Can I feed ground meat to my dog?

Yes, you can, with some qualifiers.

You must grind the entire piece of meat including the bones, tendons, skin etc. If you have a whole chicken, add in the neck, and organ meats. Think wild, think what a wolf would consume. They would eat the whole bird.

It is impossible to find ground meat in the market with all the aforementioned parts ground into it. So to accomplish your goal you must buy a meat grinders. Not all meat grinders are created equal, and many are not up to the unusual task of grinding the bones along with the meat.

In fact, some grinders are designed to break a plastic gear if they encounter a bone. This is done to save the motor from burning up if the shaft is held still by a bone. Once such grinder is the Maverick grinder.

But the Maverick is such a powerful little grinder that it eats right through chicken bones if you have whacked the chicken pieces with a cleaver to break up the knobby ends and really hard pieces. It can also munch through a rabbit with the same preparation. I ground with a Maverick for years and never had the little plastic gear break from bone grinding. This is not to say it could not happen. However, it is a good idea to purchase a spare plastic gear, just in case.

Because I now grind for more than one dog, and also sell my ground dog mince, I moved up to a faster, more powerful grinder from Cabela. Though I purchased the smaller of their commercial grade grinders, it is more than powerful enough to grind chicken parts without first pounding them a cleaver. This saves me much time and energy. The Cabela grinder is also fast, which allows me to be able to make more mince for more clients. It really streamlined my grinding process.

Of course with the extra power and speed comes extra expense. If you want a good little grinder for around a hundred bucks, the Maverick is still a good bet. I noticed Cabela's has a smaller non-commercial grade grinder. Anyone out there tried that one for bone grinding dog food?

Notes on using the Maverick, or any smaller grinder: You must cut up the chicken, then pound the knuckles so you break them open. Also bust up any larger bones. You don't have to remove the meat, just smack the bones and crack them so the grinder can handle them as they go through the right angle in the grinding neck. Make strips out of the back and breast etc so it will fit down the throat of the grinder. Be sure to include the neck and organ meats with the mix. If the chicken does not come with organ meats, buy them separately and add them. They are a vital part of a complete diet.