Those who feed raw,

    • Gold Top Dog

    Those who feed raw,

    Is there anything wrong with always feeding my dog frozen raw?   I had no time to defrost her dinner today so I just gave her raw chicken breast including the bones completely frozen.  She seemed not to mind it at all and finished it in seconds. It would be great if I could feed her frozen all the time, I just hate wet meat dragged all over my floors, plus it would cool her off in summer.

    • Gold Top Dog

     Some do not do this... but, for me, I do it all the time!!  For one thing it helps it last longer than .02 seconds and another he chews it better (gets off smaller chunks) so it's less of a choking hazard IMO.

     I also feed in a crate (or outside) to prevent the ickyness from going all over my house.

     But to answer your question -- I say go for it, it's fine :)

    • Gold Top Dog

    Before I had an extra fridge I had no choice but to do this.  My friend who does the doggy diets says it's best to serve room temp meat, as it takes energy and possibly the death of good bugs, to balance the temp of the frozen meat.  But I'm not sure - as they crunch and tear, they seem to warm it up pretty quickly - if I have to handle a part eaten piece for some reason, the chewed parts are always room temp.

    In the Arctic, the mushers often feed frozen meat and fat to their teams and they seem to do okay.

    I go ahead and thaw the meat now because I can lay stuff out a day ahead (it requires an extra fridge for me!!).  It's just more convenient for me, not any reason connected to health.

    One thing you can do, if you have meat packaged individually - you can run warm water over the baggie (assuming that's what you used) and at least the outside will get warm enough to handle easily.  Sometimes it's hard to separate and get frozen meat out of the packages.

    It's far better to serve frozen meat, than to microwave it - even on "thaw."  Microwaving can leave dangerous part cooked parts inside where you can't see, not to mention hot spots. 

    • Gold Top Dog

    What about the possibility of breaking a tooth?  That's why I don't feed it frozen....he's already lost the tips of all his canines, don't need any more coming off .

    • Gold Top Dog

    Raw meat isn't hard like a bone.  It gives under pressure - the pressure of gnawing melts it, the harder they gnaw the softer it gets and by the time it's going down the hatch it's far softer than the bone you are also letting them eat (if you feed whole bone). 

    • Gold Top Dog

    Although it's not being consumed, I give their marrow bones frozen.  And Jules has handled frozen ribs with no problems. (Aesop is far too picky a chewer to gnaw anything frozen. He won't touch anything he has to work on, hence why he won't chew marrow bones at all)

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    • Gold Top Dog

     I give the vast majority of his raw while still frozen.  Just easier for me, he could care less, and it does last a millisecond longer.

    funny anecdote: Yesterday I discovered he loves frozen peach slices but when I gave one to him room temp he spit it out LOL

    • Gold Top Dog

     My dogs eat all of their raw frozen.  I portion their stuff out when I get it home from the store and its usually a mix of stuff, like a bit of beef liver, some chicken legs or backs or whatever, some ground beef or turkey if we've gone with a lot of necks.  So I freeze it all in a baggie in one big glump.  When I give it to them I just turn the baggie inside out into their mouths and the march out the door with it.  I could not do that if it were not frozen.  I will on occasion give them some liver to slurp out of their bowls, but anything that needs chewing gets taken out of the bowl and dropped on my floor so we don't do that. 

    That said, I have noticed some pink spots on my dog's front teeth.  Could the two be related?

    • Gold Top Dog
    Pink spots?
    • Gold Top Dog

    Whenever I feed Darby something frozen or very cold, she throws it right back up.  Just too cold for her to handle. So I guess it depends on the dog. 

    • Gold Top Dog

    jdata
    Pink spots?

    The only thing I could compare it too is when you quick a dog.  But on their front teeth.  The little ones between the bottom canine's.  They don't seem to bother them though, and they don't shy away from their food at all.    All of their other teeth are perfectly white, no tartar or plaque. 

    • Gold Top Dog
    shamrockmommy

    Whenever I feed Darby something frozen or very cold, she throws it right back up.  Just too cold for her to handle. So I guess it depends on the dog. 

    I tried feeding frozen once same result, Chloe chucked it all back up. Scout was fine.