Pork???

[Gustav]

Was talking to a friend the other day and she said that she never gives her dog pork because dogs can't digest it properly. I asked her why she thought that dogs couldn't digest pork and she said it was because it's not a natural foodstuff for dogs. Her argument is that dogs don't catch pigs in the wild.

I said that dogs have been domesticated for thousands of years so they must have been fed pork at one time or another!

Can anyone settle this argument please?

[BagelDog]

Dogs can so eat pork. I give my dogs pork bones, the round kind, somtimes, and it cause no ill effect other than direah (cant spell), but its not because they cant digest it properly. Its because they eat too much, too fast. lol

[avenlee]

We homed my brother's dog, Taz (rottie/lab mix (RIP) for a couple of months while he lived in an apartment that didn't allow dogs, especially as big as Taz, until the house he was buying closed and we gave him pork WRONG THING TO DO! He was getting sick all over the place. And that big of a dog! What a mess to clean up and it sounded like Niagra Falls. Ok Ok Too much info. :o We never gave him pork after that. Actully after that whole ordeal I've never given it to my dogs either. Could be just the dog though.

[Saje]

The book I just bought on raw dog food says many dogs can't handle pork. I'll look for the explanation.

[BagelDog]

Maybe im wrong. My dogs like it. And dogs can chew pig ears.

[Saje]

I can't find it in that book. I know I read it but I don't know where. It doesn't have an index which sucks. :(

I'll ask Mordy.

[Mordy]

some dogs just don't tolerate it well, but that is not limited to pork itself. others don't tolerate beef or chicken or lamb well. overall pork tends to be fatty, which adds to the whole problem.

it is, however, not true that dogs can't digest it. if a dog doesn't have problems with pork, neck bones, feet and tails for example make nice meals. :)

i would not feed processed (dried/smoked etc.) pig ears tho. they are very fatty and don't have a particularly high nutritional value.

[Love4Pits]

I don't feed my dogs pork because i was always taught it wasent good for most dogs and it wasent good to chance it.

[pitbulliest]

I've read that pork bones are a no no for dogs...I personally don't feed it...but I dunno.

[Mordy]

nutritionally speaking, there is nothing wrong with pork per se, just as much as there is nothing wrong with raw poultry bones, and for the longest time it was hammered into people's heads that those aren't good either.

aujeszky's disease/pseudo rabies used to be a concern with feeding raw pork, but the disease is pretty much eradicated in the US.

one nice thing about pork necks and especially pork ribs is that they are relatively soft, so even smaller dogs can consume the bones completely.

[CreatureTeacher]

What Mordy said. :)

I don't digest beef well. Chicken makes one of my dogs pee a lot. One of my cats won't touch fish. Animals all have different levels of tolerance for different foods, just like people. You just have to find what works well for your dog, especially if you're feeding a home-made or raw diet.

[Gustav]

Well thanks you guys! That's settled that one!! My mum's dog is very poorly if he has pork, but Gus is fine as long as he doesn't have too much otherwise he gets gassy!! :( :D

[Renee750il]

Sometimes it's good to look at the history of the breed, if possible, especially in the working lines where there hasn't been as much tinkering as with some show lines. The Filas, for example, as a breed, are scavengers and foragers extraordinaire - in their native (very impoverished) areas there are lines of dogs who have existed - and even thrived - for generations on nothing more than that. And they were also bred to hunt wild boar, among other things (jaguar) so you have to figure that pork scraps and carcasses were a part of their natural diet.