# Venison to a kibble-fed dog?



## Cliffdog (Dec 30, 2010)

All right guys, bear with me. I know I'm asking lots of questions.

Like I said before, my dad isn't down for me to start feeding Bonnie a fully raw diet. However, he just cleaned out his freezer and has about 12 lbs of venison (ground, sausage, chops, and a neck) that he's said I can give to the dog, due to things like freezer burn.

However, I'm not sure if I should- since the main staple of her diet will be kibble, and she hasn't transitioned to venison with any other meat. It would just be 'bam! venison'. I'd give it away but there are no raw feeders near me.

Is there any way I can feed this to her, or should I just throw it in the trash?

ETA: I'm thinking I would give her her breakfast of kibble at 9am like normal, and give her a dinner of venison at about 8pm. Is that enough space between each meal, if I end up feeding her the venison?


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## Northwoods10 (Nov 22, 2010)

Venison is a pretty rich meat, so it could cause some digestive upset. 

What I would suggest, is just keeping it frozen until you can use it, gradually mixed in with a different protein. Freezer burned meat is perfectly fine to feed dogs. I just scored a bunch of meat that had been frozen from about 2003, dogs loved it! 

Is there any way you could feed her a chicken piece for dinner for a few weeks then add in some of the ground venison gradually? 

The general rule of thumb is to wait at least 8-12 hours inbetween kibble feedings to feed raw. You don't want to feed them mixed in or any closer in time frame than that. 

Also, you mentioned sausage....if it has any flavoring on it or spices, I wouldn't feed that. You want to feed meat that has nothing else added to it!


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## Cliffdog (Dec 30, 2010)

Northwoods10 said:


> Venison is a pretty rich meat, so it could cause some digestive upset.
> 
> What I would suggest, is just keeping it frozen until you can use it, gradually mixed in with a different protein.


What do you mean? Sorry, I'm slow, you got me a little confused here.



> Is there any way you could feed her a chicken piece for dinner for a few weeks then add in some of the ground venison gradually?


I'll ask, but I'm not sure. They're really not up for the whole raw thing, and think it's bad for the dog. But I'll see.



> The general rule of thumb is to wait at least 8-12 hours inbetween kibble feedings to feed raw. You don't want to feed them mixed in or any closer in time frame than that.


Okay, sounds good. I should be able to keep that limit.



> Also, you mentioned sausage....if it has any flavoring on it or spices, I wouldn't feed that. You want to feed meat that has nothing else added to it!


Didn't even think of that. Thanks, I'll chuck the sausage.


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## Cliffdog (Dec 30, 2010)

Oh yeah- and are the venison bones to hard for her as she's never had another RMB before, and still has puppy teeth?


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## Northwoods10 (Nov 22, 2010)

Cliffdog said:


> What do you mean? Sorry, I'm slow, you got me a little confused here.
> 
> 
> I'll ask, but I'm not sure. They're really not up for the whole raw thing, and think it's bad for the dog. But I'll see.
> ...


Not sure why you are wanting to feed raw venison then if you think raw is bad? 

What I meant was that you could keep the venison frozen until you are ready to go full raw. You could use it as a second protein (after chicken) and gradually get her adjusted to it so it wasn't such a shock of just having a full venison meal all at once. But, if you have no intentions of going raw....

I personally wouldn't do it if you are just going to feed raw for one meal and its venison. Venison is just a rich meat and some dogs don't even tolerate it who have been on raw for a while. For a dog who's never had raw meat before....it could mean diarrhea. 

Just my two cents.


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## Cliffdog (Dec 30, 2010)

*I* do not think raw is bad. I think raw meaty bones are the best thing you can give your dog. But for the time being, I live with my parents, and they have a say in what my dog gets- their house, their rules, and they don't like raw. I am planning to put her on raw the _day_ I move out.

Thanks for the input. I'm worried he'll get rid of it before I can put her on full raw, but better to lose the venison than have her have a digestive upset. I won't feed her the venison.

ETA: Or, maybe I could cook it for her? I understand some people feed homecooked?


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## Northwoods10 (Nov 22, 2010)

Cooked would definitely be easier on her tummy. Up to you. I'd personally keep it until I could feed raw, even if that were several years from now! 

Also depending on what bones you have....they may be too dense. I think you mentioned a neck bone.......I'd give it to her and watch her closely. Maybe somebody else will chime in, but I'd assume it would be more or less that she'd rip the meat off and the bone would be tossed after she's had her fun with it.


