# Beaver meat for raw feeding.



## trumpetjock (Dec 14, 2007)

After talking to some of the Mushers at the Beargrease sled race this weekend, I found out that the overwhelming majority of them feed primarily raw, and a good percentage feed a high quantity of beaver meat. They obviously didn't have time to sit and discuss nutrition with the race starting soon, but one of them did refer me to his supplier. It's an an hour and a half drive away, but they sell it for 8$/40lbs.

Does anyone know anything about the nutritional value of beaver? This could be an extremely cost effective way to start raw feeding if it works out, and if it's good enough for professional sleddogs... I'm sure it's good enough for Rocky.


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## Ginny01OT (Dec 3, 2006)

The only thing I know is that giardia is a parasite in beaver urine (beaver fever) so I would be sure that it doesn't transcend into the raw meat product as well.


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## Shalva (Mar 23, 2007)

Ginny01OT said:


> The only thing I know is that giardia is a parasite in beaver urine (beaver fever) so I would be sure that it doesn't transcend into the raw meat product as well.


yeah I dont know much about game meats other than moose and venison.... I would want to be careful about parasites..... especially in a younger dog... but that is interesting..... I wonder if others know more about it 
s


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## trumpetjock (Dec 14, 2007)

I'm going to set up some volunteer time at the musher's kennel that I was talking about soon, so I'll ask him about it then. Like I said earlier, an hour before a 400 mile race isn't the best time to pick a musher's brain about nutrition!

If anything, as a water mammal, I would think beaver might be a fairly oily/fatty meat. That would make sense for high performance dogs in sledding.

As far as parasites, I doubt that it would be an issues considering the fact that the dogs he feeds beaver meat are ones that race the iditarod... I don't think he'd risk parasites on a 1500 mile race.

My main concern is if it has too high fat content for a non-sleddog. Rocky will be active enough when he's full grown, but by no means will he be shedding the kind of calories they do. It probably would only be a portion of the meal though, considering it's ground meat and would be too low in calcium to be the main portion of his meals. When I find out more info I'll let you guys know, but in the meantime if anyone knows anything about it, I would love the advice!


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## FriendsOfZoe (Aug 7, 2007)

My main concern would be where they're getting such huge quantities of beaver meat from...I know that beavers are verrrry protected and are known to be an unstable species...and as far as I know, there are no beaver farms breeding them simply for food..


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## trumpetjock (Dec 14, 2007)

FriendsOfZoe said:


> My main concern would be where they're getting such huge quantities of beaver meat from...I know that beavers are verrrry protected and are known to be an unstable species...and as far as I know, there are no beaver farms breeding them simply for food..


Sorry to argue, but I just don't think that's the case. I know for a fact that the DNR in Minnesota still pays for beaver pelts, and many states actually have an open season on beavers. My guess is that this guy hunts them, sells/uses the pelts, and grinds up the meat for sale to mushers. 

After reading a bit more about it, it turns out I was right about it being an extremely oily meat. The info I found stated that it is some of the oiliest game you can find anywhere. For now, I'm going to assume that it's probably far too high in fat content for an average pooch and is mainly used for sled dogs.


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## Mr Pooch (Jan 28, 2008)

lol,i never even seen a beaver so i dont know if id feed my dogs some of it,they would eat it though.lol


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## Ursli (Feb 1, 2008)

Hi,

I just did a google search for feeding raw beaver to dogs and happened upon this thread. I just bought two cans of 'pure beaver' made by Canine Caviar at the pet store today. My dogs are usually fed raw, but this is supposedly cold-canned, and I wanted to see if they'd even touch it...

Anyway, I saw online that the same company sells frozen raw ground beaver, and the pet store will check if they can get it from the distributor for me. I guess the freezing/canning should destroy any parasites. I'd be happy to let you know how my two terriers react -one of them is allergic to everything, so I'm always looking for new proteins he may be able to tolerate.

I would be curious where the company gets the beavers from to have a reliable source for commercial production! Who's the supplier you were referred to, trumpetjock?

