Raw Feeding-Venison Question

[Guest NickelCreeksMom]

A friend of mine is going hunting soon (bow hunting) and has promised me some venison for the boys.

The boys get veal hearts and chicken liver occasionaly, so I was thinking of giving them the venison heart and liver as well

Now I'm wondering is it safe to give them the rr could it be a problem because of it being a wild animal, could paraistes be an issue? If so, would a deep freeze kill any parasites?

[Guest greytloves]

Whenever I feed raw meat it is always venision that my DH brought home. But he has never brough home the heart. Liver, yes and I dehydrated for treats - and I will not do that again. (ewwww factor)

 

We just package it in the "suck out the air" thingy and deep freeze the venision in small packages and then I will thaw out before feeding. We only do that because they don't get it that much.

 

I think the kicker is the processing. Most of the bacteria happen in the packing plants. Parasites or worms. Don't know.

 

Now my Dad who is a micro-biologist made us look at slides of raw pork and such with all the flukes and parasites in them. I think they have always been the cycle of life and that most healthy humans and animals process them and never know.

 

For what it is worth, I hope your friend is a good bow hunter. Many a year my husband kills a deer only because he finds it injured or majorly infected due to a bow. He showed me one that had the entire hind quarter that was a mass of gangrene. It was sad. Poor thing was going to die soon, but he felt he had to end her suffering.

Edited September 14, 2010 by greytloves

[4My2Greys]

I've been told you are suppose to deep freeze it for 3 months because of the parasites that wild game carry.

[Guest Swifthounds]

How long you would want to freeze it to kill parasites depends on your freezer temps, but it's nowhere near 3 months. I had some guidelines by temperature. I'll look for them.

[Guest NickelCreeksMom]

I'm not sure what the exact temp is on my chest freezer, but I'll be sure to put whatever I get in and let it get nice and frozen solid..

[NeylasMom]

I would google "deer parasite". There is one that deer carry and you do need to freeze your meat appropriately to ensure safety when feeding it raw. It's not an issue with commercially raised venison because the farms are tested, but with wild game, I would take precautions. It's been a while since I did the reading on it, hence the vagueness and my suggestion to google. You will quickly find the information I'm talking about.

 

One other note, it doesn't sound like this is your intent, but if you're going to be feeding a lot of venison scraps to your pups, note that venison is much leaner than a lot of meat so you may need to add another source of fat to the diet to sort of even it out if you're using it to replace another meat source. I speak from personal experience on that one.

[Guest greybookends]

A couple of years ago someone gave me almost an entire freezer full of venison and the gang thought they had died and gone to heaven. I didn't have any problems with it.

 

I remember back when I first joined GT there was a hound down in Florida that had such a sensitive stomach that the only thing that was found that he could eat was venison and at one point they put out an emergency call for sources of venison because theirs had run dry.

[Guest NickelCreeksMom]

Thank you again

I looked it up online and it's recommended to freeze venison for 24-48 hours, preferable 48..

I'll give it a few extra days in the deep frezze just to be on the safe side..

[silverfish]

How long you would want to freeze it to kill parasites depends on your freezer temps, but it's nowhere near 3 months. I had some guidelines by temperature. I'll look for them.

 

 

I'd need to check, but I know that roundworm eggs are nigh on impossible to kill, no matter what you do to them. Pretty sure freezing won't do it, but freezing will kill neospora and similar types of parasite if you freeze for longer than 24 hours at an appropriate temperature. For this reason, I only ever feed raw beef which has previously been frozen.

[Guest simile]

Every time I see a thread about hounds and wild game, I can't help but think of Dogs in Elk. This page answers absolutely none of your questions , but it sure is funny .

[Guest Swifthounds]

I'd need to check, but I know that roundworm eggs are nigh on impossible to kill, no matter what you do to them. Pretty sure freezing won't do it, but freezing will kill neospora and similar types of parasite if you freeze for longer than 24 hours at an appropriate temperature. For this reason, I only ever feed raw beef which has previously been frozen.

 

There are a few types of eggs that are very hard to kill. It's pretty useless to worry about worm eggs in raw food since, if you hounds goes outdoors, he/she is stepping on ground that's loaded with all manner of eggs. What most people are concerned with are the protozoan type critters. Healthy dogs with healthy guts and developed immune systems aren't liklely to pick up an infestation from either source and the raw contributes to those things.

 

For this reason, I only ever feed raw beef which has previously been frozen.

 

By this do you mean you only feed raw beef or that you'll only feed raw beef after it has been frozen? I'm just asking I read it the first time one way and differently the second. Just curious.

[Guest hlpnhounds]

Now this has me wondering about bones etc......

 

Has anyone fed/offered deer femurs, ribs etc ?

 

My brother in law hunts every year.....wondering if I can get some scraps from his hunt this year.....

[Pippin]

Every time I see a thread about hounds and wild game, I can't help but think of Dogs in Elk. This page answers absolutely none of your questions , but it sure is funny .

 

This is one of my favorites, and I had misplaced it. Thanks for sharing

[Guest mcsheltie]

With venison you want to stay away from the head and spinal cord because of neurological Chronic Wasting Disease (bovine spongiform encephalopathy). Everything else is fine. I freeze raw game from two weeks. That will take care of the harmful parasites.

 

I would not feed weight bearing bones, the risk for slab fractures of the teeth is too high. Ribs would be fine.

[Guest Swifthounds]

I also would not feed the weight bearing bones (legs, etc.) for the same reasons, but ribs are fine.

 

I probably would skip the brain/spinal cord of most larger animals, but not for fear of CWD.

There is no indication that CWD is a threat to domestic animals or livestock other than deer or elk (to whome it is transmissible). There have been no reports of CWD in dogs or cats.

 

There has also been no link between CWD in deer/elk and any human neurologic disease, nor is there any link between prion diseases in sheep and human neurological disease. AFAIK, only bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) appears to be related to human deaths from a new variant of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

[silverfish]

 

 

There are a few types of eggs that are very hard to kill. It's pretty useless to worry about worm eggs in raw food since, if you hounds goes outdoors, he/she is stepping on ground that's loaded with all manner of eggs. What most people are concerned with are the protozoan type critters. Healthy dogs with healthy guts and developed immune systems aren't liklely to pick up an infestation from either source and the raw contributes to those things.

 

For this reason, I only ever feed raw beef which has previously been frozen.

 

 

By this do you mean you only feed raw beef or that you'll only feed raw beef after it has been frozen? I'm just asking I read it the first time one way and differently the second. Just curious.

 

Yes, the protozoans are the ones I'd be worried about - neospora is the one we tend to get most commonly here and it's found in raw beef, so (knowing that freezing for at least 24 hours will kill it) I only feed raw beef which has previously been frozen.

 

 

 

Every time I see a thread about hounds and wild game, I can't help but think of Dogs in Elk. This page answers absolutely none of your questions , but it sure is funny .

 

This is one of my favorites, and I had misplaced it. Thanks for sharing

 

Oh, gosh, yes! I'd forgotten about that one. I'd lost the link, too!