# dog eatting dead deer!



## christie (May 10, 2008)

So we have a road kill deer that we decided not to butcher. my husband dragged it in the woods for the coyotes.
This mourning I found the deer in my driveway..{decapitated no less}. I didn't think a coyote would drag it out in the open. Later I saw my german shepard dragging the deer further up the d/way. couldn't believe he could do that. And yes he was eating it. And I presume he ate the head too!. So my neighbors saw my dog eating the deer and called all concerned. They told me they have a friend whos dog died from eating the intestines of the deer. And that there vet agreed that that is how the dog died.
Now I use to feed raw food only to my dogs. And I was suppose to give my dogs some organ meat, and yogurt to replicate the intestinal bacteria. I never heard of such a thing and have been searching the web, and can't find anything on it. We aren't hunters so were not up on all that info!
So I wasn't really worried about my dog eating the deer until now. 
So whats your guess?


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## garliclady (Aug 14, 2008)

My 14/15 year old bluetick hound still eats dead deer (all parts). She still gos over to my brother in laws everyday to check and see if he has been hunting and has left her any parts!


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## mink (Feb 10, 2005)

dogs eat maybe as many deer as the coyotes do.....mink


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## chickenista (Mar 24, 2007)

If it were me though.. I would not let the dog inside tonight in case dog throws up the deer.


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## RedneckPete (Aug 23, 2004)

Assuming it's cold outside where you live, I would have left the deer where the dogs could eat it, then I wouldn't have fed them for a week or two.

Dogs eat deer all the time, and will typically leave the intestines. Sounds like a pile of nonsense to me.

Pete


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## big rockpile (Feb 24, 2003)

Deer meat always gives my Dogs very Bad Gas.

big rockpile


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## ksfarmer (Apr 28, 2007)

Ditto on the gas problem. Terrible!!!


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## Iddee (Sep 25, 2005)

I think it's time for your neighbor to find a new vet.
My little Cocker Spaniel eats deer all winter. He had it tonight, even.


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## Old Vet (Oct 15, 2006)

You need to get a good vet and quit listening about the one that dies from eating intestines. the only way intestines would kill them is if thy eat it without chewing it up first. Any thing like the intestines will pas through the digestive tract hole. It will cause them to have a stomach ache but I have never heard of it killing them.


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## mamajohnson (Nov 27, 2002)

my dog goes out in the woods and brings the head/skin/whatever the hunters leave behind. We just let her have it. I think I noticed a bit of hair out there today that she left...
hasn't killed her yet.
Your neighbor is paranoid. Or maybe they had a poodle?
(no offense intended to the poodle crowd!)


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## cathleenc (Aug 16, 2007)

ditto on the normal behavior and ditto on the bad gas.


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## Ravenlost (Jul 20, 2004)

My dogs feast on deer every year during deer season. Around here we have a lot of idiot hunters who dump deer after removing only the hindquarters and/or the head. 

Only time the dogs get sick is when they eat to much.


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## GoldenMom (Jan 2, 2005)

In raw feeding circles it's called "whole prey" feeding.

FWIW, my dog is a failure at whole prey feeding venison! My brother got me a deer Wednesday and I haven't had a chance to cut it up yet. It's cold here, so I've left it lay behind the garage. My dog has eaten until she's puked on two separate days. Thursday she was so full and miserable that she layed out on a snow bank for an hour while we were splitting wood! I guess I better get to cutting that deer up tomorrow.


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## beccachow (Nov 8, 2008)

Yup, Dukie was spotted dragging a deer leg up from the woods (gag). He had the worst breath ever, but was ok.


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## ovsfarm (Jan 14, 2003)

A while back, there was a slow moving possum in our yard, so dh shot it and threw it over the hill. The next morning, it was back in the yard. Dh peed on it and threw it over the hill. The following morning, the dog had brought it back up into the yard. Dh stood out in the rain on his way to work, burried it a shallow grave, peed on that. The following morning, he said that if the possum was back, he was going to pee on it again and shoot the dog that kept dragging it back into the yard.


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## travlnusa (Dec 12, 2004)

Every few weeks neighbor will pick up a road kill deer and bring it home to feed his outside dog.

Dog is in good health


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## Freeholder (Jun 19, 2004)

GoldenMom said:


> In raw feeding circles it's called "whole prey" feeding.
> 
> FWIW, my dog is a failure at whole prey feeding venison! My brother got me a deer Wednesday and I haven't had a chance to cut it up yet. It's cold here, so I've left it lay behind the garage. My dog has eaten until she's puked on two separate days. Thursday she was so full and miserable that she layed out on a snow bank for an hour while we were splitting wood! I guess I better get to cutting that deer up tomorrow.


I don't think dogs have wisdom about when to quit eating. That kind of makes sense --- wild dogs (wolves) gorge when food is available, then go hungry until they catch something again. My grandmother tells a story about a dog they had when she was small. The men would be out mowing the hay field with a team of horses, and the dog would follow along, catching and eating mice by the hundreds. When she got too full, she'd go off and throw up, then head right back out to catch more mice.

Kathleen


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## PlowGirl (Nov 16, 2005)

If you know that the deer didn't die from disease, it's perfectly healthy for the dogs to eat them. For a few days they'll stink and be pretty worthless, being full of raw meat, but will be back to normal once the carcass is clean. I would prefer to feed my own dogs the deer meat and safe the money I would normally have spent purchasing bagged dog food.


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## PyroDon (Jul 30, 2006)

Dogs like wolves will gorge on an animal .
also like wolves they well eat the guts and internal organs first.
Normally what causes them to puke is all the deer hair they inject and cant digest.
German shepherds have a thing for brains doesnt matter if its deer squirrel,rabbit or what ever they seem to eat the head first , then the guts and organs, finally the meat


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## heather (May 13, 2002)

our dog eats deer he finds left from the hunters

he won't eat his regular food during this time & gets gassy & a bit listless (I think just because it bugs his system, because he's not used to it)


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## beccachow (Nov 8, 2008)

PyroDon said:


> German shepherds have a thing for brains doesnt matter if its deer squirrel,rabbit or what ever they seem to eat the head first , then the guts and organs, finally the meat


So glad I didn't witness THAT, just a leg. Guess he got the brains out there in the woods...that would have been a bit much for my poor old heart to witness!!!!


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## christie (May 10, 2008)

Thanks for all the confidence. I was sure there wouldn't be a problem. Like I said he has eaten raw before.

Eww on eating brains... 
Last winter he caught a rabbit, ate and dragged that around as a prize for a couple weeks! Not bad for an 11 yr old dag. Hes caught chipmunks, mice, moles. Though his goal in life is to get a squirrel. He get closer and closer every day.

Thanks again


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## beccachow (Nov 8, 2008)

Ahhh, but those nasty squirrels LOVE to tease a dog, don't they? I find it hysterical to watch a squirrel chattering at my dogs from the safety of the roof, even run back and forth on it a few times to excite the dogs into thinking he will fall. Who says animals don't have a sense of humor?!


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## Old Vet (Oct 15, 2006)

beccachow said:


> Ahhh, but those nasty squirrels LOVE to tease a dog, don't they? I find it hysterical to watch a squirrel chattering at my dogs from the safety of the roof, even run back and forth on it a few times to excite the dogs into thinking he will fall. Who says animals don't have a sense of humor?!


Yep I have seen them doing the same thing. But around my dogs they won't do it much because they chatch them. 4 in the last month.


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## BetsyK in Mich (May 14, 2002)

I've been picking up parts and pieces of a deer out of the back yard for a week now. For some reason the dog thinks the best place to eat the darn thing is right next to the porch steps. Last thing he brought was the head, thought my sister was going to have a heart attack when she came up the walk and it was laying at the bottom of the steps staring at her.

