Feeding BARF to puppies/dogs

Milford_Cubicle

In true MSE style, I've decided to get some more information on the BARF diet. I don't know really how to go about it, so was hoping someone might have access to some websites, resources etc they could share with me?

I do have a grasp of the basics, but will need some help as to how to plan meals each day, how much of each raw food I'm going to need, how many bones to offer etc etc. I also don't have a large butcher near me who has a supply of bones - I've asked the local independent in the small town I live in but no joy. I wonder if anyone had managed to get bones from the supermarket butchers (Morrisons etc)?

Cheers.

1sue23

Milford_Cubicle wrote: »

In true MSE style, I've decided to get some more information on the BARF diet. I don't know really how to go about it, so was hoping someone might have access to some websites, resources etc they could share with me?

I do have a grasp of the basics, but will need some help as to how to plan meals each day, how much of each raw food I'm going to need, how many bones to offer etc etc. I also don't have a large butcher near me who has a supply of bones - I've asked the local independent in the small town I live in but no joy. I wonder if anyone had managed to get bones from the supermarket butchers (Morrisons etc)?

Cheers.

I am also interested in this, so will watch this thread with interest . I tried my dogs on raw chicken wings and they managed these very well and have tried pigs trotters on my gsd and she loves these, I froze them first for 3 weeks to kill off the nasties I am lucky as my butcher lets me have these things for free .

naturally_2

I only know a lady in spain who did this, so no idea about UK shops supplying but I know the general principals.

I think you need to get friendly with several local butchers, but I see from yoru post you've had no joy there. The lady I know actually buys chicken carcasses from the supermarket for not very much, but I doubt Morrisons has a shelf of those!

Se also feeds drumsticks and wings, so maybe you could look into how cost effective those are? I also found out that Jollies, a pet food superstore near me sells bags of frozen raw bones and meat especially for this diet.

May I suggest you get the BARF book out of your local library to check on the full nutritional and quantities side of it?

If you eat vegetables yourself that shouldn't be a problem element of the diet - I'd just wash e.g. carrots before peeling and give the peelings to the dog. I know she used to give her dogs buttered toast, but I'm not sure if thats part of it or not.

Deb2008

I dont Barf I raw feed.....
Its really very simple.....I feed a variety of green tripe, heart, kidney, chicken, lamb, pork and bones from the butchers, they also get a few eggs in shells a few times a week and tinned fish, tuna, sardines etc once a week too.
I get the main of mine from an abattoir so very cheap and the bones and scraps are free from my local butcher who keeps them in the freezer for me until I can pick up. The chicken in all forms, wings legs etc are from a local poultry farm and are very cheap, Asda are great when they do the whoopsies.....they knock down meat regularly at my store...and we can get turkey, chicken, beef etc all at a low price.
There are a few raw pet food companies who deliver...
I have used Durham Animal Feeds http://www.daf-petfood.co.uk/wb/pages/links.php
They are fab - they deliever to most places around the UK but you do have a minimum order of £50 to get free delivery.
Theres one called Landywoods - but I have never used them http://www.landywoods.co.uk/

As for the percentages etc.....I usually go by my eye, if they look a bit thinner I give them a bit more and if they look a bit porky then I give a little less but the rule of thumb is to feed 1 to 2 % of the dogs ideal adult body weight every day. I did buy scales when I first started and weighed each meal etc...now I can do it by eye.
I dont feed fruit or veg - my choice - they dont need it so I dont feed it. My dogs have never looked so good, their coats are glossy and every meal is a pleassure - they eat up all their food and the look of contentment when they are eating a nice meaty bone is worth it all.
I did buy an extra freezer and fridge for the dogs food so I can bulk buy etc....thats my biggest tip when raw feeding.
I have a few good websites to share if you want to learn further - drop me a pm

Milford_Cubicle

I think that's my problem - I don't have the extra space. I would like the info, certainly but think I'm going to have to put this idea on hold until I get my second garage built and I can put a freezer in there

Thanks for the Durham Animal Feeds link, that's not far from me at all!

andybodoyd

We use Landywoods food to feed our 8 month old lab ,they have a variety of different meat -lamb-beef-chicken-chicken and tripe, all minced up with the bones in 500g bags. There is a minimum order and we have a extra freezer in the garage just for Amber's food.
We also give chicken wings, whole raw fish-sardines or mackeral (we try to get her to eat these outside as she has a habit of hiding food under cushions for later!) eggs, neck of lamb, tinned sardines or mackeral once a week. We get bones and the occassional heart from the local farm shop. All in all we are really pleased with how things have gone, its not that expensive,she has small amounts of firm poos which sort her anal glands out,(sorry!) We try to give veg and fruit as well , she likes bananas, strawberries and raspberries for some reason but only likes most veg when it's on our plate!!!!

Milford_Cubicle

Indy does have a few chicken wings per week which she really enjoys. I tried her with a banana yesterday, no joy with that but we're only early days. I think I'll probably introduce new things slowly to see what she does and doesn't like, with a view to switching over to BARF when I have the space next year.

Do you freeze the strawberries and raspberries or give them fresh?

RooBee

There are no hard and fast rules with raw feeding because what suits one dog won't necessarily sut another....for example, one of mine gets veg in his diet but the other dog firmly believes veg are poisonous and won't touch them.

I feed a variety of meats/ bones etc (chicken portions (wings, legs, thighs), lamb meat & ribs, pork ribs, minced beef, heart, liver, kidney, green tripe, fish (salmon, trout, sardines, mackerel, spratts etc) and anything else I can lay my hands on cheaply. I'd find it pretty impossible without 2 decent farm butchers to call upon and a large freezer for storage, though.

One of my dogs gets pulped fruit & veggies every day to bulk up his food as he puts on weight easily. I just whizz up loads of fruit and veg in the food processor and then freeze it. Dogs can't digest whole veg so it has to be pulped. Fruit can be given fresh but, again, I tend to buy stuff like berries when they are in season and relatively cheap and then freeze them.

They also get raw eggs, cottage cheese, live yoghurt among other things.

A good introductory book is 'Natural Feeding for Cats & Dogs' by Kymythy Schultz. There are a few things in her regime that I don't agree with (like fasting once a week...one of my dogs struggles to go 12 hours between meals as it is!) but it's an easy, informative read with a meal planner included.

andybodoyd

She has them fresh when we have them.We have an allotment so she enjoyed early Autumn with plenty of fruits around.We also bake liver till its cooked and hard, cut it into small cubes, put them in bags in the freezer and use them as training treats instead of the over priced pet shop varieties! Amber also gets small amounts of goats milk as we read somewhere its good for them (or not as bad as cows milk). In all she probably gets a better diet than I do!!

Milford_Cubicle

I was going to do the liver treats thing, but I've been using teeny tiny little bits of cheese, I can get like 30 bags from a £1.50 block of Tesco Value cheddar

suki1964

andybodoyd wrote: »

She has them fresh when we have them.We have an allotment so she enjoyed early Autumn with plenty of fruits around.We also bake liver till its cooked and hard, cut it into small cubes, put them in bags in the freezer and use them as training treats instead of the over priced pet shop varieties! Amber also gets small amounts of goats milk as we read somewhere its good for them (or not as bad as cows milk). In all she probably gets a better diet than I do!!

Where as goats milk isnt as bad as cows milk for dogs, you dont need to give her milk at all - it contains lactose and dogs do build an intolerance to it.

Plain water really is the best thing for a dog