Ness


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## Mr Pooch (Jan 28, 2008)

I was just thinking are beavers really common in the usa?They have just been reintroduced to the uk.(of topic i know just curious?)


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## Sugar Daddy Otis (Jan 9, 2008)

Yes, pooch beavers are common. There are beavers everywhere around me here in Pa- way too many of them. We have open trapping season here and I know from my family trapping them that they are VERY fatty and greasy both. After being skinned my dad and bros hands were covered in layers of Grease....ugh.....yuck!


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## Mr Pooch (Jan 28, 2008)

Do people eat them?


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## Ursli (Feb 1, 2008)

I guess it makes sense as insulation from the wet/cold (for the beaver)...I looked at the 13 oz can I bought, and it says to feed 1/4 can per 20 lbs of body weight. That's not a lot of food.

I wish there were some around here (suburban MI)! Ede and Atze could catch their own.

My question is: does the tail get ground into the dog food as well?!


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## Mr Pooch (Jan 28, 2008)

Yes i suppose they are not that disimilar from seals spending almost all of their time in the water.


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## cascadekathy (Jun 24, 2013)

hi out there was just looking to see what the newest ideas were on feeding beaver to your dogs I had just one thing to mention and that is that Beaver are no longer on the protection list and in fact in our state of oregon they are considered an agriculture nuscense you don't have to even have a hunting license or trapping license if you are on your own land and I am going to try cooking my dogs beaver first as cooking kills everything also like like any wild meat freezing for 60 days kills everything in the meat.


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## Tuco (Jun 16, 2013)

Yup we have fed beaver, we used to get some from friends who went out west for the open season, and it's very common to be given to sled dogs and racing greyhounds. It is about as fatty as pork, I've heard Afew people call the meat water pork. Giardia isn't an issue in the meat, there is a small risk for people who feed kidneys, but it's still small. It's like any other meat, feed balanced ammounts with other foods along side it.


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## Flaming (Feb 2, 2013)

Mr Pooch said:


> Do people eat them?


A bit greasy but tastes ok when in a meat pie.


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## Kathyy (Jun 15, 2008)

I was curious. Beaver isn't fatty according to ND.
http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/lamb-veal-and-game-products/4621/2
Bet the fat is just under the skin so skinned properly it would be quite a lean meal and fed whole it would be very fatty. Since it was not fed grain the fat would higher in good omega 3 than grain fed meat too. I would sure use it if it came my way!


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## packetsmom (Mar 21, 2013)

I would initially be concerned about Beaver fever, but it sounds like freezing the meat first might reduce that risk.

Mushers feed a lot of raw and often the amount of fat they need to feed to keep their dogs fueled is more than most pets would need. Up here they also feed a lot of the leftover parts of wild game, so I'm not surprised that they'd feed what the trappers leave behind.


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## BernerMax (Mar 15, 2013)

Yeah if I had access to Beaver meat I would look at recipes for the Peoples and DEFINITELY feed it to the dogs as well- sounds good to me (and yeah freezing first kills alotta things)....


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## packetsmom (Mar 21, 2013)

If I get a bear next year, we'll all be eating it, including the puppers.


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## Tuco (Jun 16, 2013)

packetsmom said:


> I would initially be concerned about Beaver fever, but it sounds like freezing the meat first might reduce that risk.
> 
> Mushers feed a lot of raw and often the amount of fat they need to feed to keep their dogs fueled is more than most pets would need. Up here they also feed a lot of the leftover parts of wild game, so I'm not surprised that they'd feed what the trappers leave behind.


It's not at all a risk unless your feeding some of the secreting organs. Regardless, anything if you freeze it for 72 hours, the risk is zilch


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## BernerMax (Mar 15, 2013)

packetsmom said:


> If I get a bear next year, we'll all be eating it, including the puppers.


OK so I havent had breakfast (and its lunch time)... You guys are making me hungry!!!!!


