Looking into BARF

Hi All this is for anyone who feeds BARF but mainly from our BARF rep Caryll lol
Blue has no health problems etc but he is just so hard to please. He has gone back to not bothering with his food again. So I've started to do some research into BARF like allot on here recently.
How much does it cost approx / day or month?
and where can I find good information on what I need to feed him? The sites im finding are rubbish.

Just look in the health and nutrition section here and look for my threads, you'll find all the advice Caryll gave me. I dont do BARF, cos there's things that they say need to be added like veg and supplements and stuff which dogs just do not need. I just follow the advice Caryll gave me on feeding raw. Charlie absolutely loves it and it works out cheaper too

Its a natural diet for dogs. Raw meat, vegetables etc.

I would definately look into it.

My guys have been on it about a month now and 1 they love it and 2 they look great on it!

£40 does me about 6 weeks but that's not including bones from the butchers etc.

x

Shontelle can you bump up the threads from caryll..I cant find them
thanks mel

please x

There's two posts in the health and nutrition section, page 2. One titled 'raw food for Charlie' and the other is F.A.O Caryll. They told me pretty much everything I needed. A little internet research might help too.

Thanks
BLONDE didnt think of looking on page 2! lol
thanks Shontelle

Shontelle wrote:Just look in the health and nutrition section here and look for my threads, you'll find all the advice Caryll gave me. I dont do BARF, cos there's things that they say need to be added like veg and supplements and stuff which dogs just do not need. I just follow the advice Caryll gave me on feeding raw. Charlie absolutely loves it and it works out cheaper too

It depends what you read as to feeding fruit/veg. I do feed Dempsey some veg - not because it does him any good, but because it does him no harm & he loves it! He gets carrots & cabbage, and the occasional sprout! Strangely, he won't touch cooked veg at all, only raw! If you're going to feed veg as part of the diet, you need to pulp it & either mix it into a 'pattie' with mince or feed it as a puree on its own.

Janey wrote:Am I being thick. whats BARF??

BARF diet is either......

1. Bones and Raw Food diet or
2. Biologically Approriate Raw Food diet.

I actually prefer the 2nd one, but only because it sounds better! There's no difference.

Blue, I found these sites helpful, but in the end I did my own thing with the knowledge gained from them, and a friend on the Bull Terrier forum I go on - he's been feeding raw to his dogs for years, and they're gorgeous animals, really healthy.

http://www.ukbarfclub.co.uk/
http://www.barfworld.com/
http://www.drianbillinghurst.com/

The last one is an interesting read, but I didn't learn too much from it. Dr Billinghurst is the guy who made the diet well-known.

Excellent. Thank you so much
I'll have a look in a bit then probably known me come back with some more questions. Do any of you buy your food online or do you all go the butchers?

I'm waiting for Durham Animal Feeds to start delivering in the east midlands & then I'll get the bones from them. I don't have any butchers near me so I have to rely on Morrisons, and they don't always have what I want. The meat I get from the supermarket.

The problem im finding with these sites is a ABC on what I should be feeding. Im guessing 2 meals a day amounting to 2-3% of the dogs body weight. So for blue about 450g.
The meal at night is a meat supper (No bones)
Morning/midafternoon meal Bones/meat/offal and occasionally an egg/fish/veg

I give Blue beef ribs once and he was sick afterwards but I brought them straight home from the butchers and give them to him. Think I was meant to freeze them for a couple of days. So looking to start with chicken any tips on an example of a weeks food?

Dempsey gets a lamb spine/rib section either late morning or mid day & then about half a kilo of meat in the evening after his main walk. The meat is normally ox heart, but I give him kidneys about once a week instead, and sometimes mix a bit of tripe in as well.

You might find that he sicked up the bone because he wasn't used to it & bolted it down too quickly. Dempsey's did that a couple of times, but he's fine now.

You should freeze all raw meat (including bones)first, for about a week if you can to destroy any bacteria.

I just try to balance their diet over 3/4 days, some days they have more some days less. Typically I feed them once a day, I'll give u a basic sample of what I feed.

Day one
* 3 x chicken wings each
* lambs liver (1 pack between two)

Day Two
* Large section of cow or lamb ribs from butchers (about a foot long by half a foot wide).

* Rabbit Mince

Day Three
* Kippers (2 in a pack so 1 each)
* Brown Rice (half cup each)
* a couple of sausages thrown in for fat.

Is there a reason you only give raw bones once or twice a week?

I don't bother with rice unless there's some left from our dinner & there's no sauce on it, and I wouldn't give sausages because you don't always know what's gone into them. They usually have several spices that can upset a sensitive stomach. For the fat, Dempsey gets his bones & any fat that's attached to the ox heart or any other meat he gets.

