JACKYSIAN Posted February 12, 2008 Report Share Posted February 12, 2008 I have thought about BARF or cooking my own. It'll cost a bomb though won't it? Ozzy eats A LOT of food You'd be surprised!! I feed 4 dogs (3 medium size , 1 largeish) and 1 cat for around £100 every 3 months!! The only major problem is freezer space!! I have 3 freezers! 2 in the shed for the dogs and 1 for me...and that one gets used sometimes if I over order!! If it's only Ozzy you're feeding on it, you would be better off buying from PAH or local pet shop, it's really not that expensive. Mine get bones for free from the butcher once a week, and chicken wings once or twice a week for around £3.15 for a big bag (Farmfoods) and that gives them around 2 meals, so I'd guess you'd get 4meals for Ozzy out of that at least. I also buy fish from Tesco's for around £1.99 a bag, and that's 2 meals. So all in all it's alot more economical that standard dog food. You do have to be more organised, and I do cook my lot meals as well, but mostly they are purely on raw and they are all doing extreamly well on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracey.s Posted February 12, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 12, 2008 Another great mind here. Highly recommend chappie dried. If we can arrange to meet up sometime soon (really sorry about last time) I can get you Chappie dried for £9 at the wholesale cash and carry. Or they do the smaller bags if you wanted to try first for about £3 Sounds like a plan. You'd be surprised!! I feed 4 dogs (3 medium size , 1 largeish) and 1 cat for around £100 every 3 months!! The only major problem is freezer space!! I have 3 freezers! 2 in the shed for the dogs and 1 for me...and that one gets used sometimes if I over order!! If it's only Ozzy you're feeding on it, you would be better off buying from PAH or local pet shop, it's really not that expensive. Mine get bones for free from the butcher once a week, and chicken wings once or twice a week for around £3.15 for a big bag (Farmfoods) and that gives them around 2 meals, so I'd guess you'd get 4meals for Ozzy out of that at least. I also buy fish from Tesco's for around £1.99 a bag, and that's 2 meals. So all in all it's alot more economical that standard dog food. You do have to be more organised, and I do cook my lot meals as well, but mostly they are purely on raw and they are all doing extreamly well on it. So, if you were feeding Ozzy, what would you give him to eat, and how many times a day? He's on 2 feeds a day at the minute. Do you have to give them vitaming supplements or anything? This is something i'd really like to do for him and i've read a bit about it but ended up It's a bit of a minefield isn't it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JACKYSIAN Posted February 12, 2008 Report Share Posted February 12, 2008 So, if you were feeding Ozzy, what would you give him to eat, and how many times a day? He's on 2 feeds a day at the minute. Do you have to give them vitaming supplements or anything? This is something i'd really like to do for him and i've read a bit about it but ended up It's a bit of a minefield isn't it? I'd stick to 2 a day, mine are on 2 meals because they have alot of exercise (I work so feel guilty ). I don't supplement mine for their food, they are on supplements but for different ailments. I wouldn't like to suggest a menu' to you because I tailor mine to the dogs I have and I think with Ozzy's problems you'll get better more experienced advise if you join BritBarf Here .They were so helpful when I first changed over! Lots of really knowledgeable people who are more than happy to help. They gave me loads of help with deciding what to feed and when. Personally I don't follow BARF to the letter, mine get biscuits in some meals, rice, pasta and like I said some days I home make something. Mine get veg's which some don't think you need to give, but mine like them so they can have them! I know how distressing colitis is and I was just so happy to find something that suited Cromwell, plus it meant all 4 dogs were on the same food which made life easier as well!!! I hope it helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khanu Posted February 12, 2008 Report Share Posted February 12, 2008 Tracey I feed my GSDs raw and have done so for years now (Syd the saluki and Breckin the springer also get fed raw). They get chicken carcasses mainly for RMBs with turkey necks/carcasses and lamb ribs thrown in for a bit of variety, and different meat minces/heart/tripe for the muscle meat type meals. I feed all of them twice a day. How much they are fed depends a lot on the dog - Khanu (large male GSD, always on the go never puts weight on) gets almost twice as much as Willow (very large female GSD, larger than Khanu, puts weight on easily). Khanu gets around 2-3lb of food a day (depending on activity level and time of year), Willow gets around 1lb a day. I get my stuff from Albion and feeding 4 costs me around £100 every 13weeks, although I buy tins of fish on top of that each week. Albion Meats do chicken carcasses and lamb rib bones for £4.20 for 10kg, I'm yet to find anywhere that beats that (and delivers to me down in West Sussex) Britbarf on yahoo groups is the fountain of all knowledge but if you want to know what I feed mine feel free to pm me. I don't supplement really (I always intend to but don't really manage it very well) and it doesn't seem to have an effect, with the youngsters although I was relegious about it when we had Kayla (oldie GSD with CDRM). Occasionally they get thrown some veggies, either leftovers from sunday roast or sometimes when I'm feeling particularly organised I will have frozen some veggie mush but I only do it every now and then and usually only if they seem to be eating lots of grass! Never ever had a problem with any of my GSDs with doggy tums - including oldie Kayla when I decided to switch her off burgess super sensitive and go raw. Never had a problem with Khanu as he was growing up either (I put him on raw when he was 10 weeks old), he grew nice and slowly and only really started to fill out and mature at 2-3 years old which is exactly what I wanted. My vet reckons my dogs are in perfect condition and puts a lot of it down to their diet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JACKYSIAN Posted February 12, 2008 Report Share Posted February 12, 2008 My vet reckons my dogs are in perfect condition and puts a lot of it down to their diet. Last week my vet say sprouting on how fit and healthy mine looked...when I told him they were few raw he said 'oh shi* I'm supposed to tell you off for that...but it's obviously doing them fine so how can I!!!' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracey.s Posted February 12, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 12, 2008 Sounds like it could be BARF then. Thankyou both so much. I shall go and have a shufty at the forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khanu Posted February 12, 2008 Report Share Posted February 12, 2008 Last week my vet say sprouting on how fit and healthy mine looked...when I told him they were few raw he said 'oh shi* I'm supposed to tell you off for that...but it's obviously doing them fine so how can I!!!' Yeah, I love my vet He is a big big advocate of raw diets and not over vaccinating etc he is definately one in a million! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirtychicken Posted February 12, 2008 Report Share Posted February 12, 2008 When I was home cooking for Bear and Flo, Trace, it was costing me just a little bit more per week than it was to feed them on CSJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracey.s Posted February 12, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 12, 2008 When I was home cooking for Bear and Flo, Trace, it was costing me just a little bit more per week than it was to feed them on CSJ Fabbo, i can manage that Any recipe examples you'd like to share? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirtychicken Posted February 12, 2008 Report Share Posted February 12, 2008 THIS would be the thread you'll be needing to read Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazz Posted February 12, 2008 Report Share Posted February 12, 2008 mine have raw mince from the butchers, 20p a lb with some complete or mixer. Shadow the GSDs arthritis has near vanished since they have been on it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GSDFan Posted February 12, 2008 Report Share Posted February 12, 2008 Another vote here for either BARF or home cooked food. Other than that Autarky, which is reasonably priced, seems to be good for dodgy tums, provided they aren't allergic to rice, which my Bruin is now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts