# How do you thaw your dogs dinners and clean up?



## GSD4LIFE21 (Mar 8, 2007)

Do you thaw a weeks worth and refridgerate it? Take it out the night before and put it on something? I fed raw for a little while until I just didnt want to deal with it anymore. It leaked in our fridge, it was designated just for the dogs, but I was just tired of our system. Not to mention we live about an hour from where we would get the meat from. We are moving closer and now that we will be a short drive from there, I want to start feeding raw as I loved the results and I know its much better for them. I just need to find a better system to thaw and keep sanitary. I have a one year old that is around the dogs all the time, should i wipe off their faces to prevent my son from getting sick?? I appreciate any opinions or advice!


----------



## crazyboutdogs (Aug 26, 2007)

i have 5 dogs, 3 large breed. i thaw the night before for the next night, meaning i'm always the night ahead. in the morning i still use kibble, but i'm switching slowly to the freeze dried afs food. it's all organ meat.

oops, forgot to add, i thaw only in the frig.


----------



## tintallie (Aug 6, 2008)

I usually thaw a few pounds in a large pyrex or corningware container inside the refrigerator and when it is still partially frozen, I divide it up into smaller pyrex glass containers with lids. If I thaw more, I put it back in the freezer in the containers if it hasn't thawed completely.


----------



## ahlamarana (Sep 22, 2008)

When I process a large quantity of RMBs, I separate it into plastic shoe boxes ($.97 at Walmart) and freeze. I take a box out of the freezer and set it on the counter before work in the morning and it's thawed by the time I get home. Easy to stack in the freezer and leak-proof! I go through about 2 boxes a week with 2 dogs. 

MM and tripe are separated and frozen in Ziploc quart freezer bags or Gladware containers. OM goes in Ziploc sandwich bags, which are then packed into a shoe box to freeze. The dogs get MM and OM in the morning, so I move a bag from freezer to fridge the night before and it thaws enough overnight to feed.

I have a Rubbermaid dishpan in the fridge to contain the items that are bagged and may leak, and all supplements, yogurt, etc are also kept in there so the dog food is all together and totally separated from the people food. 

I also frequently feed meat that is half-frozen. As long as it's thawed enough to pry apart, I feed it (especially liver and tripe







).

My dogs are fed in their crates, and they are crated for about an hour after eating to keep them from running around like idiots







on a full belly. IME, they are quite adept at cleaning themselves up after a meal, but then, I don't have children to worry about so I don't really know what the risks would be.


----------



## Brightelf (Sep 5, 2001)

Get a big metal or plastic mixing bowl that fits in your fridge. Thaw a couple of pounds of frozen meat in the bowl on the counter. Put it, bowl and all, in the fridge when it starts to thaw nicely. The next morning, it's ready for the next few meals!


----------



## MelissaHoyer (Sep 8, 2006)

*Re: How do you thaw your dogs dinners and clean up*

Morning meals are muscle and organ meat. When I buy it, I package it all up in 1 day servings in cheap containers. Throw in a bowl and serve!

Evening meals are RMBs. I mostly feed ground RMBs, due to one of my dogs having a digestion problem. The ground comes in packages of 5 lbs which last 3 days. I usually have one package I am feeding from and one thawing. Other RMBs are packed in ziplocs or containers and fed in a similar way.

Clean up is easy. I have a stack of stainless steel bowls. In the evening, I switch the morning meal's bowl and put down the evening meal. Same goes in the morning...just rotating the bowls. 

They mostly eat over their bowls since it is usually ground...if I am giving a chicken back or something, I just throw down a towel in front of their bowls and wash when they are done.

Oh, and they do have a dedicated shelf in the fridge. I keep a cookie sheet with higher sides on the shelf and all their meat goes on that...contains any leakage and easy to grab to wash.


----------



## DancingCavy (Feb 19, 2001)

*Re: How do you thaw your dogs dinners and clean up*

I keep about 2-3 days worth of food in the fridge to thaw. I store my meat in freezer bags which do leak on occasion. To keep from having to clean up that disastrous mess, I put the bags in a small Rubbermaid-type container that I got at Wal-Mart. If a bag leaks, it's much easier to wipe out or wash the container than to have to clean the entire bottom of my fridge.

I take out another meals' worth of food out of the freezer and put it into the fridge every night after I feed Risa so it's in constant rotation.

Any messes are usually cleaned up with some 50/50 water/vinegar or a soapy dishrag.


----------



## natalie559 (Feb 4, 2005)

*Re: How do you thaw your dogs dinners and clean up*

One dog, Sasha, gets her dinners frozen as she is a gulper. So when dinner time comes I grab a bag out of the freezer and give it to her on a cookie sheet to eat. She eats then cleans up by licking everything to death. Then she licks it again just to make sure it is clean!

The other dog, Penny, gets meat that has thawed in a container that will catch any leaking juices from the fridge for 24hours. When I reach in the fridge and pull out her bag for that night I also reach in the freezer to grab a bag to replace the one that I am feeding from the fridge. 

