Looking into BARF

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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.

Caryll, billy has had duck mince for the past 2 days, and his poo is now very dry, but he is still pooing, is this caused by the bones in the mince, if so what can i give him to make it better.

when i did my order the only chunks i got were beef and green tripe, the rest were mince or turkey necks (do you give turkey necks as a meal or as a treat?)

got some heart being delivered on thursday, let you know how we get on.

sorry again for all the questions, but you are an expert

I'm not an expert!

To loosen your boy's poo (god, we talk about poo a lot here!) just give him some offal - tripe, kidneys or liver - and you'll see a difference! The bones will make harder poo, but the offal will keep him regular!

If the turkey necks have a good amount of meat on them, then they count as a meal, otherwise they're a treat.

Chunks of green tripe are usually a dog's idea of heaven!

thank you, i think i may be getting the hang of it now, keeping a diary of what has been eaten along with all your valuable comments , poo definitely asked about a lot on this forum, probably by me

Funny, we'd never dream of talking about our own poo (eeuuwww!) but are happy to discuss the dogs'!!!

Can't believe I've been feeding Blue RAW now for a month.
Ordered another freezer worth of food £37. When I get this I will have enough to last Blue another 57 days.
Can't beat this diet and the price is great. Blue's coat was so much shinier within days and his stool is easier to pick up. Not only that it's tiny compared to when he was eating dry food.

BlueStaffBlue wrote:Can't believe I've been feeding Blue RAW now for a month.
Ordered another freezer worth of food £37. When I get this I will have enough to last Blue another 57 days.
Can't beat this diet and the price is great. Blue's coat was so much shinier within days and his stool is easier to pick up. Not only that it's tiny compared to when he was eating dry food.

I agree, Billy's coat is so much shinier and softer, he now finishes his bowl and looks forward to his bones. It is a much better diet for him, although we are still trying things, mince seems to make his poo soft, but not all mince. I hope to get a typical weeks diet together soon, so that will be easier when I order, but I would not swop him back at all, unless he decided he did not like it, whci I don't think is going to happen.

Just out of interest this site was recommended to me by someone on another forum (the guy who converted me to raw feeding!)
http://www.rawmeatybones.com/

Spoke too soon, my OH just phoned to say had bad diarrhea today, he had chicken for breakfast and kidney for tea last night, any thoughts on what it could be.

Could be any of 3 things;
1. Picked up a tummy bug,
2. Intolerant of chicken,
3. Kidneys don't agree with him.

Offal can do funny things to a dog's stomach. If I give Dempsey offal (other than tripe) 2 days running (sorry about the pun ) he gets the runs. He's also chicken intolerant & I can't feed him any type of chicken, even chicken hearts which he loves!

Here's a diet sheet from the Raw Meaty Bones web site;

http://www.rawmeatybones.com/diet/exp-diet-guide.pdf

thanks I will take a look

I have the book - Works Wonders, just got it from Amazon the other day, I need to make time to sit down and read it

Caryll This is what I give Blue at the moment. Is there anything else I need to add to his diet?

Morning Meal is one of the fllowing
Chicken Necks
Chicken Thighs
Chicken Carcus
Turkey Necks
Trying to source Duck at the mo

Evening Meal
Heart Chunks
But once a week one of the following instead of hearts
Green Tripe Chunks
Kidney Chunks
Liver Chunks

Once-twice a week he will also get
Raw Egg
Bio Yoghurt

I know it isn't raw, but I do occasionally give Dempsey some tinned sardines in tomato sauce! He loves it & it gives him the omega oils that make their coats nice & shiny!

Other than that, I can't think of anything else.

Oh yeah I forgot about that. He also gets tinned fish no bones in tomato sauce normally. Depending on whats on offer and whats in that boneless at the time
Cheers Caryll. Just wanted to make sure he was getting enough varity.
Been looking at that other site that you pointed me to for food Daf foods. They do loads of different meats like rabbit, venison, pheasant etc but its all minced

What's you opion on giving dogs raw pork bones like ribs and shoulders?
Been looking into other bones to give Blue as he seems to potter about with his bones (Chicken & Turkey) the last few days. I would of said something might be wrong until you see his eyes when he gets his tea and hearts are in his dish for a whole 30 seconds

They don't bother me except they upset Dempsey's stomach - I don't know why because he can eat pigs hearts & kidneys. What about lamb necks?

He might just be a bit fed up with them - you could give them a rest for a couple of days & then offer them again.

Nice one Caryll. I bought some pork ribs from morrisons and they are in the freezer. Just wen I researched it some say freeze it for 30days frst and others say just don't feed it them. But some information is from countries where they have more problems with pork like the USA.
At the mo I will give him a small chicken carcus for breakfast and for tea about 400-450g of hearts. Should I be feeding more bones? At the mo I would say he is getting 50% bones 50% meat

Ok, I've just read Steve's thingy on raw food and I'm hooked! off to the butcher now! Caryll, you'll probably be getting lots more questions from us! (sorry!)

Our puppies are 7 weeks old, hoping that's not too young, but I guess in the "wild" the mama dogs didn't have tins of food available

Well, we have just given each pup a meaty bone each (small) and you'd think all their christmases had some at once! Very happy puppies!!! We've also bought chicken necks, pork bones and a bag of "meaty bones" which I think is a mixture. Can't believe the saving. We have enough food for, well, no sure how long, but a long time, for $20!!

A few questions: Do we defrost the food first, or give it to the pups frozen? When do we introduce offal and how much? A guy at the butcher gave a longish talk about how "you need to give them food from all the food groups, and puppies need biscuits for their teeth, they also need vegetables". I thought I read somewhere that dogs can't digest veges unless they're cooked?
We don't want to deprive them of nutrients.

That's probably enough from me for now I think!

They don't need vegetables. And if the veg isn't pulped or cooked they can't digest them anyway! If you want to give them some frozen carrots or bananas (good for teething & sore gums!) that's fine, but they can do without them.

Offal should always be given, but not too much or you'll give them the runs. Just a small amount with their food a couple of times a week is fine.

If your pups chew properly then you can defrost the food, if they attempt to swallow whole then give them frozen - they'll take their time and tear at the meat properly.

Oh, and they don't need biscuits! Again, if you want to give them some, fine, but they'll gain nothing from them. Also, some dogs are intolerant of wheat, so bisuits can upset their digestion.

Glad your pups liked their new food! Have you seen this site? It's very helpful............

http://www.rawmeatybones.com/

Thanks Caryll, yes, I saw a link to that site within one of you other posts and have now had a look at it. It's great! Our vet approves which is nice. She's one of those no-nonsense, no-frills kinda people. Runs her clinic out of a shed on her property, a woman of very few words and little patience with "fluffiness", but she's been a vet for 42yrs and is considered one of the best. She's heard of Tom Lonsdale and is very supportive. Anyway, that was a tad off topic

Looking over the Tom's info, I'd say we haven't quite got the meat/bone balance right, so we'll source some more chicken carcasses, wings etc. I've looked at the BARF and Prey diet info and links I found here which has been really helpful. The "meaty bones" we bought from the butcher was a bit of a disappointment. Was mostly fat! Won't be getting them from there again.

I'm a bit wary of fat. My mother's dog died in my arms a couple of years ago We were up visiting her (Far North Qld) and her dog became ill with acute pancreatitis. She and her hubby went off to work, then digger collapsed and died with her head in my lap The only signs were watery diarrhoea for two days. Was shocked by how quick it happened. Mum feels bad because she used to feed digger bacon scraps from the bar-b-que and let her lick the leftover fat not realising this was dangerous We took Digger to the vet the day before she died and the vet dx acute pancreatitis. Seems there's not a lot you can do when it gets to that stage

So lesson learned! Too much fat is BAD for dogs!

