Garden Girl

Thats sounds like the one - as you walk into IGA he's the butcher just outside the entrance.

Hi all - when we bought our Border Terriers the breeder suggested we avoid beef in case it brings on CECS - none of their dogs have it but she advised this as a better safe than sorry type thing. Since then I've done a bit of research and it seems to me the breeder was going off some old research - because current info mentions its probably more to do with gluten etc rather than beef. I've been very careful not to give my dogs beef but I've realised some things I've given them have probably had beef in them (pigs ears for example that were basted in beef fat). The reason I'm thinking about this again is because I have been given a massive bag of bones from the butcher and there is probably beef in there along with lamb (can you tell - I assume beef is a bit darker??). I obviously dont want to put the health of my pups on the line but I suspect I'm being careful for the wrong reason? Any comments welcome.

Happy to update - went to the shop today - and lets just say I need to buy another freezer. He had fresh brains - free range whole chooks for $8 - tongue - all the offal you could poke a stick at (not to mention a ton of meat for me and OH) Plus he threw in a massive bag of dog bones for free. Really impressed by it all. Its at Morris Place shops in Innaloo - highly recommend it.

I have good sharp knives and a meat cleaver and they dont do the job too well - go the saw!

Another good book I've just read is "Real food for cats and dogs" by Dr Clare Middle who is a well experienced vet here in Perth. Its a little book and easy to read - plus she basically says if you can be bothered reading the whole thing read page x, y and z for the important stuff. She has a few suggested food plans in there too. An interesting thing she mentions is the importance of the dogs having fewer meals but bigger ones - the need for their tummy to expend to get their digestion happening (thats my very non-technical rewording by the way). Also on the fish front - a fish shop I go to sells salmon heads but the other day from another shop I got salmon filleted bodies - no head but the rest of the body and tail with the fillets off already (if that makes sense) and a good amount of flesh on them too. My little girl LOVED them - I think its been her most favourite meal in her 5 months on this earth. Another question (sorry, soooooo many) - when you juice your fruit and veg do you use just the juice or the pulp that is normally thrown away as well?

Are they really difficult to cut up? - you could try a hacksaw blade - my OH cut up a big done for me with his the other day - takes a while but did the job

What is it with dogs? - I refill my dogs' water bowl at least a couple of times a day but given half a chance they'd drink water from the (salt water) pool, the clam shell or any other water source. Isometimes think about making a little inground pond in the back yard for them to swim in and drink from.

Agree PP - there must be soem giant chickens out there the size of some of the wings I see. PS - please dont feed cooked bones to your dog....

Gave gave my little girl raw salmon for dinner - she LOVED it.

Yes - definately supervise - personally I favour wings over necks - my boy always ate them in one go and choked a bit - he at least gives the wings a couple of chomps before he swallows them. BTW - gorgeous puppy.

Yes it is - as to how much - it depends on his weight - you'll need to calculate it in relation to how much other food he gets - but roughly 5% raw per day for puppies....tons of posts to search on with more info on that.

The pup is fine with anything - she's a delicate little eater - the boy who is nearly 12 moths gulps - so i just make sure I give him a wide berth so he doesnt think I'm going to steal it - he still eats quickly but doesnt gulp it. The boy has been sick today but I think it is more likely from some medication he's taking at the moment - maybe a bit of both. He seems to have a sensitive tummy at the best of times. They both love raw food (any food actually) and the last time I started to switch over they both started getting runny poo so I stopped - but I read something the other day that mentioned an upset tummy when switching over.

WA Raw A couple of places I like... Avon Valley Beef Truganina Rd, Malaga Good selection of bulk meat - not just beef - also have chicken and bags of bones and some other offcuts. Also have a larger retail shop not far from this one but not sure where it is. Warwick Shopping Centre Butcher Good selection of off cuts (eg tongue, liver, kidney). Also have pet mince and bones. All the pet meat is around one side of the front counter. Innaloo Fish Shop In the little collection of shops next to the main Innaloo shopping centre. Got a massive bag of fish off cuts - open 7 days. Butcher Morris Place Innaloo Good selection of all meats.

Hi all raw feeders Is it normal to expect the doggies to get a bit of an upset tummy when changing from processed (Proplan) to raw. I'm giving them 50/50 at the moment - proplan in the morning and raw at night - which probably isnt the right way to do it... Got a ton of raw salmon from the fish shop yesterday - all the backbones with a very generous amount of flesh still attached - plus a few tails - will the dogs eat the tails do you think? It looks so good.

