What is beef tripe
Beef tripe is the most delicious and healthy meat product for dogs. It is as beneficial for animals as it is smelly and unsightly for you and me.
The rumen is a section of the cow's stomach. It is a large muscular sac in which the initial digestion of grass, hay and silage occurs. This bag, capable of holding up to fifty kilograms of food, simply must be elastic and thick.
The appearance of the stomach is, to put it mildly, unattractive. The inner surface of the scar is covered with numerous growths resembling villi. It is these villi that secrete substances necessary for digesting food. Color varies from light brown and grayish green to almost black. It feels a little slimy to the touch.
And the smell... You can’t even imagine what it smells like! I can only say one thing - it’s definitely better to handle it in a gas mask.
But despite this, tripe is the best meat food for tailed animals. In its raw form, it contains a huge amount of enzymes that improve digestion. And also, it contains many microorganisms that heal the dog’s intestinal microflora.
How much to give?
Starting from the age of six months, puppies are introduced to their diet with boiled tripe. This saturates their body with potassium, magnesium, vitamins B and PP, phosphorus, and calcium.
To navigate the principles of feeding, follow these recommendations:
- Gizzard should not be a permanent food product for animals; it should be given periodically. Frequent feeding with tripe leads to nausea and upset.
- It is advised to give animals cow product once a day, in the morning or evening. During the week there may be 2-4 such receptions.
- The serving size is calculated per 10 kg of weight per 100 grams of tripe.
- The puppy must be over 6 months old.
It is best to formulate serving sizes immediately, before freezing, so that they are convenient to take out and feed to your pet right away.
How often?
You need to pamper your four-legged friend with a delicious delicacy no more than 4 times a week. More frequent consumption of food can negatively affect the functioning of the digestive tract, since the product is quite fatty and may be difficult to digest. Therefore, do not overdo it in caring for your dog and strictly follow the nutritional advice.
Should I add it to porridge?
Beef tripe is, without a doubt, a tasty and healthy treat for the animal. It contains essential enzymes that dogs need for healthy digestion.
Many dog owners prefer to add chopped beef stomach to their dogs' porridge. If the additive is produced in raw form, then it must first be frozen in the freezer.
Advice! To prevent parasites from entering the dog’s body, it is recommended to rinse the tripe with hot water before adding it to the porridge.
Price
Beef tripe is quite inexpensive. The price of the unrefined product ranges from 70 to 90 rubles per kilogram. You can buy it at any food market that sells imported meat.
However, it happens that dog breeders, looking around the counters, do not find the scar and leave. And in vain. After all, tripe is a rather specific product with a unique appearance and smell, which is not just laid out on the counter. You just need to ask the seller about its availability. Then the butcher simply goes into the back room, where he will cut off as much tripe as you ask. At least that's how it is done where I buy it.
For example, if you are in St. Petersburg, you can buy tripe at the market located on Balkan Square in Kupchino. In addition, you can also buy beef tracheas, tails and other delicacies there.
But of course, this is not the only place where tripe is sold. Naturally, it can be found in other retail outlets in different cities.
Is heat treatment necessary?
How to give tripe to a dog? Is it necessary to boil this offal? Liver can be consumed both raw and boiled. It should be taken into account that during heat treatment most of the beneficial substances will be lost. But cooking also destroys helminth eggs and bacteria. If you purchased raw tripe for your dog, it is better to boil it.
If you are going to feed tripe to an elderly dog, then it is better to give the product boiled. The dense muscle fibers of the stomach are very difficult to chew, and many dogs develop dental problems as they get older.
Tripe should also be cooked if it is intended for feeding puppies. Before the age of 1 year, a dog's digestion is very unstable. Raw product may cause intestinal upset.
Which tripe is healthier for dogs - raw or processed?
You can buy tripe for your dog either peeled or unpeeled. The rumen is cleaned industrially. To do this, it is washed in warm water and placed in a special drum. There, under the influence of steam and boiling water, the top layer of the offal (brown fluff) is very quickly welded, making it easy to remove using a ribbed disk located at the bottom of the drum. The disc rotates and removes these fluffs, and then they are washed away with a powerful stream of hot water.
This whole process takes about half an hour. After this time, the finished white pieces of peeled tripe can be removed from the drum. This product no longer has such a strong smell. It can be safely boiled and cooked.
Cleaned tripe is considered a delicacy in many national dishes. In Rus', for example, they loved to fry boiled tripe with onions. By the way, I once tried such a dish and I will tell you that it is very tasty, and there is no bad smell at all.
However, the coolest dog breeders prefer to serve their pets unpeeled tripe. Despite all its disadvantages, and there are not so many of them (sight and smell), the unrefined product is the most useful. It contains the maximum amount of digestive enzymes, vitamins and microorganisms that we buy in pet stores as supplements, paying a lot of money.
All dogs are descended from wolves. What is the first thing a predator eats from its prey? Of course, the stomach, along with all its contents. Animals themselves determine which product is useful and necessary for them.
This is why it is recommended to feed your dog raw tripe. When cooked, it loses most of its beneficial properties. But since our pets are, after all, domesticated wolves, in order to avoid infection with helminths, it is recommended to freeze the rumen for at least 3 days. In addition, when feeding your pet raw frozen products, you should not skip scheduled dewormings.
Storage of workpieces
The weight of beef tripe often reaches two kilograms. To preserve the beneficial properties of the product for many months, it must be properly processed and stored.
Any storage method at the initial stage requires thorough cleaning of the villi. To do this, the tripe is soaked in warm water for 1-2 hours. During this time, particles of dirt and grass become soaked and are easily separated from the walls of the stomach. After manual processing, the tripe is washed under running water and left to dry.
