rose of tralee

In the 70s , Caspar, a castrated farm cat blocked. Naughty boy was very fond of dry food. He was basically fed raw (beef, horse, turkey, egg, raw milk) after that with no more dry food and had no further problems. The approx. 70% water in raw is a great help to cat urinary tract. Liver is an excellent food but I'd be wary of daily liver unless the amounts are quite small.

Brisket bones are from the beef carcase and contain a characteristic chunk of shiny cartilage; beware of bags thus labelled but which have too much rib attached which imo is too dense. A tame butcher is a wonderful thing, especially one who is interested without being prescriptive about feeding dogs. One reminded me of beef cheeks which are a very chewy muscle for a change (think of all that cud chewing). Variety in animal parts is a good thing, not forgetting organs, so long as new things are introduced conservatively. A tiny piece of liver fed with a meal containing bone is unlikely to cause any ructions.

Very interesting Vet science is no different to medicine; once a procedure becomes standard, it's just *easier* to apply that procedure across the board. Never mind that a trusted owner (one who clearly has a brain and is known to have the animal's welfare at the forefront) is asking for at least discussion in varying an aspect of the spay process i.e. later/ partial/ a qualified never. Some extrapolations from human medicine may turn out to be relevant despite dogs not being little people, I see a few articles lately about increased incidence of dementia in women who lost ovaries before ?40.

things that little teeth have to nibble at to pull at connective tissue, skin, cartilage as well as bone for a variety of gum and tooth massage.....thinking chicken feet, pig trotter (plain and ?maybe halved down the centre to split the skin), maybe cut lamb flap into long narrow strips to encourage getting under back molars) for recreational and dental I think chewy and time-consuming rather than crunchy

Horses have fewer parasite connections with other animals; actually, none that I know of. They do get their own tapeworm, from a mite in pasture/ fodder.

I feed raw fish from time to time and in fact keep a bag of whole small bait fish for emergiencies in the freezer. Last time I bought a whole fish for the humans, I asked the very obliging young assistant to save me the left overs after filleting for the dog. Fed these leftovers with a meat to complement. I would cut off any sharp bony external bits that some particular fish sport.

Joypod, so far away......... I'm in central Qld; this butcher in Mackay. Maybe there's a butcher near you who could do with some marketing ideas for organs Cheers!

The low stomach pH of a healthy dog is there to digest meat, bone and cartilage.

While hunting down a Sunday roast for the people yesterday, the butcher pointed out their trays of organs bits for dogs. Wow, was all I could say. Fresh and clean as, and in suitable portions for introductory tastes. Not that my girl will be getting much/ often due to her spots. We will share with the rels' dogs. The price? $2.99/kg This selection would go a long way in providing organ variety. Pic 1: The tray Pic 2: From bottom left clockwise, there is spleen, heart, ??pancreas (let's call it sweetbread!), a misc scrap, and liver Think it all may be pig but will check with the butcher another time. These people also sell pig's heads.

One thing about handling heart, your butcher may be willing to cut a beef heart into strips the length of the heart. These are easy to cut when somewhat thawed, less bloody than cutting small portions from completely thawed heart. And if you don't want to commit to a whole heart, the butcher would probably sell a portion. They are usually already opened up from the inspection process. Lamb hearts turn up sometimes, they're whole, at least the ones I find in the supermarket.

As well as decreasing the bone, consider introducing organs if there are no contraindications. I didn't see any organs in your list. Heart, though a meat rather than an organ, is rich and may counter some bone too. Heart here costs $5/ kg. Just go very easy on first introduction of heart, liver etc; an inch cube (what size is your dog??) may be ample and wait at least a few days before the next piece until you're satisfied about tolerance developing.

Dogs aren't good nutritionists.......lots of dogs like things that aren't helpful to their wellbeing, carbs included. Carbs are inexpensive!

Tess, I've done both ways; I think it's largely personal choice. The first feed would be likely meaty bone, the second boney meat...when it's all down the hatch it would have balanced out. Yumos to the turkey legs!

