raw feeders - grinding bones?

[dangerzone]

I have been feeding prey model for three months. I am going out of town for a week and need to prepare meals for my in-laws to feed my two dogs.

Last time I was out of town (for three days) I just bought pre-made patties. Because the pre-made is cost-prohibitive, I was hoping to make my own ground patties out of chicken/pork/beef/organs and include ground chicken bones.

I feed my dogs from my hand to prevent choking and to slow down their pace. While that works for me, I don't want to bother my in-laws with having to hold the meat.

Has anyone had any luck grinding chicken bones with a grinder? Does anyone have any other suggestions that might work?

[sandollar1010]

I just started raw feeding, so I am interested in what advice you get. I have found a local co-op for raw fed dogs, and I can buy tubes of ground meat/bone/organ mix through them for a great price. You may find one near you. Also, I have used ziwipeak in a pinch (dehydrated raw) still costly, but you get a bit more for the money than frozen patties. I have no idea about grinding though - sorry.

[dangerzone]

Jul 9, 2012 13:48:22 GMT -5 sandollar1010 said:

I just started raw feeding, so I am interested in what advice you get. I have found a local co-op for raw fed dogs, and I can buy tubes of ground meat/bone/organ mix through them for a great price. You may find one near you. Also, I have used ziwipeak in a pinch (dehydrated raw) still costly, but you get a bit more for the money than frozen patties. I have no idea about grinding though - sorry.

Sadly, I do not have a co-op or anything near me. The butchers where I am look at me like I am a crazy person when I tell them I feed my dogs raw. I called around to all of the butchers in my area. None of them will grind bone for me.

I may just have to suck it up and buy pre-made again. I posted here and on the dogster raw feeding forum. I will let you know if I get a response on the other forum.

[redheadbaker]

I'm interested in feeding raw, but unable to at the moment, but I thought I remembered reading that it's better for dogs to crunch on the bones, rather than having the bone ground into the meat.

[sandollar1010]

I'm interested in feeding raw, but unable to at the moment, but I thought I remembered reading that it's better for dogs to crunch on the bones, rather than having the bone ground into the meat.

You are correct, it is better for them to crunch the bones, but since she isn't comfortable letting the dogs chew without her holding it - ground meat/bone is a good option for travel.

[M]

There are raw dog food distributors who package ground meat and bone into neat rolls. If you're in the SE region of US, look up Blue Ridge Beef. They are relatively inexpensive. Hilo is on an almost all raw diet and this is what I get for him. The only other raw distributor I know of is Bravo and they are all over but super pricey.

[dangerzone]

Jul 10, 2012 8:02:32 GMT -5 sandollar1010 said:

I'm interested in feeding raw, but unable to at the moment, but I thought I remembered reading that it's better for dogs to crunch on the bones, rather than having the bone ground into the meat.

You are correct, it is better for them to crunch the bones, but since she isn't comfortable letting the dogs chew without her holding it - ground meat/bone is a good option for travel.

Exactly. I hand feed them whole chicken hind quarters for their evening meal, so they are crunching bones normally. I also give other raw meaty bone portions and I let them eat them on their own if they are quite large. My large dog does not fully understand the concept of properly chewing his food yet, so I hold it for him.

I don't want my in-laws (dog sitters) to have to be responsible for touching the meat or to be worrying about choking. The only time I would grind would be for vacations.

[dangerzone]

Jul 10, 2012 12:00:08 GMT -5 M said:

There are raw dog food distributors who package ground meat and bone into neat rolls. If you're in the SE region of US, look up Blue Ridge Beef. They are relatively inexpensive. Hilo is on an almost all raw diet and this is what I get for him. The only other raw distributor I know of is Bravo and they are all over but super pricey.

Thanks. I actually looked into raw distributors in my area. Sadly, the one near me only does delivery once a month in common locations. They will do home delivery, but the shipping costs are really outrageous.

[dangerzone]

I also read something about bone meal that you can purchase and sprinkle into ground up meat to form a patty.

Does anyone have any experience with that? This would only be for about a week. They will go back to eating raw meaty bones after that.

If I can't figure anything else out, I will just buy nature's variety pre-made raw or use high quality canned food for the week. I was just hoping to save the almost $200 it will cost to feed my two big guys pre-made for a week.

[M]

Jul 10, 2012 12:26:19 GMT -5 dangerzone said:

Jul 10, 2012 12:00:08 GMT -5 M said:

There are raw dog food distributors who package ground meat and bone into neat rolls. If you're in the SE region of US, look up Blue Ridge Beef. They are relatively inexpensive. Hilo is on an almost all raw diet and this is what I get for him. The only other raw distributor I know of is Bravo and they are all over but super pricey.

