Dog Mince - Curious On Your Thoughts!?!

[Sunnyflower]

I does look like there is loads of fat in the mince which is what has made me think maybe it's not that great for him! I think I will finish what I have got and just go back to what we were on or ask if the Butcher can get Roo mince in.

Bedazzled - Do get any of the pigs ears and dry them out yourself for the dogs? Oscar loves a good pigs ear.

Oakway - I would have thought human grade was better then pets grade!?!

Lab_Rat - WOW that is expensive.. Poor thing intolerant to chicken meat! Animals are just like humans with how sensitive they can be.

[Lab lady]

i get my meat from a local wholesale butcher, i get the hamburger mince for $4.50 a kilo, they sell pet mince but i find it has to much fat in it but the hamburger isn't to fatty at all.

I can't feed kangaroo doesn't seem to agree with my oldest girl, going straight though her

[Brennan's Mum]

Brennan gets pet mince from the butchers which is off cuts. She is quite happy with it.

[Ons]

I use frozen pet mince from the butcher, i think they just put all the leftover carcass in and mince it.

One butcher it is $2.00 a kilo, another $1.50 a kilo. However i go for the $2.00 kilo one because the meat is far less fatty.

My dogs are doing well on it, I used to feed only human grade mince and I can't see any difference in the dogs from human grade to pet mince. Even Tilly who does have allergies and I have to be careful what i feed is fine on the pet mince

[oakway]

I does look like there is loads of fat in the mince which is what has made me think maybe it's not that great for him! I think I will finish what I have got and just go back to what we were on or ask if the Butcher can get Roo mince in.

Bedazzled - Do get any of the pigs ears and dry them out yourself for the dogs? Oscar loves a good pigs ear.

Oakway - I would have thought human grade was better then pets grade!?!

Lab_Rat - WOW that is expensive.. Poor thing intolerant to chicken meat! Animals are just like humans with how sensitive they can be.

The meat the butcher buys is used to supply all the customers, human and dog/cat.

They do not purchase separate meat for dogs.

Pet meat is the meat cut from the your cuts of meat.

The butcher minces this for pet meat.

Many dogs require more fat in their diet or they do not maintain condition.

Oh, and have NO fear the butcher will not waste preservatives on your dogs meat. That is if he can get it in the first place.

Far to many random check made these days to make sure there are NO preservatives in the mince.

Not only that, mince sell too quickly these days to be kept by the butcher.

[Odin-Genie]

I feed my dogs human grade mince, usually lamb or turkey. But I do feed them Dr B's BARF patties, which would have pet mince in them.

[Lab_Rat]

I feed my dogs human grade mince, usually lamb or turkey. But I do feed them Dr B's BARF patties, which would have pet mince in them.

I would love to try turkey mince but the places I shop get it in so sporadically I cant be guaranteed a regular supply!!

[bedazzledx2]

No, I'm a bit anal about what I feed my guys and the pigs ears you buy in the pet shops have been treated, bleached, irradiated etc so its not something I ever give them. I saw the pigs ears at the butcher and thought it would be a good alternative but I haven't tried them. I worry about them being swallowed after becoming a chewed blob of cartilage...thats what mine would do! Lots of people feed pigs ears so I'm sure its just me!!!!

(Bedazzled - Do get any of the pigs ears and dry them out yourself for the dogs? Oscar loves a good pigs ear.)

[Mrs Rusty Bucket]

We can get wunterlichs pigs ears here - that's the company who makes the metwurst I like - so I know they have loads of pigs ears supplied locally. They can be a little bit smaller than the O/S ones cos we kill our pork when it's still relatively small.

My vet did say they are loaded with fat though - that's when I thought they'd be good on an upset tummy and found out the hard way they're not.

Dog loves them, but eats them way too quickly.

I only feed her food made from the same (human grade) ingredients I'd eat myself. And I don't tell the butchers it's for my dog - though with the very occasional (fully supervised) marrow bone, it's hard to pretend. But I could get osso bucco instead. And it's handy if I decide I want spag bol, I can use the roo mince and buy some more later for making her dinner. I also use chicken fillets when they're on special, or gravy beef or chuck steak on special though I like mince cos I don't have to cut it up. One of our supermarket chains is much much cheaper on all meat than Coles or Woolies. In fact Woolies in particular - is extremely expensive for all meat except roo. I don't know why.