Do dogs eat the fur - or just pull it off when they eat rabbits?

Nekhbet I tend to agree - if we lived on a farm or something it would be a differnet story - so I doubt they'll ever get any.

Oops yes - rats and mice. I dont mean give them live - I wouldnt do that - but giving them whole. I'm just reading a book at the moment from a local vet about raw feeding and she mentions rats and mice - so I just wondered if anyone feeds them - how they manage it.

For those who are raw feeders - have you ever given whole rice or mats to your dogs? Do you buy them live, or are they ones the dogs have killed themselves??

I would never leave my dogs in the pool area unattended and have puppy mesh around the pool fence as an extra barrier. (Where are you btw - arent pool fences compulsory everywhere) Both my dogs have fallen in when I've been in the pool area - they stand right on the very edge to drink the water and have slipped - or try to get a bug in the water or whatever. I was going to buy a skamper ramp but saw one in the shop and thought they looked really flimsy - its basically core flute isnt it - figured I could make one if I really wanted to. But - if OP is really concerned do the thing about getting the dog to know where the steps are and maybe invest in something like a skamper ramp down the other end so the dog has more than one place to get out of the pool. When my older dog gets put in he STILL tries to get out at the nearest edge rather than go to the steps.

Slightly off topic - a friend once invited me over for corned silverside and I was expecting exactly what you mentioned Tilly - however....got there and she opened a CAN of the stuff and plopped that on my plate - it looked like Pal or something....was very difficult to be polite and eat it. As to what aminal - its beef isnt it - or is corned beef something different? I use corned beef/corned silverside to refer to the same thing.

Well the first contact has been a success - dad called to say he had a leg of hoggett (now I just need 10 friends to invite around for dinner it is huge!) and the butcher threw in a whole bag of lamb (presumably) off cuts - all good meat and a bit of fat, a shank and another bone I dont know what part of the animal it is though....is it possible its a knee cap? Woo Hoo

Is there an issue feeding dogs frozen food? I cant remember exactly what it was but someone mentioned 'something' about feeding frozen food - upset tummies or something...I have such a bad memory. I give my dogs chicken ice cubes all the time with no issue. I have heard of problems with frozen bones but in the hot weather I thought it might be quite nice to chew on a frozen chicken breast or something like that.

I give my dogs white bait and they love them - good in hot weather when the fish are a bit frozen too, nice and cool.

My dad who is a big foodie found a great butcher a few weeks ago and is his new best mate. He told me the other day he'll take me to the shop and intorduce me to him - I'm having dreams of all the hard to get stuff I can order for the dogs (and me too) - brains, tongue, hogget, all those off cuts that end up in the bin - or in pies mmmmmmmmmm.

Hi all - this is from a person on another site I visit (not dog related). Any suggestions from the wealth of DOL knowledge?? The meds are for anxiety and the person hopes its a short term thing only. The dog is mixed breed about 3 years old and this behaviour started after her twins were born. "Hi everyone, i posted about my dog popeye here a few weeks ago and since then we have put him on medication after seeing an animal behaviourist (Roberts Stabler) that used to be a vet and now focus on this but also works at the rspca part-time. he seems like he definitely know what he is doing, he's excellent actually. he told us that popeye has noise phobias as the major problem and then on top of that he also has anxiety and fear aggression, he recommended for popeye to take medications (he started 3 days ago and meds seems to be working wonderfully). anyway my question is has anyone had the same/similar experience as my family in terms of putting a dog on meds with these problems. if so, was it a success? or a failure? i am really anxious about it , we have 2 boys (15 months old) and popeye could most likely hurt them by running over them when he gets scared. I don't think he will attack the boys as he is really really good with them, he display the fear aggression with strangers only. but to keep my mind at ease we decided to replace the baby gate with a solid screen door instead so that when popeye get scared he will not be able to jump over it and possibly land or trample on the boys. i am really feeling very positive about this decision but i just need to hear some stories, preferably the great ones but also would like to know about the disappointing ones just in case this is the one that we end up with. i hope and pray that we made the right decision i would also like to get some tips on how to manage these behaviours . thanking you all in advance. "