Pet Mince

[EISHUND]

I have always fed my dogs Semi Lean pet mince, but often, all my dogs get the scours.. I spoke to my vet and the first thing they asked me was "do you feed your dogs pet mince?" They said they get bouts of it all the time.. I was told it was caused by a particular bacteria (can't for the life of me remember the name) due to the meat not being cooled or stored properly, perhaps because of the attitude oh well it's only for animals...

I have now changed to Natures gift canned food, but it contributes to such a huge feed bill..

Has anyone else had any problems feeding pet mince, or could you recommend something else that i could feed my dogs?? Any opinions greatly appreciated..

[holly]

I have and it all depends on what the supplier puts into the 'pet mince' too. I have had butchers lie through their teeth that it is meat and offcuts mince, only, but when it has been cooked up, cheerio/frankfurt skins and the like bubble to the surface.

Have you tried Big Dog BARF? I use the Weaner mix with all bar my two with food allergies and it is great.

http://www.bigdogpetfoods.com/

[catzatsea]

We had the same problem with all mince including chicken mince. I have now been feeding turkey mince for the last 5 months and havnt had an issue with the tummy/ stools at all, we source the Turkey Mince from a wholesaler out at Yennora for $1.60 a kg.

[Dog_Horse_Girl]

Why do you feed minced meat? I avoid it unless I can see the butcher mince the whole steak...that way I know exactly what's in it.

I feed using the BARF philosophy and so we don't allow much minced meat at all. The dogs get most of their meat from meaty bones and we "supplement" with mince sometimes.

BTW - my dogs eat only human grade foods. Pet food is just too iffy for my liking.

[KismetKat]

What's BARF philosophy lilysmum?

and i too only feed my dog human grade meat. She gets diced casserole steak mixed with cooked up vegies as her main meal in the morning and a small amount of dry food in the evening.

she looks very healthy and everyone comments on how shiny her coat is.

[V.A.H.]

Ive found Supercoat the best of the supermarket cheaper lines .i

ts first ingredient is meat, not cereal, and its got the omega and linoleic acid

In a recent family pet it made a huge difference switching her from the Pedigree Pal to Supercoat.as they cant do Barf in total in this home

and with sardines once weekly and all commn vegie leftovers and each night a raw chicken neck ,randomly a raw lamb shank or rib piece--she is glossy in coat and well muscled and healthy, no sign now of flaky skin and dandruff

[JENCOL]

I feed pet mince with the veggie portion off my dogs diet (its the only way'affordably) to get them all to eat their vegies. I have been through more butchers then I care to mention, Now I have finally found someone who is prepared to give me what I want.

The main problem I found and yes my dogs occasionally scoured from it is that alot of butchers through in yesterdays manky rissoles etc I actually took quite a few bags back to butchers over the years because of this, most recently when I had specifically asked what went into his pet mince and he LIED to me, he almost wore the mince LOL .

The mince I give now is purely minced chicken carcass'. And if this supplier mucks up he too will wear the mince! (Yes he has been warned as a number of people in my area have had the same problems as I have and have also started going to the same guy I go too so I gave him business!)

Edited to add, I'm sorry but I would sooner see my dogs go hungry then give them dry food but this of course is personal opinion. My dogs IMHO have never looked better since I changed over to a BARF diet

Jen

Edited November 9, 2005 by JencolsmoothsandGSD

[White Shepherd mom]

Hi Ange,

may I ask where you buy your meat from? I used to buy mine from Petbarn in Northmead and in 3 years, never had a problem...and that is quite a feat with my boy...

Could someone please tell me what scours are?

[Dog_Horse_Girl]

BARF = Bones and Raw Foods or Biologically Appropriate Raw Foods ALA Dr Ian Billinghurst.

Re Petbarn Northmead, I used to shop there regularly for my dog foods. That was before I researched what dogs are eating vs what they ought to be eating...now that I know better, it's only human grade foods for my dogs, no matter what!

[TiffanyAmber]

Its gotta be the blue dye that they put in the pet mince.

A lot of dogs are allergic to it. Two of mine are.

Switch to butchers mince and see how it goes.

[EISHUND]

Thankyou all for the great advice..

WSM, the scours are diarrohea OMG, such a poor spelling attempt .. i mainly buy from Western Petfoods at Hoxton Park/Liverpool. Got a few iffy batches so i changed to Petbarn at Campbelltown, only for the same thing to happen I've tried chicken mince but my dogs go off it after a while and i can't stand the smell of the stuff!!

