Homemade Dog Food for when TSHTF

[MyKidLuvsGreenEgz]

Great info.

pinkfox: I couldn't give my dog raw chicken or raw eggs, not because of the gut thing but because I don't want him to know that that wonderful birds in our backyard are mostly to provide food for us humans. If he learned that the oval thing was delicious, I wouldn't be able to ever let him outside off leash. Same for the chicken ... if he ever put 2+2 together, he might come up with bird-in-the-back-yard (4) and I'd be cleaned out of chickens in a flash.

I didn't realize that about plant matter/cellulose but it makes sense.

WZ: we have a ton of baby bunnies in the spring. and chipmunks. wonder how i can let him out to hunt them without getting the chickens and baby goaties?

Things to think about.

 

[pinkfox]

dogs arnt like humans, as long as you dont starve them then give them a LIVE chicken to kill and eat they dont associate the live chicken with the meat chicken...

just like most chicken killing dogs never actually EAT the chicken.

my cats eat chicken and raw eggs and the cats sleep with the chickens come and go from the coup, they never bother then hens.
our dogs (one of which is 30lbs) know the hens are off limits and NEVER bother them.
they never bother my parrot despite the fact they could kill him in one bite (infact there afraid of him) the cats get fish but never fish in our pond ect...

i always liken it to country kids vs city kids...
country kids are brought up knowing the chicken in their back yard are going to be the chicken on their dinner plates, they are taught that the 2 are the same thing and taught how to turn it from live animal to food...
city kids however are often never made aware of the connection between live chicken and the meat on their plate.

dogs are very much the same...
if from puppyhood their taught i catch it i kill it i eat it then they will eat thier kill...
if however thyve never been taught the connection between the clucking thng and the meat on their "plate" they dont typically associate the 2 as the same thing.

teach puppy from day one live chickens are off limits and you shoulnt have any problems.
some dogs will kill chickens no matter what, others wont..but its increidbly rare for a domestic dog to not only kill, but actually EAT its kill.


all our dogs, all 6 of them know the chickens are not to be chased...

my grandfather had mastifs, afghans and chihuahuas all of them fed raw, and he also had a farm, not one of them dared to look at a live chicken sideways lol.


i have no problem with people not comfortable with feeding raw, you realy do have to do whats not only right for your dog but right for you too...
i just feel its also very mportant to dispel alot of the misinformation, misconceptions and myths...

i had someone ranting at me the other day about how my dogs were going to kill me in my sleep because i feed them raw meat, and that makes them blood thirsty...
firslty the dog she was talking directly about is my 5lb fill grown chinese crested...so it was quite amusing thinking of him trying to naw me to death while i sleep...
after trying to explain and her not having any of it i told her...
its ok, im not too worried, they sleep in crates and they havent yet evoled opposable thumbs so i think im safe for a while

she seemed satisfied with that answer...

 

[Wifezilla]

i had someone ranting at me the other day about how my dogs were going to kill me in my sleep because i feed them raw meat, and that makes them blood thirsty...

Some people only exist to make me feel smart

 

[freemotion]

My chickens roam all over my yard and I let the dogs out unsupervised with them. I had to train them first, firmly and clearly claiming the chickens as MINE and off limits. This lesson was repeated a couple of times with the smarter poodle...he even learned the word "rooster" over "hen" and even knew the names of the rare chicken that had a name. Poodles are stinkin' smart and can learn a LOT of words! Most of which I never purposely taught to my poodle.

The other dog needs regular reminders (not to chase roosters...he leaves hens alone, probably because my body language has a more severe "tone" when he has dared chase a hen), but he is not the hunter that the poodle is and to my knowledge has not yet killed prey. The poodle has killed and eaten many rodents and small birds. He still respects the poultry because they belong to ME and I am above both dogs in the pecking order. This has to be reinforced on a regular basis by issuing commands and requiring obedience, even sit-stays and down-stays on occasion are enough.

 

[savingdogs]

My dogs are so happy eating chicken poo, that they don't worry about that live chicken.

Pinkfox, I've actually had a different experience than you describe. My karelian bear dog does indeed kill and eat the chicken if she kills it, and we also have a stray dog here that has done it as well, at least I never found the body and I'm 99 percent sure it was him With my own dog I took the body away, but she had indeed devoured a good portion and wanted to finish. I think it depends on the dog.

I've also noticed an enhanced prey drive in certain breeds when they had been fed a raw food diet in some of the dogs I have fostered. One ridgeback even caught stray birds in my yard (this was before I had chickens, I mean sparrows and such), I think because she craved raw food, and she had aggression issues as well (The Story of Gracie in my journal is about her). I've seen it in other dogs as well. I think the correlation might have been more with the type of people who owned these dogs before me rather than the actual diet.

My personal plan for TSHTF is this.
1) Have large supply kibble on hand.
2) Have large supply of rice on hand.
3) Have rabbits and chickens which I can breed and slaughter to feed them (and us) when game is not available. I would cook it together with rice. I would give them the bones raw and the meat cooked, cook the cartilage and everything, feed them the parts I would not eat myself. I would parcel out a very small amount of kibble to each dog each day to help normalize their diet. When that ran out, I'd go to straight meat cooked with hopefully some sort of grains or carbs we might be able to grow here. At least one of my dogs here can hunt for herself (the bear dog) and I would encourage the others to learn from her.

