Tripe; a thank you, and a raw question

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SadKen

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To everyone who suggested I put my young gsd on tripe to add a bit of weight; thank you. We have successfully put on a couple of kilos and he looks much better for it.

He looks so well that I'm thinking of switching him to raw rather than kibble permanently. The poo is better by a mile and he loves the food, plus we have the weight gain.

I'm veggie and I can't deal with stuff that looks like animal (pigs ears etc) and whenever mine have had bones in the past they have been really messy. My question is, is it ok to feed this tripe mince/beef chunks nature's menu stuff without feeding bones and chicken feet etc?
 
I can highly recommend Wolf Tucker. The prepared minces all have bone etc in and it's very easy stuff to feed.
 
Some of the Natures Menu minces contain ground bone....have a look here (need to scroll down a bit):http://www.naturesmenu.co.uk/category-raw-meals.aspx

The only issue I would have with the diet you are proposing is that it is a 'soft' diet and I would want to include some large meaty bones for the health of the teeth and to allow the dog to have a good old chew.....which is what their dentition was designed for.
 
Got to admit my 4 don't have a huge amount of bones now - one has no teeth, one has 2 teeth left (lower canines only) and the other two have lovely teeth regardless of what I do with them :D So I feed Manifold Valley Meats products, and balance it with some minces that have bone (so they get their 10% each week) and some that don't - the dogs look wonderful, the two black ones are currently competing for the 'shiniest coat' award :D
 
You should be feeding a ratio of 80:10:10-meat, bone, offal. Build up offal extremely slowly or you will have runny bum! Re bones, you can feed the complete minces which include bone, but stuff like chicken necks/wings/whole carcasses are great for teeth. There are, as Lévrier says, complete minces out there but bones are fab. Avoid big weight bearing leg bones, you don't want cracked teeth.
 
I am vegan OP so I know what you mean! I get my head round it by knowing that raw is the best thing for them, and then I try and pretend it's something else! I use Manifold Valley Meats - the tubes of meat are easy to handle and the dogs love it. I'm used to bones, feet, ears etc. now although last week I got them some half lamb heads - they were frozen when I picked them up so didn't look too closely but I defrosted them to find that they still had their eyes intact!! I was horrified and it's still makes me feel ill just thinking about it but the dogs were absolutely made up.
 
I am another who uses manifold valley meats, mostly the duck or Turkey minced both with bone. My youngster looks so amazing that at a recent show a champ show judge can up to me and said she looked "spectacular"
 
Oooh no rr/ct I would have to draw the line at heads with eyes in and whole carcasses! A bit before that actually hehe

Ok I could give bones a try; he loves chewing more than anything and has worn his teeth down a bit from doing that. Where's good to get them from and is there anything 'easy' to start him off on that is a bit gentler on the tum? Or should I go for a mince with bone in as a first step?
 
Morrisons do lamb bones and pg trotters, although the trotters are a bit huge for a baby. I would start with small chicken wings, smash them up a bit (in teatowel or plastic bag with hammer) and hold one end while he chews, so he learns not to inhale them! Once he is chewing them, let him have a small one. I tend to supervise teatime, mostly cos I'm in the kitchen anyway.

Chicken carcasses are fab, some butchers do them for soup. I don't mean a whole chicken, I mean the ones that are stripped of most meat. Restaurants use them for stock.
 
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