[LindaP]

To the vets here, TIA for your input and patience with these questions! :smile:

I keep seeing these things for cheap in my grocery store, and wondering if I should get them. Yes, no?

Whole fish heads? (ew, ew, ew, yuck) They are quite large.

Whole smelts? Feed with tail, fin and gils?

Chicken feet?

Pork ribs?

 

[Todd]

Although I not all that experienced with feeding my dog her new prey model raw died, I think I can answer most of your inquires;

Whole Fish Heads: Yep those should be fine.

Whole Smelt: I know that it's fine for dogs to eat whole fish, however I am unfamiliar with smelts. Hopefully someone can answer that question for you. I would say go for it though.

Chicken Feet: Yep, fine. I don't see why not. Wolves in the wild would eat them so your dog can too.

Pork Ribs: Defiantly. Many raw feeders give their dogs pork ribs for a meal about once per week.

You may not want the majority of your dog's diet to comprise of these things, but in moderation and as snacks, there should all be fine.:smile:

 

[rannmiller]

Yes to all of the above!

 

[RawFedDogs]

Whole fish heads? (ew, ew, ew, yuck) They are quite large.

The seafood guy at my old grocery store used to give me salmon heads for free but my dogs just didn't like them so I stopped getting them. Near as I could tell they are mosly bone. Not real nutritious.

Whole smelts? Feed with tail, fin and gils?

I'm not quite sure what a smelt is but assuming it's a fish, yes, feed whole just like it came out of the water.

Chicken feet?

Yes, these are more like a treat or an addition to a meal instead of a meal by themselves. They are a good natural source of glucosimine.

Pork ribs?

Yes they are ok. They are heavy in bone but ok to feed occasionally. I feed them from time to time when they are on sale.

 

[J&T]

Your guys will probably eat just about anything. On your list, chicken feet are kind of a staple here. Mostly for a snack, but also just of add a wee bit of bone to the boneless days we have begun to have every week.

You mentioned smelt. Sorry folks but this will be off topic but you brought up another memory from my days of living in Gods Country (the upper peninsula of Michigan). And thank you for rekindling that memory.

Around the end of April after 6 months of snow (the banana belt on Lake Huron will only get 15-20 feet; the Lake Superior side will get 25 ft plus) the buzz becomes "are the smelt running"? On that first full moonlit night(added the full moon part to make it sound more folksy) on every stream and tributary leading into the great lakes, many hundreds of people go "smelt dipping". The streams would be like liquid silver from the hundreds of thousands of smelt. There is a veritable army of people with nets and coolers anticipating the harvest. Coolers are filled with beer but as the dipping goes on you gotta have a place to put the smelts so you gotta drink the beer ASAP.

There are 3 state universitys up there usually filled with "troll" students and a good number from across the country and world. For the uninitiated smelt dippers, with their first netting, they had to reach in-grab one- bite the head off and eat rest of the smelt. Thats one of the many rituals used to "de-troll" a person. I was once one of those student trolls a time long ago in a place I very much long to return too!

FYI's
A troll is anyone who resides below the Mackinaw Bridge. Sadly the smelt runs have been smaller and smaller over the last couple of decades and is probably affecting the Lake Trout, Whitefish and Sturgeon population as they are predatory fish and smelts are the prey.

Anyway back on topic. Yea, go for it but don't forget lotsa meat.

 

[DaneMama]

^^^ Great story thanks for sharing! Sounds like fun, and something that I would enjoy doing/seeing one day :biggrin:

LindaP: as far as your list goes up there, I agree with all the others that they are all fine to feed. The only thing that we feed from that list is pork ribs, our dogs LOVE them. We have always been hesitant to get whole fish heads, salmon, because they are almost ALL bone....Bailey eats whole tilapia for breakfast and the heads are almost exclusively bone. The salmon heads are like $.70 per pound here from our distributor so I feel that I would rather spend the money on something a bit more nutritious for the same amount. Yes, variety is a great thing to provide, but to me taking out one not-so-nutritious thing and having one less protein source in the rotation is better than having one extra not-so-nutritious thing added in.

The smelt sound like something we would get for the dogs, definitely, just never seen it here and yes, feed it whole (its like a mini complete meal with bones, organs and meat in one!). Thought about the chicken feet, just have never gotten those either...they are pretty darn cheap here too...maybe next time we make an order :wink: