Do Squirrels Really Eat Bacon? The Surprising Truth

It might not be the healthiest thing for them, but if you sprinkle it on your dog’s food (if you have one), they love it. :-).

I put mine in a plastic bottle called a vegetable bottle along with other grease that I don’t want to go down the drain.

It takes me around 9 months to fill the thing, then it goes in the trash. Don’t have trash service? Give it to a friend to use for their trash, or burn it. It seems to attract ants and critters, Ive found, if I dispose of it outside.

Save it in a pot then render it into clean fat (boil & filter it). Get pine sap (rosin) from trees. Pour into containers to cool and harden. This tacky material makes an excellent wood finish. Heat the surface of the wood with a hair dryer and then work the material into it. Keep heating and polishing the wood until all the wax is absorbed and the surface is dry and not sticky. Any animal fat can be used to make this wax. I used lamb fat to make mine.

A lot of recipes call for butter, but bacon grease works just as well. Some people add a little salt and use it as a spread. A dollop in the frying pan instead of butter or margarine is much less likely to burn. It is a polysaturated fat, so these alternatives should be used sparingly.

Since it is a grease, it can be strained and clarified and then used to make soap. To get rid of the bacon smell in the finished product, I recommend adding a lot of vitamin E to the recipe you use.

You can give it to your cat or dog once or twice a week to help keep their fur shiny.

— Larry Smith — My opinions only. lar. @zk3. dec. com/lar. @io. com. Liberalism. [for] half a century. has been tested to destruction [and] failed everywhere, overwhelmingly and manifestly – except in. the minds of its advoc- ates. For them, liberalism is a religion. — Paul Johnson, WSJ 1/4/94.

: Well it might not be the most healthy for them, but I have found that if you

: sprinkle it on your dog’s food (if you have one), they love it. :-).

Thats right is clogs a dogs arteries just like it would yours or mine. A friend of mine that raises worms just puts it in the worm box. Apparently they eat anything and return the most wonderful soil in the world. And if it clogs their arteries. just takem fishing :-).

Laura White e-mail: lwh. @unm. edu Senior Accountant University of New Mexico-CIRT snail mail: 2701 Campus Blvd. N. E. Albuquerque, NM 87131.

>: Well it might not be the most healthy for them, but I have found that if you >: poor it over your dogs dogfood (if you have a dog that is) they just love the.

Since cats and dogs have been honest carnivores for a long time, they don’t have as much trouble with fats in their food as we carnivores do. A diet that is very high in fat can be bad for you, but dogs and cats have digestive systems that aren’t as good as ours, and their life spans are only 1/3 or 1/4 of ours. This means that any difference that bacon grease makes in their longevity may only be seen in the numbers in veterinary papers about pet diets. To make things even safer, buy a low-fat brand of dog or cat food to feed them every day.

You might be able to use it for the “fat” part of homemade soap if you want to. I haven’t tried it.

Put that jar of grease in your freezer until its full. That way nothing can grow in it – thus no smell.

> writes: > >>Anyone have any suggestions (practical that is 😉 about what >>to do with the bacon grease I dont pour down the drain? My >>mom used to put it in a soup can and throw it in the garbage but >>now that we recycle that stuff, I dont know what to do with >>it. Thanks in advance. >> .

>>Mary > >I put in a glass jar with a lid (along with hamburger grease, etc. ) and keep >it until its full, then toss it. I figure it wont kill us to not recycle >one glass jar every 6 months or so. Warning. it gets kinda ripe after a >while, you might not wanna leave the lid off very long. OTOH, you could use >it to make candles or something :-).

I use a tin can rather than a jar, and keep it in the fridge. I take it out of the fridge, add the grease, and let it cool to room temperature while I eat. After the meal, I put it back in the fridge. No smell, and no broken glass if it slips out of the hand. — Mike Morris WA6ILQ | All thoughts are my own because no one pays me enough to speak for them PO Box 1130 Arcadia, CA. 91077 | ICBM: 34. 07. 930N, 118. 03. 799W | Reply to: mor. @grian. cps. altadena. ca. us.

It works great for getting grease off of your hands after working on the family car.

If you put the full tin in the freezer, the birds will appreciate it, come winter

We kept a small crock (about a quart size) in the refrigerator for just bacon grease. We poured the grease into this crock.

On the rare occasions when we had fried foods, out came the bacon grease for frying. If you’ve never had scrambled eggs cooked in bacon grease, you should! (Yes, the cholesterol level is through the roof, but hey, we shouldn’t be eating fried foods anyway!) The same goes for fried potatoes, etc.

We also used the grease for making bird feeders. To keep it from getting too hot, you melt the butter in a double boiler and then dip big pine cones in it. You then sprinkle them with bird seed and bread crumbs. Keep repeating the process until you think the stuff will fall off.

People often heat up bacon grease and pour it over a spinach salad, but I’ve never tried it. (Me, I like bleu cheese on my spinach . ).

Sandy Kear | *Round the Bend Productions*sa…@roundthebend.com | Online Travel Guide for Upstate New York | http://www.roundthebend.com/

We don’t eat bacon very often, but when we do, we put the grease on the dog’s food for a few days. They love it. We have a pair of very energetic Siberian Huskies. It keeps their coats looking rich and glossy (No we dont apply it topically :-)). On occasion we will dribble a little corn oil on their food. Most people who show an interest in the dogs remark about about how well groomed the look. We dont really do much more than pull out the burrs.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Orest I. As a technical officer at the Royal Military College of Canada (College militaire royal du Canada), Koroluk can be reached at (613) 541-6000 ext. 6281. He works in the Department of Mechanical Engineering in Kingston, Ontario, Canada K7K 5L0. @rmc. ca /_/ / /_/.

Fry bagels in it (spit em in half first) Bagels fried in bacon grease are the absolute BEST!!

Fry bagels in it (but first cut them in half). Bagels fried in bacon grease are the best!

Feed the bacon grease to the dog. Dogs are designed to be able to handle large amounts of fat in their diet. Just throw the warm grease on top of the dogs regular dry food. Add a cup of hot water if you wish. Put two cups of dry food in the greasy pan and let the dog lick it all up. That’s what I do. My dog does a good job. She licks pans so clean that its real easy to wash them. She laps up all the grease.

>In article , wrote: >>Anyone have any suggestions (practical that is 😉 about what >>to do with the bacon grease I dont pour down the drain? My.

>Fry bagels in it (spit em in half first) Bagels fried in bacon >grease are the absolute BEST!!

Wow, talk about your cholesterol. Anyway, my husband and I save empty dog food cans and pour the grease into them. When it solidifies, we throw it in the trash. Course, we dont do bacon that often, maybe once or twice a year. It looks like there would be dog food cans all over the counter if you eat bacon every day.

If you want to cook turkey bacon instead of “real” bacon, you need to add a little vegetable oil to the pan. It tastes great, too.

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Put some string in an empty can so it hangs down from the top to the bottom. Pour bacon grease into the can.

When the can is nearly full, stick it in a freezer bag and put it in the freezer.

Take it out in the winter, clean the can of grease, coat it in bird seed, and hang it from a tree branch by the string.

and so on. But we save the grease in a can and use it to cook with most of the time. Oh, mice love it as well so you can bait traps with it.

>Stick a piece of string in an empty can so it hangs from over the top >to the bottom. Pour bacon grease into the can.

>When the can is nearly full, stick it in a freezer bag and put it in >the freezer.

>Come winter, take it out, knock the grease out of the can, roll it in >bird seed, and hang it by the string from a tree branch.

Put it in about six inches deep around the roots of your roses. They love grease!

>>Come winter, take it out, knock the grease out of the can, roll it in >>bird seed, and hang it by the string from a tree branch.

Hmm, hadnt thought of that. Then I wonder what the heck they’re doing every winter as they lick the road salt off the sides of the road.

It sounded to me like dw had tried it before. Is there some definitive info on this?

—————————————————————– Jeff Lewin, Lab Associate 1400 Townsend Drivejcl. @mtu. I thought dw had tried it before. Michigan Technological University Department of Biological Sciences (906) 487-3435 Fax (906) 487-3167 Houghton, MI 49931 Is there some definitive info : on this? : : Jan G.

>>>Come winter, take it out, knock the grease out of the can, roll it in >>>bird seed, and hang it by the string from a tree branch.

Alan, when was the last time you checked a bird’s blood pressure? My vet just told me that it would take a lot more salt than bacon grease on a seed to kill a bird. And very few birds die of hypertension or strokes.

Power, not logic or rhetoric, is what government is all about. Like fire, it is both a dangerous servant and a scary master; it should never be left to careless people to use it. ” — George Washington.

To get the salt out of the grease even more, you can put the big lump of grease in a pan of water and slowly heat it until the grease melts. Then put in fridge until it congeals. The water will have a lot of flavor and most of the salt, so use it to make a tasty pot of beans. It’s now safe to melt the grease, put the string in the can, and hang it up for the birds. They havent proved to my satisfaction that cutting out salt now will keep me from getting hypertension later.

I have observed birds pecking at the salt lick (for deer) in my back yard for years. There have been as many as 4 at a time on the salt lick. I also put out the bacon grease for the birds. Some of the birds like(/need?) the bacon fat and some prefer the lard/peanut butter/sunflower suet cakes.

Its not like Im putting out 5 pounds of bacon grease at a time. I wait until I have a suet cake-sized piece in the fridge before taking it out of the foil and giving it to the birds. Well a couple times a possum found it first. Pine Siskins that try to sneak through the windows in the living room are the only birds we find dead around here, and that only happens about once every two weeks.

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You only need to put a little bacon grease on the dog poop for the next time the neighbor’s dog comes over, he will pick up his own waste. Disgusting but poetically appropiate. ;-).

DH DH Disgusting but poetically appropiate. DH> 😉 DH> DH> Dave Henderson.

— * OFFLINE 1. 58 * God ALWAYS has another custard pie up his sleeve. — * KMail 3. 10m The Wright Place in Baltimore 410-882-4481.

LSU And very few birds die of hypertension or LSU> strokes.

There are birds, like finches from the northern parts of Canada, that actually crave salt because they eat mostly vegetables. Several of the birds that come to our feeders regularly could use some extra salt. They can get it from any kitchen waste we give them, like bacon grease, peanut butter, bakery goods, and salted nuts. John Dennis’s Complete Guide To Birdfeeding does say to be careful with the bacon grease and not add salt to their food on purpose.

: >>>Come winter, take it out, knock the grease out of the can, roll it in

Are you Alan? When was the last time you checked a bird’s blood pressure? My vet just told me that you would need to hit a bird with a lot more salt than bacon grease on a seed to kill it. And very few birds die of hypertension or : strokes.

Also, there is no problem with a high salt diet UNLESS you have hypertension. For the average person, excessive salt causes no problems (except perhaps excessive thirst).

There’s no waste in this dog poop because the dog will pick it up the next time he walks through.

>>Come winter, take it out, knock the grease out of the can, roll it in >>bird seed, and hang it by the string from a tree branch.

I was the guy that said you should not do this since the salt may harm the birds. Since everyone was saying that birds like salt I decided.

to check and guess what. I WAS WRONG! It is the squirrels that get the runs if they eat salt. Birds will eat salt and know enought to stop eating salt when they have had enough.

As for putting false information on the Internet, I don’t know how I’m going to get over this.

Ah, but youve redeemed yourself quite nicely by being big enough to admit it and correct it. 😉

>I was the guy that said you should not do this since the salt may harm >the birds. Since everyone was saying that birds like salt I decided >to check and guess what. I WAS WRONG! It is the squirrels that get >the runs if they eat salt. Birds will eat salt and know enought to >stop eating salt when they have had enough.