Lol, I feed bones about 3 times per week cuz thats as often as I can get em! My butchers keeps them back for me but with working full time I can only get to them within their opening times 3 times a week and so little storage space in a one-bed flat
I have also found that if I feed too many bones then they can get quite constipated, its not just hard small stools but they have trouble passing them if I feed to many bones. I find that the raw chicken seems to be enough to keep everything reasonably balance.

I know rice isn't essential but my younger bitch is the greediest thing in the world and sometimes she moans about not being full so the rice just bulks it out a little. I don't really strictly follow anyone particular diet (BARF etc) just sort of modify it to suit my girls. I found that just giving them the fat included in offal doesn't really keep the weight on them, I know porks bad for doggies (and us!) so if you could suggest an alternative to get a bit of fat into them??

As I said, it's just the fat on the meat that I rely on. You could try tripe, that tends to pile on the pounds, but you have to be careful, cause it really can put weight on fast!

It's all a matter of adjusting the diet to suit yourself & your dog. As long as the dog's getting the nutrients it needs, then there's no hard & fast rule.

Janey wrote:See its so confusing I need a doggy cook book!

I was thinking that!
Molly isn't really on a BARF diet, she currently just has raw mince, mixed with some left over tinned food, it's got veg in.

When people say they feed their dogs chicken wings, I assume they mean actual chicken wings, like the ones humans eat?

Bones and all?
I've got a massive bag full, I bought them by accident for myself and the OH, but I can't stand the bones, so if I can feed them to Molly, bonus!

Yes normal chicken wings, raw.

Cornish-Muscle wrote:

Janey wrote:See its so confusing I need a doggy cook book!

I was thinking that!
Molly isn't really on a BARF diet, she currently just has raw mince, mixed with some left over tinned food, it's got veg in.

When people say they feed their dogs chicken wings, I assume they mean actual chicken wings, like the ones humans eat?

Bones and all?
I've got a massive bag full, I bought them by accident for myself and the OH, but I can't stand the bones, so if I can feed them to Molly, bonus!

Yes. I take it they're frozen lol!! Just watch her for the first two or three, as some dogs can try to swallow them whole. Otherwise, no problem as long as they're raw & not stored defrosted for more than 24 hours, as the bones will start to become brittle.

Caryll wrote:

Cornish-Muscle wrote:

Janey wrote:See its so confusing I need a doggy cook book!

I was thinking that!
Molly isn't really on a BARF diet, she currently just has raw mince, mixed with some left over tinned food, it's got veg in.

When people say they feed their dogs chicken wings, I assume they mean actual chicken wings, like the ones humans eat?

Bones and all?
I've got a massive bag full, I bought them by accident for myself and the OH, but I can't stand the bones, so if I can feed them to Molly, bonus!

Yes. I take it they're frozen lol!! Just watch her for the first two or three, as some dogs can try to swallow them whole. Otherwise, no problem as long as they're raw & not stored defrosted for more than 24 hours, as the bones will start to become brittle.

I've just got two out to defrost now, will try her on them tomorrow. I'll hold it to feed her, she gnaws things when I hold them for her, instead of trying to eat them whole!
I think I'll wear rubber gloves though, I don't fancy raw chicken all over my hands :-&

:-& Think how I feel - I'm a vegetarian!

Caryll wrote: :-& Think how I feel - I'm a vegetarian!

:O Yeah, I feel sorry for you.

I wear gloves to weigh out her frozen mince, and to cut up her liver. I'm just a bit squimish when it comes to raw meat lol

Do you always give mince? Try giving her chunks - you can get large bags of frozen chunks of beef & ox heart at most of the large pet stores. It's better for their digestion.

We're going to get some soon, we only got the mince to try her out, the same company that sell the mince sell chunks as well. Probably going to pop into Pets at Home tomorrow and have another look around.
She gets liver or kidney as well, but not all the time, plus, we have to cut it up, she won't eat it whole.

No, Dempsey won't eat kidneys whole, and he won't eat liver at all! I often get bags of ox heart from pets at home.

Caryll this may sound stupid but can you do a mix of both i mean raw and dry or should it be one or the other?

I'll have to have a look for them. Although, the OH will complain that the dog is getting ox heart and he isn't lol

Tracie-Milly-Moos Mum wrote:Caryll this may sound stupid but can you do a mix of both i mean raw and dry or should it be one or the other?

Good question!

Molly's always got biscuits down, but she probably has a couple of mouthfuls a day. Her own choice.

Tracie-Milly-Moos Mum wrote:Caryll this may sound stupid but can you do a mix of both i mean raw and dry or should it be one or the other?

You should try to avoid it. A few biscuits here & there won't do any harm, but the digestion times for both are different, and you could end up upsetting your dog's stomach. I know some people, however, who do mix them together & their dogs are fine. I suppose, like most things, it depends on the individual.

Cornish-Muscle wrote:I'll have to have a look for them. Although, the OH will complain that the dog is getting ox heart and he isn't lol

He's welcome to them! :-&