# Ground meat ok? And organ question



## GoingPostal (Sep 5, 2011)

Stopped by my moms today, left with some cheesecake, truffles and 4 hunks of ground venison, I assume that's fine to feed on occasion? I'm not sure if it's beef/venison or just venison, don't dare ask my stepdad because he probably wouldn't be too happy about it being fed to the dogs, my mom doesn't like deer meat and wanted to clean out her freezer. Jersey is just switching, still on chicken quarters and I figured on turkey, pork, beef next, then maybe I can throw in the venison. I know she isn't big on organs so I thought about grinding them up and hiding them in ground meat, would it lose anything through grinding? I know it's crap on their teeth but wasn't turning down free meat, nobody got deer this year.


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

Ground meat harbors more bacteria than whole chunks so keep that in mind. But on occasion it doesn't hurt. Our dogs get ground meats probably once a week or so. Some nutrients are lost with grinding organs but as long as you do the grinding and feed it fairly fresh after being ground it wont make much of a difference.


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## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

I don't feed ground much, but on occasion it is fine...Why we don't support ground on a regular basis is because of the bacteria that can happen from grinding! Try frozen organs semi thawed when the time comes, this is how I started my bunch and now thy eat anything un thawed...


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

Well, I just cleaned out my people freezer and found three or four pounds of ground chuck. So I'm feeding it to the dogs. But i don't buy it on purpose. Well, maybe if I found it for 89 cents a pound and it wasn't all fat.


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## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

xellil said:


> Well, I just cleaned out my people freezer and found three or four pounds of ground chuck. So I'm feeding it to the dogs. But i don't buy it on purpose. Well, maybe if I found it for 89 cents a pound and it wasn't all fat.


We had some people give us 15lbs of 1# rolls of ground bison, her husband hated it and we just put it in the freezer and fed it sparingly...I would never let it go to waste either unless it was ground turkey which my boy Leo ate once and was sick for 2 days on..


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## sandeebee (Dec 28, 2011)

There are some meats I can only get ground or buy ground because it's much less costly (venison, beef and wild boar) so I feed ground meat on a regular basis. Usually when I switch dogs over to raw I always have trouble with them eating the organs at first so i always throw them in the food processor and then mix them into their regular food so they can't pick the chunks of organ meat out. After doing that for a bit, they start eating any organ meat I give them, no matter what size the pieces. They especially love sweatbreads (yuck!).


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## ShanniBella (Jul 1, 2011)

Does meat still harbor bacteria even after being frozen for weeks? I thought freezing meats before being fed kills bacteria?


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

Freezing at or below 0 degrees doesn't kill all bacteria. It stops them from multiplying, but as soon as the meat comes back up to temp they start replicating again. 

Another downside to ground meats is that it exposes more muscle meat to oxygen which destroys certain vitamins, minerals and enzymes. Think of it like slicing an apple or banana and how it turns brown when exposed to oxygen.


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## kathylcsw (Jul 31, 2011)

I have gotten ground turkey and ground beef from 2 of my CL scores so at some point the dogs will get it. I plan to use it as Kong stuffing once in a while and maybe as an add on to bone meals. Since it was free it will certainly be used!


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

Freezing is often how scientists preserve bacteria for later use.

I think you are thinking about parasites - alot of them do die in very low temps over a period of time.


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## monkeys23 (Dec 8, 2010)

I've been feeding through some gamey elk burger from 2 years ago. Its in two pound packages, so I split 1lb between the girls (Scout gets 0.75, Lily 0.25) and either use the rest myself for tacos or whatever.... or save it to feed another meal the next day.


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## naturalfeddogs (Jan 6, 2011)

​We sometimes feed ground as treats, but they rarely get any otherwise. If we have some thawed that we had forgotten about in the back of the fridge we will feed that but thats about the only times we ever do.


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## ShanniBella (Jul 1, 2011)

But all meat harbors bacteria .....ground or whole form? Correct? So what about people who feed NV medallions or Stella and chewys medallions. I know alot of people who feed that because of convenience but also give raw meaty bones from the butcher. I'm still learning about raw so I figured I'd ask


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

ShanniBella said:


> But all meat harbors bacteria .....ground or whole form? Correct? So what about people who feed NV medallions or Stella and chewys medallions. I know alot of people who feed that because of convenience but also give raw meaty bones from the butcher. I'm still learning about raw so I figured I'd ask


Any ground up meat can have more bacteria than non-ground - it's surfaces are exposed to air and the grinder. There's just alot more chance for contamination.

That's true with any ground food. When you see meat recalls because of e coli, normally it's hamburger meat. Dogs aren't as susceptible to bacterias as people but the principle is the same.

PLUS, you don't really know what's in ground meat - how much fat, how much organ and bone etc. With non-ground all you have to do is look at it. 

I feed my small dog some ground meat that includes bones because those tiny grinds don't give her constipation as bad and she needs the bone, but all other meat for her I cut up myself.


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## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

The point is feeding ground on occasion is fine but if you feed ground A LOT your not doing your dogs gut any favors!


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## lucky (Jan 8, 2011)

I feed Lucky her green tripe ground, it comes that way pre packed and I can't get it anywhere else, she only has it about once a week though. Ground meats here are usually more expensive than whole so I don't bother buying it although if I saw it very cheap or was given it free then yes I would feed sparingly


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## AveryandAudrey (Sep 20, 2010)

my family all hunt and already got 3 deer this season. So I got alot I used the grinder for some and my dogs like it. but you have to keep bone in too or powdered egg shell to keep up the calcium. I give ground sometimes but I give bone the next meal. I like bone over egg shell because it keeps their teeth clean.


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

GoingPostal said:


> Stopped by my moms today, left with some cheesecake, truffles and 4 hunks of ground venison, I assume that's fine to feed on occasion? I'm not sure if it's beef/venison or just venison, don't dare ask my stepdad because he probably wouldn't be too happy about it being fed to the dogs, my mom doesn't like deer meat and wanted to clean out her freezer. Jersey is just switching, still on chicken quarters and I figured on turkey, pork, beef next, then maybe I can throw in the venison. I know she isn't big on organs so I thought about grinding them up and hiding them in ground meat, would it lose anything through grinding? I know it's crap on their teeth but wasn't turning down free meat, nobody got deer this year.


the operative word here for me...is free...

if the bacterial field is greater for contamination, freeze for a few weeks and use it to hide the organ that you haven't ground....


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## Liz (Sep 27, 2010)

We don't really use ground but if I get it free then I use it for hiding organs, or giving Diatamaceous earth, or meds or something like that. I also usually feed it in a frozen meatball form.


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## swolek (Mar 31, 2011)

I feed ground meats on occasion, they're always meats that I can't get here otherwise (like mutton and venison) from raw dog food distributors like Hare-Today. But if I can get it whole, I'll always go for that .


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## MollyWoppy (Mar 19, 2010)

It wouldn't worry me in the slightest to give Mol ground meat. Trouble is that it's so expensive round here, so she doesn't get much at all.


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## Herzo (Feb 5, 2011)

I feed it at times also. I get venison, antelope and elk. It's when people clean out there freezers and it's free got to love that. Most of it is ether ground by them or comes out of the meat plant I work at during hunting season, so it makes me feel better knowing where it comes from. But I think if we don't worry about chicken then why worry about ground meat.


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