# Deer and elk meat/bones....



## Lonewolfblue (Oct 28, 2007)

Does anyone feed deer or elk to their dogs? Is there anything I should be concerned about with deer or elk, or is it just like beef? Some friends are going to be getting me some deer scraps if it is ok for the dogs. They have a large freezer and will keep some of it for me, since I don't have one.


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## zimandtakandgrrandmimi (May 8, 2008)

I do. Only thing I can tell you is to freeze it for a month or more if you plan to feed it raw...its a precaution...if you feed it cooked...just cook it really really well...deer is excellent and Boy do my girls go bonkers for it. I hack up a big bowl of deer meat and pull out the clicker and do targeting exercises for their meals....


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## Lonewolfblue (Oct 28, 2007)

Cool, thanks for the tips. They might also get me the heart and liver, any tips on those, especially the liver, as to how much they can have at any one time?


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## zimandtakandgrrandmimi (May 8, 2008)

The only organs you shouldn't feed are the bladder and intestines.

Heart and Liver are excellent and very very healthy. Meaning that they are very very rich. 

I learned this one the hard way. I gave a meal of nothing but heart and liver and result was....explosive and very very smelly...start small with organ meats and heart. Give them little tidbits here and there and don't feed nothing but organ. 

Also some dogs don't seem to like the texture of liver. If so you chop it very finely and mix with a little bit of ground meat and they love it...


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## Lonewolfblue (Oct 28, 2007)

Cool, thanks......


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## chrisb (Jul 14, 2008)

I hope your doggie loves the meat. Shelby goes bonkers when we give her deer meat. She thinks it's the best thing LOL!

chris


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## Lonewolfblue (Oct 28, 2007)

I just gave them some elk today. They loved it. The friends of mine had a couple small bags left of it from last season and gave it to me. As well as a little venison. They loved the elk, and they like venison as well. Were begging for more when it was gone, lol.

Well, I think I know what you mean by rich, lol. Even though it was just elk meat, Chloe and Nell are doing just fine. But Betty, talk about gas, lol. She loved it, but I guess it doesn't love her, lol. It is bad. Guess she's only going to get very small amounts to start unless the same happens with small amounts. And Nell had a bit more than Betty did, and Nell is just fine, no gas at all.


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## zimandtakandgrrandmimi (May 8, 2008)

Lonewolfblue said:


> I just gave them some elk today. They loved it. The friends of mine had a couple small bags left of it from last season and gave it to me. As well as a little venison. They loved the elk, and they like venison as well. Were begging for more when it was gone, lol.
> 
> Well, I think I know what you mean by rich, lol. Even though it was just elk meat, Chloe and Nell are doing just fine. But Betty, talk about gas, lol. She loved it, but I guess it doesn't love her, lol. It is bad. Guess she's only going to get very small amounts to start unless the same happens with small amounts. And Nell had a bit more than Betty did, and Nell is just fine, no gas at all.


oh yes...I cringe at the memory...

Bolo did fine and had no issues...course she has a cast iron stomach...Vivi on the other hand...she started dancing in circles so I snapped her leash on and started running downstairs. Halfway down the steps her bum exploded with the nastiest diarhea ever and it sprayed ALL over me. Blech! That was the day after the meal of nothing but organ...we never tried that again...leetle teensy bits with every meal are fine...I am not risking that kind of mess again lol...the deer does give Vi some terrible gas on occasion...I think she really just has a sensitive tummy though...usually I space it out between other less rich meats with her..


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## Lonewolfblue (Oct 28, 2007)

As for Betty, she's usually the one with the cast iron stomach, lol. Usually eats anything and everything, lol. I'll just have to start slow. Now for Chloe, the only time she's had gas was when I got her. The previous owner didn't have her on any particular diet, just whatever they could get cheap. So I ended up having to just have her go cold turkey on the Solid Gold WolfKing. Within 2 weeks the bad gas had gone away, and now no more soft stools and gas. Chloe did great on the elk as well, good hard stools still the last time she went. Same with Nell. Betty's looks like a mucus sack around them, lol.


