BARF/Raw Food/Natural Diet Q&A's all in here please

Anyone considering feeding their dogs a natural or BARF diet can post within this thread for any queries and we'll do our best to advise, instead of various different posts all over the board (yes I know I'm guilty)

Thanks

mollys litter mate has been on the barf diet since a pup hes a lovely looking boy hes three now and thriving on it when we met up the other day and they told me and i instanly thought of you.

staffie2 wrote:mollys litter mate has been on the barf diet since a pup hes a lovely looking boy hes three now and thriving on it when we met up the other day and they told me and i instanly thought of you.

Bet you he has no skin allergies either

Lol, I saw the pictures and he's the brindle boy aye?

yes hes a beauty his owner said apart from him having his jabs hes only ever had to go to the vets once for a ripped dew claw.

MBK i really wanna star slev on BARF, just wondering what kind of bones are allowed?! i know it's no weight bearing bones, is that just for chicken or is that any animal?!

Priya11 wrote:MBK i really wanna star slev on BARF, just wondering what kind of bones are allowed?! i know it's no weight bearing bones, is that just for chicken or is that any animal?!

Right, this none weight baring bones is a bit of a myth to be honest. If you're going to feed your dog bones from the butcher these will include sheep's leg bones and a sheep weighs a hell of a lot more than a chicken!

Chicken carcasses are great, so buy a chicken and give it to you dog whole and he'll be fine, remember though DON'T cook it!

One raw bone a day is what I feed my lad, cow ribs, sheep legs, anything the butcher gives me really. Always supervise when your dog is eating raw bones though.

As for raw feeding, I feed my lad Lamb mince, beef mince, chicken wings, prawns, fish, sardines and raw eggs. He doesn't 'do' offal but it's good if your dog will eat it.

So any bones of a good size UNCOOKED will be fine. But always supervise, I regularly hold one end of the bone and let Harley go at it until he's fixated by it.

I didnt know you could give them a whole chicken, so I could cut a chicken in quaters and then give cassie a quarter a day. would this be okay. ????

allie wrote:I didnt know you could give them a whole chicken, so I could cut a chicken in quaters and then give cassie a quarter a day. would this be okay. ????

Yes, that'd be fine Allie, sounds like you're doing a fine job anyway. I'm still learning, but I've read a bit and practice what I preach!

ooo good question! i was wondering that too! x

Thank you MBK Im lucky as cassie likes offal and when I am feeling really lazy I buy the nature menu

allie wrote:Thank you MBK Im lucky as cassie likes offal and when I am feeling really lazy I buy the nature menu

Harley HATES offal! But he'll eat most raw meat. Nature's Menu is IMHO better than Nature diet since it's more 'wet' and Harley likes it

Have been doing a LOT of reading on the BARF diet the last few weeks and as a general guide I think this document is very useful and an excellent starting point for someone looking to start BARF.

So here it is...

Raw Diet pdf

taken from the Leeburg website @

Leeburg diet

Enjoy.

I have moved mine over to a raw diet and both are doing very well on it. They love offal - but to be honet, my two will eat anything! lol

I am off to the butchers today to see what bones the miserable old sold might give me for free....

x

Good link peculierism.

I am thinking about trying Kuta on a total raw diet too. I wa doing some reading and they said grains are not part or the 'BARF' diet, does that mean rice is a no no?
I was planing on mixing rice with raw meat and veg to make a stew for breaky then give raw meaty bones at night.
Do the vegies need to be raw or can they be boiled?

Rice can be fed but the dog doesn't particularly need it. As for veggies, some Raw feeders feed them others don't. I try and get Harley to eat veg but he's not keen, I do mix spinach in with lamb mince though and he likes that. If you do feed veggies try and feed raw, blend a mixture of veg (not potato though) and make it into a slush, the dog will then be able to digest the veg and take from it vitamins and enzymes.

Good thread.... i feed both mine barf and they are doing great on it, when we got leon earlier this year he wasnt in great shape he'd had a major ear op both ears.. caused by allergies and generally not in good condition.. well hes a diff dog now NO allergies great coat and very fit as for jazz well shes fit and healthy only vet visit was to be speyed i would recommend barf to all dog owners.
This is what mine have: raw lamb bones... ribs and all other bones meaty, chicken wings, raw egg yolk, tripe raw green, sardines, apple banana the odd bit of pasta or rice once in a while a bit of ginger and honey i think thats about it.