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## packetsmom (Mar 21, 2013)

Tuco said:


> It's not at all a risk unless your feeding some of the secreting organs. Regardless, anything if you freeze it for 72 hours, the risk is zilch
> 
> 
> Sent from Petguide.com Free App


I already freeze any raw fish I feed for at least a week before feeding. I was assuming I'd probably do the same with any wild game, unless it's things like a moose leg bone or something else too huge for the freezer, but then that would just be meat and bone with no organs involved. (Thinking, thinking, thinking...)


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## ItalianDogz (May 16, 2013)

trumpetjock said:


> After talking to some of the Mushers at the Beargrease sled race this weekend, I found out that the overwhelming majority of them feed primarily raw, and a good percentage feed a high quantity of beaver meat. They obviously didn't have time to sit and discuss nutrition with the race starting soon, but one of them did refer me to his supplier. It's an an hour and a half drive away, but they sell it for 8$/40lbs.
> 
> Does anyone know anything about the nutritional value of beaver? This could be an extremely cost effective way to start raw feeding if it works out, and if it's good enough for professional sleddogs... I'm sure it's good enough for Rocky.


Beaver is great meat. Not sure who you spoke to because the top teams feed about 70% kibble. Check the racers that are always at the top of the Iditarod and Open North American Championship and you will find they feed primarily dry. Eastern short racers hardly ever feed raw. Dr. Tim's, Red Paw, Annamaet, Inukshuk, Eagle Power are the foods of choice.

Again Beaver meat is great but the racers are finding better times and healthier dogs eating dry food more and more. Not saying they don't add raw but its mostly for fat and hydration.


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## Tuco (Jun 16, 2013)

ItalianDogz said:


> Beaver is great meat. Not sure who you spoke to because the top teams feed about 70% kibble. Check the racers that are always at the top of the Iditarod and Open North American Championship and you will find they feed primarily dry. Eastern short racers hardly ever feed raw. Dr. Tim's, Red Paw, Annamaet, Inukshuk, Eagle Power are the foods of choice.
> 
> Again Beaver meat is great but the racers are finding better times and healthier dogs eating dry food more and more. Not saying they don't add raw but its mostly for fat and hydration.


Not sure who you have been talking to. I've watched and been active at alot of the races here in canada as well as Northern Europe and in sprint and mid distance races, raw is the food of choice, ESPECIALLY with the sprint and mid distance races. The long difference races it's closer to 50/50, the usual reason I hear is because kibble is easier to feed on the long distance races and they don't like to switch off and on. 
Sometimes mushers feed kibble during off season, but during the season, the high protein and fat needs are rarely met in a kibble, and almost never cost effective. 

The Baltic cup, practically all racers feed raw, like in the 2 years I've been there for it I've seen maybe Afew percent feed kibble, and it was only this east euro brand that was like insanely high in fat.

The Big Land challenge, probably 80% feed raw

The western Alaska champion sled dog race, also about 80% feed raw.

The Tok dog mushers champions race, again most feed raw.

In the mid distance races I saw few more feed kibble, but still not many

Nunavut quest- probably 20% fed kibble 

Kuskokwim 300 mile, very few fed kibble

The pirena is the only major mid distance race I've seen a bunch of kibble feeders and it was still less than half

Klondike 300 and copper basin 300, again very few fed kibble


Long distance races are the only ones with alot of kibble feeders, I find about 50 50 here in canada and US and about 60/40 in raw favor in Europe

The alpirod, about 40 ish percent fed kibble

All the Norwegian long distance ones like the Finnmarkslopet and the fermundlopet, like 30 percent feed kibble

The hope race, I've found it's a pretty even 50 50

Same with the iditarod 

The Yukon quest is about 40 percent kibble feeders too

And I have no clue where you came up with these brands that they feed but I've never seen a single musher feed dr tims, anamaet, red paw, or eagle pack. 

