Canning Dog Food From Offal

baymule

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We sent 4 lambs to slaughter and I got the liver, heart and kidneys from all four. Today I canned dog food from them. I cooked and diced the meat. I also had a bag of chicken necks in the freezer so I tossed them in too. It made a rich broth.

I put a half cup of cooked rice in each jar, along with cubed end of the season squash. I put 1 cup of the meat, each jar got a chicken neck and filled with broth.

I processed at 10 pounds of pressure for 90 minutes. I just finished 7 quarts and put 5 more quarts in the canner.

Since I was in the kitchen, I made zucchini bread and fried some pan sauce. Zucchini bread is smelling good!

We will mix this with the dogs food on those times when they go off their feed. Talk about an appetite stimulator! LOL
 

baymule

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I also posted this on BYH and there was a discussion about the thyroid in chicken necks being a problem For dogs. So I went looking for answers. I thought y'all might like knowing what I found.


This article says the thyroid is located next to the trachea, next to the larynx. The chicken necks I give my dogs are skinned and the trachea is not included.

http://www.petmd.com/blogs/thedailyvet/ken-tudor/2014/july/raw-diets-and-hyperthyroidism-dogs-31873

This article is very informative, with diagrams showing where the thyroid is on the trachea or gullet.

https://thesciencedog.wordpress.com/2015/10/29/got-gullet/

This article seems to stress that the thyroid is in raw food diets. So far, I haven't found where cooking the necks removes or destroys the thyroid or any thyroid residue.

https://sfraw.wordpress.com/2017/03/17/qa-feeding-necks-hyperthyroidism-in-dogs/

This article didn't say that cooking the thyroid cancels it out, but it did say that it used to be included in hamburger for human consumption and that it caused thyroid problems in people. Since I don't know anybody that eats raw hamburger, my assumption is that cooking the gullet with attached thyroid does nothing to mitigate the damage the thyroid gland can do to our beloved dogs. Or ourselves for that matter. In other articles I read that the practice of including thyroid material in human diets was outlawed in the 1980's. But it can still be included in commercial raw diets for our pets.

http://truthaboutpetfood.com/diet-related-hyperthyroidism/


So in summary, I discard the gullet, but it disappears down the gullet of a hungry dog drooling over the prospect of a yummy treat. :\ This I will not do anymore. So my home canned dog food is safe for my dogs because I did not include the gullet. Butcher day treats will be minus one particular treat that will from now on, be donated to the trash.

I do love this forum, see how we all learn from each other and share information?
 

baymule

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My husband split a jar last night between our 3 dogs, mixed with their kibble. They licked the pans!
 

wyoDreamer

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Lucky, Dogs!
That is such a great idea. In the freezer, I have a bunch of snack bags stuffed with the fat that we ended up with when we shredded 30 pounds of smoked pork shoulder for my Dad/s 80th Birthday party. I pull out a bag, thinly slice a bunch off the end of it with the butcher knife and put the rest back in the freezer. Slicing it thinnly makes is "shredded" and just the right texture to mix into the dog food. the only down side is the amount of drool that ends up on teh floor as they wait for me to mix it all together and put their dishes on the floor.
Since I will be butchering 14 cornishX in a coule of weeks, I will save the organ meat to be canned for the dogs.
Do you think it would be safe to add some of the pork fat to a couple of the jars of the organ meat? What are the rules on canning fat - will it go rancid on me?
 

baymule

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@wyoDreamer I canned lard that I rendered. From all that I could find, it should be good for a year or two. So I think a little fat in your dog food will be ok.

Are you going to part out the chicken? If you do, can the back bony pieces with a cup of cooked rice per quart. The bones crumble when we feed them, so not a danger.

I saved the feet from the Cornish we raised and made broth. After simmering them for the broth, I took out the long leg bone, and saved the “toes” for the dogs. I cut the toenails off before making broth.
 

wyoDreamer

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A couple of the chickens will be frozen whole, but most will be pieced out. We eat mostly white meat, so that will all be frozen - some with bone and skin, but most will be boneless-skinless. The thighs and legs will be canned. Probably equal amounts canned as chicken, chicken and dumplins base, and chicken stew base. Canned chicken meat is so handy and yummy.
Broth, of course. All the bones will be cooked down into broth and that will be canned also.
Any fat I can scrounge off them will be rendered and stored in the fridge/freezer. I have developed a taste for chicken fat in my cooking. I love frying potatoes in it.
 

baymule

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I'll have to try the chicken fat for frying. You know, we just don't waste much off a chicken, LOL!
 

Beekissed

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Bay, since your dogs are not eating butcher day treats frequently, I doubt it would send them into a state of hyperthyroidism chronically...unless you are feeding them your home canned dog food daily throughout the year?

I don't hesitate to give my dogs any part of the animals we butcher here, as it's usually a seasonal dietary change~lasts a couple of weeks, if that~ and not part of their daily regimen, like those feeding an exclusive raw diet of chicken necks.

I'm wondering just how much thyroid material goes in our commercially derived pet foods? I'm betting quite a bit.
 

baymule

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I still put chicken necks in their dog food. They don't get it every day, plus I have canned liver and heart for them too.

There is a member on TEG that works at a rendering plant where they take EVERYTHING and render it for dog food. I love the glowing pictures of steak and whole chickens on the brightly colored dog food bags. Are people really so stupid to think that cleaned, ready for people to eat whole chicken, is ground up and in that dog food bag? If they knew that feather meal, which is high in protein, the feet, heads, guts, etc is what the ingredients really mean when chicken is listed on the bag, they would puke.
 

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