>I dont know how I am going to live this down! Putting incorrect >information on the Internet! Ahhhhhhhh! :).

Alan, for crying out loud, you broke netiquette again by apologizing in public! In a newsgroup! You’re supposed to get defensive, man! Get angry! Yell at people! Call them names! Dammit, you ruined a good thread just as it was getting going! What is the internet coming to?

_Squirrels_? Hang on. drat, my vet is out of the office today. The whole week, in fact. (Vacation! Of all the nerve. =) But Ill try to remember to ask him and post just for the heck of it.

All kidding aside, thumbs up to Alan for posting his correction. Some people have a hard time with it, but it’s not a big deal, and people will respect that kind of honesty. — Larry Smith – My opinions only. Killfile slac. @aol. com. Its the only way.

What is government? It’s not logic or rhetoric; it’s force! Like fire, it’s a dangerous servant and a scary master; it should never be left alone for a second.

> In article <41aqov$c. @tibalt. supernet. ab. ca> ajoh. @tibalt. supernet. ab. This is what Alan Johnson writes: Since everyone was saying that birds like salt I decided > > >to check and guess what. I WAS WRONG! It is the squirrels that get > >the runs if they eat salt. Birds will eat salt and know enought to > >stop eating salt when they have had enough. > > >I dont know how I am going to live this down! Putting incorrect > >information on the Internet! Ahhhhhhhh! 🙂 >.

But you may have solved the infamous squirrelproof birdfeeder search. Make feed that gives squirrels a bad case of the trots and maybe they will go away. :).

: I was the guy that said you should not do this since the salt may harm

: to check and guess what. I WAS WRONG! It is the squirrels that get : the runs if they eat salt. Birds will eat salt and know enought to : stop eating salt when they have had enough.

Putting wrong information on the Internet! Damn it! I don’t know how I’m going to live this down!

Wow, someone admitted they were wrong! That’s not something you see on the internet very often! (Why aren’t more newsgroups like this one?)

>Whoa! Somebody made a mistake and owned up to it! Now theres something >that you dont see every day here on the net! (Why arent other newsgroups >like this one???).

Don’t worry—we have a group of people who believe McDonald’s owes large amounts of money to people who spill coffee on themselves. It all evens out.

— Anmar Mirza # Chief of Tranquility # Im a cheap # “Just the thought EMT-D N9ISY # Base, Lawrence Co. IN # date, but an # of those sweet Sawyer # Somewhere out on the # expensive # ladies/sends a shiver EOL TMA#6 # Mirza Ranch. DoD#1143 # pet. # through my veins”.

:

: owes big money to people who spill coffee on themselves. It all : evens out.

Maybe, but this NG isnt a huge flame-fest like, well, every other newsgroup which I subscribe to. I like it, actually. (Well, not McDs coffee-its misc. rural that I like) : –.

: Larry Smith – My opinions only. Killfile slac. @aol. com. Its the only way. Government is not based on logic or rhetoric; it is based on force! Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a scary master; it should never be left to careless action! ” — George Washington lar. @zk3. dec. com.

Mike S. Medintz “We get in there, and kill every officer in sight. ” “Ours or theirs?” -The Dirty Dozen.

My vet says hes never treated a squirrel with the runs. Sometimes hes _so_ literal. =) My vet doesn’t think a squirrel will eat enough bacon grease to get enough salt to upset its electrolytes, but it’s possible that they aren’t very good at digesting grease, which could lead to loose stools but probably won’t kill them. People like salty foods, but it’s hard to find salty foods on a vegetarian diet, just like grease. He suggests not feeding it as a primary food. Advice we can all live by, Im sure.

Drat! I guess that means I should feed my pet squirrel “Greasy” some lettuce or something… 😉

What Squirrels Eat, Their Diet, and What Not to Feed Them