I was reading my new issue of Whole Dog Journal and there was a very intriguing article about Green Tripe in there.  I've been a kibble feeder for many years now, but the WDJ sure did make Tripe sound good.  Any input?  Has anyone fed the stuff? If so, have you seen positive or negative results?   Can you use it as a suppliment in addition to kibble?  Or is it something you use as a part of a completely raw feeding program?

My girls have been on a Raw Diet since January.  Green tripe is part of their regular regimen.  I order green tripe from an internet supplier of raw foods for pets www.hare-today.com.  My girls absolutely love green tripe (still contains the stomach contents)!  It's nature's wonder food.......so much so that many european breeders feed it exculsively to their kennels with no kibble at all!  My girls get it periodically in the mornings, which is when I feed them organ meats.  They get mostly Raw Meaty Bones (usually chicken) for their evening meals and occasionally cubed muscle meats without bone or tuna/salmon from a can. 

Tripe smells (and looks) awful, so I don't get to close with my nose.  I honestly can't believe how the girls wolf it down!  I get it in 5lb. chubs and it is shipped frozen.  Then I thaw one and subdivide in to a week's-worth in zip lock bags and refreeze. 

 Yuck! No offense. But this tripe sounds nasty!  I'd never give it to Prince simply because it comes from an animal in the first place. Prince & Ozzy eat vegatarian dog food and cat food. Which is  healhier for them. If you knew  the stuff that goes into some these pet foods it would probably make you sick. Believe it or not a lot of pet foods contain ground up parts of animals that are not even fit for humans to eat, So why would you feed it to your pets?

That is WHY we suggest that people feed their dogs a high quality food with human-grade ingredients. 

Although, I have to say...that tripe sounds awful!  I don't think I could handle the stuff without getting sick...."stomach lining with contents still inside"!!  I had heard that tripe was good for keeping teeth clean but still.....

Folks, the contents of a cow's stomach consists merely of chewed up grass and pasture weeds, for goodness sake.  After all, they graze on open fields, don't they?  Not as gross as the bugs and poop some of our ratties eat, for sure!  Tripe is just not so gross I'm unwilling to feed such a vitamin, mineral, omega filled food to my dogs.  Google Green Tripe and you will find a wealth of information on its benefits.    

As to the "Raw Diet", yes, the meat is raw.  That's why it is called a Raw Diet.  But pray tell, how is handiing raw meat for your dogs is one bit different than handling it for your own meals.  You use knives, cutting boards, & chop it up.  You hopefully  wash your hands well after handling and clean up cutting surfaces properly, I hope.   Only difference is who's getting it.   If you're a vegetarian and don't like handling meat, naturally you would not be interested in such a diet (though your dogs sure might, seeing as their nutritional needs are that of a carnivore).

Oh, I forgot to include some links on Raw Diet and the myths about feeding raw.  I have found the first source very informative on what people THINK about feeding raw diets to pets. 

http://www.rawfed.com/myths/

http://www.rawlearning.com

http://www.rawfeddogs.net/

http://www.rawmeatybones.com

Tripe is the stomach lining of a cow, sheep, etc... what do you think wild dogs ate? It's green because it contains the undigested food from the animals has the minerals and nutrients wild dogs needed to survive... people eat tripe - but it's sterilized and processed first to make it suitable for human consumption. My Grandma made it all the time.