When Penny is done Sasha cleans up by licking everything to death. Just when I finally think Sasha is done with cleanup she licks everything a second/third/fourth time just to make she got it all!


----------



## Mandalay (Apr 21, 2008)

*Re: How do you thaw your dogs dinners and clean up*

when i prepare it, i do a month or so at a time and put it in those small snack size ziplock baggies. i then put all of those in a larger ziplock bag. i pull out one or two days at a time and thaw it in the fridge. veggies get added fresh or frozen - depends what i have on hand. Mandalay gets kibble and raw in the morning and only kibble at night.


----------



## lhczth (Apr 5, 2000)

*Re: How do you thaw your dogs dinners and clean up*

Sometimes I thaw in the fridge, other times it sits on the top of the freezer over night, and sometimes I thaw things in hot water. I usually put the bags in a metal bowl. How many meals I defrost at a time depends on what I am feeding. Things I have repackaged like backs, turkey necks are a day or so of meals. The 10# bags of leg quarters or whole turkeys may last for days. Pork neck is often fed frozen because I forgot to thaw something else. Same with the lamb's heart. Liver and beef heart are usually fed partially thawed and only one meals worth. 

Bowl goes in the sink and is washed. I don't like a lot of chemicals so I often just clean up spills with soap and water.


----------



## DianaM (Jan 5, 2006)

*Re: How do you thaw your dogs dinners and clean up*



> Originally Posted By: lhczthSometimes I thaw in the fridge, other times it sits on the top of the freezer over night, and sometimes I thaw things in hot water. How many meals I defrost at a time depends on what I am feeding.
> 
> Bowl goes in the sink and is washed. I don't like a lot of chemicals so I often just clean up spills with soap and water.


Cut and pasted from what Lisa said. A bottle of vinegar/water solution is also handy to have on hand. I'd fed frozen meatcicles with no ill effect though of course I prefer to have stuff thawed, but sometimes I forget that I already fed the last of the thawed chicken.


----------



## Lauri & The Gang (Jun 28, 2001)

*Re: How do you thaw your dogs dinners and clean up*

I buy things in bulk. 40 pound cases of chicken encks/backs, 60 pounds of heart, etc. These cases come completely frozen so they have to thaw before I can package them.

I usually package up just a little bit more than two days worth of food at a time. I use either large ziplock bags or small kitchen garbage bags. These are filled and then stacked in my freezer.

If it's too cold outside for the cases to thaw I thaw them either in our downstairs shower or in the basement, on towels.

If it's warm/hot outside I let them sit out to thaw and then repackage the stuff.

I start by grabbing two packages. One sits on the kitchen counter to defrost - usually overnight. In the cold weather I may have to soak it in water to defrost it fast enough. The other package goes in the fridge. Since each package gives me about 2 days worth of meals I will take the one in the fridge out to finish defrosting after I've use 1/2 the first bag.

The idea is to have one bag fully defrosted and one bag being defrosted at all times.

I Put the bags into large tubs to defrost. The tubs get rinsed out with hot water after a bag is defrosted and then the tubs get washed in the dishwasher once a week.

Once food is thawed (I don't like to feed frozen food) I measure the amounts into their bowls and feed them.

The dogs all eat in our kitchen and each dog has their place. It only took Goofy 3-4 days to learn where his place was.









Dogs are allowed to move around but can only approach another bowl AFTER that dog has finished eating. Then it's a free-for-all. Anyone can lick out any bowl - and they usually do! After everyone is finished eating their own food and licked all the other bowls clean my Cocker comes around and spends a good 5-10 minutes PER BOWL cleaning them. Bottom, insides, top of the rim and the outside all are gone over, inch by inch, until there isn't any molecules of food left!

The dogs bowls get washed maybe once a month?? I can't remember the last time I washed them.

I use mostly plain hot water to clean any spills on the counters. If it's a large spill I might use a bleach-based cleaner.

I wash the kitchen floor maybe once a week?? Again, if any food DOES manage to make it to the floor before being eaten the dogs will take care of it.









The ONLY time I worried about any of this was when I was going through chemotherapy and my white cell count dropped so low I needed to take special shots to build it back up. At that point we decided that my husband would take over the feeding of the dogs.

But I still let them lick me and kiss me! After all, they lick their butt and then lick you!!


----------



## Rhett_Jute (Feb 26, 2008)

*Re: How do you thaw your dogs dinners and clean up*

I buy the 10lb. bag of chicken leg quarters from Walmart and just leave the bag in a sole bin at the bottom of the fridge. I use the whole bag by the end of the week so i don't worry about spoiling. I tried putting it in the freezer and taking out what i needed day by day to thaw but the freezer froze everything in a huge chunk and had to wait hours for it to dethaw enough to pull anything apart. I do like the idea of putting it in a bowl/tupperware in in the fridge though!


----------

