Feeding Chicken Eggs ???

[george pirman]

I don't understand why we can no longer purchase horse meat? When I was young my dad always added raw horse meat to dry feed and his Beagle did great on it with a one or two eggs a week.

[TheLittleBlackBook]

It's nice to see more people realizing those kibble companies (like Purina) pay for articles to be written solely in order to justify their own questionable existence. Regarding the viability of kibble, there simply is no "science" anywhere that can prove the little brown pellets we call "kibble" are more nutritious than the original raw materials that they started as. Further, most kibble companies use products like wheats, corns, glutens, beet pulps, etc. that have been scientifically proven to cause severe breakdown in the health of most dogs, allergies, and/or (at the very least) are simply ingredients NO dog would try to eat in the wild. The idea of feeding any organism a diet it was not designed to eat in the first place is folly, and that is what all kibble companies do. Any person (who knows how to read well) can see right through the transparency of such articles, which are written for no other reason than as a "scare tactic" to keep gullible owners feeding their dogs the very kibble that these companies manufacture. So, again, it is good to see people reading between these lines.

Regarding how "time consuming" it is to feed raw, this is another over-exaggeration. If planned intelligently, it takes me about an extra hour to feed 25 dogs a raw diet, and that is if I prepare it myself. If a person were to go to a meat rending facility (where many greyhounders go), there are companies that offer pre-mixed rations of meats, bones, organ meats, etc., that are already mixed and in 10-lb sleeves which means there is hardly any difference in preparation time, only in clean-up of the preparation area. However, there is a flipside to the amount of saved time that people (who have never fed raw) often fail to consider, and that is poop cleaning. How many of you have had to scrub-and-scrub dried puppy poop from their pens, day-in and day-out? Well, guess what? If you feed raw, the puppy turds go from being moist and sticky (thanks to kibble) to being hard as a rock (thanks to raw), which in turn means their poop doesn't stick to anything, which thereby reduces your puppy pen clean-up dramatically. I could go on and on as to other benefits of feeding raw, but to me they are self-evident to anyone who chooses to think about them.

Finally, regarding the topic question (feeding raw eggs), of course this is a good thing to do. However, at the risk of a little contradiction, there are some unique truths about eggs that should be considered by the raw feeder: in the unique and particular situation with eggs, studies show that soft-boiled is the most nutritious way in which to eat eggs. The raw albumen (white) is THE best source of protien that there is, but for some reason when eaten in raw form the albumen is harder to digest than it is when cooked. Further, the repeated eating of raw albumen can cause a biotin deficiency. Yet the flipside is the yolk (which is full of vitamins) is better and more nutritious when eaten raw.

To bridge this gap, serving eggs soft-boiled (somewhere between fully-raw and fully-cooked) is preferred. This means a person should boil the egg for about 2 minutes, to where the egg is cooked just long enough to solidify the white ... and yet leaves the yolk raw and still moist and in its most nutritious state. This is why I recommend serving the eggs soft-boiled. And as for the shells, they provide calcium and so should be left there to eat also.

Hope this is helpful.




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[Bunnyblaster]

Ok, a couple of comments and question about your post LBB.

First the comments, I don't know if your comment about people "who know how to read well" was meant to be condescending or not but that's the way it came across. We may not all be the most educated people in the world but it doesn't mean we're all idiots either. Just because someone doesn't agree with your methods that doesn't make them ignorant or uneducated........they just don't want to do it your way. IMO you can keep those comments to yourself. Second, as far as for ingredients in the kibble and the things our dogs weren't meant to eat...........do you only consume things that were put on this earth for you to ingest??? I only ask because there are plenty of chemicals, dyes, etc in the things we eat every day that aren't good for us but we still seem to keep on eating them. Maybe human health advocates should take a page out of your little black book for themselves. Third, the egg thing..........really???.............how many are going to take the time to soft boil eggs for their dogs? My guess is not that many. I enjoy my dogs and care for them the best I can but I am not going to soft boil an egg for my rabbit hounds. I've seen people feed raw eggs to their dogs for years and as far as I can tell had no ill effects from it. Fourth, the rendering plant............now that's not a bad idea. I've never thought of that before but it's something I'm now thinking about checking into for a food source.

Now for the questions..............The first few I have are about the rendering plant. Can you give us an idea on what they charge, how to go about finding one in our area(do you just look up rendering facility in the phone book), is there really a significant amount of difference in the amount of waste you'll have and how much do you feed to your dogs per serving? Second, when you say it takes you an extra hour to feed 25 dogs are you saying an extra hour per day, per week, per what? I'm assuming you mean per day when you feed them. Last, what exactly does your raw diet consist of in terms of ingredients and supplements? How much does it cost you to feed one dog per day? Cost isn't the only thing to consider but it plays a part in making an informed decision too.

Some good ideas and info but I need a few more specifics before I go completely raw.

