# Dehydrating Meat & Organs



## Ivy (Mar 16, 2011)

This is going to be a multiple question post so I don't have to start too many separate ones:

**I was wondering if you can dehydrate any type of meat or is it usually just organs. Does the meat loose any of the nutrients when dehydrated?
Also, those of you that do dehydrate, how hot and for how long do you leave in the oven?


**Pork neck bones.....I have such a hard time cutting them into appropriate sizes. What do you guys use to cut through the bones? I swear my whole arm is tingling by the time i'm done, lol.


**Fish: would feeding fish heads be sufficient? If feeding whole fish with guts and all, how do you figure out how much organ is consumed to give the appropriate amount of organs spread out throughout the rest of week?


**Dallas eats pork necks at an alarming rate (compared to the others) Should I be worried that he may hurt himself? The bones are pretty hard and the pieces I give him are quite large.


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## naturalfeddogs (Jan 6, 2011)

From my understanding, no nutrients are lost from dehydrating, just all loss of moisture. I have never used the oven to dehydrate, we have a dehydrater. But, a lot of folks here do use the oven so I am sure you will get an answer to that soon. I wanna say, maybe 150 degrees or so.


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## Sprocket (Oct 4, 2011)

Pork neck bones are SO hard to cut. I just took a saw to them. I really like the pork neck for the dogs so I'll keep buying it lol

I dehydrated liver treats in my oven on Sunday. 170 F (oven won't go lower) for about 9 hours.


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## eternalstudent (Jul 22, 2010)

I use the oven at 100 F, then switched to using a crock pot to dehydrate.

Pork neck bones can be cut but you have to get in-between the bones. If you have a small very sharp knife you are able to slit the muscle and tendon. 

It is not the easiest thing but once you have it is is quite simple.

I like feeding fish heads and off cuts of salmon as they are practically given away from the shops. As for whole fish and the organs I simply take the whole fish out of the equations as it is whole prey as such and is balanced.


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

Ivy said:


> This is going to be a multiple question post so I don't have to start too many separate ones:
> 
> **I was wondering if you can dehydrate any type of meat or is it usually just organs. Does the meat loose any of the nutrients when dehydrated?
> Also, those of you that do dehydrate, how hot and for how long do you leave in the oven?


Any type of meat can be dehydrated. The only nutrients that are lost are enzymes. 




> **Pork neck bones.....I have such a hard time cutting them into appropriate sizes. What do you guys use to cut through the bones? I swear my whole arm is tingling by the time i'm done, lol.


I would use a fine tooth saw to do it, like the picture below....or a reciprocating saw (sawz-all) if the bone is big enough.












> **Fish: would feeding fish heads be sufficient? If feeding whole fish with guts and all, how do you figure out how much organ is consumed to give the appropriate amount of organs spread out throughout the rest of week?


In Denver we primarily fed salmon heads on a weekly basis. We stopped feeding whole tilapia due to their lack of overall nutrition and that was really the only whole fish we gave. The organs in fish are so tiny that I wouldn't consider them as part of the organ meats for the week, so I wouldn't worry about that. And we haven't fed fish in over 4 months...without any noticeable changes in body condition or anything, although we feed mostly grass fed, red meats. 



> **Dallas eats pork necks at an alarming rate (compared to the others) Should I be worried that he may hurt himself? The bones are pretty hard and the pieces I give him are quite large.


Well, Dallas is a big guy. My biggest Dane consumes bones very quickly, larger ones than the other girls can eat. Take a look at his gums and teeth after a pork neck meal...if they looked damaged then I wouldn't give them anymore (small cuts in the gums is normal).


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## Kbug (Oct 23, 2011)

I know a taxidermist who uses a scalpel to butcher everything from beef to fish. He uses it to get between all bones. It works great.

Kbug


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## Chocx2 (Nov 16, 2009)

I have a bone saw and was using it for a bit, but I get stuff from a butcher and he is very nice and cuts the neck bones into pieces for me now.
I have to get him a great xmas gift!! Anyone have any suggestions?
I also use a meat hammer, or tenderizer thing hit it hard enough and it will break...

bass pro shop has the saws, but i don't even use mine anymore:becky:


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