Feed the Dog Meat
 

Two queries:

I recently bought some meat from a butcher who told me he had greyhounds and that I shouldn't feed mine meat more than once a week (keeps them keen on chasing bunnies, he reckons). He said he feeds his dogs rice and vegetables and some kibble. I'm not interested in keeping my dogs 'keen'; quite the opposite.

Also, I read that feeding racing dogs bones only encourages bad behaviour between them. It's a worry when dogs come out of racing with bad teeth and, in the case of one of my dogs, gingevitis (and she had a good, kind trainer).

The only time you would have trouble feeding Raw bones is if the dogs are fed in the same area or you leave bits of bones laying around.
It sounds like your dog is retired so you can pretty much feed it what you like within reason , but a good balanced diet of raw meat soups and lots of blended veges will keep your dog healthy and happy. cheers.

Bones
 

Thanks, as I have two hounds I keep one eye out for them whenever I feed them bones, which is several times a week. I particularly like to feed them part of their meat ration on-the-bone (slows them down, good for their teeth and it keeps them entertained for a bit longer).

For breakfast they normally get two 4x2s and a good amount of pasta/lentil/vegie mix I make up myself from fresh vegies, plus a little flax seed oil; in winter I might add a little extra fat for my girl dog as she is the most active and can start heading down to her racing weight (she was also the better racer). Rice seems to give my dogs very loose stools.

In the evening, they get one 4x2, about 300 gms of fresh beef, some p/l/v mix and some codliver oil. Sometimes I substitute minced beef with ox/lamb heart, even some cooked liver on occasions.

I don't give them 'treats' unless I'm doing a little training with them (especially for recall!) My dogs look in pretty good nick, sleek and shiny, so I figure I must be doing something right.

I appreciate your comments, so thanks again.

hi Natalia.

I say looking at what you feed them there is absolutely no problem, not feeding a dog meat is a terrible idea, keening them up I would say will be wrong aswell, unless the dog is fet on a premium diet kibble instead all it will do is remove the dogs natural sources of iron and protein which will in turn make them flat and unenergetic.
Dogs survive on a meat based diet in the wild (with some vegitation), why should we go against what they have evolved to survive on.

If your happy with the condition of your dogs and nobody has said they dont look great, then I would keep up what you are doing, the diet sounds great to me.

Thank you for your feedback. My vet saw both dogs the other day and said that whatever I was doing to keep it up as he thought they were in good condition.

I am still a bit concerned about the cheap pet meat that's available. Great prices but they smell a bit different, not off, and I wonder how much preservative is in them? Also, is it meat from dead/dying livestock? Any idea?

Depends what the particular smell is, in some cases if downed meat is used there can be a smell mask put through the meat and yes downed meat may be cheaper. However there is no particular downfall to the use of downed meat to feed a dog, once again this would come back to in the wild a dog may scavenge for food and will eat what is available at the time, due to this a dogs stomach is extremely effective at killing bacteria.
Also with your reference to cheap, what would you consider cheap pet meat? and what type of meat is it? is it always fresh or does it come frozen?

Around $2.50/kg; beef (supposedly); usually fresh. Worried about amount of preservatives they might use to keep meat longer (it does seem to last quite a few days without getting on the nose unlike meat without preservatives). Many thanks.

well that is not really too cheap for knackered beef, we sell it for $2.60/kg, and yes beef does actually last a reasonable amount of time, how long are you classifying as quite a few days? If you are worried about it ask the sales person, if they cant tell you they should find out for you.

Hello Natalia,

many years ago I had a retired greyhound that I used as an obiediance dog. I won many trials with him and won an Australasian obiediance championship in Perth 1980. He went on to become an Australian Obeidiance Champion (AOC). Tracking, and utility trials.
Greyhounds are vey intelligent animals and one of the easiest dogs to train for that activity.
I had him for 14 years, and 5 times a week I fed him raw meat (Beef) and kibble with vegies.The other two days I fed him 1 litre of milk and 8 slices of bread.
For breakfast, he got two slices of toast with vegemite.

He was the most affectionate dog I've ever owned and an unbelieveable obeidiance dog in all levels.

So feed him plenty of meat with plenty of omega 3 with an occassional brisket bone.

coops

Pet mince from the butchers are basically just left over offcuts/offal/internal organs all minced up together, so that's why they smell a bit funny, they also add sausage mince to the mix, all of these combined can often cause dogs to have a permanently upset tummy from the different mixture ratio of each meat. Butchers also throw in a bit of garlic to mask the smell of sometimes a bit 'off' meat.

