Raw food (BARF)???

Hi Everyone!
I was just wondering if anyone followed the raw food or BARF diet, i am seriously considering doing it for Cali but i am a little confused, he is still a pup so i would like to feed him at least 2 times a day (at the moment he gets 3 feeds) But with the raw food the amount seems quite small???
If anyone is doing this diet i would love some feedback/menu suggestions as i have read/watched things where people include eggs, yoghurt, veg, apple cider vinegar, fish etc. I just don't know where to start. He is 20kg now what ratio of food should i give him?
Please help.
Thanks in advance.

Lots of people here feed raw, I don't so can't be of much help, heres a link with lots of info, and someone will be on soon who does

https://staffy-bull-terrier.niceboard.com/search?search_keywords=barf

Hi, Vinnie is now 4 months old and I have just started a raw diet. I buy the frozen squares of lamb, chicken and tripe, just thaw them out and he has half a block in the morning and half at night, with raw bones as a snack. He usually has the tripe (offal) in the morn and either of the meats at teatime with raw cabbage and carrots which are processed down. I dont really know much about the diet but it seems to be suiting him very well. He also has a garlic tablet on his tripe and a fish oil capsule on his meat meal. Hope this helps a little.

Please make sure that you give raw meaty bones with any raw food diet, otherwise your pup won't get enough of the right nutrients. Have a look at these sites which may explain a bit more...

http://www.rawmeatybones.com/petowners.php

http://rawfed.com/myths/preymodel.html

I feed my boys a raw diet and i add apple cider vinagar in with a few meals a week along with salmon oil and garlic

This site is also really good:

http://preymodelraw.com/

The thing to remember is you don't need to slavishly follow a particular diet. As long as you have a good balance between meat/bone/offal your dog will flourish. You may find, however, that one or two types of meat may not suit your dog, eg my Dempsey can't eat poultry of any sort - it goes straight through him & ends in bum gravy!

hmmm lovely....

Thanks everyone,
I suppose i'm just nervous about starting cause i want my boy to be healthy and happy, I will do my research a little more as meat sources are a little different here, I know i can't get the frozen squares like Inez mentioned, but off to the butcher tomorrow to look at my options.
I did speak with my vet about it and she had never heard of BARF, sometimes i think vets are just pushers of products, but she did say she would look into it for me.
Not sure how soon i will take the step but i will let you know how i get along.
Thanks everyone for the links.

can i ask a question,
we have been feeding billy faw for ages now, he is getting really piccy, and has taken a dislike to anything with bones in, chicken wings, necks, carcass. So he really is not getting all the good thing that he should do, any ideas

lynne wrote:can i ask a question,
we have been feeding billy faw for ages now, he is getting really piccy, and has taken a dislike to anything with bones in, chicken wings, necks, carcass. So he really is not getting all the good thing that he should do, any ideas

Some of the online suppliers do packs of raw meat that already have ground bone in them - might be worth giving those a try for a while, and then try introducing the bones again?

he is fussy, doesnt like the mince either with the ground bone,

we started giving him some JWB kibble for one of his meals to make sure he was getting all he needed, he has stopped eating that now.

I am at my wits end, would you keep putting the plate of food down till he ate it, or do i carry on,

Can you get hold of some lamb bones? Most butchers will have spines that they can't sell & they'd be happy to sell them to you cheap, or even free! They use the necks & ribs in cuts of meat, but the spines are always left over.

If that doesn't work, maybe you should try just putting the food down & if he won't eat it, take it up till the next meal. I know some people would put the samw food down again, but I don't personally. I don't like giving 'old' raw meat to Dempsey in case it's gone a bit funny.

thank you Caryll, i dont like keep putting food down , but i didn't want to end up pampering to his needs, which i have ended up doing.

All he seems to like is chunks of beef or chicken, the chicken has to be cooked. How do I get myself out of this mess

Children are a lot easier to feed

The chunks of beef are fine, if you can get him to eat some bone. If you can get hold of the lamb bones, you might be ok. Do you have a Morrison's supermarket anywhere near you? They have a qualified butcher in their stores & they'll often have lamb bones for sale - three good sized rib-end or spine bones only cost about 60p, although there's not a lot of meat on them.

thank you caryll off to have a look, just get so worried that he is not getting everything he needs

If there aren't any lamb bones in the store, ask at the meat counter what days they are most likely to get them. I did this as I know there is a woman who also raw feeds near me & she's always looking for bones - I usually manage to pip her at the post!

Caryll wrote: it goes straight through him & ends in bum gravy!

Great expression