[Sunnyflower]

Brennan gets pet mince from the butchers which is off cuts. She is quite happy with it.

This is exactly what I have bought too and Oscar seemed to Thoroughly enjoy it.

I use frozen pet mince from the butcher, i think they just put all the leftover carcass in and mince it.

One butcher it is $2.00 a kilo, another $1.50 a kilo. However i go for the $2.00 kilo one because the meat is far less fatty.

My dogs are doing well on it, I used to feed only human grade mince and I can't see any difference in the dogs from human grade to pet mince. Even Tilly who does have allergies and I have to be careful what i feed is fine on the pet mince

This is what I was hoping to hear.. Being last night was the first night I fed it to him I am yet to see the possible positive or negative effects it will have. However I don't need to worry about protein levels or really fat content as Osc has been getting Crystals from too much protein and he is on what I feel is a great biscuit so really the mince is more for his pleasure then to serve a purpose. (if that makes sense)

I does look like there is loads of fat in the mince which is what has made me think maybe it's not that great for him! I think I will finish what I have got and just go back to what we were on or ask if the Butcher can get Roo mince in.

Bedazzled - Do get any of the pigs ears and dry them out yourself for the dogs? Oscar loves a good pigs ear.

Oakway - I would have thought human grade was better then pets grade!?!

Lab_Rat - WOW that is expensive.. Poor thing intolerant to chicken meat! Animals are just like humans with how sensitive they can be.

The meat the butcher buys is used to supply all the customers, human and dog/cat.

They do not purchase separate meat for dogs.

Pet meat is the meat cut from the your cuts of meat.

The butcher minces this for pet meat.

Many dogs require more fat in their diet or they do not maintain condition.

Oh, and have NO fear the butcher will not waste preservatives on your dogs meat. That is if he can get it in the first place.

Far to many random check made these days to make sure there are NO preservatives in the mince.

Not only that, mince sell too quickly these days to be kept by the butcher.

This is even better news Oakway.. Oscar being only a little dog doesn't require a great deal of fat and as you'd say about a horse - he is a good doer. He is on a good biscuit which I think would compensate for the mince. Although if I felt the mince was completely crap I wouldn't be giving it to him.

[Sunnyflower]

No, I'm a bit anal about what I feed my guys and the pigs ears you buy in the pet shops have been treated, bleached, irradiated etc so its not something I ever give them. I saw the pigs ears at the butcher and thought it would be a good alternative but I haven't tried them. I worry about them being swallowed after becoming a chewed blob of cartilage...thats what mine would do! Lots of people feed pigs ears so I'm sure its just me!!!!

(Bedazzled - Do get any of the pigs ears and dry them out yourself for the dogs? Oscar loves a good pigs ear.)

To be honest I have never read what goes into the pigs ears. they just look like baked ear. He gets probably one - two a month so it can't be doing any harm. I may try and see if I can do my own.

We can get wunterlichs pigs ears here - that's the company who makes the metwurst I like - so I know they have loads of pigs ears supplied locally. They can be a little bit smaller than the O/S ones cos we kill our pork when it's still relatively small.

My vet did say they are loaded with fat though - that's when I thought they'd be good on an upset tummy and found out the hard way they're not.

Dog loves them, but eats them way too quickly.

I only feed her food made from the same (human grade) ingredients I'd eat myself. And I don't tell the butchers it's for my dog - though with the very occasional (fully supervised) marrow bone, it's hard to pretend. But I could get osso bucco instead. And it's handy if I decide I want spag bol, I can use the roo mince and buy some more later for making her dinner. I also use chicken fillets when they're on special, or gravy beef or chuck steak on special though I like mince cos I don't have to cut it up. One of our supermarket chains is much much cheaper on all meat than Coles or Woolies. In fact Woolies in particular - is extremely expensive for all meat except roo. I don't know why.

My pop used to give his dogs Osso Bucco. To be exact - A TBS Pedigree Tin - Small cup of Pedigree biscuits - Natural Yoghurt and an Osso Bucco bones.. These were show Cardigan Corgis too and they always looked fabulous. Not to mention the odd (thousand) Arnott biscuit and slice of cheese.

I do need to start feeding him more bones to keep his teeth clean. Might pick some up on my way home.

[JulesP]

Just remembered why I don't get the pet mince from my butchers - they never bloody have any!!!

