SO Confuuuuused about raw meat ! Help!

Glenda where can I find food grade DE, you recommended it on another post, but I can't get  here in Houston, know of any websites?

I'm sorry, I don't have a website for you.  I found mine when I lived in Savannah at a feed store.

Glenda,
What about going straight to the source: chicken farms.  They may sell to the public and if you're looking for the leftover parts like backs and necks and organ meat you might be able to get a pretty good bargain on them...
 
Emily

Actually, that's on my list of things to look for once we get moved! []

19cent a pound of chicken leg??? I wish I could buy this for that price! I pay at least 50cent for a pound. Can`t you buy it already shreddered for Sheba? So she won`t have to chew too much...sheesh...[]...I think sometimes they forget they are dogs...
When I started feeding raw, I had to cook it slightly or they wouldn`t eat it...cause it was raw. Now they like it at last...

Usually the best sale is 29 per pound so I was one excited lady!  And these are the leg quarters...drumstick and thigh....
 
We don't actually SHRED the darned thing, just give it several good whacks with the cleaver to break most of the bones into a size her highness finds more manageable!  And she will NOT eat raw organ.  All the others LOVE it, but the only thing she'll eat that even resembles organ is heart, although thats considered muscle, not organ......sigh.

Yep,
and raw liver must be something verrryyy evil. When it is cooked the whole world`s just fine but raw?? Eeewwwhhhh.... but I´m still trying to cheat...everytime I cook liver I do it shorter and shorter...and believe me, one day they will eat raw!
At least I hope so...[8|]

Question

One reason sometimes given on BARF lists for the safety of raw diets is that dogs have higher stomach acid than people, so that more bacteria are killed.


Answer

Amazing how most 'BARFers' try to rewrite biology to fit their agenda!!
An extreme pH is necessary to kill microbes. Most microbes we're concerned with thrive in a pH between 6 and 7.
On an empty stomach, the pH is closer to 1 or less regardless of species. pH is a relative concentration of H ions hence total amount produced is irrelevant. The pH of a stable solution is not time or volume dependent.
The actual stomach pH taken at any point in time when food is present will vary considerably depending on where in the stomach, the type of food present and when in the digestion process the measurement is taken. This is the same in dogs as it is in people. Dogs and cats (in general) eat higher animal protein meals than most people. Meals with more animal protein generally produce a greater acid load and will have a lower gastric pH. People who eat a high protein meal will also have a lower gastric pH compared to when they eat a totally vegetable meal.
The pH is near 1 in the stomach of most species for basically two reasons: kill any living organisms and digest protein. Peptidases secreted by the gastric mucosa require a low pH for maximum activity. The final chyme pH leaving the stomach varies between 1-6 and leaves the stomach based upon final osmolarity and food particle size, which is directly dependent upon type of food, time and the presence of water. So some meals require more time than other meal types. Obviously, it is not a foolproof system against microbes, because all mammalian species get bacterial and viral enteritis
The above is from petDIETS.com.
 
That means that the ph level varies and only drops to 1 when eating something such as meat.
 
Another website suggested testing as your dog's ph should be 6 or 7 before a meal.
 
Causes of death for a wolf can be parasitic infection ravaging the immune system, starvation, predation (ranchers, semis, other animals), malnutrition. Yes, they survive but it is not because they eat raw meat, it is because they eat what they can find, whether it is ultimately good for them or not. They have been known to eat evil grains and plant matter in the stomach of a kill from time to time, though there are people who say they don't need it or get benefit from it. That doesn't stop them from eating it, or berries, or anything else they can scavenge. The lifespan runs from 4 to 8 years, averaging 5 to 7. Yes, the raw meat sustains them but that doesn't mean that their diet is balanced. Because an animal has lived long enough to produce another generation doesn't mean that its diet was balanced.
 
OTOH, several people here have had good results feeding their dogs raw + carbohydrates.
 

Susa, everybuddy BUT Sheba LOVES their liver anyway they can GET it!!
 
Ron, I understood that the reason a dog can tolerate raw meats where we can not, is that their digestive systems are so short that bacteria doesn't stick around long enough to cause problems as it would on it's very long and tedious journey through OUR digestive system.
 
I'm not all that certain that BARFER's are trying to rewrite biology either...........JMHO.

I just wanted to add in here due to some problems I'm having with Willow.  If you are planning on doing a raw diet, make sure you're dogs immune system is healthy first.

Wow where the heck do you guys shop to find such cheap meat?  Usually I give my dogs the same as what we get from the organic grocery store, but it's pretty high, so I can't buy much and it runs out really fast... >-.-<

I just wanted to add in here due to some problems I'm having with Willow. If you are planning on doing a raw diet, make sure you're dogs immune system is healthy first.

 
  Poor Willow; Is she okay? I know you've had problems in the past and have to be very careful what you feed her, but if she is having problems now I hope it's not serious.

I should have prefaced my post with a note to disregard the anti-raw statement, as it was not my intention to speak against raw, merely to clarify the science regarding ph level in dogs and how it relates to humans.
 

Ron, I didn`t know about that ph-level before and after eating, never stop learning [].
I think it`s very important that dogs don`t just eat meat and bones, I give them also, how is it called in English, "green stomach"? Is it called rumen? Don`t know but it`s the part of the stomach where the grass and that stuff cows eat has already been digested partly...that part that stinks so much [:'(] but the doggies love it. And when I feed minced beef or chicken I always mix it with veggie mush and oil. 
I completely agree when you say it has to be a balanced diet not only meat and bones.

TRIPE is the word we use here.
 
And, Ron, dang it, I'm just busting your chops a little! []