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## zimandtakandgrrandmimi (May 8, 2008)

Lonewolfblue said:


> As for Betty, she's usually the one with the cast iron stomach, lol. Usually eats anything and everything, lol. I'll just have to start slow. Now for Chloe, the only time she's had gas was when I got her. The previous owner didn't have her on any particular diet, just whatever they could get cheap. So I ended up having to just have her go cold turkey on the Solid Gold WolfKing. Within 2 weeks the bad gas had gone away, and now no more soft stools and gas. Chloe did great on the elk as well, good hard stools still the last time she went. Same with Nell. Betty's looks like a mucus sack around them, lol.


Did you give it by itself or did you give with other food?

I feed raw. The thing I am discovering and perhaps it is just the way my particular dogs are but I am finding they react to different meat sources differently and individually. Vivi's stool is the best on a diet that consists of chicken, ground beef or bison mixed with a baby food jar of sweet potatoes and a little bit of Baby barley cereal. Bolo can eat just about anything except duck and grains.

I have seen the mucus poo from Vivi when her meals were solely Lamb or Bison. Too much chicken and they are hard and almost grainy and dry textured and she has trouble going. This sort of thing leads me more and more to a conclusion that the different dogs have different requirements nutritionally thing is mostly likely true...Pork doesn't really sit well with either of them. its kind of weird...lol..Bolo does have mucus poo on occasion but she has colitis and the vet told me to expect strange poop on occasion


roflmao...SO just read this reply and said....

"Dog Crazy Women are the only ones I know who readily will talk all day long about turds...."


I wonder if there is any research out there about what EXACTLY the different characteristics of dog poo can indicate about the suitability of the diet...I will go do some snooping and post a thread if I find anything. oh..not trying to push raw...just sharing...I seem to inadvertently be offensive when I type....nevermind now im rambling....off to research!


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## Lonewolfblue (Oct 28, 2007)

I actually gave it by itself, then shortly after they each had a chicken leg for their teeth, to crunch up the bone. It's all raw, not cooked at all. Then later, they had their kibble. I'm not doing 100% raw, and probably won't til I get a big enough freezer, hard for me to keep enough meat even for just occasional raw.

I also found that turkey really gives them gas as well, but chicken is fine as long as it's in small amounts, like a single leg, wing, thigh, etc. They do fine on beef, but haven't tried anything else other than the elk and a little venison. They had a little venison earlier last week, but I wasn't sure how good it was for dogs so they only got a taste, and loved it.


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## Lonewolfblue (Oct 28, 2007)

Well, we went to my friends house and picked up about 15lbs of deer scraps for the dogs. Got them in the fridge for now, hopefully tomorrow I'll get time to separate them all out into sandwich bags for one serving per bag, and then into the freezer. For dogs that are approx. 42lbs, what would the daily amount be?

I took Chloe with me, as we had just got out of Obedience class. She had a blast. We brought her in the house with the 5 cats to see how she would react. She was interested in smelling then, then came back to me. Then they started giving her some venison scraps, and all eyes were on him. Didn't matter where the cats were, lol. She was thinking if she kept her eyes on him, he'd give in and give her another piece, lol. She is so gentle with cats, it's amazing to see. Now Betty and Nell, well, Nell get's along pretty well too but would chase if she was hyped up. Betty would only want to eat the cats, lol. I've had her in there on leash, and she was wanting at every cat, lol.


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## Lonewolfblue (Oct 28, 2007)

Well, I gave some more tonight for dinner. But I gave Betty a little less than the last time. Will see how she does with it tonight. I fed them a little earlier as well, so it gives them some time to run around in the yard and wrestle, etc. Was going to take Betty for a walk, but skipped tonight because I needed to separate all the deer meat into sandwich bags. Took a while to go through approx. 15lbs worth.


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## zimandtakandgrrandmimi (May 8, 2008)

Lonewolfblue said:


> Well, I gave some more tonight for dinner. But I gave Betty a little less than the last time. Will see how she does with it tonight. I fed them a little earlier as well, so it gives them some time to run around in the yard and wrestle, etc. Was going to take Betty for a walk, but skipped tonight because I needed to separate all the deer meat into sandwich bags. Took a while to go through approx. 15lbs worth.



uggg baggin it was almost as bad as butchering it. Deer has a very pungent odor to it...

Im pretty happy with it as a meat source for my girls. I just fasted them today to prepare for a cut back on portion size because they have gotten a bit tubby on nothing but deer for the most part..Though thankfully the pootie patoots(lol my sons new word for farts) are gone.


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## Lonewolfblue (Oct 28, 2007)

I didn't think the smell was too bad, lol. I bagged it into baggies about the size of a deck of cards. Is that enough, or would you do more?


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## trumpetjock (Dec 14, 2007)

zimandtakandgrrandmimi said:


> Did you give it by itself or did you give with other food?
> 
> I feed raw. The thing I am discovering and perhaps it is just the way my particular dogs are but I am finding they react to different meat sources differently and individually.


I've found a similar thread with Rocky. No matter how slowly I introduce it, and no matter what part of the animal it is, Rocky CANNOT handle turkey. He gets absolutely explosive diarrhea for like 2 days if he eats a turkey leg. Same if it's a turkey organ. He also doesn't really do very well on pork, but not nearly as bad as turkey. Venison is one of his best probably, along with chicken. I've found chicken makes really hard, dry stools as well. Venison gives a much more "healthy" stool imo, but it's not something I can easily feed year round. I hunt every year, but after our own consumption, there isn't a years worth for the dog! I'm going to get scraps from all the guys in my party this year though, hopefully get a good stock built up.


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## Lonewolfblue (Oct 28, 2007)

I might need to do the same, look for people who hunt and see of I can take their scraps that they just throw out. As for the stinkies, Betty will usually have gas with chicken, but only if she has a bit. If it's just a leg, then no gas. But if it's the whole leg quarter, then she usually ends up with gas. With the venison, she didn't have gas, but she ended up waking at 4am and throwing it up, waking me up. Glad it woke me up, lol, was able to get it cleaned up. As for pork, I don't feed pork. I hear too many things from people saying pork isn't that great to feed, not sure why.


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## zimandtakandgrrandmimi (May 8, 2008)

Lonewolfblue said:


> I didn't think the smell was too bad, lol. I bagged it into baggies about the size of a deck of cards. Is that enough, or would you do more?


If they were doing straight raw they would need about thirteen point forty four ounces of meat bones and organ a day..based on your forty two pound approximation. I think...im kinda braindead at the moment..


so I guess half that if you are doing half raw..quarter it for a quarter raw and so on...

I have a scale to weigh my meat out..


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## Lonewolfblue (Oct 28, 2007)

Cool, thanks. I need to get a scale myself. Might check ebay and see if I can find a digital.


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## zimandtakandgrrandmimi (May 8, 2008)

trumpetjock said:


> I've found a similar thread with Rocky. No matter how slowly I introduce it, and no matter what part of the animal it is, Rocky CANNOT handle turkey. He gets absolutely explosive diarrhea for like 2 days if he eats a turkey leg. Same if it's a turkey organ. He also doesn't really do very well on pork, but not nearly as bad as turkey. Venison is one of his best probably, along with chicken. I've found chicken makes really hard, dry stools as well. Venison gives a much more "healthy" stool imo, but it's not something I can easily feed year round. I hunt every year, but after our own consumption, there isn't a years worth for the dog! I'm going to get scraps from all the guys in my party this year though, hopefully get a good stock built up.


I have one that can do turkey and in fact its her fav...the other gets really awful stool from it..

Are you feeding really boneychicken? Cuz I noticed that if stools off of chicken are hard and you decrease the bone by increments you can basically control the consistency of the stool...I am feeding boney chicken backs in the evening and and since Im trying to extend the duration I can feed deer..in the morning they are getting deer cuts on top of some fatty ground beef mixed with pureed liver.

I got on a hunters forum based in my area and offered to take extra off of peoples hands...had a few takers..hopefully with get more...just a thought..


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