I never buy pet mince from the butchers, have tried various butchers over the years on emergency occasions that my usual beef orders ran late and I was out of meat for my dogs, however got sick of the same cr*ppy stuff they tried to sell cheap and called it pet mince. I would rather buy fresh chicken mince than pet mince from butchers.

Horse meat is great, cheap too. Roo meat I cook, it tends to give the dog worms when raw. But hey, there is a lot of Ideas on what to feed your pet greyhound that people have suggested. A meat and vegie stew is good too, once or twice a week. I would use chopped meat for that, not mince. Good grief, the dogs eat better that we do.

coops

bents,

Bit of bi carb soda helps get rid of any lactic acid build up in a dogs system which can cause acidosis (to an extent can be fatal).
Little bit in after a hard run behind the lure helps them a treat.

I feed 20gm lean beef per kg ie 30kg - 600gm
then 1cup kibble (i use bonnie)
1 cup vegies
2 cups water
then vitamins.

Weights always the same, and they always shine.

Hope this helps :)

Chook, I give my dog the same as you do. 600g lean beef 1 cup kibble (Winning Edge Gold) and his vitamins.
He seems to put on a huge amount of weight each week, a couple of days before I race him Icut back his meat to 500g and kibble to 3/4 cup. Can you tell me how much ecercise do you do with your diet?

coops

No, the meat I got was from pet and greyhound suppliers, not from butcher (wouldn't touch what they sell as 'pet mince'!).

Coops,

What weight is your race dog and is he stocky in the shoulders or lean?

Some dogs can be like that though, i had a bitch who looked at food and you could see the weight gaining.
lol

Exercise routine is generally 1 x 440m free gallop up a straight track which they generally fly up. 1 x 5 minute swim (or a gallop, depends on weather) then a race or trial around the circle.

If the boy is having a bit of weight trouble, after the race do you feed the normal dinner feed? If so try boiling up 400gm beef (try and scoop out some of the excess fat that will rise to the top) as well as half a cup of pasta and 1/4 cup of rice. Add that to the vegies and itll make a nice hit stewy dinner for em.
Great for their system after a race ad the less fat is good as theyre stomachs settle well for the night.

Also for losing a bit of weight, cabbage in their dinner can help. Not too much of course but if u finely chop/slice some some and just put a little bit in the boys dinner every second night, it may help.

Mine also get a 1hr walk daily if thats any help either.

Thanks Chook, I'll give that a whirl and see how he goes.

His weight is 32.6 at his last start at Bulli on the 24th Sept and on the 15 th of Oct he wieghed 32.8, but he weighed 33.5 three days before, thats why I cut his food back for those three days.
I don't run him as much as what you do. I walk him 3klm/day and two 150 slips up the paddock/week (Free gallops) and maybe one race, if lucky enough to get a draw.
For what you are saying, I think he needs more slips. (Free gallops.)

coops

I give mine enough food to retain what is lost when running. So if your boy is running less, wont hurt to feed him less.

I give all mine some breakfast too - so if you give any, maybe cut that in half and divide his dinner up. 1/2 morning 1/2 nite. May help.

Good Luck with him :)

I actually got just a pup of mine home form rearers a good 3kg+ over weight. I wanna get him down ready for breaking in but i reckon by the time i slim his fat ass down, itll be retirement time lol.

Thanks for your help Chook.

He's racing Bulli next Wednesday. He's in a crash hot field though, but you got to take it as it comes, and you never know what happens untill they pass the finish line.

coops

What race is he in coops, ive got a boyo in race #2

Chook, he's in race 6 box 2.

Hope to catch up with you there.

coops

Geez you have copped a hard race havent ya.
Adeles team is going brilliantly so she may be a toughy to beat in that one.

I dont train the particular dog in on Wednesday but my dad and i own him. R2#7 Kamikaze Spirit.

So if he hits the lead and there are 2 mental cases cheering and screaming..... one of those will be me! :D

Jaime

You bet Jaime, poor buggar will get hung out to dry against those dogs. In all his three races since I've had him, he has come up against dogs that run the best times of the meeting. One day he might get in a race where they run the slowest time of the meeting, then he might run a place. LOL

PS: I washed him today and he looks nice. lol

coops