Looking into BARF

First topic message reminder :

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.

Logan is kinda the same with his kibble. I dont want to give him food he will just eventually eat cos hehas no choice, i want to give him something he will enjoy.

Right, im going to DAF befor it closes to pick it up!!!!!!!!! speak soon,

good on you

Hayley109 wrote: Think i just need to keep an eye on him that i'm getting the balance right and keep him 'loose'. ie not constipitated.

To make sure he doesn't get constipated give him offal twice a week (either kidneys, liver or tripe) - works a treat!

Hayley109 wrote:ERM....I kinda wimped out. The vet told me to not give in to Logan if he wont eat his kibble and to keep taking it up so he has 2 choices, eat or not.

If you're going to keep him on kibble, then yes, I'd say take it up so he'll eat if he's hungry. However, if you really don't think he likes it, then I'd change it - either to a different kibble or to raw. I noticed that Dempsey, who was on kibble before I got him, quickly went off it & wouldn't eat. As soon as I switched to raw he scoffed the lot & still does!

Try him with a bit of pigs heart (it's cheaper than ox or lamb heart) & I guarantee (but don't hold me to it!) that he'll love it.

Im gladd your backCaryll!! I've missed you!! Logan has been on 3 different kibbles since i got him and hes fine the few days but then doesnt eat it. I've just got back from Durham Animal Foods and my freezer is fit to burst! it only cost me £30 and i reckon it'll last for good while!!
I have been paying £20 for 6kg o dry. i just picked up 20lbs minced lamb, 20lbs heart&tripe mix, 5kgs of chicken wings and 5 kgs meaty lamb bones (which i'll need to saw in half cos they're way to big for puppy Logan!!

I've been giving him raw since Monday but the vet just knocked my confidence with it i think. He told me i dont want a fussy dog.

Hes just had his tea and his little face lights up at meal times now and he doesnt mess around either, all gone pretty much straight away!!!

I'm gonna stick with the RAW and see how he goes tbh if he keeps jumping around everytime he see's his food bowl i'm gonna take that as a sign he likes it!!

Is ok to give him a tripe & heart mix to keep him loose or just all liver/kidney/tripe?

You can give any or all! I try not to feed too much mince, and get frozen heart chunks from pets at home. The tripe's more difficult, though cause nobody near me sells the green tripe. I get some from morrisons supermarket (human grade tripe) occasionally, but it's quite pricey, so I don't get it much.

Try giving him a pig's kidney with his meat one day & see if he likes it - he might need it cut into smaller pieces the first couple of times, but eventuallt should be able to eat a whole one no problems!

Thanks Caryll. I'm getting another freezer next week so i'll be able to get the chunks and have somewhere to store them!! i've got 3 frozen hearts in ''Logans drawer'' too.

Im so excited for some reason!!! Im gonna film Logan next tea time so you can see how excited at his dinner!

I havent stopped talking about him going RAW at work either....i think they're all getting fed up with me!!

Well Blue's delivery come today and just managed to fit into his freezer.
Got what I ordered and all came packed and froozen already
I've tried Blue on a few chicken necks and he loves them. Been giving him them frozen and he plays with them for 15mins, pretending to be killing it himself

ha ha!!! i love the idea of Blue trying to 'kill' a frozen chicken neck!!! i got a 5kg box of wings today. Hubby had a bit of a shock when he opened the freezer......oops!!

dinner time is going to be fun!!!!

just found this Blue.....

http://www.dogster.com/forums/Raw_Food_Diet/thread/491589

might be worth a look.

Nice one. I'll have a read once I've caught up with the 500 posts everyone has made today.

ha ha . cool beans! there is an excel spreadsheet which helps you calculate the raw your dog needs per day etc. you just put in their weight and something else...(i cant remember) but seems ok for us beginners!!

Nice one
Good to hear you went for it and got Logan some supplies.
Let me know how you get on. Feel like we in Barf Annonomous. We can do this together

I'll have a look tomorrow (Today!), I'm too tired right now!

we have got our delivery coming today, I have just been emptying the freezer and giving Billy all the things that we wont eat (chicken wings, chicken thighs, some stewing beef) so far, plus the meat and bones we got from the butcher.
Can't wait, he has been polishing his bowl of food off so far, instead of it being there for hours and hours.

It's good that we have some sort of log like this and or course Caryll for when we need help, it's really good.

Oh I agree. I think if Caryll wasn't here I wouldn't have been brave enough to take the switch.
Thank You for all your help
Blue had a couple of chicken necks this morning he loved them and they were gone in minutes.
I need to sort something out with them though as they are freezing into on big ball of chicken necks and becoming a pain to seperate

Thank you!