Most of the mushers that feed kibble seem to feed either specially formulated high fat high protein local brands and for big brands they most often feed evo, and it's followed distantly by diamond extreme athlete, and very distantly followed by Orijen and that only seems to be at canadian races


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## ItalianDogz (May 16, 2013)

Tuco said:


> Not sure who you have been talking to. I've watched and been active at alot of the races here in canada as well as Northern Europe and in sprint and mid distance races, raw is the food of choice, ESPECIALLY with the sprint and mid distance races. The long difference races it's closer to 50/50, the usual reason I hear is because kibble is easier to feed on the long distance races and they don't like to switch off and on.
> Sometimes mushers feed kibble during off season, but during the season, the high protein and fat needs are rarely met in a kibble, and almost never cost effective.
> 
> 
> ...


You are delusional. Who's Team won the Iditarod back to back 2012 - 2013? You need to face the fact that you really don't know what you are talking about. 

Here are just a few of the top:

Dr. Tim's Mushers: Aaron Burmeister, Mike Christman (skijoring), Sonny Linder, Joe Henderson, Egile Elis ( Open North American Championship 8 times, Anchorage Fur Rendezvous Open World Championship 4 times and the Tok Race of Champions 10 times), Helen Lundberg, Dallas Seavey (2012 Iditarod Winner), Mitch Seavey (2013 Iditarod Winner), Ramey Smith, Taisto Thorneus.

Red Paw: Lance Mackey, Ken Anderson, Buddy & Terry Streeper, Eddy Streeper, Hugh Neff.

Tuco, at some point you realize, like we have realized, that you don't know what you are talking about, no matter what the topic.

You continue to embarrass yourself. I could continue listing racers but I think I made my point.


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## Flaming (Feb 2, 2013)

Tuco said:


> Not sure who you have been talking to. I've watched and been active at alot of the races here in canada as well as Northern Europe and in sprint and mid distance races, raw is the food of choice, ESPECIALLY with the sprint and mid distance races. The long difference races it's closer to 50/50, the usual reason I hear is because kibble is easier to feed on the long distance races and they don't like to switch off and on.
> Sometimes mushers feed kibble during off season, but during the season, the high protein and fat needs are rarely met in a kibble, and almost never cost effective.
> 
> The Baltic cup, practically all racers feed raw, like in the 2 years I've been there for it I've seen maybe Afew percent feed kibble, and it was only this east euro brand that was like insanely high in fat.
> ...





ItalianDogz said:


> You are delusional. Who's Team won the Iditarod back to back 2012 - 2013? You need to face the fact that you really don't know what you are talking about.
> 
> Here are just a few of the top:
> 
> ...


ItalianDogz, I lived with and helped raise many racing dogs here in Canada and I have to saw I've only heard of Dr.Tims and Red Paw recently.
There was a lot of raw, dehydrated and premade raw foods served as well as Origen, extreme athlete and evo (not always in that order for kibble. ) 

I have to back Tuco up on this as someone who was involved with the raising and care of these dogs (I didn't have the health to actually race them)


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## packetsmom (Mar 21, 2013)

Not wanting to put a paw in this argument, but I wonder if some of that might be due to sponsorship of the top teams?

I don't know any of the famous or champion mushers, but most of the local mushers I do know feed primarily raw, if not entirely raw and talking to them I was given the impression that this was more common than not. Granted, these are not likely the highest performance mushers and part of their choice to feed raw might be due to what is most available and the cheapest for the protein amounts.


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## ItalianDogz (May 16, 2013)

Flaming said:


> ItalianDogz, I lived with and helped raise many racing dogs here in Canada and I have to saw I've only heard of Dr.Tims and Red Paw recently.
> There was a lot of raw, dehydrated and premade raw foods served as well as Origen, extreme athlete and evo (not always in that order for kibble. )
> 
> I have to back Tuco up on this as someone who was involved with the raising and care of these dogs (I didn't have the health to actually race them)


Tuco is always wrong.....Evo, Orijen is never used by the top teams, never....I just gave you a partial list...Again, who's team won the Iditarod back to back?

Rob Downey who owns Annamaet was ISDRA Vice Chairman for about ten years and has three ISDRA Gold Medal World Championships.

