BARF queery or just your thoughts really!

Hi all, we have an 8 month old SBT who has been fed the BARF diet for some time now and he loves it - we love it lol! Anyway he's fed am and pm because of his age just now. He has cooked veg (just regular frozen supermarket stuff) which he loves and eats first (what a good boy!!) and frozen chicken portions from the supermarket so thighs, wings, legs etc. we WERE feeding him a variety of frozen dog foods, minces and also beef chunks, tripe etc. when we were feeding him those meats (ie no bones and higher protein) he got much more hyper we noticed, he's not hyper really just the usual puppy playfulness but then he is walked off the lead daily anyhow so tears about with us and the children working it off. So we have reverted to chicken portions again which he enjoys as much as ever and is quieter in general-interesting how much food can affect them, like kids I suppose and adults too.

My queery is.... is this enough of a diet for him nutritionally as it's clearly not very varied although he has regular bones to knaw and eat up! That said however my FIL has 4 dogs of varying ages and breeds and he only ever feeds them chicken wings, their table leftovers and cooks bones from the butcher (roasted for 4 hours or something) which they crunch up and devour. He says we're giving our dog too much protein even though he is indeed a growing boy and in his natural environment he wouldn't be feasting on such prime pieces and that too much protein also gives him the idea he is higher in the pack than he really is. He was educated by a man who keeps wolfes btw which is where the pack theory comes from and to me it does make sense iykwim?

I have read the barf info on here, is there any other sites or sources of info. you could point me in the direction of at all? We are very keen to raise our domesticated dog as 'natural' as possible. Some thoughts would be welcome on the above theory and also idea for giving a more varied diet-if you think it's required.

Thanks

just found this which is interesting on how a wolf eats its prey....http://www.thedogfoodcompany.co.uk/products.html

OK. Firstly, NEVER, EVER GIVE COOKED BONES TO YOUR DOG!! They can splinter & pierce the oesophagus or gut, resulting in serious illness, or even death.

Secondly, chicken wings on their own is not enough. If you intend to feed raw, then you must give a good balance of meaty bones (of which chicken wings can form a good proportion), offal and maybe some pulped veg. Dogs can't digest raw veg (unless it's pulped/pureed) and cooking removes so much of the goodness.

Have a look through this site.........

http://www.rawmeatybones.com/

and

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

Hiya Caryll, thanks so much for speedy reply...I hope you aren't at work again! ;0)

I'm trying to source a butcher as local as possible to help out with raw meaty bones, offal and tripe (ewww it stinks), you only feed offal a couple of times a week is that right? I can get the tripe from my local pet shop no probs and hopefully I can sourse a butcher not a million miles away to help with the other bits and then go get the 1kg basics chicken from sainsburys for the inbetween meals. Would another supermarket butchers be able to provide me with bits like you get (don't have a Morrisons locally) but have Waitrose, Saisbury's, Asda and 2 Tescos lol!! Do I just go in and ask? Obv. happy to pay but don't want to be buying offal off of the shelf!

I have been trying to find a mail order co. who deliver lamb necks etc rather than the usual meat chunks and minces but I seem to be getting no where can you help on that front? Or anyone reading this?! Thanks

where abouts are you, i get mine from

http://www.mobilepetfoods.co.uk/cart.php

which deliver in london, not too sure if they deliver to other places, but they are good and have never let me down

ardvark wrote: Would another supermarket butchers be able to provide me with bits like you get (don't have a Morrisons locally) but have Waitrose, Saisbury's, Asda and 2 Tescos lol!! Do I just go in and ask? Obv. happy to pay but don't want to be buying offal off of the shelf!

As far as I know Morrisons are the only ones with a butcher employed. The others buy in the ready packaged meat portions etc.

I've always found this company good....

http://www.naturalinstinct.com/categories/Bones-%26-Treats/

thanks so much I will look them up, am in Kent BTW :0)