Holly, i checked out the link you gave me, seems like a goer. I'll have to check out where BIG DOG supplies to in NSW.. There are greyhound kennels behind my property so hopefully they might know too.

I'm so annoyed by the inconsistencies in the quality of meat out there, and the fact that people will blantantly lie about what is actually in the meat..

I hope that i can find a reliable supplier i can trust, i'm sure they are few and far between. I just don't like putting my dogs health at risk in the process.

Thankyou all so, so much

I'm still interested in hearing from any one else who has also encountered problems with Pet mince..

[Nadia]

I only use freshly minced meat that has been mincd for me.

no additives, no dye etc.

I won't feed roo or horse meat, and use mostly chicken or turkey, and some lamb.

I buy it fresh and have no problems with it.

If I cannot get my meat the day I need it done, they freeze it down straight away for me. I won't use crappy dyed stuff that you have no idea what is in it.

[TangerineDream]

I've always fed chicken mince (pet grade) from my butchers, but I've always cooked it thoroughly in water and then skimmed the fat off when it solidifies - have been doing this for 20 years and have never had scours in any dog during that time. After watching beef mince crawl within a day or two from various places (including butchers), I can't bring myself to feed raw mince...

[Aly]

Why not mince the food (MEATS) yourself? Use kitchen Wizz but if too fine,, you can buy the old fashioned mincers from kitchen need shops not sure on their price but in the long run I'm sure it would pay for itself.

[KismetKat]

Thanks lillysmum - and I did a bit of a net search too. I was surprised by the veg being raw as well - I've always cooked mine. And I think the site also said no grains. But if dogs have lived so long with people wouldn't some cooked leftovers be a 'natural' part of their diet?

And what is "scour'? (to get back on the topic here)

[Divine Angel]

I used to feed my dog VIP pet mince. The only problem (besides the cost) was once I found a small metal piece in it. I washed it and sent it back to them and they replied that they knew where it had come from (looked like a bullet to me- yuck!) and they sent me a cheque for the value of the meat.

I now use pet mince from the local pet supplier. It's cheap and no problems so far. Our last lot, we got from the butcher but it smells disgusting and has the texture of sawdust. Won't be buying it from there again.

[Dog_Horse_Girl]

Raw fruit and veg is generally more nutritionally sound but it has to be crushed in some way, I use a juicer - combine the pulp with a small quanitity of juice and seal into bags, freeze for later use. I have and still do offer cooked veg when there are no other options. But I generally use fruit/veg slop or vets all natural complete mix combined with RMBs and offal for a nutritionally sound diet. Like many others, I also add raw egg and plain yoghurt from time to time. Raw is better than cooked and dogs really haven't had time to evolve into eating cooked foods. It has only been the last 50 or so yrs where processed pet foods have been available and it isn't enough time for the canine's digestive system to have adapted to suit such radical changes.

[KismetKat]

Thanks lilysmum. And, having smelt 'pal farts' there is NO way I would feed my dog stuff like that!

but what i meant about cooked foods was eating human leftovers - surely dogs have been doing that for generations???

oh my girl DOES get raw egg too - whenever I schnitzel she gets the leftover dipping egg. She gets part of a marrow bone once a week (my butcher quarters them for me), but I've been told they shouldn't have them too often.

The raw meat she gets is diced casserole steak. Is it better the meat be minced rather than diced? Whats the diff?

[Divine Angel]

Mince can carry more bacteria due to the higher surface area from the mincing process. Other than that, I wouldn't know of any differences.

[Dog_Horse_Girl]

Leftovers were probably eaten by ppl unless they were wealthy, and dogs sometimes got table scraps. Mostly though, dogs were in rural or semirural environments even in my parent's and grandparent's generation and so they had access to rabbits, rodents, birds and so on and 'hunted' them, which was a large part of their diet.

I think as long as you aim for nutritionally sound ingredients and prepare and store them appropriately, and if you've done your research (which so many ppl do today b/c it's so accessible online!), then you make the right choices for your lifestyle AND your dog. I see no problem with offering a mixture of foods prepared in the most convenient way possible, but I draw the line at the more typical processed foods available in this country. Imports from the USA are generally reasonable (as long as you're choosing the 'super premium' labels and are prepared to conduct research so you can understand the ingredients lists) and if you avoid anything from a supermarket in particular, you should do OK.

JMHO.