Any changes in bedding, or laundry practices? The garden.....lawn treatments etc? Possibly a fungal infection, a question perhaps for your vet. I doubt that this was anything to do with the contents, the testicles, but never mind, he's lighter now. Cheers

When I was a pup on a cattle property in the 50s, the dogs and cats were fed raw beef parts, raw milk, fresh eggs and did well. Dry food came into the picture later but fresh meat and bones were still fed as well. After 10 years OS, my OH and I came home in 1992. We took on a couple of mature girls with stinky mouths and mild tartar: I cooked for them and fed brisket bones, mouths cleaned up quickly and their health was good. January 2007, had a quality surfing morning which started in another section of dogzonline, meandered past a particular raw breeder and finished with the raw yahoo groups. A lightbulb day if you like, which highlighted the connection between dog digestive tracts and diet, and bones ain't bones. So, with some constraints for breed (dal), the current two dropped all grain/ dry food and much of the vege and I had the fun of exploring fresh raw prey sources. I wasn't thinking there'd be significant improvement in the geriatric 13 yo but her daily flooding incontinence eased to occasional small leaks. In her last winter, she resumed asking for the door to be opened for pee trips out and clearly was holding a normal volume. These two are/ were different in their appetites. Old girl quite the pestering gutz, eat anything type. Noticeable that she was more satisfied with this regime. I go away a lot and can easily freeze a month's worth of individual meals for the son to thaw one or two at a time in the fridge. Mouth health underpins good health and I choose dog driven cleaning over professional.

Tess, I'm in a bit of a hurry, got to get off the dial up: re protein....by the time you account for the high percentage of water in meat, the protein numbers are way down. They'd be lower again as a percentage of the total weight of a portion if the meat comes attached to a bone, wholly edible or not. And of course the quality of prey protein is as it should be.

There is an ongoing but seemingly reducing flea problem here, the 7 yo had way fewer fleas than the old girl who is RIP. Both fed the same. I can't conclude anything really. I do ongoing control things, on the dog and the environment. Blessed with a dog who isn't hypersensitive to bites. Other parasites? She's not much exposed to mossies, same as the humans; and other external critters aren't applicable.

A cottonwool sandwich was a remedy of one vet I knew well in the 70s for sharp foreign body ingestion. Have also come across suggestions that the gut tends to recoil from pointy ends; whereas it tightens nicely around golf balls and corn cobs. Long linear objects, attached or not, are known to concertina, saw through gut. Here's hoping the lab stays well, and passes the pesky hook in a reasonable time frame.

Once mainly, sometimes twice, and away from a significant exercise session. There's not a fixed tucker time though usually feed before mid-late afternoon. Lola probably misses a day once or twice a month, she isn't bothered at all. (prey style)

My guess is that the hard casing of the long one has cracked/ broken at its base and needs to come off. The quick will then be exposed and healing will start. Don't know that I'd recommend a DIY job under the circumstances but removing the nail quickly would be the go if it was.

I believe raw fat is much safer than any cooked fat but it is fattening (funny that) so your dogs' condition might dictate how much you trim.

I just Googled 'laboratory parvo titre testing' for Australia and the lab in Perth came up as the first result. Easy peasy.

freezing seems to work for many owners the act of chewing is important for safety as well as recreation, digestion and dental grounds. Some as a rule stick to meaty bones that are larger than the dog's head if they are dealing with a gulper. the late Jess (dal) had a naughty knack of juggling a linear bone in her mouth so it would slide straight down then singing her special song to ask for another one straight away. The fact that she never got into strife didn't mean I could bear this so she was given more complex meaty bones.

It is easy! I'm glad that's not putting you off Raw meaty bones: try thinking of body parts that haven't been boned out by the butcher. E.g. cut a whole chicken into serving parts, add a wee dollop or not of organ if you like. Of course you can always add a meat to a predominantly boney portion. Various hearts are useful for this, once your ted is used to heart. I don't think in terms of bone meals, my dog gets more than enough bone without planning for it. Human grade meat doesn't need to be frozen before feeding so if I buy a heap of anything I'd probably feed the first couple of meals fresh and freeze the rest in one or two meal lots promptly. I 'd rather feed a bit frozen than a bit sloppy, just personal preference. Wylie gave you a lovely response while I was half watching the tennis. Cheers!

When a variety of bone-in parts of a variety of whole prey over a period of time is fed, the Ca:P ratio is as nature requires. The dog's physiology is robust enough to handle some flesh meals without problem; there's a good chance there is residual bone (slower to digest) in the gut anyway from the previous RMB. cazablanca, you go! There is a large yahoo rawfeeding group if you want more, Oz owned. I've had the best 12 months reading its output.