Homemade Dog Food for when TSHTF

[freemotion]

Then if we butcher one bunny a week, shoot, that couldn't feed a labrador retriever!

My dogs get one chicken wing each per day, five days a week. One is an older 30 lb dog, the other is a young 20-ish lb dog. The younger one gets the bigger wing. We don't feed handouts, just a crumb or two from our plates....like a teaspoon of scrambled eggs between the two. They are neither thin nor fat.....although the older dog could lose a few ounces. Ounces only.

Both dogs and cats need far less food on a raw diet.

 

[Farmfresh]

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?

We always "introduced" our German Shepherd puppies (and I did the same for my Sage) to chickens by giving them a few monitored minutes with some adult chickens or a rooster while the pups were very small. You don't have to let the birds hurt the pup, but let those chickens seem mighty big and scary for a few minutes. It seems like they remember it forever and give them a wider berth of respect.

 

[JRmom]

My two JRs eat a partially raw diet (chicken wings/legs and eggs) just so they will eat raw if TSHTF. We take them hiking in the woods and they hunt/kill/eat mice and squirrels. My plan to raise meat rabbits is to feed all of us. I've never had a problem with my dogs trying to kill a small animal that they know is off limits... a solid "leave" command comes in handy.

I will not be stocking up on kibble, or making homemade dog food that is more complicated than making a meal for us humans.

Personally, I think the dog food industry has been scamming us for years. As someone else pointed out in a previous post, the only veggies in a wild canine's "complete and balanced" diet consists of the undigested green food in the stomach of what it kills (and usually the gut is ripped open and the stomach and organs eaten first). Well, not always. Mine always eat the head and brains first.

 

[Wifezilla]

Our bunny munchin' setter also used to eat blackberries. She picked them herself right off the vine. It was a riot watching her carefully sniff for the ripe ones, then try to miss the thorns as she pulled off a berry. I miss that goofy thing

 

[MyKidLuvsGreenEgz]

Working on the "leave it" command. I will be asking the trainer for help because I want the lab to go after anything that isn't ours, and I'm not sure how to tell him that this chicken is ok and that goat is ok but that mountain lion or neighbor's cat isn't. At some point we'll have a barn cat so he'll have to be taught our cat is ok but, again, the neighbor's cat isn't. Not sure how to do that but that's one part of the training we're paying for.

WZ: I can just picture that!

JRmom: good idea to start now for the just-in-case factor. I also agree that we've been scammed for not just dog food that supposedly is better than eating what canines have eaten for centuries, but also chicken feed and goat feed. Chickens would never have eaten corn in the real world / wild.

 

[freemotion]

Modern small animal vets get up to a third of their income from dentistry. This was not needed when dogs typically ate raw meaty bones as the standard canine diet. Hip displasia is another modern dietary issue, as are fertility issues.

Dogs (wolves, coyotes, etc) also get a lot of their veg matter by eating the poo of herbivores. I see coyote scat several times a week and it is interesting to see what they eat. Mostly rabbits, squirrels (fur in doodoo) and probably smaller rodents with no evidence left in their poo. Bones from poached deer....I see this on my dog/foraging walks. When I had a horse and was building my pasture, they suddenly had access to fresh horse manure and ate LOTS of this. I see undigested apples in their poo in the winter, I imagine it is because game is scarce. The key is UNDIGESTED. They have lots of access to corn, but I've never seen it in their scat.

 

[FarmerChick]

2 scenarios

if the SHTF then the dog eats whatever you throw to him that your family has eaten, what he can catch, or what you could not eat later as a leftover if food got that scarce. ( alot of lean dogs in older times,lol)

you want to make your own, great info on the board, but all which is unavailable if the SHTF scenario probably.

 

[savingdogs]

Dog are often just opportunists and will eat whatever good stuff is around. If TSHTF, I doubt all the esoteric discussion about their natural diet will go down the drain, dogs have survived for a long time on "trash". If you want to make sure you are providing for your dog, just have extra food.....most things we eat, they can eat. It doesn't have to be complicated.