Tuco does not know what he or she is talking about. The most popular kibbles with racers are: Dr. Tim's, Red Paw, Inukshuk, Eagle, Annamaet and Caribou Creek. Even Pro Plan Performance because Arleigh Reynolds is so well known.

Just remember, Tuco is always wrong.


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## Tuco (Jun 16, 2013)

Flaming said:


> ItalianDogz, I lived with and helped raise many racing dogs here in Canada and I have to saw I've only heard of Dr.Tims and Red Paw recently.
> There was a lot of raw, dehydrated and premade raw foods served as well as Origen, extreme athlete and evo (not always in that order for kibble. )
> 
> I have to back Tuco up on this as someone who was involved with the raising and care of these dogs (I didn't have the health to actually race them)


Honestly I take no legitimacy from anything he says, he's got something like a dozen accounts on the dog forums where he never uploads any pics of his dogs showing how "healthy" they are, yet denounces raw, lurks around the nutrtion forums, and denounces champion foods (like he's more again champion than raw feeders are against science diet) and than gets banned repetitively from being aggressive and ignoring studies posted against his arguments.

As for my credibility. A whole half of my family (the Danish side) was very active in dog sledding and we spent practically 4 months out of every year in Norway for the races and season. If I was still in Europe I would likely be mushing myself, yet I still go to and attend and volunteer at practically every major race in canada, Alaska and Europe most years, gives me a chance to see family and just work with animals more than I do so already (still pretty darn often) 




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## ItalianDogz (May 16, 2013)

packetsmom said:


> Not wanting to put a paw in this argument, but I wonder if some of that might be due to sponsorship of the top teams?
> 
> I don't know any of the famous or champion mushers, but most of the local mushers I do know feed primarily raw, if not entirely raw and talking to them I was given the impression that this was more common than not. Granted, these are not likely the highest performance mushers and part of their choice to feed raw might be due to what is most available and the cheapest for the protein amounts.


The reason raw is common is that the meat is free. The top teams are feeding as much as 70% kibble now.


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## packetsmom (Mar 21, 2013)

ItalianDogz said:


> Tuco is always wrong.....Evo, Orijen is never used by the top teams, never....I just gave you a partial list...Again, who's team won the Iditarod back to back?
> 
> Rob Downey who owns Annamaet was ISDRA Vice Chairman for about ten years and has three ISDRA Gold Medal World Championships.
> 
> ...


Your personal beef with Tuco aside, I'm again wondering if this is because those companies are sponsoring the top dogsled teams or if it is their own, uninfluenced choice.

My gut says that there is probably money changing hands if the majority of the lower level mushers are feeding raw and suddenly the top teams with all the wins are feeding certain brands of kibble. I'm guessing there is a lot of money to be made if you get the endorsement of a top team.

I could always be wrong.


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## ItalianDogz (May 16, 2013)

Tuco said:


> Honestly I take no legitimacy from anything he says, he's got something like a dozen accounts on the dog forums where he never uploads any pics of his dogs showing how "healthy" they are, yet denounces raw, lurks around the nutrtion forums, and denounces champion foods (like he's more again champion than raw feeders are against science diet) and than gets banned repetitively from being aggressive and ignoring studies posted against his arguments.
> 
> As for my credibility. A whole half of my family (the Danish side) was very active in dog sledding and we spent practically 4 months out of every year in Norway for the races and season. If I was still in Europe I would likely be mushing myself, yet I still go to and attend and volunteer at practically every major race in canada, Alaska and Europe most years, gives me a chance to see family and just work with animals more than I do so already (still pretty darn often)
> 
> ...


Just admit you are wrong. You said you never heard of any top racers using those foods and I corrected you.

Just admit you are wrong.