I have just orderd rabbit from a friend of mine that shoots. He i sgoing to skin and gut them for me and i'll be feeding the boys it raw on Friday all going well and he remebers to bring them in. I can cook it for Charlie

As i'll be at home Friday afternoon and the weekend i'll be able to keep an eye on them incase it runs through them but as the biys eat dead rabbits when out alking and i am not quick enoug to stop them i don't think it will be a problem

You can feed rabbit with the fur still on Maistaff. The full 'prey' model is held as the gold standard with Raw feeders. Personally I love rabbits and I couldn't feed one to Harley in a million years but he's a photo of a dog eating a whole rabbit...

victoria wrote:Good thread.... i feed both mine barf and they are doing great on it, when we got leon earlier this year he wasnt in great shape he'd had a major ear op both ears.. caused by allergies and generally not in good condition.. well hes a diff dog now NO allergies great coat and very fit as for jazz well shes fit and healthy only vet visit was to be speyed i would recommend barf to all dog owners.
This is what mine have: raw lamb bones... ribs and all other bones meaty, chicken wings, raw egg yolk, tripe raw green, sardines, apple banana the odd bit of pasta or rice once in a while a bit of ginger and honey i think thats about it.

Harley's gone right off raw eggs now. Fussy bugger lol. Interesting point about the allergies. I've lost count of the amount stories I've read where kibble fed dogs have had allergies then switched to BARF/Raw and they've just cleared up.

I'm sure his diet is why my dog has such a great coat and has no allergies to report of as yet @ 9 months.

My Bully's Keeper wrote:You can feed rabbit with the fur still on Maistaff. The full 'prey' model is held as the gold standard with Raw feeders. Personally I love rabbits and I couldn't feed one to Harley in a million years but he's a photo of a dog eating a whole rabbit...

Given the choice they would eat it with the skin, they do when they find them but like you i love rabbits so feeding them skin off might make it easier for me.

Ok, another question or two..... sorry
I have done A LOT of reading the last few days about 'BARF' and what you can feed and what you can and I am totally confused. Firstly, I read that you should only feed human grade foods but then another site said to feed things like offle and meat off cuts.... which is correct? My local butcher sells pet mince quite cheap and its basicly off cuts and left over meat they cant sell thats been ground up, would that be ok?
Also, I went to the local Pet Cafe today and got a free 1kg trial of thier 'meal for pets'. It is a pre mixed product of roo meat, fresh tripe, crushed cereal grains, flax seed, vegitables, barley grass, garlic, parsley, calcium, yeast, lecithin, kelp & vitamin c. It also states no wheat, fillers, colours, artificial flavours or processing (again, sorry for so much detail but I want to get this right for Kuta's sake) Does that sound like a good form of BARF if I include meaty bones daily as well.
I was going to feed 100g of that in the morning, then 2 chicken wings and a brisket bone at night.
HELP MBK PLEASE

What is "Offal"

CarbriniTek wrote:What is "Offal"

Offal is heart, liver, tripe, kidney etc.

holedigger wrote:Ok, another question or two..... sorry
I have done A LOT of reading the last few days about 'BARF' and what you can feed and what you can and I am totally confused. Firstly, I read that you should only feed human grade foods but then another site said to feed things like offle and meat off cuts.... which is correct? My local butcher sells pet mince quite cheap and its basicly off cuts and left over meat they cant sell thats been ground up, would that be ok?
Also, I went to the local Pet Cafe today and got a free 1kg trial of thier 'meal for pets'. It is a pre mixed product of roo meat, fresh tripe, crushed cereal grains, flax seed, vegitables, barley grass, garlic, parsley, calcium, yeast, lecithin, kelp & vitamin c. It also states no wheat, fillers, colours, artificial flavours or processing (again, sorry for so much detail but I want to get this right for Kuta's sake) Does that sound like a good form of BARF if I include meaty bones daily as well.
I was going to feed 100g of that in the morning, then 2 chicken wings and a brisket bone at night.
HELP MBK PLEASE

I'll try lol.

Offal such as kidney and heart is good once or twice a week, it's very 'rich' and high in vitamin A so a dog doesn't need loads of it. I feed Harley liver twice a week.

Pet mince is a good idea to be honest, off cuts of meat will do your dog no harm at all and will be 20 times better than some of the **** out there for sale in bags and tins.

Grains are kind of unnecessary, a bit rice once in a while is fine though, brown bread is quite good too, I give Harley a couple of slices of brown bread a week.

