Meat Grinder for bone

[LondonDave]

We're in the process of switching our dogs over to a raw diet. An important part of a raw diet is bonemeal. Is there a meat grinder available that would grind bone? So far we've been feeding them one meal per week of venison (the left over bits that aren't fit for human consumption) and they are loving it. What we'd like to be able to do is grind up some of the softer bones into bonemeal.

Thanks,

Dave

[ecoaster]

We used to make our cats food that way. Grind the chicken parts in a hand grinder. Labour intesive, so now we buy it pre-made. We get it in 20lb bags, it is ground and frozen. Just take out what we need and add some warm water, and VOILA.

Our three cats and two dogs are all on raw food. They will probably out live me .

[njxbow]

you can just give them the whole bone or pieces of it. as long as its raw it will not splinter, they gnaw it down. you should freeze all bones solid to kill off any bacteria first. be forwarned though that the the raw bones will give your dogs the shits because of all the raw fat. and it will stain carpets. i give one of my dogs raw chicken wings as treats outside only. the main thing is to never give them cooked bones as they all can splinter.

[Kelley]

We feed our German Shepard raw and have since she was a pup. Your dogs should handle most of the bones well. Don't give them any weight bearing bones(leg) without grinding. We buy bulk chicken leg quarters, pork, and beef(when on sell) along with what deer we don't eat.

[VixChix]

Talk to a local butcher to see if they'd do it for you?

We fed raw in the past. A local poulty producer would sell us whole ground chickens by the pound. We'd get a 20 lb box and just bag it and freeze it. Worked well and was much cheaper than buying it (and less labour than grinding it ourselves.)

[LondonDave]

Thanks for the info guys.

We do just give them the raw bones to chew on. We've always given our dogs raw bones but up until we started giving them the deer bones we would give them beef marrow/soup bones and yes they usually end up with the shits or one of them manages to beat a big enough piece off that won't pass through so they puke it back up......The joys of dog ownership.

What we would really like to be able to do is grind up the deer bones so we can give them a measured amount of bone meal. Right now we're just concentrating on feeding them raw venison because we have lots of it. If we stick with it we'll start sourcing out poulty I'm sure.

We do freeze the bones and given them to them frozen. We usually just let them chew on them for a 1/2 hour at a time and then take them away and put them back in the freezer.

Dave

[dutchhunter]

why raw versas regular dog food is it just the cost or other benifits do you feed thi to houes dogs or hounds for hunting i have a beagel and she just loves the odd venison bone but the wife freackes out when i give the dog anything raw.I understand it is natures way but is there any other benafits DUTCH

[LondonDave]

Like most things like this you could probably debate all day the benefits of one over the other. We're not die hards when it comes to the RAW diet for dogs. We were actually quite opposed to it for many years. The biggest thing right now is the availability of venison to feed them which it drug free and completely organic.

There are lots of dogs that have lead long and healthy lives on the cheapest of cheap dog food and there are others that died prematurely or have a had a rash of health problems while eating the best of the best or RAW.

Dave

[Brampton Mike]

Check out the Sam Beare grinders...they can do bones! I have one and it is awesome...got it off E-Bay and it is 1.6 hp and a lot cheaper than any of the overpriced under powered ones at Bass Pro! Brampton Mike