[klrconcrete]

I like the way this subject really heats some people up, its as if they know that dry kibble is inferior but just cant come right out and say it! The way things are written to those who cant read well doesnt really mean much, if you cant read well you are probably not taking much out of the text anyway so clarifying wont help. My take on not reading well was this: Go read a label of a bag of kibble that advertises something like "real chicken is our number one ingredient" if you read as far as the first word it would more than likely be either real or ckicken, then read on to see corn, wheat, rice, millet, beet pulp, etc. now the question is do you think that you are getting more "real chicken" or more grains of some sort? This is where reading well comes in, yes the first ingredient is Chicken but the next four or five ingredients behind it are a grain product. So do you think you bought real chicken or breakfast cereal that is chicken flavored? I am not trying to be smartass- I have made dog food a hobby of sorts that goes hand in hand with beagling and I am constantly playing with different ingredients and trying to come up with something "better" than what I may be using at the time. I do not premix my feed I do it individually each night for the simple fact that each dog has different requirements like we discussed last week with the fish oil and only one of my dogs getting it daily etc. What you should do for your own "study" is switch from whatever kibble you are currently using to the highest end kibble you can use something like EVO or TIMBERWOLF ORGANICS (these are good products in my opinion as far as kibble goes) What you should see immediately after your dogs system gets used to the feed is a very noticeable change in the stool- lots less! It may not smell like the stool before-but its crap so its going to stink! The next thing should be the coat- little or no slippage and a very sleek but not greasy blanket. After these the only change will the way they hold weight it should plump them all right up. Beyond these things you will not see a another physical change, as far as performance in the field the only thing should be recovery time after a good run- it should be nill. These are the exact same things you will see if you go totally raw, So why feed raw? It is what you cant see, remember the Melamine in pet food thing just a couple of years ago? You know exactly, first hand and are in total control of what goes in.

[Bunnyblaster]

Well we'll play it like this and keep it going until someone gets in the last word........cause that means I win right????

Condescending tones shows ignorance and intolerance of others..........you wanna have a battle of intelligence find a different board. You wanna talk beagles in a civil tone............this is the place to be. KL, it wasn't directed at you so don't take it that way. Now the down and dirty for the last time...........most of the people on here have better things to do with their time than mix up a raw diet on a daily or weekly basis and I think it's small minded for either side to think their answer to the "feed" issue is the end all answer. If you wanna discuss getting heated.......it's you raw feeders that take exception when we kibble feeders don't wanna jump right on board with what you've got going on. Kibble has worked for YEARS!!!!!!!!!!!!! and while it may not be the "best" I think most guys will agree you can find good results if you choose carefully. I know this is gonna whip up a crap storm but oh well I guess........sling away if you need to.

Oh btw, my dogs have nice stools, are fine for having energy in the field and their coats look pretty darn good too!!! And can you believe all that on just plain old kibble??? I'm not above trying other options to see what it provides but again it's not practical for everyone.

[klrconcrete]

You need to stay on dry kibble, its just that simple, as I said within this topic or another related to it, you're at capacity with what kibble requires of you. Dont change a thing. I fed dry for a long long time and tried about everything made some was good, most was not. This is where I feel I have an advantage on this subject over you, I have used both and formed my own opinion. The results of your poll will have at least ten times the kibble feeders versus raw which I know as do you, but that wont change my stance at all, I didnt let the majority decide for me.

[Bunnyblaster]

delete

[Bunnyblaster]

Nobody ever said you needed to let a majority decide what you do........me either. I do what I do because it's what fits me......for now at least. At the same time I'm not trying to convince anyone what to do, it's what fits best for each of us but I have to say I find it at least a little interesting that there are thousands of dogs out there that do just fine on "kibble"........everyone of em from the house pet to the best rabbit hound or field champion you can find. I never did get an answer how many field champions eat kibble vs raw........I can't believe with all the added benefits and extra energy a dog fed a raw diet has compared to a kibble eater that we even have kibble fed dogs winning trials anymore. I would surely think the tide would have turned by now and the dogs on the superior diet would be dominating the woods and the trial circuit. And you are right on one thing, there will be a ton more kibble feeders in my poll than raw feeders and there can be only one real explanation for it, it works just fine for the MAJORITY of folks that own beagles. I would like to think if it was as bad as you say and as inferior as you claim to even feeding just plain old corn that you would have more guys throwing in the towel and going raw. Like I said.......or you said, I may be at "capacity" with what I've got going on right now........and I do plan on experimenting a little bit with some raw added to their diet.............but at this point I've got better things to do with my time that soft boil an egg for a dog.

And so it's easy for you to read and understand, I got your sarcasm........sure hope your capable of understanding mine.

.............your turn

[Hawkin']

I remember reading somewhere,if you feed a raw meat diet,one day of the week cottage cheese should be substituted in the mix instead of meat.I maybe wrong but I think it had something to do with calcium? Maybe one of the "raw" guys will know what I'm talking about. I feed my dogs Innova dry dog food,but I always mix in some meat,eggs,cottage cheese,carrots,butter milk or something like that. Not alot,just something a little extra.