Blue, what I do with Dempsey's bones is I freeze them all seperately. It's a pain to do, but when I need them I just take out one freezer bag & thaw it. Makes it a lot easier in the long run.

BlueStaffBlue wrote:
Let me know how you get on. Feel like we in Barf Annonomous. We can do this together

BARF Annoymous!! Love it!!

Hayley109 wrote:

BlueStaffBlue wrote:
Let me know how you get on. Feel like we in Barf Annonomous. We can do this together

BARF Annoymous!! Love it!!

That's a good one - the BA's!

Im so glad i found this forum. Like Lynne and Blue i dont think i would of been 100% sure what to do with Logan with regards to his meals.

I just cant wait to get the extra freezer on Monday as now we a freezer full of dog feed and nothing for us!!! lol

Only thing is...i put Logans tasty breakfast down(lamb..mmmmmmm!) and he didnt bloody touch it!!!

I was gona get some tubs but I have filled the freezer to the max. no room for any. Don't know what im going to do next time cos apart from chicken necks the freezer was empty. Order I made was the min order.
When you say you freeze them all seperatly, do you mean you just empty all the bones out of the bags?
Im glad the bags the food come in are labelled otherwise I wouldn't of had a clue what was what

Hayley109 wrote:Only thing is...i put Logans tasty breakfast down(lamb..mmmmmmm!) and he didnt bloody touch it!!!

Try heart or tripe. Mine doesn't go a bundle on lamb unless it's bones! He does, however, love heart - any heart, he isn't fussy which animal!

BlueStaffBlue wrote:I was gona get some tubs but I have filled the freezer to the max. no room for any. Don't know what im going to do next time cos apart from chicken necks the freezer was empty. Order I made was the min order.
When you say you freeze them all seperatly, do you mean you just empty all the bones out of the bags?
Im glad the bags the food come in are labelled otherwise I wouldn't of had a clue what was what

Yes, I empty them out & put them all seperately into freezer bags, the ones with a white bit on that you can write on. Then I write what they are & the date they were frozen so I can use them in order.

Good idea, I like it. Nice one
I shall go on the hunt today for some.
Blue is having heart tonight.
Put it in the fridge last night and I think he is gonna like it cos he keeps sitting at the fridge door
How do they know, I put it in the fridge last night while he was in the garden, he come in, twitched his nose and went to the fridge

You should see poor old Dempsey when I forget to defrost his heart & it has to go in the microwave - he stalks around sniffing the air!

Caryll wrote:

Hayley109 wrote:Only thing is...i put Logans tasty breakfast down(lamb..mmmmmmm!) and he didnt bloody touch it!!!

Try heart or tripe. Mine doesn't go a bundle on lamb unless it's bones! He does, however, love heart - any heart, he isn't fussy which animal!

BlueStaffBlue wrote:I was gona get some tubs but I have filled the freezer to the max. no room for any. Don't know what im going to do next time cos apart from chicken necks the freezer was empty. Order I made was the min order.
When you say you freeze them all seperatly, do you mean you just empty all the bones out of the bags?
Im glad the bags the food come in are labelled otherwise I wouldn't of had a clue what was what

Yes, I empty them out & put them all seperately into freezer bags, the ones with a white bit on that you can write on. Then I write what they are & the date they were frozen so I can use them in order.

I'll pull some tripe out at lunchtime! Thats a top tips with the freezer bags too Caryll...i'm gonna have to get organised like you!!

When you say put in the microwave, is that on the defrost setting?

[Im glad the bags the food come in are labelled otherwise I wouldn't of had a clue what was what ]




same here

Hayley109 wrote:When you say put in the microwave, is that on the defrost setting?

Yes, just a couple of mins at a time.

Blue had some heart tonight and loved it.
I just hope he doesn't have to shake it and kill it every meal time.
Can see some blood artwork ending up on my kitchen walls

BlueStaffBlue wrote:Blue had some heart tonight and loved it.
I just hope he doesn't have to shake it and kill it every meal time.
Can see some blood artwork ending up on my kitchen walls

Could be interesting decor!

