, and with their cortaflex added, in the mornings. Their coats are fab, teeth are amazing ( some of the frozen is chicken wings, whole fish, lamb ribs etc ) and they poop once per day, scoring a perfect 10 on the poop chart - easy to pick up, not offensive smelling, no need for shovel, just once daily etc. My local animal feed place get the 15kg bags for £30, in both the small size, and the medium. It is great for weekends away and holidays - I put the amount of scoops needed for the days away into a tupperware tub, and off we go ! No tins, no wrapping, no frozen/thawing issues, no empty packets to get rid of afterwards...and most importantly, the dogs love it !
 
Clodagh said:
Where is it sourced from?

Could one of you read the label!?

It sounds great.
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I was told that it's British.

Hollings Ltd. Dried Terrier meat, a small nondescript label and that's it.

It is!

I'd suggest that a working Lab, in full time work, would need two (girl sized!) gripped handfuls per day (if that), and about the same of a 'biscuit' of some sort. Dogs out of work would probably need less. The weight-gain influence is incredible. As saalsk says, defecation seems to be once a day.

Alec.
 
I am going to speak to my local feed man about it. Anything that involves less **** shovelling on the lawn has to be worth it!
 
I'm fairly sure this stuff is made from greaves rather than being actual strips of meat and as such it's not raw at all, it's a by-product of meat rendering processes.

That said, if it works, it works!
 
The meat concerned is neither 'rendered' nor 'processed' in the conventional sense. It is 'strip-flaked' and then air dried, as is 'Biltong' or as the Americans would call it 'Jerky'. Inspection reveals pork skin, similar to pork-scratchings, bits of avian wind-pipe which are large so presumably turkey, meat and offal to include I suspect, tripe and presumably lung and heart from cattle and sheep. Flesh (muscle) seems to be the major part. I suspect that it is no more than the by-product of the meat industry which supplies humans.

There's no claim, here or elsewhere that it is 'raw'. It was once, but now it's been air-dried (baked?).

The product has no discernible smell, beyond the rather sweet smell of meat.

Alec.
 
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I would think it should still count as raw, we used to make camel and donkey biltong in Australia, and it was literally raw meat hung up to dry. (I never fancied it...but can eat jerky from a packet!)
 
It's made pretty clear in the Hollings literature that it's meat greaves which by their definition are a by-product of rendering - it's the unmeltable residue left when any commercially valuable fats have been extracted, involving one or more cooking processes. Dried and ground it becomes meat and bone meal, which is incidentally the major component of Dr Johns too (after the cereal content).

The thread title lead me to believe that the discussion would be about raw food, excuse me if I misunderstood it. As above, if it works for your dogs then that's great.

Incidentally if anyone is looking for a jerky-like product mine have enjoyed these, which are dehydrated whole meat pieces: http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/dogs/dog_treats_chews/dog_chews/rocco_chings/444641
 
I feed my two youngsters raw, output is notorious for being firm and easy to pick up, small and not much per day. This food looks to be the waste product (tallow is mentioned somewhere on wiki) after everything decent has been extracted.

The Amazon price is about £1.40 more per kilo than actual chicken bits in the frozen section in Sainsbury. £1.33 a kg for Tesco value chicken wings (I don't buy this, I'm not sure of source) I know which I'd rather buy. The company I use for bulk buying raw-in Norfolk!!-is a quid a kilo for minced chicken and tripe.
 
blackcob said:
It's made pretty clear in the Hollings literature that it's meat greaves which by their definition are a by-product of rendering - it's the unmeltable residue left when any commercially valuable fats have been extracted, involving one or more cooking processes. Dried and ground it becomes meat and bone meal, which is incidentally the major component of Dr Johns too (after the cereal content).

The thread title lead me to believe that the discussion would be about raw food, excuse me if I misunderstood it. As above, if it works for your dogs then that's great.

Incidentally if anyone is looking for a jerky-like product mine have enjoyed these, which are dehydrated whole meat pieces: http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/dogs/dog_treats_chews/dog_chews/rocco_chings/444641
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Itr sounds disgusting! (The Hollings stuff). Mind you mine eat carrion out on walks which is so rotten you can no longer identify the species. As long as it isn't chemically treated, that would be the main stumbling block for me, I agree it isn't raw as such, I didn't realise it was heat treated, having not read all the blurb.
 
Preservatives in dried food are often of dubious origin. I wonder what the small print says-any EU permitted antioxidants? That's sometimes code for BHT/BHA, known carcinogens.
 
I use forthglade (both cat and dog), I don't think it counts as raw as it is cooked but each portion is mainly meat in handy pots. We use the incomplete and mix with terrier meal biscuit but they do a complete as well. Cat adores it, as does dog. Fab quality stuff too. I'm always wary of dried stuff as you often get the more rubbishy bits, but great if it work for you :)
 
Kylara said:
…….. . I'm always wary of dried stuff as you often get the more rubbishy bits, but great if it work for you :)
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Strangely it's the rubbishy bits which are best for dogs. Offal especially, with the 'pluck' from the slaughter process suits dogs better than a diet of fillet steak.

I had a thorough inspection (or as detailed as I could manage!) of the feed whilst waiting for my dogs to finish, and amongst other bits and pieces, found a piece of what was clearly liver, what I suspect was lites (sp? Lung), a roughly quartered kidney, windpipe which I'd guess was from a sheep or goat by its size, pork skin with fat attached, and then nondescript bits of meat. There are also bits of poultry, judging by the smaller sections of windpipe. It looks entirely wholesome, for a dog.

When I spoke with the company and just out of interest, they assured me that the only process to which their product had been subjected, was air drying and that it was entirely natural (what ever that may mean!). Considering the storage issues which those who feed raw food must inevitably have, I was just wondering if this 'air-dried' meat would be a suitable alternative. The inclusion of carcinogenic additives hadn't occurred to me!

Each to their own, I suppose! :)

Alec.
 
There's offal in the forthglade, not the rubbish I meant! More the sinewy bits and the potential additives whilst 'drying' and random bits of unnecessary stuff you find in a lot of complete foods.

The cat forthglade is amazing. I'm currently out of it (he has it for breakfast and dry for dinner) and he has been a terror all day, refusing to eat the lovely kibble because it was breakfast. He only ate today at dinner when I refreshed the kibble! Its really hard to find a wet food which is quality for cats and not full of additives and preservatives. (cat has tendency for gingivitis hence the wet and dry food to help his teeth and gums!)

But I totally agree about the offal being good for dogs!

They come in little vac packs and we get through one pack a day, no need for fridge or freezing, just boxes in garage and current box in the house on top of mixer meal bin.
 
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I changed to raw about 18 months ago. My girls, both labs look better, smell better and their coats are softer. I feed minced rabbit, lamb, chicken and turkey. They also have offal and tripe. Eggs and fish twice a week. They also get lamb and chicken bones, raw, not weight bearing bones.

I also give Golden Paste to aid their joints. Look at Turmeric User Group UK for info, not a cure all but helps.

I am vegetarian but I have no problem feeding a more natural diet.
 
I went to the feed store on Friday and he had Hollings treats, I bought the dogs strips of dried beef hide. It doesn't list any ingredients other than beef, which I would imagine it would have to, and they did enjoy it. Feedstore owner said he is happy to order in the terrier bits. I may well give it a try.
 
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