# Question I can't seem to find the answer to.



## CharlieB.Barkin (Apr 21, 2014)

Throughout my research I have not been able to find the answer to this question: Do you have to freeze meat before you feed it to your dogs?

If I go to the grocery store and buy some chicken legs from the fridge section, can I go home and directly feed it to my dogs?


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## Pax8 (Apr 8, 2014)

I've done that plenty and never had any problems. Heck, if he has a great day or I feel he deserves a special treat, I'll buy him a whole chicken and let him have at it once I get home.

Anything you buy from the store will be a human grade food, so barring exceptional circumstances it should all be safe for consumption. Some people recommend freezing pork prior to feeding because of trichinosis, but trichinosis has been wiped out in domesticated pigs, so it's not actually a concern in commercial pork.


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## blackshep (Aug 3, 2012)

You want to freeze wild caught Pacific salmon and game meats I believe, but otherwise you should be ok. I prep most of my dogs meals ahead of time, so they usually end up frozen anyway until I'm ready to feed them.


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## Pax8 (Apr 8, 2014)

I would avoid salmon in a raw diet. I believe it is the salmon from the Pacific Northwest that tend to have very high heavy metal levels that can be problematic to a dog eating it on a frequent basis. I also believe there is concern about some sort of notoriously hard to kill (even by freezing) either virus or parasite in raw salmon of the Pacific variety that could pose a threat. If you want to do fish I would stick to things like sardine.

And for wild game meats, venison, elk, rabbit and such are good. Absolutely no bear, and I would not recommend wild hog/pig of any kind as they DO tend to carry trichinosis as well as other various parasites in my experience.


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## blackshep (Aug 3, 2012)

Yeah, I mainly feed sardine too. It's salmon poisoning disease you're thinking of, but freezing it for 3 weeks makes it safe.


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## blackshep (Aug 3, 2012)

What is wrong with feeding bear, can I ask?

I don't ever see myself feeding it, just because I have no source for it, but I'm just curious what is wrong with it to feed?


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## CharlieB.Barkin (Apr 21, 2014)

Pax8 said:


> I would avoid salmon in a raw diet. I believe it is the salmon from the Pacific Northwest that tend to have very high heavy metal levels that can be problematic to a dog eating it on a frequent basis. I also believe there is concern about some sort of notoriously hard to kill (even by freezing) either virus or parasite in raw salmon of the Pacific variety that could pose a threat. If you want to do fish I would stick to things like sardine.
> 
> And for wild game meats, venison, elk, rabbit and such are good. Absolutely no bear, and I would not recommend wild hog/pig of any kind as they DO tend to carry trichinosis as well as other various parasites in my experience.


Can you feed canned or bottled sardines? 
If you can, would the sodium level be a problem?


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## Mrs.P (Nov 19, 2012)

blackshep said:


> What is wrong with feeding bear, can I ask?
> 
> I don't ever see myself feeding it, just because I have no source for it, but I'm just curious what is wrong with it to feed?



Bear meat can carry trichinosis which SOME strains are not killed by freezing. So personally, I would not take the chance. They can also carry a nematode Baylisascaris. Baylisascaris eggs are almost impossible to destroy -freezing will not work. (Also carried by skunks and raccoons ect) not worth the risk to me


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## Pax8 (Apr 8, 2014)

CharlieB.Barkin said:


> Can you feed canned or bottled sardines?
> If you can, would the sodium level be a problem?


I'll just do canned sardines in water every now and then. Just make sure it isn't in any broth or flavoring because that's when you'll see elevated sodium levels. But just plain water is fine.

And salmon poisoning is what I was thinking about concerning the salmon. I have heard that it can be neutralized by freezing, but apparently you have to deep freeze it for three weeks and it can't get above a certain temperature during the entire period it is staying frozen. I'm just too paranoid about the what-ifs to feed it. Especially when there are other fish I can feed with no problem.

I just threw in the bit about bear meat because some people get a portion of their meat supply from hunters, and the dangers of feeding bear meat is usually not something that's widely known.


