BARF (Raw food) for dogs - Kent?

jc808

Does anyone feed their dogs raw food?

I am thinking of giving mine some new food - currently on a mix of kibble, biscuit bones, and raw diced beef, with the occasional bit of rice or veg

tried to visit the BARF shop in kent but its shut down
http://www.barfpetfoods.co.uk/

I get the impression BARF is just a franchise shop - surely you must be able to get this type of stuff elsewhere?

friendly butcher maybe?

whats your view? :beer::j

lisawood78

We have fed RAW for years, get some bits from butchers but mainly use DAF pet food, Landywoods, Berriewoods and TPMS online. All deliver and have a very good range of frozen products.
Good luck

jc808

So delivery is the way forward - thats what my research seems to say too. Is that not difficult though, getting frozen stuff deliveryed?

gadjah543

We buy fresh chicken drumsticks when they are on offer and freeze them ourselves. We found sometimes stuff that is pre frozen has freezer burn.

yellowbear

I use wolftucker.co.uk plus bits and pieces from the butcher.

I can't fault them

krlyr

BARF is one of the "methods" of raw feeding, prey model style being another popular one. BARF includes more bones, vegetables, fruits and other supplement type foods like natural yoghurt and so on. Prey model tends to be more 'basic', i.e. mimicking the natural prey of a wolf - so meat, bones and offal fed in the ratio of 80:20:20 to copy the composition of a wolf's most common prey (or the parts they'd consume of it, at least)

I think there's also a brand called BARF, but not 100%.

I "DIY raw" which means buying the meat, offal and bones separately and creating a balance (not necessarily every day, but over the week/month) to that 80:10:10 ratio. I currently buy between two suppliers, The Dog Food Company (based in Suffolk so may be worth seeing if he delivers to you) and a local DAF stockist (they deliver nationwide plus have some stockists around the country).

Raw feeding has kicked off lately to be quite a fashionable thing, so more and more suppliers are cropping up. Do check out the reputation of the company though - some have some not so great reviews. Also be cautious of butchers offering 'pet mince' - some may be great, others may have just cottoned on to a way of getting money for scrap. Minces may with too much bone, offal and fatty offcuts may vary from being unbalanced to being a health risk - too much bone can cause serious complications from extreme constipation, impaction, an imbalance of calcium/phosphorus in the diet and so on, and too much fat in the diet could trigger an episode of pancreatitis if the dog is prone to it.

http://dogsdinner2.webs.com/ is a good place to start if you're considering "DIY" raw. I'd also recommend looking on Facebook, if you're a using - Raw Feeding UK and Rawfeeding Rebels are two groups I'm on.

HB58

I fed my cats raw from a company called 'Nurturing by Nature', you can find them on-line, who deliver (in insulated boxes). Although I have cats, this is actually marketed for dogs.

Rev

I know manifold valley meats deliver country wide.

Durham animal feeds deliver to most places but usually only one day a month.


I use a local manifold valley supplier but have used DAF too.


Can vouch for the quality of both. But MVM edges it for me.


I'm also lucky enough to live not far from the shop owned by the writer of the dogs dinner Rae feeding guide. They sell literally everything raw related. Plus natural flea and worm treatment. Natural vaccinations. I don't use those but I know some go 100% natural and avoid all chemicals in their dogs diets.


It's a great shop to live by though. They do their own range, and I believe stock DAF minces. Plus a plethora of treats.

jc808

a lot of food (!) for thought ta guys