Pinkfox, regarding the KBD and others being a primitive breed, I agree. However, the most impressive thing that Cesar Milan said to us when we heard him speak was this:

Americans think of their dog first as Fluffy, then as a cocker spaniel, then as a dog and finally as an animal. When in reality, it should be the other way around. First the dog is an animal. Then it is a dog, then a cocker and finally that particular dog Fluffy, and that we would do much better understanding them if we remembered that.

When I apply this concept to dogs as a general rule, I have never found it to be wrong. While my Karelian is the most primitive dog I have known, given enough hunger, I would expect any and all of my dogs to kill and consume whatever game it could possibly find, discarding only the inner parts it might find distasteful. I've seen a three week old puppy ready to kill another pup the same age because it was utterly starved. We live in an era where our pets are very pampered and spoiled. That does not mean that the animal in them cannot re-adapt.

On the bone issue, I've heard veterinarians tell clients over and over NOT to give their dogs bones and I just have to laugh (while I otherwise have huge respect for vets) because dogs are SUPPOSED to chew bones and I've never heeded that particular piece of advice. My dogs always have nice teeth too (Free is right) and don't need their teeth cleaned because I supply lots of bones. Yes, they occasionally break teeth but I look at the happiness and satisfaction they receive from a part of the animal I cannot use and that seems awful useful to me. I am careful not to choose cooked splintery bones or chicken bones however, but would feed those particular bones raw and possibly pounded crushed if I thought they were dangerously sharp, should I no longer have dog food available to me. Since I currently feed kibble, I would want a big supply so I could transition my dogs diet over a greater span of time. Usually dietary changes are better tolerated the longer you take to implement them.

 

[MyKidLuvsGreenEgz]

That's why I make notes, arrange them, print them out and put them in binders. Even things I might not do but might be useful in the future.




ETA: Oooops, this was for farmerchick

 

[MyKidLuvsGreenEgz]

Dog are often just opportunists and will eat whatever good stuff is around. If TSHTF, I doubt all the esoteric discussion about their natural diet will go down the drain, dogs have survived for a long time on "trash". If you want to make sure you are providing for your dog, just have extra food.....most things we eat, they can eat. It doesn't have to be complicated.

Pinkfox, regarding the KBD and others being a primitive breed, I agree. However, the most impressive thing that Cesar Milan said to us when we heard him speak was this:

Americans think of their dog first as Fluffy, then as a cocker spaniel, then as a dog and finally as an animal. When in reality, it should be the other way around. First the dog is an animal. Then it is a dog, then a cocker and finally that particular dog Fluffy, and that we would do much better understanding them if we remembered that.

When I apply this concept to dogs as a general rule, I have never found it to be wrong. While my Karelian is the most primitive dog I have known, given enough hunger, I would expect any and all of my dogs to kill and consume whatever game it could possibly find, discarding only the inner parts it might find distasteful. I've seen a three week old puppy ready to kill another pup the same age because it was utterly starved. We live in an era where our pets are very pampered and spoiled. That does not mean that the animal in them cannot re-adapt.

On the bone issue, I've heard veterinarians tell clients over and over NOT to give their dogs bones and I just have to laugh (while I otherwise have huge respect for vets) because dogs are SUPPOSED to chew bones and I've never heeded that particular piece of advice. My dogs always have nice teeth too (Free is right) and don't need their teeth cleaned because I supply lots of bones. Yes, they occasionally break teeth but I look at the happiness and satisfaction they receive from a part of the animal I cannot use and that seems awful useful to me. I am careful not to choose cooked splintery bones or chicken bones however, but would feed those particular bones raw and possibly pounded crushed if I thought they were dangerously sharp, should I no longer have dog food available to me. Since I currently feed kibble, I would want a big supply so I could transition my dogs diet over a greater span of time. Usually dietary changes are better tolerated the longer you take to implement them.

Thanks for your input. You obviously care about the animals you foster, and have taken the time to learn as much as possible. (Not that you others havent, but I've been reading her blog for a while and had to comment on this). I do intend to always have an extra 50 pound bag of kibble.

If we butchered a rabbit, I assume we should skin it first, then give it to him to eat? Away from the outdoor rabbit run and goats and chickens?