 

[Britesea]

What I've heard is that dogs have been domesticated to one degree or another for so long, (indeed, some anthropologists theorize that the increased ability to successfully hunt that dogs gave us, and the subsequent greater amount of protein in our diet, may have triggered the final jump to full sentience) and sharing our food, that the domestic dog is no longer an obligate carnivore like their wild brethren (and by the way, wild canids rarely eat the stomach or its contents), so dogs need and like pretty much the same foods we do. Cats have not been domesticated as long (I'm not sure they are domesticated even now!) and are still obligate carnivores.

I've been making my own cooked dog food for quite a while, the recipe is
5 lbs of ground or chopped meat or fish (preferably fillets)
3 lbs brown rice, oats, barley, or rye or a mix
3 lbs of miscellaneous vegetables (I usually avoid corn simply because they don't seem to be able to digest it fully)
1 gallon or a little more of water or broth
Cook for 1 hour or until the grain is fully cooked

This makes about 44+ cups of food. For my 2 50lb something pooches I give 2 generous cups each, plus they get cookies in the morning and at night.

Currently, I freeze the food in old vegetable cans, with foil on top. I've thought about canning, but it seems like an awful lot of extra work.

Oh, also-- avoid soy... a lot of dogs are allergic to it.

My husband had a dog that not only did not hunt or kill chickens, she was a self-appointed guardian of the hens, and would even break up chicken-rapes in progress (to the considerable ire of Uncle Looie, the rooster)

 

[MyKidLuvsGreenEgz]

Wow. I can't believe all that I learned today. So much to mull over, figure out what would work best for us, our finances, the lab, and our other critters.

My son wants to get the lab puppy a wife. A cocker spaniel. (Anybody familiar with the cartoon "Krypto the SuperDog"?) When he's older. Which means puppies. Geez, I hope at least one of them will catch and eat the mice and bunnies we have roaming around here.

Although my husband is worried about the fleas that may be on the wild critters... affecting the dog. Is that a problem?

Maybe we should have meat rabbits soon. Gets very hot and very cold here so ... can they stay outdoors all the time? Could we keep them with the chickens? Then if we butcher one bunny a week, shoot, that couldn't feed a labrador retriever!

Like this:
Day 1: bunny + rice + little bit kibble + veggies
Day 2: chicken + ditto
Day 3: eggs + ditto

then repeat?

... but that's a LOT of chickens. More than I want to have around. And what if I don't get anyone broody during the long winter months? We'd run out!

... and if we do chicken once a week (sharing with us humans) and rabbit twice a week (no thanks, none for me) then maybe it'll work? I would just have to have a lot of bunnies going. Wonder how many ...


Is there a "raising rabbits for meat" thread on here?

Anyway, so maybe:
Day 1: eggs + etc
Day 2: rabbit + etc
Day 3: eggs + etc
Day 4: eggs + etc
Day 5: chicken + etc
Day 6: rabbit + etc
Day 7: eggs + etc

? ? ? ?

 

[pinkfox]

karelians (like most primitive breeds ie ovcharka) are a little difference in brain workings, its not unusual for those breeds (along with lgd's) to eat their kills or natural deads because a dead animal is an attractant to other predators...eat it to remove the "bait" seems to be the general rule of thumb for primitive breeds and LGD's (its not unsual for them to eat still born animals ect) its more clean up than eat it cause im hungry...or at least it seems to be in most cases.

most strays and ferals will kill but eating their kill is unusual, more common however if they see another dog doing it. (or theyve had to learn to hunt and eat in order to survive.) hunger and instinct will always outweigh training.

for your common every day lab or golden ect... not as likely lol
there also more likely to respect a humans claim than the likes of a more independant primitive of lgd breed.

and while dogs are not obligate carnivores...they are still carnivores and cannot properly digest unprocessed plant or grain matter...by cooking it you are making the nutrients acessable to the dogs system.

in a ntaural system while the dog doesnt eat the stomach contents it does eat (and its typically the prized part) the green tripe (intestine filled with partially digested plant matter) they squeeze out the bulk waste, but they relish the realy gooey stuff.

Most of the canids ive delt with will eat stomach and content depending on size of prey, rabbit, chicken and quail were always eaten in entirety, as was lamb and baby deer. adult deer, beef ect however stomach was torn and contents spilled, they do eat the stomach walls and green tripe though (which btw smells absolutly DISCUSTING! lol)
the hyena wre the worse for the tripe, they seemed to like to wear it lol. youd see the alpha female (heyena packs are headed by the women lol) with green trip drapped over her neck while she also grabbed the biggest peice...the tripe was like desert lol. i hated deer day...rabbits and chickens were easy they got one and easy, but the deer whent in whole for the pack, clean up sucked lol

 

[MyKidLuvsGreenEgz]

I'm working with the lab puppy to leave the chickens and goats alone. I think it'll take time. He sits in the little red wagon and I sit on a chair next to him. I click and treat him for watching them but not moving. Patience.

Posted my question on backyardherds under small meat rabbits so hope to get my answer. Forgot about quail, tho. Wonder how quickly quail go from hatch to butcher size? Could I keep them with the rabbits in an outdoor run?

 

[Farmfresh]

One ridgeback even caught stray birds in my yard (this was before I had chickens, I mean sparrows and such), I think because she craved raw food, and she had aggression issues as well (The Story of Gracie in my journal is about her). I've seen it in other dogs as well. I think the correlation might have been more with the type of people who owned these dogs before me rather than the actual diet.

Our old Siberian Husky, Sasha, use to skooch her bowl into the middle of the deck and lay motionless in the shadows. When starlings would come down to eat the dog food she would catch them between her front feet, like a cat!! She only occasionally would eat one. For her it was pure game.