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## ItalianDogz (May 16, 2013)

packetsmom said:


> Your personal beef with Tuco aside, I'm again wondering if this is because those companies are sponsoring the top dogsled teams or if it is their own, uninfluenced choice.
> 
> My gut says that there is probably money changing hands if the majority of the lower level mushers are feeding raw and suddenly the top teams with all the wins are feeding certain brands of kibble. I'm guessing there is a lot of money to be made if you get the endorsement of a top team.
> 
> I could always be wrong.


The guys that use Dr. Tim's could get any food they want for free but they don't. Why because it is the best food out there right now. Mitch Seavey and Dallas Seavey could use anything but they don't.


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## Tuco (Jun 16, 2013)

K at this point I'm just going to ignore italian dogs because he's already broken 2 forum rules and hopefully a moderator sees it.

Talking with the teams, those who feed kibble I'd say 50% feed it out of convenience and the other 50% because of sponsorships, and of those who feed out of convenience, they are the ones doing the long distance races which weight matters.

For the raw feeders, I've met 2 guys who did it because it was cheaper than the high fat kibble they were feeding before. The rest it's all because of the high fat and protein, a decent chunk for the same reason most people raw feed (processing, preservatives, quality control, etc) and some because of water content. 



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## packetsmom (Mar 21, 2013)

Tuco said:


> K at this point I'm just going to ignore italian dogs because he's already broken 2 forum rules and hopefully a moderator sees it.
> 
> Talking with the teams, those who feed kibble I'd say 50% feed it out of convenience and the other 50% because of sponsorships, and of those who feed out of convenience, they are the ones doing the long distance races which weight matters.
> 
> ...


That makes sense. I could see where kibble would be easier to haul and get delivered in the middle of a long race, but it also seemed like there was likely to be some kind of sponsorship as a factor as well. There is a thriving industry up here providing mushers with raw foods, so I figured it had to be more than just the few mushers I know.


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## Tuco (Jun 16, 2013)

packetsmom said:


> That makes sense. I could see where kibble would be easier to haul and get delivered in the middle of a long race, but it also seemed like there was likely to be some kind of sponsorship as a factor as well. There is a thriving industry up here providing mushers with raw foods, so I figured it had to be more than just the few mushers I know.


Honestly, the sponsorships really aren't that prevalent, It's really only the major teams at the major races, and if you look back before the sponsorships, a huge chunk were feeding raw before, but hey money trumps health in this world 


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## ItalianDogz (May 16, 2013)

Tuco said:


> Honestly, the sponsorships really aren't that prevalent, It's really only the major teams at the major races, and if you look back before the sponsorships, a huge chunk were feeding raw before, but hey money trumps health in this world
> 
> 
> Sent from Petguide.com Free App



I am just wanting confirm. You admit you were wrong? Nothing personal. 

You made this statement: *"And I have no clue where you came up with these brands that they feed but I've never seen a single musher feed dr tims, anamaet, red paw, or eagle pack."
*

And the statement is false. I made a list of some of the top teams for you.

They did feed more raw but as the foods have gotten better they have switched. The dogs are faster and healthier.


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## Tuco (Jun 16, 2013)

Lets try to get this thread back on track since no moderators seem to see it.



trumpetjock said:


> After talking to some of the Mushers at the Beargrease sled race this weekend, I found out that the overwhelming majority of them feed primarily raw, and a good percentage feed a high quantity of beaver meat. They obviously didn't have time to sit and discuss nutrition with the race starting soon, but one of them did refer me to his supplier. It's an an hour and a half drive away, but they sell it for 8$/40lbs.
> 
> Does anyone know anything about the nutritional value of beaver? This could be an extremely cost effective way to start raw feeding if it works out, and if it's good enough for professional sleddogs... I'm sure it's good enough for Rocky.



Anyone else have any experiences with beaver



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## Willowy (Dec 10, 2007)

Being that the original post was made in 2008, and I haven't seem trumpetjock around in ages, I really doubt this thread can be brought back on track  .

If you want the mods to see a post, you can use the little report thingie in the lower left corner of each post (black triangle with exclamation mark).


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## Tuco (Jun 16, 2013)

Hahaha, I didn't even realize this threads so old, lmao.


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