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## kjdreyer (Feb 7, 2013)

Has anybody read the book "Eating Animals" by Jonathan Foer? My brother lent it to me right after he said no ham for Easter because he can't eat pork now that he knows how smart pigs are. And just context, my brother is a Captain in the Army Reserves, living in Dallas, TX, and our grandfather has a cattle ranch. (I'm the tree-hugging bleeding heart liberal in the family!) I was rolling my eyes until I read the book, and I don't know, I may be a vegetarian now. Anyway, not sure if this is substantiated or not, but the author states that "According to a study published in Consumer Reports, 83 percent of all chicken meat (including organic and antibiotic-free brands) is infected with either campylobacter or salmonella at the time of purchase."

I've been dipping Jedda's chicken parts in boiling water ever since I read that - does that make any sense at all to anybody feeding raw? I'm thinking about getting a pressure cooker so I can stop having these nagging worries about raw. Sorry to hijack, just curious what those with more raw feeding experience think!


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## Pax8 (Apr 8, 2014)

kjdreyer said:


> Has anybody read the book "Eating Animals" by Jonathan Foer? My brother lent it to me right after he said no ham for Easter because he can't eat pork now that he knows how smart pigs are. And just context, my brother is a Captain in the Army Reserves, living in Dallas, TX, and our grandfather has a cattle ranch. (I'm the tree-hugging bleeding heart liberal in the family!) I was rolling my eyes until I read the book, and I don't know, I may be a vegetarian now. Anyway, not sure if this is substantiated or not, but the author states that "According to a study published in Consumer Reports, 83 percent of all chicken meat (including organic and antibiotic-free brands) is infected with either campylobacter or salmonella at the time of purchase."
> 
> I've been dipping Jedda's chicken parts in boiling water ever since I read that - does that make any sense at all to anybody feeding raw? I'm thinking about getting a pressure cooker so I can stop having these nagging worries about raw. Sorry to hijack, just curious what those with more raw feeding experience think!


Dog's digestive systems are much more powerful than ours and tolerate a lot more exposure to bacteria. That isn't to say they can eat rotting or rancid meat and be fine because that's dangerous. But things like salmonella on chicken is something a dog's digestive system is naturally able to deal with. 

I've never had a problem feeding any safe meat raw. I worry about cooking because it tends to leech out nutrients and alters the amino acids in the meat taking away some of the nutrition.


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## Mrs.P (Nov 19, 2012)

Pax8 said:


> Dog's digestive systems are much more powerful than ours and tolerate a lot more exposure to bacteria. That isn't to say they can eat rotting or rancid meat and be fine because that's dangerous. But things like salmonella on chicken is something a dog's digestive system is naturally able to deal with.
> 
> 
> 
> I've never had a problem feeding any safe meat raw. I worry about cooking because it tends to leech out nutrients and alters the amino acids in the meat taking away some of the nutrition.



:thumbup:


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## counter (Feb 20, 2009)

The salmon in the Pacific NW have high mercury levels. I did SAR in Oregon and we would search areas alongside rivers with salmon, sometimes dead on the shores. We were educated and trained to not allow our dogs to snack on the salmon because it would make them severely sick and could kill them if they don't get to an emergency vet right away. The one thing about the mercury poisoning is that, once the dog has had it and been cured, the dog's tolerance levels increase and eating high mercury salmon will have little to no effect the second time around. Some people would actually let their dogs eat the salmon and rush them to the vet, just so they didn't have to worry about it again in the future. It wasn't worth the risk to me, so I just kept Nara away from the salmon carcasses to be safe.

Never cook any raw meat that has bones, as the cooked bones will not digest and will splinter and get stuck in your dog's stomach, requiring surgery to remove and can cause death. Raw uncooked bones are OK to feed.

And yes, any store bought human grade meat, to include fish, can be brought home and fed right away without freezing. I've been feeding raw for 4 years now with no issues.


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## blackshep (Aug 3, 2012)

Oh I see! Thanks. I can't think of any occasion I'd have access to bear meat, but it's good to know.

I feed whole frozen sardines, not the kind packed in water. 

I just got offered some free deer meat, any worries about that? It's been vacuum sealed and frozen, but it's 2 years old. Nothing wrong with it, otherwise.


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