# Unsure what to ask for in butchers...



## Nina_82 (Sep 26, 2010)

This probably will sound a bit silly to a lot of people...

I am starting to introduce raw food to my dog. She is really enjoing it so far. I have been buying meat from Tesco but would imagine that a butcher would be cheaper and more variety on offer.

I have seen the raw feeding thread and found it very useful but I have never even been in a butchers let alone ask for anything in one and have no idea what to say.

With beef for example, I have no idea of the different kinds/parts etc, I can't just say "Can I have some beef please" can I?

Also, when 'meaty bones' is mentioned, what do I ask for in the butcher?

Would be really grateful if someone could give me an idea of what I should ask for?!

Sorry for being such an idiot! :lol: I rarely eat meat and was veggie for 8 years!


----------



## paddyjulie (May 9, 2009)

i used to order a full ox heart for mine when i fed them raw.. the butcher would chop it up for me as its quite tough in places...very cheap compared to buying pre-packed in supermarkets and it would last me 2/3 weeks for two of them.. i fed them it once a week..they loved it


----------



## Petloversdigest (Dec 10, 2010)

I went to the butchers and negotiated a price per pound for chicken wings - these suited all my dogs size wise and the butcher told me he often prepared chicken without the wings for his customers so win win all round, and definitely cheaper than the supermarkets, although they were good in an emergency...


----------



## Statler (Jan 3, 2011)

get to know your butcher and you will be suprised what he will part with, if you ask for bones some will look at you like uve just insulted their mother, others are happy to part with them. there is alot of over complicated nonsense written about barf feeding but in reality after the first week you will wonder why its made out to be complicated. some will say feed any bones that arent weight bearing but personally mine have whatever is in the butchers bin when i go in, anything and everything goes, although offal i tend to feed less of because it can give the runs


----------



## Mum2Heidi (Feb 17, 2010)

My OH is a butcher.

I am sure if you go into the shop and say you are wanting some meat for your dog, they will have plenty of ideas for you. The only thing they may not be aware of is that weight bearing bones are no good. They splinter, so rib, neck etc.
You could also look through the sticky on feeding raw again and make a few notes of what you will be needing


----------



## kaisa624 (Mar 5, 2010)

At my OH's local market, there is a butchers, and he puts all the meaty bones, or scrap bones in a bucket for anyone to take. Otherwise, we have to ask for other parts of the animal


----------



## Sparkle (Jan 28, 2010)

Where abouts in Kent are you?? Are you anywhere near sevenoaks?? There's a butcher in te garden centre that advertises to ask for bones for your dogs you literally say can I have some bones for my dogs and you et racks of lamp ribs, spines, pork which I think is part f the hip area idk but even my chihuahuas go mental for the big bones

Any bones but weight baring bones (like beef legs) as they can damage teeth


----------



## shazalhasa (Jul 21, 2009)

I ask the butcher in morrisons for stuff from his scrap bin lol, they do have to charge but I've had a full tray of lamb ribs and spine for 24p


----------



## Nina_82 (Sep 26, 2010)

Thanks for the advice everyone!

I think I'll be brave and pop in tomorrow. I looked in the window today but was too worried of making an idiot of myself! :lol:


----------



## SophieCyde (Oct 24, 2010)

thanks for this thread , I was thinking the exact same thing but felt a bit silly to put it :thumbup:

going to pop into the butchers soon


----------



## Nina_82 (Sep 26, 2010)

SophieCyde said:


> thanks for this thread , I was thinking the exact same thing but felt a bit silly to put it :thumbup:
> 
> going to pop into the butchers soon


:lol: Glad I'm not the only one!


----------



## the melster (Mar 20, 2010)

What I get from where:

lamb mince (pet shop)
beef chunks (pet shop)
green tripe mince (pet shop)
lamb necks (pet shop)
chicken necks (pet shop)

hearts (supermarket)
lamb breast ribs (supermarket)
chicken wings (supermarket)/(pet shop)
oxtail (supermarket)
liver (supermarket)
kidneys (supermarket)

lungs (butcher) 
sweetbreads (butcher)
scraps from the chum bucket (butcher)
chicken carcasses (butcher)
windpipe (butcher)
lamb ribs (butcher)

The first butcher I went to in the village looked at me as if I had two heads when I asked for chicken carcasses for the dogs and then went on to argue with me about feeding dogs bones. It really shook my confidence. The second butcher I went to was great and gets things specially from the abottoir for me. He is grateful for me to take bones as he has to pay to get them taken away and couldn't be more helpful. You will find a good understanding butcher and become much more confident about what to ask for. 

The first time I went in and asked for lungs I got the full pluck minus the kidneys and liver and actually had to dissect it all myself and google bits as I went along to find out what they were  :lol:


----------



## Nina_82 (Sep 26, 2010)

the melster said:


> What I get from where:
> 
> lamb mince (pet shop)
> beef chunks (pet shop)
> ...


Thanks! That's very helpful. 
I think I would actually be sick if I had to dissect something! :lol:
Am getting a bit less squeamish about it all though and even managed to look at the photos on the raw feeding thread earlier!


