Making Dog Food From Offal

[Baymule]

Very cool Bay!
I know you don't do this a lot but just a reminder to everyone to be careful with how much and how often you feed chicken necks.
The thyroid of the chicken is in the neck and this can cause issues for dogs.

FEM asked a good question. Does canning deactivate the thyroid?

 

[Southern by choice]

I wish I knew. I was trying to look back and find my info.
My computer crashed some months ago and I lost a lot of files.
I am actually told by my DH they aren't lost ....
Well...they may as well be because everytime he has to put the system back right and do this or that( I am NOT computer savvy can you tell? ) I can't find anything. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

It applied to raw feeding so maybe canning would eliminate the issue... I don't know
We feed very little raw now since we no longer have our big poultry farm. Usually it is just winter with the deer meat.

 

[babsbag]

When a had a dog with puppies I was cooking whole chickens with mixed vegies in the pressure cooker for about 2 hours and then running it all through a meat grinder and then would add some "mush" to her dog food every day. The bones went through the grinder quite easily.

She did really well keeping her weight during the feeding of 8 puppies.

 

[Baymule]

This article says the thyroid is located next to the trachea, next to the larynx. The chicken necks I give my dogs are skinned and the trachea is not included.

http://www.petmd.com/blogs/thedailyvet/ken-tudor/2014/july/raw-diets-and-hyperthyroidism-dogs-31873

This article is very informative, with diagrams showing where the thyroid is on the trachea or gullet.

https://thesciencedog.wordpress.com/2015/10/29/got-gullet/

This article seems to stress that the thyroid is in raw food diets. So far, I haven't found where cooking the necks removes or destroys the thyroid or any thyroid residue.

https://sfraw.wordpress.com/2017/03/17/qa-feeding-necks-hyperthyroidism-in-dogs/

This article didn't say that cooking the thyroid cancels it out, but it did say that it used to be included in hamburger for human consumption and that it caused thyroid problems in people. Since I don't know anybody that eats raw hamburger, my assumption is that cooking the gullet with attached thyroid does nothing to mitigate the damage the thyroid gland can do to our beloved dogs. Or ourselves for that matter. In other articles I read that the practice of including thyroid material in human diets was outlawed in the 1980's. But it can still be included in commercial raw diets for our pets.

http://truthaboutpetfood.com/diet-related-hyperthyroidism/


So in summary, I discard the gullet, but it disappears down the gullet of a hungry dog drooling over the prospect of a yummy treat. This I will not do anymore. So my home canned dog food is safe for my dogs because I did not include the gullet. Butcher day treats will be minus one particular treat that will from now on, be donated to the trash.

I do love this forum, see how we all learn from each other and share information?

 

[Southern by choice]

you are awesome!

I do love this forum, see how we all learn from each other and share information?

Me too! We have such a great community here!

 

[Baymule]

You're pretty darned awesome yourself! I would have never know about thyroid and dogs if you hadn't mentioned it. Now we all benefit!

 

[LndSchneid]

We sent 4 lambs to slaughter and I got the liver, heart and kidneys from all four. Today I canned dog food from them. I cooked and diced the meat. I also had a bag of chicken necks in the freezer so I tossed them in too. It made a rich broth.

I put a half cup of cooked rice in each jar, along with cubed end of the season squash. I put 1 cup of the meat, each jar got a chicken neck and filled with broth.

I processed at 10 pounds of pressure for 90 minutes. I just finished 7 quarts and put 5 more quarts in the canner.

Since I was in the kitchen, I made zucchini bread and fried some pan sausage. Zucchini bread is smelling good!

We will mix this with the dogs food on those times when they go off their feed. Talk about an appetite stimulator! LOL

Awesome.

 

[Sara Ranch]

@Baymule - Thank you for sharing so much information with us!

Do you make any other dog food? I so hate buying processed food at the store. I would love to make something at home, that is affordable to make.

 

[Baymule]

@Sara Ranch I buy a dog food called Victor. I buy the Beef and Rice at $38 per bag. We have two Great Pyrenees and a black Lab/Great Dane mix that weighs 105 pounds. They eat two bags a month. If we give them cheap dog food-they eat more and poop elephant turds. LOL

https://victorpetfood.com/

I make dog food from offal and chicken backs and necks when I have it. They get it for a special treat, on very cold nights and when their appetite is a little off.

 

[Sara Ranch]

@Baymule - looking at their website now & asking about local suppliers.

Love that it's gluten, soy, and corn free!

My pups eat about 8-12 cups a feed a day. And I sometimes feel that is not enough for them. And it's way more than the packages of dog food recommend! And they are not fat dogs at all.