Homemade Dog Food for when TSHTF

[MyKidLuvsGreenEgz]

Pink: great info. Thanks. Question tho ... my son is also ADHD and OCD ... how on earth can i train this puppy to help stop his OCD symptoms? for instance, he has to touch every light switch he passes.

Sorry we're getting kinda off topic but every little bit helps.

Already looking into meat rabbits. Wonder if we can house the quail on top of them? I know they don't usually go broody but sure could stick their eggs under a broody silkie! Keep the production going.

 

[Wifezilla]

You would need to use an incubator for the quail eggs. A silkie could easily bust the eggs. The shells are delicate even though the membranes are really tough. Then there is the disease issue. Chickens can be carries for diseases that don't bother them, but will wipe out all your quail.

 

[MyKidLuvsGreenEgz]

ARGH!!!

Can you hear my bubble bursting?!?

 

[rd123]

I am an old former K-9 Kennel Master from the US Air Force. We never had to prepare it, but we had a recipe and access to all the ingredients if our supply ran out. I don't recall all of the measurements or ingredients, but if my memorys of 45 years ago are accurate (slim chance); Boiled potatoes, Meat (Beef, horse, chicken, etc), hard tack (hard biscuit) egg yolks, and shredded lettuce. No egg whites because the albumen robbed vitamin B from the dog, and lettuce was to keep his bowels from plugging up. Meat was to be no more than 20 percent, but remember these were working dogs, and needed a lot of protien. Like I said, we never had to fix k-9 food. We fed our dogs Purina dog food. It was the only dog food in the day that met or exceeded the Air Force requirements for nutrition.

 

[Marianne]

Interesting topic.
I'm surprised that no one has brought up bigger game, like deer. Dogs aren't supposed to have the leg bones as they are too hard and the dogs will crack teeth, etc., but there is always 'something' left over after processing that could be fed to Fido. Even predator animals, like coyotes would make decent dog chow, wouldn't it? I don't know if they could pass on disease, though. Hmmm.... I think that one problem would be preserving the wild meat/bone for pooch. Would you just hang it, dry it, or what? Some of us would be hoarding salt, knowing that salt water or a salt mine wasn't any too close to get more.

A vet told our friends that a dog processes food so efficiently that they can survive on one mouse every three days. Note that I said 'survive', not prosper. That's not much!

 

[savingdogs]

I wouldn't worry about giving dogs big bones, Marianne. I've always given those big giant bones to dogs, and I've had a LOT of dogs. I've always been told that they would break teeth, and they are right, they occasionally do. But in the overall scheme of TSHTF, I gotta say, I've given big giant bones to literally hundreds of dogs and I have seen ONE with a broken tooth. And it required no treatment.

It seems to me that if TSHTF bones would be the perfect thing for dogs, since we make so little use of them. What you would want to avoid with dogs and bones are cooked splintery ones. Smaller bones need to be avoided or fed raw, you WANT to give them the larger sturdier bones if they are cooked.

 

[AL]

Rio (my big Lab) gets at least one raw egg a day and he isn't an "egg sucker". I can leave him alone in my backyard with any number of chickens and not have a second thought... but let one of said chickens get from the backyard to the big yard and Rags settles in for a chicken dinner. Rio killed 1 of my chickens last fall out in the big yard and after that punishment he sits off to the side while Rags does the dirty work (neighbor called frantic about Rags attacking my roo in our front yard, Rio was sitting on the front step). As a pup he killed 5 of my neighbors young chickens that came into our yard, but it was more of the "joyful retrieve" that broke their necks than an attack. I use Rio to "herd" chickens now because I trust him. And when I turn the big flock out in the backyard he finds the eggs for me - without tasting

But Rio and Rags both worked over a big possum last night, he's fought an even bigger possum till I called him off, and he lunged at a stranger coming into my hotel room... so he has what it takes.

My sister has an Australian Shep / Golden mix that is humongously fat. They feed her 2 cups of food a day and find her most days eating rabbit, chicken, squirrel that she has somehow caught (I still haven't figured it out!). She was going to share one night and brought a huge possum into their garage hahahaha My sister nearly fainted when that "dead" possum got up growling.

I used to be able to get beef femurs from a local butcher. Most of them I took to our zoo that was struggling at the time, but I have tossed some out to the dogs. Even old Buford chewed on them without any tooth damage.