[Mas1981]

My girls get human grade lamb mince............But that is because of the price of sheep meat these days. I dont think you get pet grade lamb mince in wa.

I buy pet lamb mince at A & D Pet foods in Midland, along with bones and all our other stuff.

[ozjen]

You can, but I prefer the roo or goat when you can get it. The only problem I have with pet mince from a butcher is that its the off cuts which if you look at it is loaded with fat! I prefer my guys to get the fat I can see on their bones, chicken, goat or lamb. There is a terrific butcher outside Coles in Midland WA which has a whole section of 'interesting' cuts which are fantastic for dog food. Chicken feet...$3 per kilo, lamb tongues, beef cheeks, pigs ears (fresh), pigs feet etc. Its all human grade as they cater for different nationalities but its very reasonabley priced so lots of people use it for dog food.

My girls get human grade lamb mince............But that is because of the price of sheep meat these days. I dont think you get pet grade lamb mince in wa.

Ah, I see a trip to Midland is on the cards for me. Always like to see more places where I can get variety in the dogs diet without breaking the bank.

[spottychick]

What is osso bucco?

I get all my raw meaty stuff for dogs from butchers. I have two near here and a mobile butcher who travels around Tassie in a refrigerated van dispensing meat.

My dogs get off cuts where possible and ground up chicken frames as well as whole frames and wings from the mobile butcher . I can also pick up free beef bones from the butcher in a little town near here (if there's any left!!!) They also sell Beef tails and ox tails. But I can't feed them that meat too often being dalmatians and prone to stone-forming.

I would like to vary things and give them a bit of lamb - I used to buy them cheap lamb flaps - but it's pretty much impossible to get here these days. My butcher said they don't sell them anymore because (a) hardly anyone buys lamb these days due to expense and (b) if they do kill a sheep they use every last scrap of the meat for people food and will use the flaps etc to make sausages. THe problem is lamb is TOO expensive so they make every bit count.

However, I did manage to scam some lamb bones off them today and pork bones which is rare. The other butchers are finding out if they can get me some turkey necks.

I never buy meat from pet shops and I'm not sure what "premium pet mince" is :cool:

[noisymina]

osso bucco

Ox tail..

[spottychick]

Ahh thanks noisymina. Must be the posh name for it. I'll tell the dogs they're eating an exotic thing with a fancy name They'll be impressed hee hee

[PAX]

I am lucky because I live in a semi rural area that is shared with tonnes of greyhound owners.

I get fresh chicken, available three times a week at 50 cents per kilo, I can buy whole frames, that are so meaty and include the livers. or minced carcasses, it is minced in front of me on demand, so I can see it is preservative free, also can order necks or whatever.

I buy beef mince, human quality, that I can watch be minced for $2.50 per kilo. It's beef skirt.

Fresh duck necks for $2.00 per kilo, used to be $1.00 per kilo but just doubled.

I also buy fresh, snap frozen pilchards from my local fish monger for $5.00 per kilo, the most expensive purchase.

I don't feed my dogs pet quality food as I don't want them to consume the preservatives and artificial colourings, they eat better than me. :cool:

[KatrinaM]

Many butchers just mince fat and offal to sell as pet mince and run it through the mincer twice to get a better colour throughout, often left over sausage mince, cherios and other crap like gluggy crumbs left over from crumbed steak is added too. I only have an idea from working in a butcher shop. Some pet mince from butchers is awesome, some is utter crap.

I feed chicken frames, beef brisket, lamb flaps and marrow bones, kangaroo, whole ducks, geese, turkey and chicken as well as horse and minced chicken frames.

[JulesP]

I am lucky because I live in a semi rural area that is shared with tonnes of greyhound owners.

I get fresh chicken, available three times a week at 50 cents per kilo, I can buy whole frames, that are so meaty and include the livers. or minced carcasses, it is minced in front of me on demand, so I can see it is preservative free, also can order necks or whatever.

I buy beef mince, human quality, that I can watch be minced for $2.50 per kilo. It's beef skirt.

Fresh duck necks for $2.00 per kilo, used to be $1.00 per kilo but just doubled.

I also buy fresh, snap frozen pilchards from my local fish monger for $5.00 per kilo, the most expensive purchase.

I don't feed my dogs pet quality food as I don't want them to consume the preservatives and artificial colourings, they eat better than me. :cool:

I think I hate you Pax!