Hey, fellow pet lovers!
Today’s post is all about raw green tripe, why we feed raw green tripe to our canine and feline companions and a brief breakdown of its nutritional value. My girls Nia and Lily love tripe, the Pooss, however, not so much! However, I don’t blame her as it smells so bad, and when we first started raw feeding, I struggled giving it to Nia and Lily.
Let’s jump straight into today’s post!
Raw Green Tripe
If you’re a raw feeder, then most likely, you would have come into contact with raw green tripe and its awful smell. However, if you don’t feed your pet a species-appropriate diet such as BARF (Biologically Appropriate Raw Feeding or Bones and Raw Food) or Prey Model Raw (PMR), or have simply never heard of green tripe before you’ve come to the right place. As in today’s post, I plan on talking about the many benefits of feeding your pet raw green tripe, the different forms of tripe, and where you can get it for your canine or feline friend.
So what is raw green tripe?
Well, raw green tripe is the entire, unprocessed stomach of ruminating (grazing) animals such as a cow, goat, deer or sheep, it is green in colour if it hasn’t been bleached. Raw green tripe is what you should feed your four-legged companion and be sure to stay away from the bleached stuff that you can purchase in supermarkets for human consumption, as this is no good for our pets. The most obvious thing about raw green tripe is how bad it smells, if your yet to encounter this horrific smell, then today’s post is a little heads up for what may be heading your way.
What is so great about raw green tripe?
Despite its awful smell it can do your canine or feline friend a world of good and is very nutritious! There are many great benefits to feeding your pet raw green trip,e and below you will find a brief nutritional breakdown of this health-promoting protein.
Raw green tripe is a favourite of my two girls, and I’m always baffled at how much they enjoy this smelly delight, never the less they tuck straight in, because despite its stinky smell and awful appearance, to Nia and Lily it is food filled with many benefits. Raw green tripe has been nutritionally analysed, and it was found that it is composed of 15.1% protein and 11.7% fat with many health benefits within.
- Raw Green Tripe has high levels of amino acids.
There are seven primary amino acids present in green tripe that will help your pet stay happy and healthy, these are:
- Arginine
- Proline
- Glutamic Acid
- Aspartic Acid
- Alanine
- Leucine
- Glycine
- Raw Green Tripe is filled with beneficial bacteria such as Lactobacillus Acidophilus
We all know how important it is to have a healthy gut microflora and how this has a massive impact on our overall health and happiness. Countless studies have shown links to unhealthy gut bacteria being linked to depression and poor health.
Importantly, Lactic acid-producing bacteria such as Lactobacillus Acidophilus produce a compound that helps to buffer the adverse effects that are produced by gut bacteria that feed on amino acids. By feeding your pet raw green tripe, you are helping to maintain a healthy gut microbiome and in turn, will have a happy and healthy pet who will hopefully be by your side for many years.
- Raw Green Tripe has a desirable calcium phosphorous ratio of 1:1.
Getting enough calcium and phosphorus in the diet helps to keep bones and teeth strong and healthy and plays a role in many of the body’s systems from muscular to immune function.
- Raw Green Tripe has the correct proportions of Omega-3 and Omega-6 Fatty Acids.
Raw green tripe has the correct ratios of Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids which is super essential for keeping your pet in the best health. Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids are necessary because the body cannot readily produce them, which means our canine and feline friends must acquire them from their diet.
However, the ratio of Omega-3 to Omega-6 fatty acids need to be correct as they have different functions. Omega-3 fatty acids are responsible for regulating metabolic function and gene expression in a way that reduces inflammation. Whereas Omega-6 fatty acids can promote inflammation if consumed in excessive amounts.
To learn more about Omega-3 fatty acids for our pets, read one of our previous blog posts, Omega 3 fatty acids, the importance of fish oil for your dog.
- Raw Green Tripe is great for dogs with digestive issues due to its good bacteria and digestive enzymes.
Many dogs, unfortunately, suffer from a variety of digestive issues, and some are due to their diet, but by feeding raw green tripe, you can help your pet and reduce the risk of digestive problems. As we mentioned above, raw green tripe is filled with healthy gut bacteria such as Lactobacillus Acidophilus which can help fight off harmful bacteria and keep a healthy balance within the gut.