SHTF and I will have a protector, LGD of sorts, and companion. He also knows a few service dog commands (Brace, get the door / gate, etc) that could come in handy and he carries a pack and pulls whatever I hook him to (now if I had a proper harness :/ ). Rio will be taken care of because he takes care of me and serves a big purpose. Rags is an awesome guard dog (will eat your face if you get close to the house) and is 2-2 in possum killing . He is a great little squirrel dog. He kills chickens so doesn't have the same freedom as Rio but if I had to bug out to my grandad's old farm in the woods, Rags would be able to feed himself and probably us too.

 

[pinkfox]

leg boens are perfectly safe (as long as they are not cooked) however they are recreational bones rather than food (this goes for deer, cow, horse ect, and pretty much any HEAVY animal
these large bones are actually VERY beneificial, as they are striped of the meat and the softer vocer over the bone, cartlidge ect, this gnawing actually helps clean teeth better than any toothbrush ever could.
but rec bones are jus tthat, for recreational use so if you butcher a deer and plan to use it as food, the legs would expected to be stripped and gnawed for a while then left.
when feeding weight bearing bones form large stock, i typically let them have at for up to 2 hours, then take it away, rinse well and put it in the fridge, ill do this for up to 5 days (remember dogs dont get salmonella, thier stomachs are designed to be able to digest even fully rancid meat) at the end of the 5 days though its done and goes in the trash, by that point theyve stripped it clean and removed all but the inedible matter.

you do have to be carefull with weight bearing bones however if they are cut exposing the marrow, firslty marrow is very rich and can lead to upset tummy if consumed in large amounts, and secondly, that hole is aprime space for the muzzle (or lower jaw) to get stuck so always supervise with weight bearing bones. i generallly always stick to the "bigger than your head" rule when feeding weight bearing bones so they cant get the whole thing in their mouth (length that is lol) and i always make sure the center of the bone where the marrow is is either too small to get anything but a tounge in, or large enough that if they stick their entire muzzle (or lower jaw) in its easily removed.

in termsof the service for ocd, interuption behaviours are key. teaching the dog to nudgeduring repetative behaviours or touch with a apw, generally something that can be persistently dont untill the persons repeats break.

ruby taught herself to break my ocd sessions, she hits me with a paw, shell do this repeatedly untill i stop and give her a fuss.
it doesnt end my ocd all toghether, but where as origionally id spend 15 minuts lock checking, tapping or counting, now its mabe 3-5 mins with her persistence.

in terms of rabbit rabbit is great but low in fat, youll probably want to supliment a primarily rabbit diet with fish, eggs and dairy to get the fat up. even simple chicken skin would work.

if you want to do quail (im planning on similar) keep them away from the chickens and look into Bob Whites rather than Cortinux, BobWhites will brood their own young, where as cortinux almost always have to be incubated seperatly. Quail eggs are TINY but oooo so yummy!

 

[Marianne]

All this is really interesting. Like I said in another thread somewhere, EVERYONE brings something to the table here!

I have no problem giving my boxers big bones. The neighbor was the one that told me not to give deer legs. She has champion dock diving dogs, does all kinds of AKC stuff, etc, etc (I can't remember all the stuff she's done through the years). All I remember is cracked teeth and possible jaw injury. She said any other leg bone would be okay. But it all comes down to doing what you have/want to do, huh - YMMV

Honestly, if it was a true SHTF scenario, I'm not sure I'd be parting with my precious rice to make dog food. I have Black Angus across the road from me, neighbors and relatives that hunt. I'd be finding some other alternatives for feeding my dogs. When my rice was gone, I'd have a hard time getting more.

 

[savingdogs]

About a year ago, we were babysitting my daughter's dog, who is quite the.....er....forager. Her favorite was rolling in dead bodies.
She came in one day carrying something and I didn't take much note of what it was (prolly had my nose pointed at the computer). She is chewing on it awhile and bringing it closer and closer, finally she drags the thing she found onto the bed.

I look over and what does she have on my PILLOW but a WHOLE deer leg complete with hide and hoof, permanently frozen into a running position......

If TSHTF, I guess I'd just let a dog like that keep it! But perhaps not on my pillow.