It's pretty much your own choice. The way I look at it, is 'would I eat that?', if I would I'll feed him it if I wouldn't, then I don't. Mainstay of any BARF diet should be chicken and raw bones. Harley's fed around 65% raw chicken either wings (sometimes 4 a day) or thighs or breasts. Meaty bones: I feed Harley one a day, but for instance today he's not interested and it's just sitting here in the middle of the floor, so I'll chuck it before the day's out.

Fruit I feed him tends to be apples, pears, banana sometimes, he loves his apples though.

Hope that's cleared it up a little.

I changed both of mine to a raw diet a couple of months ago and they seem to be doing really well on it. My trainer recommended blending raw veggies together to add with their meat but neither on mine took to that!!! They just looked at me as if to say 'that's not meat!!!'

I'm really impressed with it - oh and it's a damn site cheaper than the food I was buying before which is always a bonus! My vet isn't impressed though - typically they say they should be on the dry kibble that they sell in the surgery, surprise surprise!!!!

Laura wrote:I changed both of mine to a raw diet a couple of months ago and they seem to be doing really well on it. My trainer recommended blending raw veggies together to add with their meat but neither on mine took to that!!! They just looked at me as if to say 'that's not meat!!!'

I'm really impressed with it - oh and it's a damn site cheaper than the food I was buying before which is always a bonus! My vet isn't impressed though - typically they say they should be on the dry kibble that they sell in the surgery, surprise surprise!!!!

I think everyone knows my thoughts on the 'kibble' debate!

Pleased they're liking a natural diet. Veggies IMO should be added and I've found a great trick, if they're hungry enough they'll eat it!!

My vet was appalled when I asked about feeding Harley on BARF, but you've got to go with your gut instinct. I think it's natural, feels right and I can't see any downsides to feeding natural other than supervising bone eating.

After speaking with a behaviorist, I have decided to try intergrating some raw food into my dogs diet. There is a lot of information out there & it is easy to go with what you want to hear.

I bought some large chicken drumsticks yesturday & presented them to Buster & Millie; it was funny looking at their faces!

Millie took hers & ran off; she kept coming back with it still in her mouth. She did a few laps of the garden, looked at it, sniffed it, then just left it & walked away disgusted

Buster had a good sniff, rang away, came back, ran away, came back & then chomped it down. He then found Millies & had that too

I will keep trying Millie to see if she gets the idea, but won't force the issue.

I want to continue feeding a small kibble meal & a meaty piece of chicken with bone for now. If all goes well after a few weeks, I may try some other meaty bones.

Day 3. Buster is still loving his raw chicken legs etc; Millie has now also got the idea. I gave them both a raw egg too which was funny, but they seemed to enjoy it once the penny dropped that they were not balls.

So far the only downside is the need to take the legs off somewhere; like behind the sofa. Why can't they just keep them in the bowl??

My two have been on a raw diet now for 2 weeks, your right MBK its not that hard. I just have to remember to defrost something for them every evening and morning!

What do you think about carbs? Do they need extra carbs or will they get them all from their meat? I have been adding a handful of veg, either crushed green leafs or a little bit of fruit (apples, bannanas) every other day.

I have noticed (or havn't) that both the girls havn't farted once since starting their raw diet. Also their faeces has been really hard and small in the last few weeks.

Raw fish didn't agree with Tali the first time (but I think thats because she ate the fish whole and didnt chew it) but gave them some today and fingers crossed there wont be anything to clean up when I get home!

what do you think of this menu, balanced or not?

Day one morning: 2 chicken wings, handul crushed spinach, a few cubes of liver (seared so its not slimy).

evening: raw lamb pet mince, a bit of cooked spud from my dinner.

day two morning: 1 raw sardine cut into chunks, 1 chicken wing, cooked carrot.

lunch time: raw lamb bone from butchers (usually rib)

day two evening: 2 chicken wings, bit of raw lamb mince.

I've been feeding these foods and just trying to rotate it a bit for a bit of variety. This is roughly what each dog would have in two days, does this seem balanced or do you think I need to modify it?

Looks good LCS. I'm no expert but I wish my dog would eat spinach, he was for a while then went right off it the wee pain he is lol.

Dogs don't need carbs like we do. But it seems a good idea to throw in some fruit too, slices of apple or pear, mango etc.

As for the veg, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower will all be fine but make sure you mush it all up first as canines can't digest vegetable matter like humans can.

Poo's should be very light brown with plenty of calcium in there lol hardish small poo's are ideal.

