Information About Barf Diet Needed

[Nettie]

Yes mine love pilchards in tomato sauce and I also give them pink salmon or is the red salmon, the one that costs less anyway.

 

If you are going to feed raw you really need freezer space otherwise it can be expensive.

 

Mine have been on raw for 5 plus years now. The only really scarey thing I found was bringing Bertie up from 11 weeks old on a raw diet but I seem to have got it right. He's 18 months old, healthy, shiny and he grew big enough! He was my first puppy raised on raw, Rio was raised on a commercial diet, I think we swopped over when she was 2ish. I would never go back to a commercial diet again.

[~Canis-Equus~]

Ive been raw feeding for um,..... a scary 5 or 6 years now..... cor doesnt time fly!

 

I personally favour switching them over straight away - you shouldnt mix raw and cooked in the same meal so if you do intend (and if you suspect problems caused by the complete stuff then id recommend going completely raw at first) to go completely raw, its not oging to make much difference.

 

If i have a dog thats used to complete food, whilst we go straight to raw food, i keep the diet quite bland and stick to only a few new foods for the first week.

 

If there are no problems, add in more, if there are some issues, assess the situation - its possibly a case of just getting used to the food, you may have the amounts wrong, dog may need to learn to chew - dogs with skin problems will often initially worsen, this is because they are ridding themselves of toxins built up through the skin and will clear up. If it doesnt then suspect an ingredient you are feeding and eliminate that to see if it helps (and the great thing about BARF is you can feed in such a way as you are fully aware of what you are feeding so its much easier to eliminate one element of the diet).

 

Ive raised two pups on raw now - scary with Dill who was 6 weeks old but he showed me just how good a puppies teefs are when he could after a week, demolish a chicken wing as big as his own head (he was tiny!), even if it did take him nearly an hour to do it. He was a remarkably quiet, not very bitey puppy........

 

I personally do not like handling raw meat - i dont eat much in the way of meat myself and if i do it tends not to resemble meat at all!

 

I cannot STAND teh smell of fish - in fact i am so bad i retch and heave uncontrollably and quite alarmingly if you see me doing it (or people think im taking the weewee...), but i have got to the point where i can feed the dogs a tin of fish, or hand out raw chicken wings without throwing up over them all.

 

It does take a bit of determination (especially if you are retching so hard yo cant really see what you are doing) but its perfectly possible.

 

My dogs mostly eat AMP mince, which i just squidge out of the packet and personally I think even the tripe ones smell less offensive than tinned dog food and also doesnt have that greasy oily smell that a lot of dried foods have.

 

They get wings or legs or ribs of some sort several times a week - i must admit i cant look for too long as they crunch things up and if they have large meaty bones for chiewing on they have them in the garden where i can look from a distance (somehow, i can manage the crunch OR the sight, but not both together).

 

On top of that, they get blended veg - whatevers cheap and cheerful that week on the market based mostly on leafy greens with apples, carrots, garlic and other goodies thrown in as i feel like it. Try to keep the bitter stuff balanced out by teh sweet carrots or apples at first, it does help tempt them.

They get a large tablespoon full per serving, usually mixed in with either tinned fish, or mince/chunks of muscle meat and they get it most days if i remember to defrost it. If i dont remember thats ok.

 

As i say, most of what i feed comes from AMP, and thats a good mix of chicken, turkey, beef, tripe, offal minces and chunky beef, heart etc so they get sufficient offal (note---- a lot of dogs wont eat offal especially liver and kidney whole, but they will if you blend it. Only blend offal if you can really stand the smell of blood it is disgusting - and you will get some vomitworthy stringy bits around the blender blades too...... this is why i feed it from AMP!)

 

After that, they get the occasional raw egg - dillers gets some supplements for his skin such as EPO, Vit E etc, abby gets some stuff for her joints cos shes tatty and old.

 

It can be as cheap or expensive as you make it really - if you can find a proper butcher you may get things extremely cheap as a lot would be thrown away as waste, us people being extremely fussy about what we will eat these days. I buy chicken wings in bulk off the local market and that saves me a lot of money - in fact last time i worked it out, i feed all FOUR dogs here on what it would cost to feed ONE on a premium commercial food... around £40/50 a month, and they certainly arent eating poor quality rubbish either!