The easiest way to store it is to freeze the tripe. The walls of the stomach are cut into portions and placed in the freezer so that the pieces do not touch each other. After 12-14 hours, the workpieces freeze inside and out. Now they can be folded into one bag without fear of them sticking together.
The second method is freezing the finished dish. If the dog eats natural food, the owners can prepare porridge with meat, fish or offal and add boiled tripe to it. The cooled food is placed in ziplock bags and placed in the freezer. This storage option is suitable for busy people who spend a lot of time outside the home.
Tripe can be dried in the sun and dried in the oven. In both cases, the stomach walls are boiled for several minutes after rinsing. Next, the strips are strung on a thread and dried for a week in a warm, ventilated place. If the weather does not permit, pieces of tripe are heated in the oven until the moisture evaporates.
Processing and storage
I buy about 2 kg of unpeeled tripe at a time at the market. Usually it comes in one piece. Before you start processing it, you must first put on a gas mask! Just kidding, of course, you don't need to do this. It's just that tripe has a very specific smell that you need to get used to.
So, what is the processing process:
- To begin with, the uncleaned cow's stomach must be rinsed well, as there may be pebbles and particles of grass, in general, everything that the cow could swallow.
- If the tripe is caught with a lot of fat, then I usually cut off this fat (however, don’t be too zealous - if there is a little fat left, it’s even useful).
- Then, I immediately divide the tripe into portions, which I will subsequently give to my dog. Since my Jackusik weighs 7.5 kg, I make portions of about 100 grams each.
- I immediately form portions, put each in a separate bag and put it in the freezer. Then it is very convenient to take out one portion of tripe, quickly defrost it and feed it to the dog.
- But, before feeding this tasty and healthy delicacy, it should be frozen for at least 3 days so that the microbes (if any) are completely killed.
- Well, after the tripe has frozen well, take it out of the freezer, defrost it, cut it into pieces (approximately 2.5-2.5 cm) and scald it with boiling water.
- And after this, when it has cooled down a little, you can cook all sorts of dishes from it, or give it to the dog just like that, without any additives.
This is what the portions themselves look like.
How to cook properly
If you give your dog a raw product, it should first be frozen thoroughly so that all parasites that may be in the product are killed. The offal should be kept in the freezer for at least three days, it is best to immediately divide it into portions weighing 100 g.
After freezing, the portion required for feeding should be cut into small pieces, approximately 2.5 * 2.5 cm in size, or crushed using a meat grinder. It is recommended to give tripe by adding it to porridge or mixing it with meat twice a week as a nutritional supplement.
Beef stomach can be fed boiled. To cook after defrosting, cut it into medium-sized pieces and cook for at least 3-4 hours, regularly skimming off the foam. After cooling, you can cut into smaller pieces and mix with porridge or vegetables. Many people bring the product to a boil in ordinary water, and then finish cooking it in meat broth, cooked in advance.
Important!
Raw beef gizzard should not be given to your pet daily. Feeding frequency: 2-4 times a week.
A more labor-intensive process is preparing a dried delicacy from beef tripe. You've probably seen this product prepared in a pet store, but you can prepare it yourself. Rinse and clean the raw beef gizzard well. Then cut it into even pieces and dry it in the fresh air, while covering it from direct sunlight. No need to add salt or spices!
What is scar for dogs and what does it look like?
The rumen is the section of the cow's stomach. It is here that the digestion of grass and hay begins, so the structure of the organ is very specific. Outwardly, it appears to be a massive bag with thick muscular walls. Capacity - approximately half a centner. The inside surface is “strewn” with fleecy growths. They produce special chemical compounds that trigger the digestion process.
The color depends on the age and breed of the animal. Most often the scar is brown, although it may have a grayish, green tint. Or even being black. It feels slippery to the touch, covered with mucous secretions. The smell is unpleasant, pungent, nauseating.
Why shouldn't you neglect preparing it? It is this unpresentable-looking food that contains essential enzymes that stimulate digestion in dogs. There is also a high percentage of beneficial microorganisms that improve intestinal microflora.
Photo source: pixabay.com
How often to give it
The frequency of feeding depends on the size of the animal and the breed. But it cannot be called a product of daily consumption. This is an offal that contains many microelements, but still cannot be considered a complete nutrition. Therefore, it is not recommended for puppies and adult animals to eat it every day. It is enough to give it 2-3 times a week.
Below we will look in detail at how tripe is useful for dogs. Without a doubt, this is one of the most recommended dietary supplements for pet dogs. But let's pay attention to the age at which it should be introduced into the diet. This should not be done before 6 months: the digestive system must become stronger, otherwise indigestion and diarrhea are possible (and these are harmless symptoms only at first glance). Up to six months, puppies should be given minced meat; liver can be introduced into the diet in small pieces. But the scar will wait a little.
Dried tripe for dogs
The dried semi-finished product is beneficial in many ways. It stores well, does not take up much space, and four-legged pets really like it. Make the blanks yourself.
Rinse fresh liver to remove any remaining food, cut into pieces approximately 5 by 10 cm in size. Then place on the oven rack so that there is free space between the elements. This will speed up the drying process and make the process even. Place a baking tray at the bottom onto which the juice and fat released during drying will drain.
Set the temperature. Your goal is not to bake the dish, but to evaporate unnecessary moisture, saving valuable substances to the maximum. Therefore, the recommended process temperature is 60 degrees. Approximate cooking time will be from 5 to 8 hours. Leave the oven door ajar. This will enhance the ventilation process.
After semi-finished products become hard, they are subject to long-term storage of 12 months, subject to the necessary conditions. Place them in a linen bag, layering them with thick paper. A thick cardboard box is suitable for storage. There is no need to leave the product in the refrigerator, it will get damp there.
Photo source: pixabay.com