Yep their poop seems to be much harder and there is loads less of it! I will keep on then and try adding other things in as they adjust completely. I'll cut out the carbs then and try mushing up the veg a bit more! Thanks for the advice and I'm sure there will be more questions, hopefully I'll see an improvement in Skibs allergies soon

Lcsstaffords wrote:Yep their poop seems to be much harder and there is loads less of it! I will keep on then and try adding other things in as they adjust completely. I'll cut out the carbs then and try mushing up the veg a bit more! Thanks for the advice and I'm sure there will be more questions, hopefully I'll see an improvement in Skibs allergies soon

The less poo means that there's more food being absorbed and used in the correct way

MBK. I have a couple of questions about BARF. Firstly can dogs have a barf diet as a puppy?. Secondly is it true if i didnt go all the way that you are not meant to feed Kibble and raw at same meal? Also why dont vets like you feeding a BARF diet?. Lastly how do i know how much to feed ? Hope you can help with these questions. Sorry if they seem daft questions but am just gonna start reading up on BARF
Chers from Kara

kara wrote:MBK. I have a couple of questions about BARF. Firstly can dogs have a barf diet as a puppy?. Secondly is it true if i didnt go all the way that you are not meant to feed Kibble and raw at same meal? Also why dont vets like you feeding a BARF diet?. Lastly how do i know how much to feed ? Hope you can help with these questions. Sorry if they seem daft questions but am just gonna start reading up on BARF
Chers from Kara

Hi Kara.

Yes pup's can be safely fed BARF. You can feed a dog kibble/BARF but it's best not to mix when they're pups. The reason is generally down to the amount of protein in the diet. Puppy food (kibble) is very high in protein and raw meat such as chicken is also high in protein and can lead to problems, even death.

Vet's have a very short time that they study nutrition of dogs and cats. They're also sponsored by pet food companies (especially true in the US and Australia) and receive up to 25% funding to get new Vet's through their degrees from these companies. Often they'll end up in a surgery where companies like Hill's are on sale and reps throw money at surgeries that endorse their products.

Of course there's some great Vet's which endorse a 'scientific' diet such as Hill's. Problem is before these diets were available dogs ate what? Table scraps and raw meat and did very well or they're not be here to be bred from! A lot of myths surround raw feeding, a hell of a lot are simply untrue. Such as raw food and raw bones with make the dog violent. So far I've had NO problems feeding my dog raw, he has no skin allergies, no anal gland problems and he's happy and healthy. The old adage of 'you are what you eat' is especially true in the instances of dog which develop allergies etc from kibble and junk dog food.

Ask yourself a question, why feed your dog something you'd not eat? Makes no sense. I'd not eat kibble, but if I ate meat I'd eat chicken, lamb and beef. So why shouldn't my dog?

As for how much to feed... well, I feed Harley 4 chicken wings/thighs a day, lamb mince and veggies, some fruit such as a apple or pear.

If he's hungry he'll eat it, if he's not he'll leave it. It really is that simple. Please note this is my own personal opinion, I know others have different views and will probably disagree.

To be honest with a pup I'd feed them something like Nature's Menu (from P@H) say two pouches a day with some raw chicken wings and fish twice a week, raw eggs twice a week too.

Hope this helps.

MBK, Thanks that was a real help.
We are thinking about eventually putting Kai on a barf diet as at the moment the poor boy seems to be having nothing but problems with food and his stomach. We are back at the vets again today because the diahorrea has not really gone and now he has been sick as well. Thou only twice but i want him checking as its another thing happening thats not right.We hope a raw diet may help him but we were worried he may be to young to try it. Thanks for your advice on what you would feed a puppy. I realise this is all only your opinion but i think its good to get an opinion from someone who is feeding barf. You say if Harley hungry he eats ,if he is not then he does not but i think i may have a puppy who cant turn food down lol
Thanks again for all info. I will now do some reading up.
Cheers Kara

Nature's Menu do a great complete puppy food. It's in a pouch and my lad loved it. Give Kai a go, 79p from P@H for one pouch and see if he can stomach that better than the other foods. I'm guessing he probably will be able to digest it easier.

My dog Skibadee has always been very sensitive to commercial pet foods. Since starting her on a raw diet about 3 weeks ago and since we have had no problems with her faeces or flatulence (she used to fart like a trooper and her poop was always very soft and smelly). I think it might be worth a try, maybe for the fist few days go for an easily digestible protein like chicken (I found whole raw fish is quite oily and rich if their not used to it).

Thanks for all the advice