My vet told me not to let my dogs eat dead animals, that there was a bacteria that would make them very sick and/or kill them. So far my Aussie Nic and BC Jake have eaten at least a half dozen, the second Aussie Blu doesn't touch it. Apparently dogs have a taste for certain foods just like people.


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## PyroDon (Jul 30, 2006)

Our front yard has a macabre look of a raided grave yard with various bones strewn about ,back bones jaw bones leg bones , that the dogs seem to be collecting .
All I can say is if dead animals are so deadly to dogs then man kind has had to breed something out of them . wild canines all over the world survive on little more than kills and carrion.


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## Otter (Jan 15, 2008)

It could be worse...

http://www.jerrypournelle.com/reports/jerryp/dogsinelk.html


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## hotzcatz (Oct 16, 2007)

Our dogs always have access to dry dog food so when they get some carcass to chew on they just chew until they are full and don't gorge on it since they know there is always food to eat if they want it. I think when dogs are fed a bowl of food and have to wait to eat it, they get used to eating everything in front of them and aren't sure when to stop when there is more than they can eat.

There is always some sort of bones laying about the backyard. Sometimes I gather them up and bury them in the garden when I'm tilling up the dirt. The garden is fenced so dogs don't go dig them back up again. We don't have other critters other than feral pigs which would come in and dig them up so the garden is pretty safe from diggers even with buried bones.


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## Cheribelle (Jul 23, 2007)

Mine got pancreatitis once, was Very Sick. Vet said it was from eating too much fat. The only way he did that was chewing on a dead deer in the neighboring field. So, I am still cautious, but not all dogs gorge themselves to the point of illness.


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## heather (May 13, 2002)

beccachow said:


> Ahhh, but those nasty squirrels LOVE to tease a dog, don't they? I find it hysterical to watch a squirrel chattering at my dogs from the safety of the roof, even run back and forth on it a few times to excite the dogs into thinking he will fall. Who says animals don't have a sense of humor?!


lol

If we even say the word "squirrel" in the house, our dog goes nuts - to our knowledge he hasn't caught one yet!

he's more of a groundhog kinda guy


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## Cannon_Farms (Aug 28, 2008)

The two causes of death by deer I can think of would be a leg bone splinter that was from an old carcas, and I mean old and dried out, or if the dog contracted parasites and they cause an intestional problem, it is good practice in feeding raw game to freeze the prey 3 weeks.
Of course if the dog had an already compromised immune system that could have done the dog in too.


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## JHinCA (Sep 20, 2003)

Otter said:


> It could be worse...
> 
> http://www.jerrypournelle.com/reports/jerryp/dogsinelk.html


 I love that story! I have never laughed harder!


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## cathleenc (Aug 16, 2007)

ick! our two dogs found a downed dear yesterday.... and this morning the house is awash in slimey dog poo! Our maremma has such a touchy stomach. I actually slid in the kitchen thanks to a still warm pile (didn't know what was happening... just reaching for the fresh coffee). Oh ick. Blech.


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## laughaha (Mar 4, 2008)

My dogs always get the hunting carcasses of deer. People also know to bring us the woodchucks/etc they kill and I give them to the dogs too. It's GREAT for them!!!!!


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## laughaha (Mar 4, 2008)

JHinCA said:


> I love that story! I have never laughed harder!


That story is hilarious!!!!! Reminds me of Angel baby. Her favorite "blankies" is deer hides. She plays, throws them around, snuggles up in them, teases the other dogs with them. She even tries to bring them inside, :nono: I put my foot down there.


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## michiganfarmer (Oct 15, 2005)

my 7 year old female lab eats cow manure, pig manure, hay, grass, and any dead animals that she finds. 

I keep dog food in her dish all the time. 

I guess I need to ask the vet why she is eating al that stuff.


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## christie (May 10, 2008)

just an update... I checked the other day on the deer... It is almost all gone! My dogs spends all day down there chewing away! So far he's fine!


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