----------



## Malmum (Aug 1, 2010)

I get a box of chicken carcasses - 50 for £5, then freeze them in bags of eight for mine - you want fresh not frozen as you can't seperate them easily, I phone and order mine. Chicken necks, chicken hearts, an ox liver or two that I divide into six portions before freezing, if they are frozen you can let them thaw a little and cut them up as it doesn't hurt to re freeze, pigs trotters, pig skin, pig tails, pig ears and hearts. I also get some bones but they have to have meat on them so I order from here and get ribs, minced chicken with minced bone already in, minced venison, minced rabbit, minced tripe, economy mince with heart, lung and kidney already in and whole rabbits - fur on, but they are £2 each and Kali and Flynn won't touch them but Marty loves them - piggy boy!
Raw Dogfood provides many nutritional and health benefits over traditional wet feed. Our business specialises in BARF

I have a chest freezer so can store a lot at a time. The butcher also does pet mince and his are in 1lb packs so the dogs can have a whole frozen pack as a treat - I call it their meaty jubblys and it doesn't hurt to feed frozen, especially on a hot summers day - lovely!  Oh and if they're very lucky the butcher throws in a pigs head, which he cuts into four portions, keeps them occupied for a very long time.


----------



## XxZoexX (Sep 8, 2010)

I got a huge box of bagged up pet mince for a tenner my chest freezer is full and thankfully the guy minced me some small amounts of liver into it as Jack wont touch it on its own :lol:
I then get Meaty bones/chicken ect wherever i find it cheapest. Will have to look at sweetbread and lungs see if he likes them so glad i read this 
I get Tripe and Rabbit frozen from [email protected] as its not so easy to get hold of around here.


----------



## Staffx (Jan 12, 2011)

Just a quick question on lungs, does it count as muscle or offal?


----------



## MarKalAm (Sep 6, 2008)

Staffx said:


> Just a quick question on lungs, does it count as muscle or offal?


Muscle.


----------



## Petloversdigest (Dec 10, 2010)

Staffx said:


> Just a quick question on lungs, does it count as muscle or offal?


Erm...lungs don't contain any muscle tissue so I would think they are classified as offal - they are usually discarded from the human food chain if memory serves me correctly so I think most people would class them as offal


----------



## vizzy24 (Aug 31, 2008)

The Dog Food Company - Products Page

I don't about how much delivery is but they do say they will deliver all over so worth a try and very reasonable prices. Their meat looks good enough for people lol


----------



## vizzy24 (Aug 31, 2008)

Real, Raw, Organic Dog Food Supplier - Ingredients

These also look good


----------



## cinnamontoast (Oct 24, 2010)

Keep asking at as many butchers as you can drive to. It took a while, but I found one that does offal and carcasses on request, as much or little as I like. We got carcasses yesterday and stuffed the freezer. I use tripe as one of the staples and that comes from a guy who supplies greyhound trainers-middle of nowhere, random tip from one butcher in Sainsbury to the independent butcher locally (his cousin :thumbsup. Pick a quiet time and have a good chat with the butcher. 

It's a balance of finding out how much bone and meat the dog will tolerate: ours don't like too much bone and it shows!


----------



## cinnamontoast (Oct 24, 2010)

:lol: The market was open today in town and after a happy meander round town, I came across a butcher there. He had three pigs' heads lined up on the shelf and 9 pigs' trotters for 50p each. I didn't dare get a pig head-it was huge and I already had kilos of fruit, plus the OH has a bit of a phobia about the heads-childhood thing!

Anyhow, got 6kgs for £4, but the pups didn't really make a dent, although big dog had half gone before giving up with jaw fatigue, I reckon! 

I've never been to that butcher but I'll be back!


----------



## Elmo the Bear (Oct 3, 2008)

Ribs... ours love ribs. And get yourself a nice new clean hacksaw. I had a pelvis once (not mine of course... from the butchers).. difficult to share amongst five without a hacksaw :lol:


----------



## the melster (Mar 20, 2010)

That's one thing with raw .. your kitchen drawers contain things that make you look like you dismember bodies for fun :lol:


----------



## hobbs2004 (Mar 12, 2010)

MarKalAm said:


> Muscle.


I disagree - lung is offal!  If you can get pig lung, which is full of iron, which in turn makes up for getting well-bled meat with little blood content.


----------



## Sleeping_Lion (Mar 19, 2009)

Posting and dashing off, but my butchers do boxes of chicken carcasses, they buy them in from the factory to sell on to restaurants etc for making stock/gravy. And it's good quality chicken, free range, which I'm happy about. I get them for £1.50 per box, and there's between 40 and 60 portions in each one, depending on whether it's the back end or front end of the chicken. I also get a free tray of lamb rib cages, usually between 8 and 10 which I cut up into portions. I don't feed pork or beef bones, as I prefer feeding smaller softer bones that are less likely to splinter. The larger weight bearing bones can splinter, such as beef marrow bones. I spend less than £10 on meat specifically for the dogs, and usually get more than enough to raw feed 10 dogs.


----------



## Malmum (Aug 1, 2010)

Funny thing about pigs heads are that the dogs always spit out the teeth and I know of other Mals that do this. Have to go in the garden and look for teeth - yuk! A bit of dentistry I call it!


----------



## Nina_82 (Sep 26, 2010)

Finally went to the butcher...

Was brave and tried not to look at the dead pigs hanging in the window!

I was expecting a few little bones or something but came out with this for free because my son smiled nicely and was chatting to the butcher! No idea what it is but Daisy enjoyed it!


----------



## babycham2002 (Oct 18, 2009)

ahh well done
I used to get trotters for free from the butchers next door to where i used to work, my colleagues used to love me putting them in the staff room fridge :eek6:

I havent tried the butchers next door to my new work place, I like the idea of chicken carcasses. Need a bigger freezer.


----------



## Petloversdigest (Dec 10, 2010)

Nina_82 said:


> Finally went to the butcher...No idea what it is but Daisy enjoyed it!


Umm, yum yum....gold star for bravery award for getting into the butchers. :thumbup:


----------