If you're feeding raw then the fat isn't such a problem, the dogs uses it to get carbohydrates. As long as you're exercising properly it'll be ok. It's when you cook the fat that the structure changes & the dog can't convert it. It then becomes inedible, but forms around the organs.

Very informative thread!!

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

Was just reading this and looking into maybe changing Lola's diet to BARF as she is off and on food again.

Similar to you Caryll I'm just turning veggie so how does one justify giving BARF to a dog?

And another question, how much do you give per portion, as I'm as thick as horse sheet lol. It took me ages to convert her weight into stones and ounces then had to do the same with the food she has and then work out how much per meal.

I'm not a veggie however neither are dogs in the 'wild' so TBH i think that is justification enough. I've just put harvey on the raw diet and he loves it, he gets so excited over his food now and sits waiting for it to defrost as he knows its there

As I said the only thing really putting me off is I am terrified to give her too much or too little, I really do want to change her over though.

So if any one wants to do some maths for me that would be great, Lola is 18.5kg in weight and at the moment she has 8 ounces of dried food morning and night, just two feeds, but as I said she isn't eating at the moment.

lackeman wrote:Similar to you Caryll I'm just turning veggie so how does one justify giving BARF to a dog?

And another question, how much do you give per portion, as I'm as thick as horse sheet lol. It took me ages to convert her weight into stones and ounces then had to do the same with the food she has and then work out how much per meal.

You don't need to justify it. The way I look at it, vegetarianism is a personal thing, done for personal reasons. I know that I can survive well enough without meat, but then human beings are omnivors so are adapted to eating both veg & meat. Dogs are carnivors, so whatever you feed them (unless you buy one of the VERY expensive vegetarian provessed dog foods) it will contain meat. Raw feeding just means that your dog will benefit from the meat being fresh, they'll be able to 'use' much more of what they eat so won't need to be fed quite as much, and it's great for keeping teeth a lot cleaner!

I don't like preparing or handling raw meat, but my dog's health & wellbeing is more important to me than that, so I grin and bear it. The way he tucks in so enthusiastically is reward enough!

I've never weighed food. Ever. Dempsey gets approx. (and I mean approx.) a third of a kilo of raw meat & a meaty (or as meaty as I can find) bone. He was getting about half a kilo, but that was a bit too much & he's now on a diet!

It also depends on what you feed. Lean meat (too lean isn't recommended because dogs need a certain amount of fat to convert into carbohydrates) will put on less weight than, say, tripe, which is fatty but full of nutrients & is low in protein (so less hyperactivity!).

What about going on holiday, how would one sort the food then if it's all raw?

well i am going on holiday for 3 weeks in aug and bily is going to stay with a dog sitter, i asked him did he mind, he said no and has even got an extra fridge, so we were lucky, otherwise i was going to have to go back to kibble, just for that time.

i dont know what kennels would do, i am sure they would not mind if you brought your own food

We went camping last year, so Dempsey had to go on tinned food (he won't eat dry) for a week. A shame, but for the short term it didn't hurt.

I've been reading this on and off all day, some really helpful info and links in here, thanks very much

I've already ordered a 10kg bag of chicken carcasses from my local butcher, going to go to the farm shop tomorrow and see if they sell hearts, green tripe and any of the other bits mentioned.

Thanks again for the info!

So, today's the day! I've just been out and got a couple of ox hearts (they're enormous ), I've cut them up and separated them into bags and frozen most of them, leaving one out for tonight. I've got a couple of bags of frozen green tripe, a shedload of chicken carcasses and some chicken liver (I read in this thread about giving liver once a week, so wondered if chicken liver's suitable? If not, I'll make some pate )
I'm planning to give him half a chicken carcass in the morning (there's still loads of meat on them) and the heart in the evening, is there anything else I need to think about? I've read the whole thread and all of the links, I'm just wondering if there's anything that people have noticed since the last post