[JACKYSIAN]

I have long thought about changing their diets (they have Burns) but I have never eaten meat myself and worry that I would find it difficult to handle raw meat.

 

Kathy I've never eaten meat in my whole life and I had a major crisis of concience before I changed but as much as my principles rule my life...my dogs welfare is always formost (plus I would never expect my dogs to be be vegi's so either way I'm contributing to the meat industry ) so I decided to try. I can honestly say I find handling the raw meat much easier than stinky 'conventional' dog food. It doesn't smell (except if you accidentally forget to defrost tripe and think defrosting it in the microwave is a good idea...it isn't and it STINKS!!!!) and the only meat I struggled with was Liver...but mind will actually only eat that when it's frozen anyway so that one is solved!

 

I don't cook their meat, that I would struggle with and I already use separate bowls to store their food so if I was to cook any of it I'd have to have new pots and pans as well..and my kitchen isn't that big!!! Mine all have sardines in tomato sauce once a week and I find that harder to cope with than any of the meat!! The raw fish I give them from Tesco's doesn't really smell (at least it doesn't seem to bother me).

[Mrs B]

I think most folks have said most things.

 

So I'll just say that Tigger and Daisy are both fed raw food - Tigger for probably 20 months, Daisy since day two of her coming here a year ago (which was interesting as out of deference to tummy upsets I deliberately gave her dried food the first night which I'd obtained specially, which she sniffed at a bit - next day she tackled her chicken wings and raw meat in a way fitting to her new life, and I gradually worked her up to larger bones!) I wouldn't go back - personally - but I do think it's a personal decision.

 

Our supplies come from Landywoods - delivery can be a little trying - so a delivery due "before lunch" can end up coming in the evening - but at the prices they charge, and the quality and variety of what they delivery - and where I live, I really have no options - so put up with it.

 

And yes, beware the minimum order - £50 of raw meat and bones, when an average price is 25p is obviously 200 lbs of meat - and when some of that is carcasses and ribs ..........

 

I obtain my own veggies - I have an arrangement with the local veg shop, who gives me her rejects on a Saturday - there's plenty there, and there's a variety week to week. I started by mixing them in with minced meat really well - but now they enjoy them so much I can just add them separately.

 

Oily fish Tigger loves and Daisy is picky about. Ditto liver. But as long as they are getting a variety and they're healthy, I don't stress about it.

 

There is sooooooooo much information out there - all of which is contradictory - at least so I found. I ended up sticking to two books, common sense and the odd question. I'm no expert, but I've found a way that works for us.

[akitas]

I wanted to give a short update.

First thanks to everybody for their help.

I feed Max and Larkin on purely raw now, saying that, I cook the veggies as I don't have a Juicer/Blender yet.

Max had always problems with the dry food and even with Nature Diet, what I fed him the last months.

Since he gets raw, I can controle what he eats much better. No lose stools, or even runs.

His poo is really firm now and much less than before.

He loves his new food and had no problem changing.

Larkin came with being on raw meat, so it wasn't a change for him.

But it looks like he never had bones before. He looked at them without having a clue what to do with them, but got the hang of it really quickly.

Now his teeth improved a lot, nearly all the plaque is gone.

 

Thought I let you all know. Thanks again!

 

Ursula

[merledogs]

I feed Max and Larkin on purely raw now, saying that, I cook the veggies as I don't have a Juicer/Blender yet.

I recently bought a hand blender for a fiver from Asda for blending my lot's veggies (though I do buy frozen veg as it's easier to store and it is somewhat softer than raw veg).

 

Glad to hear they are doing well on it

[gsdsian]

I've been toying with the idea of switching my 2 to raw. Buster wouldn't be a problem. He can eat just about anything. But Rhomi has a severe allergy to chicken and can only tolerate small amounts of lamb or beef.

 

I have tried her with the occasional meal of mushed veggies, raw fish or tripe and she wolfs it down (although that doesn't say much as she'll wolf anything down ). My concern is how to add enough variety in to create a balanced diet. She can tolerate venison and I've got a local butcher that could supply rabbit but I want to keep one protein source that she hasn't tried should we develop problems in the future.

