Why Feed Mince?

[hopenfox]

I've noticed lots of people feed their healthy dogs mince. I don't mean stuffed in Kongs, but sloppy food dropped in bowls to be slurped up.

To me, feeding mince to dogs is like feeding pureed baby food to healthy adult humans. They have teeth! I don't understand!

I would love to hear your reasons as to why you feed your dog/s minced/mushy foods.

[Tilly]

I give my boys mince because a lot of their bones don't have much meat on them ... if my older boy gets too much in the way of bones then he gets clogged.

His mince (about 500grms) is mixed with veges, offal, liver etc and is only a small portion of his daily diet. He also gets chicken necks, chicken frames, chicken wings, brisket bones, turkey necks, rabbit (skinned and gutted) and fish (whole).

[persephone]

Something I often wonder at ,as well

My feeling is that Mince is great for weaning pups, and dogs who are old, or ill, or have digestion trouble- otherwise I prefer they get their meat on the bone .

[Jacquiboss&scoop]

we give a little minced chicken frame with the offal chopped up fine and mixed in , our dogs are a little precious and will reject liver or Kidney on its own , ( find spat out around the yard and house yuck )

Other than that is all meat on the bone or whole fish

[hopenfox]

I give my boys mince because a lot of their bones don't have much meat on them ... if my older boy gets too much in the way of bones then he gets clogged.

His mince (about 500grms) is mixed with veges, offal, liver etc and is only a small portion of his daily diet. He also gets chicken necks, chicken frames, chicken wings, brisket bones, turkey necks, rabbit (skinned and gutted) and fish (whole).

What about meat off the bone? Like chunks of or whole ox heart, ox tongue or lamb hearts? These items don't cost much, but maybe availability or the cheaper price of mince affects the feeding of these?

[Tilly]

There is very limited amount of meat on bones these days - as most is cut off for human consuption.

The mince is cheaper to buy and is easier to get from butchers and bundle up - I can get extra fat added for colder weather or keep it lean during the hotter weather.

I would love to be able to buy chunks of meat for the dogs but frankly if I can't afford to buy it for myself then I certainly can't afford to feed it to my boys in the volumes they eat it.

I am not at all concerned about them having part of one of their 2 meals as mince and veges - they still get a fair chunk of their meal as something solid to chew.

[WreckitWhippet]

Something I often wonder at ,as well

My feeling is that Mince is great for weaning pups, and dogs who are old, or ill, or have digestion trouble- otherwise I prefer they get their meat on the bone .

That pretty much sums it up for me too.

[Joan of Arc]

I use mince for the first two weeks we are weaning pups. Then as they grow I begin to introduce smaller bits of diced meat. Its actually very time consuming to stand there and cut meat up into very small pieces but its worth the effort.

By the time the pups are completely weaned at 6 weeks they are able to chew smaller chunks and we actually sit around and watch as they play with a piece of lamb flap.

Current babies are nearly eight weeks and they chew chunks of meat, chomp on bones when supervised, and will eat anything put in front of them.

Mince is the middle man from milk to semi solids to solids.

[Diva]

The only time I feed mince is when I want to mix something in it, or it's a meat I want to feed for variety and I can't get it in chunks or on-the-bone for a realistic price. That's not often.

[W Sibs]

Something I often wonder at ,as well

My feeling is that Mince is great for weaning pups, and dogs who are old, or ill, or have digestion trouble- otherwise I prefer they get their meat on the bone .

That pretty much sums it up for me too.

Yep

Although, i do give Emmy a block of frozen beef mince last night... she is teething and lost 2 teeth last night (when she bit into a chicken neck.. i replaced it with the frozen beef mince i was defrosting for my dinner!)... poor thing just want to lick the mince and then ate the mince once it defrost.

[Mas1981]

My dog gets a bone once a day and then some mince and veg, our mince is more chunky though then human mince. I feed him this as I dont think bones provide enough meat for him.

Think about it, back in the day us humans also ate all our meat off of bones, we now eat mince etc and do alright as a species.

[Luke W]

To avoid punctured intestines, bones stuck in throats, etc ?

Some people (including some vets) think the risk is too high.

[stormie]

Because I don't have access to whole animals? Orbit gets about 500g of straight muscle meat in the mornings and gets about 1kg worth of meaty bones or his evening meal. Sometimes his bones have a lot of meat, other times not. I figure if he was to be in the wild killing prey, the prey would generally have a higher amount of muscle meat than edible bones, so I guess I try to replicate that at home.

If I could always source his muscle meat in whole chunks that he had to shred, chew and tear, I would. But reality is that most types of muscle meat you can buy, is already minced.

Edited August 5, 2010 by stormie

[oakway]

There are a lot of owners that feed whole minced chicken frames mixed with dry food.

They also feed bones 2 or three times a week for their teeth.

It can be difficult to obtain whole chunks of meat .

[Jumabaar]

I feed mince because I need to supervise my dogs eating bones (I have two inhalers so after having to fish entire chicken wings out of their mouths I don't leave them alone) and often I do not have the time to sit there and watch the slow one take an hr to eat a bone! I give them meat chunks when I can but I can often source a better quality of food in mince so will feed that instead.

[MolassesLass]

I feed BARF mince (bone, muscle meat, organ meat, fruit, additives etc.) because it's the easiest way for my dogs to get all the required nutrients. It also wouldn't be a balanced diet if I only fed the "meaty" bones that are available (that have little to no meat on them).

[TeamSnag]

i too weaned my 3 week old pups on a pink slushy mix.. mince and goats milk and soaked kibbled..

[Hafhafa Hounds]

My old fella Zoom who has only about 6 or so teeth left gets minced chicken carcasses for the bone content. He also eats chunks of meat, liver, other offal and does "suck" on a bone :D occasionally.

The rest of my pack get meaty meat chunks and meaty bones, but not mince.

Sonia

[greytdog]

I wondered too. I understand old dogs, dogs with no teeth etc, but others?

Is human grade mince that much cheaper than meat chunks? Cheaper mince is pretty fatty - I couldn't feed Bianca that - she'd look like a house.

I see that the people here who feed mince use it as part of a balance though.

[t-time]

I feed minced chicken frames as a regular part of my dogs' diet. It's got offal, bone, fat and meat and they've got other items to *chew* whether it be bones or kibble. Fish, veges and eggs and less so, fruit because most of mine don't like the fruit - love their veges though!

I don't see much value in feeding regular premium grade human stuff as there's no bone, generally for humans, the mince is "lean" and my dog mince has offal which the human mince doesn't.

My dogs have had whole hearts etc and they think they are toys to lick! It's a waste of money as they end up lying around the yard stinking and covered in ants and dirt.