Thanks. I actually looked into raw distributors in my area. Sadly, the one near me only does delivery once a month in common locations. They will do home delivery, but the shipping costs are really outrageous.

Blue Ridge Beef stops by my town once a month so I'll buy enough to last him about 2 months so I don't have to pick up so often. I only pay about $1.50/lb depending on the meat.

Since it's only for a week...could you just do without the bone?

[dangerzone]

Jul 10, 2012 13:01:12 GMT -5 M said:

Jul 10, 2012 12:26:19 GMT -5 dangerzone said:

Thanks. I actually looked into raw distributors in my area. Sadly, the one near me only does delivery once a month in common locations. They will do home delivery, but the shipping costs are really outrageous.

Blue Ridge Beef stops by my town once a month so I'll buy enough to last him about 2 months so I don't have to pick up so often. I only pay about $1.50/lb depending on the meat.

Since it's only for a week...could you just do without the bone?

The raw distributor near me does once a month too. I didn't even realize it existed until yesterday because I have been getting such excellent prices at local butchers that I didn't even look for a distributor. I plan to move in a few months, so I didn't even think to look for a distributor in this area. Sadly, the once a month delivery date is at the end of my trip, so the timing will not work.

I could probably go boneless for the week, or just do a bone meal supplement, but I want to avoid leaving my pet sitters with dogs with the big D. I know for sure that one of my dogs would end up with the big D if he didn't have bone content (he needs a little extra just to have firm poos as is).

Thanks for your help. I really appreciate it. I will work something out! I have even considered just crushing up some bone with my meat tenderizing mallet. I think I could get the bone to break up into really small pieces with enough work on my part.

[M]

Jul 10, 2012 13:12:21 GMT -5 dangerzone said:

Jul 10, 2012 13:01:12 GMT -5 M said:

Blue Ridge Beef stops by my town once a month so I'll buy enough to last him about 2 months so I don't have to pick up so often. I only pay about $1.50/lb depending on the meat.

Since it's only for a week...could you just do without the bone?

The raw distributor near me does once a month too. I didn't even realize it existed until yesterday because I have been getting such excellent prices at local butchers that I didn't even look for a distributor. I plan to move in a few months, so I didn't even think to look for a distributor in this area. Sadly, the once a month delivery date is at the end of my trip, so the timing will not work.

I could probably go boneless for the week, or just do a bone meal supplement, but I want to avoid leaving my pet sitters with dogs with the big D. I know for sure that one of my dogs would end up with the big D if he didn't have bone content (he needs a little extra just to have firm poos as is).

Thanks for your help. I really appreciate it. I will work something out! I have even considered just crushing up some bone with my meat tenderizing mallet. I think I could get the bone to break up into really small pieces with enough work on my part.

Oh I see.

I typed it out but then thought it was silly haha, but I was going to suggest crushing it with a hammer because raw chicken bones is pretty soft anyways.

[nital]

I'd just throw the food at them tonight to see how they handle the bone on their own. They might be able to handle chewing without you holding the food. If not, how about crushed eggshells?

[MissusTexas]

I just ask my in laws to keep an eye on him while he eats, and of course tongs should be handy in case anything does happen. We've never had a choking scare, but then again I have a slow eater.

You can buy a grinder for $60 that will grind chicken bones just fine.

[dangerzone]

Thanks for the suggestions. I tried just letting them eat chicken hind quarters on their own yesterday. My slow eater did fine, but my fast eater did one of those "chomp chomp swallow" moves that really freaks me out. I'm sure my concerns are purely my irrational fears about them choking, but I would just rather not risk it and I'll just hold the food for them.

I was looking into saw raw homemade recipes using bone meal. I bought some "for human consumption" bone meal and might just make patties using that for this vacation.

I really appreciate everyone's responses.

[whiskeytails]

Dogs are built for choking and will vomit up pieces that aren't chomped well. Scary? Yes. However safe.

[dangerzone]

Jul 13, 2012 14:43:05 GMT -5 whiskeytails said:

Dogs are built for choking and will vomit up pieces that aren't chomped well. Scary? Yes. However safe.

Thanks.

I have no problem with my dogs doing that while they are with me. I don't want my pet sitters to have to deal with the fear of my dogs choking or being stuck cleaning up vomit. It is more about trying to make it as easy as possible for my pet sitters while they are doing me the favor of watching my pets.