It is also filled with many digestive enzymes and pre-digested plant matter, this is great as our dogs are less able to produce the enzyme amylase, which helps to break down plant matter. You may already know this information from one of our previous posts. Can dogs eat raw meat? However, by feeding raw green tripe to your pet, you are providing them with a beneficial mixture of pre-digested plant matter to support a healthy digestive system and gut microbiome that otherwise wouldn’t possible.
To learn more about carbohydrates within your dog’s diet, check out one of our previous posts, The Role of Carbohydrates within our Dog’s Diets.
- Raw Green Tripe is great for keeping your pets immune system healthy.
As you can see, there is a lot of goodness inside raw green trip that your pet can benefit from and my girls apart from Pooss love it! Since getting Nia’s allergy tests back, we have had to limit the amount of tripe she gets as she is very reactive to beef or lamb, but she can manage an odd bit here and there if you are in the same boat then keep your eyes open for our future post on fermented foods for dogs as a source for lactic acid-producing gut bacteria. However, Lily loves it, and her favourite is lamb tripe which seems to smell the worse of all, unfortunately for us.
Various Forms of Raw Green Tripe
Green tripe for our canine and feline friends can come in a variety of forms such as
- Whole Green Tripe
- Fine Minced Green Tripe
- Chunky Minced Green Tripe
- Freeze-Dried Tripe
- Canned Tripe
- Various Tripe Treats
Coming from someone who has tried most of the above I would suggest going for minced tripe as we once made the mistake of purchasing whole tripe and then had to portion it up, which wasn’t a pleasant experience! I’ve never tried canned or freeze-dried but am not too sure how this would affect the nutritional value of the tripe, so we’ve always stuck with raw.
Where can you get Raw Green Tripe?
You can get raw green tripe in a variety of places, In the UK we have a large pet retail store called Pets at Home that sells Natures Menus raw green tripe in handy 400 gram frozen blocks or a bag of 2-kilo minced tripe. There are also plenty of other raw food manufactures that you can buy green tripe from for your pet such as
Durham Animal Feeds is where we mainly order the girls food from, and it is a great local company that does free delivery and eco-friendly packaging. To learn more about them, read our previous blog post, Durham Animal Feeds, Raw Food Review.
Durham Animal Feeds tripe is seriously smelly!!!
Next to talk about is Paleo Ridge and they produce great commercially prepared raw food, whole prey and also offer treats as well. It is a one-stop-shop for raw feeders.
However, Paleo Ridge’s tripe is also seriously smelly!!!
Natures Menu is what we started our raw feeding journey on as it was simple, accessible and super handy with their 400 gram frozen block. However, we don’t feed much of Natures Menu to the girls anymore, but they do have a good selection of raw food if you want to check them out.
Also, their tripe doesn’t smell as much as Durham Animal Feeds or Paleo Ridge!!!
If you live in America you can get green tripe in a large variety of forms and below I have linked to a website where you can get raw minced green tripe, if you want to introduce green tripe into your pet’s diet.
Greentripe.com offers a range of minced tripe products for your canine and feline friends if you live in America, head over to their website to learn more.
So there you have it, the full low down on smelly tripe. I hope this has inspired some pet parents to consider switching their pet to a raw diet, whether that be a BARF (Biologically Appropriate Raw Feeding or Bones and Raw Food) or Prey Model Raw (PMR) either is great.
Below are two sources that I used to gather some information on raw green tripe, I suggested purchasing Canine Nutrigenomics if you haven’t already as it is a great book that talks about how diet affects gene expression at the cellular level, creating vibrant health or chronic disease for our pets.
Fiumarelli, A. (2013). Raw Green Tripe – IVC Journal. [online] IVC Journal. Available at: https://ivcjournal.com/raw-green-tripe/ [Accessed 15 Jan. 2019].
Canine Nutrigenomics
Canine Nutrigenomics: The New Science of Feeding Your Dog for Optimum Health
*By purchasing through these links you are supporting epoch.pet as we get a small amount of commission, with no extra cost to you. This money helps keep the blog up and running and allows us to purchase pet products to review on our site. I only ever review products that are tried and tested by my girls and I think are great!
Thanks for reading today’s post and if you enjoyed it be sure to hit that like button so I know, or give it a share so other pet parents can learn about the many benefits of adding raw green tripe into their canine or feline friends diet.
Thanks for checking in and be sure to follow/subscribe to the epoch.pet to never miss a post and follow us on social media, or get in touch with us on Facebook @epoch.pet
Weekly posts every Tuesday and Saturday!
epoch.pet 