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## Ania's Mommy (Feb 8, 2009)

Deer are not considered large animals, as far as their weight bearing bones go. So I'd feed all of them.:biggrin:

Elk, on the other hand, ARE large animals. And I wouldn't feed their leg bones.

I'd either wait to feed the venison until you are feeding raw 100% of the time, or cook the meat and feed it now. 

As far as the bones, you could try feeding them now for rec bones. Make sure that almost all of the meat is scraped off before giving it to her in order to avoid digestive upset. Do NOT feed any cooked bones.

Nice score!


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## Cliffdog (Dec 30, 2010)

Thanks, guys! I'm thinking cooking is what I'll do. Fortunately it's already freezer-burnt so no rush on my decision! :biggrin:


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## monkeys23 (Dec 8, 2010)

I know most advise against it, but I've given raw deer and elk before when Lily was on primarily kibble with any problems whatsoever.

She has a pretty iron gut with anything but grains and huge amounts of organ though.


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## Cliffdog (Dec 30, 2010)

Well, Bonnie swallowed a whole raw hide one time... I think that qualifies as iron stomach?


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## monkeys23 (Dec 8, 2010)

That can't have felt good going down! 

Probably qualifies.:tongue:


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## PalmettoPaws (Dec 30, 2009)

My dog eats raw for breakfast and kibble for dinner. I will be moving soon and she'll have to go back to just kibble for a while but I just wanted to say that she has no problems whatsoever. I feed her breakfast at 7 am and dinner at 7 pm.


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## cast71 (Sep 16, 2010)

I usually don't feed raw and kibble on the same day. I did once last week with no problems. I fed raw in morning and kibble at night. This way the kibble from the previous night was fully digested and the raw was digested before the next kibble feeding. 

I scored alot of cheap meats, so this week is turkey necks, chicken livers, chicken hearts and quarters:smile: I like to give him a break from kibble sometimes:biggrin:


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## Cliffdog (Dec 30, 2010)

PalmettoPaws said:


> My dog eats raw for breakfast and kibble for dinner. I will be moving soon and she'll have to go back to just kibble for a while but I just wanted to say that she has no problems whatsoever. I feed her breakfast at 7 am and dinner at 7 pm.


That's good to know! Maybe I'll feed her at 8am and 8pm so it's always twelve hours apart...



cast71 said:


> I usually don't feed raw and kibble on the same day. I did once last week with no problems. I fed raw in morning and kibble at night. This way the kibble from the previous night was fully digested and the raw was digested before the next kibble feeding.
> 
> I scored alot of cheap meats, so this week is turkey necks, chicken livers, chicken hearts and quarters:smile: I like to give him a break from kibble sometimes:biggrin:


Lucky dogs! Bonnie isn't going to get any all-meat sprees until I find a new job, unfortunately. I can afford kibble or I can afford raw, but I can't do both! After that, maybe letting my parents see the benefits of raw in person will change their minds to the 'evils' and 'dangers' of raw meaty bones. :biggrin:


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## cast71 (Sep 16, 2010)

Cliffdog said:


> That's good to know! Maybe I'll feed her at 8am and 8pm so it's always twelve hours apart...


If you ever do feed raw and kibble, I reccomend you feed them on seperate days. For example: I'm feeding raw this whole week and than next week will be kibble. It's much easier this way. If you need to feed both the same day, it's best to feed raw in the morning and kibble at night. This way the kibble has all night to digest.




Cliffdog said:


> Lucky dogs! Bonnie isn't going to get any all-meat sprees until I find a new job, unfortunately. I can afford kibble or I can afford raw, but I can't do both!


You can afford both. I'm on a budget and I feed my 85lb. dog for $35 a month. He has a high metabolism, so he's a 3 percenter. When feeding raw, I must feed 3% body weight or he starts to lose weight. At 3% he maintains and doesn't gain weight. He's already skinny. Even feeding 2.5 lbs a day can be affordable, if you buy at cheap prices. I usually buy when its between $.50-$1 range. As far as kibble goes, he's on all the TOTW formulas and the ACANA praire formula in rotation. I would feed 100% raw, but do not have extra freezers anymore;0( Plus it was costing about $10 a month to run them. Now we both share freezer space.



Cliffdog said:


> After that, maybe letting my parents see the benefits of raw in person will change their minds to the 'evils' and 'dangers' of raw meaty bones. :biggrin:


Like the old saying goes, you can't teach an old dog new tricks ahahahaha I'm joking. I actually don't believe that saying. Keep educating them until they break:biggrin:


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