I think he thinks he is now a trained killer. He gave his chicken necks one swift shake then ate them this morning.
So far my little SAS dog is loving his new food. Never seen Blue wait for his dinner, normally he leaves it for later

BlueStaffBlue wrote:I think he thinks he is now a trained killer. He gave his chicken necks one swift shake then ate them this morning.
So far my little SAS dog is loving his new food. Never seen Blue wait for his dinner, normally he leaves it for later

Billy had the runs last night, could it be becasue he had chicken thighs for 2 days on the trot, also his poo before he went to bed last night contained a full bone, it this normal. he has been quiet this morning but has just started to liven up

Thats what happened to me when I tried barf I gave them ribs and my girl had loads of them undigested in her poo she was crying trying to pass them and her poo had blood in it. And the dog was constantly being sick undigested bone but then he chews nothing.
They do have raw frequently but only in mince form with no bones they are banned in my house

Some dogs just won't chew bones properly. If that's the case, I'd stop the chicken thighs/wings & try lamb necks/spines. They don't have long bones & need to be really crunched up to swallow. I found that with Dempsey. Other than the fact that he is chicken intolerant (which incidentally doesn't always show up until you've given them chicken for a few days in a row) he would swallow the thinner bones & they'd come out in his poo like that.

As has been said before the barf diet doesn't suit all people or all dogs. Most people use a 'version' of barf - they feed what suits their dog. I think you just have to be sensible & if it isn't working then give it up.

I forgot to add I do recomend barf its a natural food this is how I feed (dont know if its right but its always worked for me) ill give my 2 raw mince in the morning on its own. About tea time I will cook a small amount of fish or beef chunks with a little stock mix that with complete food (I have a 12 and 8 year old) so to soften the biscuits and they seem to do really well on it. Im a great beleiver of poo condition and check it and my 2 dont trump very much there poo is a nice colour good texture and not very smelly. I cant beleive im writing this ha ha What do you think?

thanks, i have got some turkey neck and thankfully no chicken left

this is such a learning curve, thank goodness i can ask questions otherwise i think billy would be at the vet every 10 mins

thanks again

Logan has refused his raw for the last 2 days now! Although he did have a chicken wing yesterday so at least he's had something. Im thinking it might not be for us. but i'll keep trying. Just want him to enjoy his food!!

Hayley, what are you feeding logan?

The bones in the poo is actually normal when first switching from commercial food to Barf. This is due to both foods digest differently. Raw bones are broken down not only by the teeth chewing but the acids in the stomach. When you first switch to raw food the acids in the stomach aren't used to it so they don't break all the bone down, but once the dog has been eating raw for for a bit the acids in the stomach become stronger and they will break them all down.

Caryll wrote:Hayley, what are you feeding logan?

tried lamb,tripe & heart! just a bit bemused really as i (naively) thought all dogs would love a raw diet!! maybe is's just not for us!!!!

i'm not bothered either way, as long as he's growing and putting on weight etc.

Are you feeding mince, chunks or large hunks of meat?

hes had lamb mince and heart chunks and tripe chunks.

billy had very loose poo yesterday so for tea he had tuna and was fine but today after breakfast it was the same, unfortunately i don't know what is was as the bag was labeled with felt tip pen and it has rubbed off, it looked like beef mince.

is it normal for the poo to be like that till he gets used to it or is it too rich for him whatever it was

It can take a little while for the stomach to adjust. Tripe will always give softer poo as it's offal. Beef can be a bit rich for a youngster so I'd use it sparingly, especially as it's high in protein & can add to hyperactivity. I find that Dempsey is fine when he only has heart. If I give him tripe or other offal his poo's a bit soft afterwards.

would you recommend more heart and less beef, at the moment he has not has any heart, i think i did order some

I don't give Dempsey any beef at all because it makes him so hyper. He can eat beef heart or beef kidneys, but not the meat itself.

Heart seems to be quite easy on the stomach for some reason.

thank you

Caryll ,
where do you get your heart from, I have seen some on line and it is £3.50 per 2kg it is chunks. I can only find one make which is prize choice.

Do you get your from the butchers, do you think this is any good.

I use bags of frozen chunks from Pets at Home (sorry, I can't remember the weight or price at the moment!) or I buy packs from the supermarkets. If I'm near a proper butcher (there aren't many round here) then I'll buy a whole ox heart & cut it into 4. Dempsey usually then has 2 pieces per meal, depending how big the heart is.

thanks caryll looked at pets at home on line and can't find it, do you have to go to the shop ?
If you go to the butchers how much is it for a full heart

sorry about all the questions

Pets at Home deliver, but not the frozen stuff as they don't have refrigerated vans, so you'd have to go to the store.

An ox heart from the butchers normally costs me about £2, and is generally frozen. But I know the butchers near me, so that might be a 'special' price!