[dean ousterhout]

Hello all… I have a source of fresh deer meat and wondered… should I feed some of it to my new large puppy, 14 weeks old? I love reading all about teh fantastic diets folks are doing for their dogs and I have to say… I don’t think I eat so well 🙂

I am sure I will look back in a few years and perhaps all this won’t be so confusing… but for now …. well.. it is quite overwhelming as to how little I understand.

The plan is to start with the 5 star dry and wet… and augment with quality “other” stuff, like leftovers of what we eat, etc. I got to thinking while reading about supplementing and all teh different raw diets… if I could use some of the venison I have access to for the puppy? I saw about the 20%… but should it be raw(uncooked, straight from the freezer, straight from the butcher) or cooked, like burgers from the grill? 🙂

Shucks, the venison is cheaper than than the canned food and the 5 star dried.

Thoughts??

[pugmomsandy]

I believe you should freeze game meats for 2 or 3 weeks before feeding them. Hopefully someone else will chime in.

[dean ousterhout]

Thanks,

and then… raw or cooked?

[pugmomsandy]

Either. If your dog likes and tolerates it raw, then feed it raw. If he needs to transition to raw then slightly cook it first. Some dogs when first starting raw don’t like the texture of raw (funny, I know) and they have to lightly sear the meat. Maybe they’re not used to cold food, not sure. And some pups need time to adjust to raw and might have some GI issues. Of course, give bones raw.

[theBCnut]

Yes, game meat should be frozen first. After that how you feed it depends on you and your dog. Stick to 20% or less of his meal being the added stuff so you don’t unbalance his food, unless you are going to learn how to balance what you add. Have fun with it. Change thing up.

[dean ousterhout]

Thanks Sandy and Patty… 🙂

[Rahat]

Deer meat is a great food for your dog. Dogs are classified as carnivores. There is a mere .2% difference between dog and wolf DNA. If we realize that our dogs are so closely related to wolves, then it is a short step to understanding our dogs should eat like the wolf rather than eating junk out of a bag.
An ideal meal for our domestic wolves, also know as Lacy dogs, is raw on-the-hoof deer meat. Many hunters have deer meat left over from previous year, and that is fine to feed to your dogs, but today I am writing about feeding the deer that is freshly shot and ready for the dog to eat.
There are two main ways to feed fresh deer. The first is to feed it like the dogs would eat in the wild. You can just pitch it out and let the dogs chow down. This is known as prey model feeding. It is the optimal diet for your dogs. However, not many people have the desire to see a partially chewed deer laying in their yard. So the alternative is to spend time preparing the deer to be consumed by the dog. The above article made by – Betty Leek.

[Brittany Mom]

While vension is a good source of protein, feeding raw game can expose you and your dog to the rabies virus and Chronic Wasting Disease. The only way to kill the rabies virus is through cooking. Freezing the meat does not kill the virus. Also, in recent years, Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) has become more prevalent in the deer population. I would only feed farm raised deer from a reliable source, to insure that you are not exposing yourself and your dog to either disease.

As a hunter for many years, we always wore rubber gloves to process game because you don’t always know what you’re dealing with. We’ve fed our dogs venison for years, but only cooked venison. I feed a raw diet to my dogs but it doesn’t include raw game meat.

[Author]

Posts