 

My other concern is calcium. I know if I feed her whole raw fish she'll get some from the bones, but I don't think I'll be feeding enough to make sure she has an adequate amount. I don't know whether she'll be able to tolerate raw bones (I suppose to try it once and see would be the answer.)

 

I've looked at the AMP minced packs but both the rabbit dinner and lamb dinner contain chicken The tripe would be an option though if only to add a bit of variety.

[EAD]

This is also something I have thought about over the last few months but have never been brave enough to attempt it

 

I suppose my concerns are:

 

- Cost.

- Not wanting to change younger dogs over to barf and leave old boy on commercial.

- Wondering could I cope with it and do it right.

- Worrying that Lily might choke (she cant even eat a bloomin Winalot Shape without choking)

 

Now at the minute they are fed Burns Fish & Brown Rice with tinned Chappie (Kyla & Benji) and Nature Menu pouches (Lily) which seems to suit them all.

 

I did put a video up of the dogs and a couple of people commented on how shiny Kylas coat was so she is healthy enough.

 

Is it sensible to try and fix what aint broke

[~Canis-Equus~]

EAD if it helps.....

 

Cost - i spend around £40 a month, to feed four med-big-ish dogs. Could bring this down more!

 

Old dogs - i swapped abby over to raw aged 9 and she was VERY fussy at the time (three days of 'you are trying to poison meeeee). Shes now happily eating raw and has been for the last three years. I wouldnt hesitate to swap an oldy onto raw again.

 

Doing it right - its easy peasy, as long as you dont go 'hmm i dont like offal so ill never feed any' or ' mm ill just miss out all the bones'.... its just a case of remembering to defrost something and feeding a variety of meats and bones, some veg and some offal, some fish if you like. You feed yourself yes? so you can feed a dog!

 

Choking - do you know why Lily chokes? Does she inhale food? If so you may have to teach her to chew - give her really LARGE bones first ones she cant inhale, when you give chicken wings, hold one end with a pliers, so she cant just inhale and also feed away from other dogs at first in case shes rushing it down to stop someone else stealing it.

 

If a dog swallows a chicken wing whole, dont panic. Chicken wings are great as the bones are covered in meat - even if they have been crunched a couple of times theres unlikely to be any sharp bones poking out so the most likely outcome of a dog going 'crunch swallow' with a chicken wing, is that it will be brought back up later to be 'rearranged'..... if that happens, leave it, she will re-eat it (or as in my house, someone will usually to the original owners annoyance).

 

Dont forget, regurgitating large lumps of not very well chewed meat is a perfectly natural thing for a dog to do - this is how wild canids take home meat for their pups.

[EAD]

Hmmm thanks for all that

 

Cost - sounds actually cheaper than what I spend atm on kibbles and meat.

 

Old boy (is really old boy) - Benji will be 17 on his next birthday with liver problems amongst others so would be scared to change him (thats not to say I couldnt change the others I suppose)

 

Doing it right - I could certainly handle any meat so thats not a problem. They are healthy and eat well atm so its quite daunting to think about starting something that could cause problems (hope that makes sense)

 

Choking - Lily has always been like this. As a puppy she would wolf her food down even if no-one was near her. Shes not as bad now with her main meals but treats are sometimes swallowed whole so the thought of giving her a bone or chicken wing scares me to death.

 

Kyla also used to be quite cheeky with the others regarding food and has to be separated when eating her kong so I dread what she would be like on raw.

 

I have noticed mince etc in P&H.......is it possible to feed raw as a meal in the morning with kibbles say in the evening or is that defeating the purpose

[agilitymad]

one question how much meat/mince would a 22 kilo dog eat a day and how many chcken wings a week and also can you add things like rice/pasta/potato.

 

i have just bought a book written by donald r. stombeck called home-prepared dog and cat diets the healthful alternative which my vet recommended to me has anyone elce read his book?

[~Canis-Equus~]

You can bash the chicken wings with a hammer so the bones are all broken up but remain inside the meat - so its not really an issue if a dog swallows that whole.

 

You can feed raw one meal, complete the next - wont give exactly the benefits of raw but many people do it quite happily. Just dont feed complete and raw in the same meal.