People who feed dogs Raw/BARF..

S

Starbucks

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I'm thinking it does actually make a lot more sense than feeding dog food. I have a few questions if you don't mind.

1) What does your dogs diet actually include?
2) Where do you get ingredients from?
3) How much would you say it costs per week?
4) Do you feed extra supplements?

Thanks
 
Ditto, i'd like to know aswell, I don't have access to farmers, hunts etc where I imagine you could get larger volumes of meat.

My dog has fresh meat / fish for tea but I always cook it, it seems alien to me to do otherwise tbh but if there's a chance it will help his skin i'll do it.
 
Hi Starbucks,

I switched my Lab to raw about 8 months ago and am a huge convert - she looks great; coat is fabulous and the constant itching that plagued her cleared up within a couple of weeks. I get all my stuff from the butcher - they do 1 kg packs of pet mince which includes a variety of meats including offal. I also get bags of chicken carcasses, chicken wings and other meaty/boney pieces that they may have available, including rabbit.

In the morning she has a tiny amount of the pet mince, with an egg added about twice a week. In the evening, her ususal dinner is one chicken carcass with either a small piece of mince or a couple of tinned pilchards in tomato sauce (which she loves). If we have any leftover tuna or other fish she will have this instead. Now and again I substitute another piece of meat/bone for the chicken - a couple of rabbit pieces for example. I don't give her any supplements and I don't add vegetables because every day she has a treat in the form of a Kong toy which is stuff with veg - usuallly our leftovers.

I thoroughly recommend it but it does help if you have plenty of freezer space!!
 
Hmm we have a tiny freezer in the top of our tiny fridge! Which maybe a problem! We are hopefully moving house soon though so maybe there will be room for a freezer!

I've heard lots about chicken carcasses - is that when all the cuts have been taken of and just what is left over?

Do you think you can do your own thing with it a bit as long as you are sensible are are you then running the risk of not providing dog with corrent nutriants?
 
I'm a bit of a 'lurker' on here but thought I'd be brave and reply - we have 2 whippets, a lurcher and a lab who eat freeflow mince (from Berriewoods) - beef, lamb, chicken, tripe, also tripe chunks, poultry neck chunks, chicken wings and heart chunks. We feed this with a mixer biscuit (terrier meal for the pointy noses, Burns for the chubby lab) Not everyone advocates including mixer but we can't feed as many bones as we'd like, so we like them to have something to crunch. We also feed the following once or twice a week to supplement the diet - raw eggs, grated cheese, cottage cheese, goats milk, frozen veg - which we microwave - and sardines/pilchards in tomato sauce, plus any scraps from our meals. We use freeflow because it is easy to weigh out although it is more expensive, but this method suits us. None of the butchers round me will entertain doing pet mince so we don't have much choice. We also give them Dorwest herbs Keepers Mix which is a good all round herbal supplement for this type of diet. We very much work the BARF diet to suit our time available and the lifestyle of our dogs. Mine have been on the diet since April 09 and they have never looked better - shiny coats, clean teeth and loads more energy - they also love the variety that the diet gives, whereas when feeding complete food, they were very picky and left more than they ate. Hope this helps!
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**skulks back off to lurk in a corner**
 
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Hmm we have a tiny freezer in the top of our tiny fridge! Which maybe a problem! We are hopefully moving house soon though so maybe there will be room for a freezer!

I've heard lots about chicken carcasses - is that when all the cuts have been taken of and just what is left over?

Do you think you can do your own thing with it a bit as long as you are sensible are are you then running the risk of not providing dog with corrent nutriants?

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Basically, yes - you need to have a basic knowledge of canine nutrition and I would firmly advocate taking advice from either a vet or experienced raw feeders, at least initially as it is possible to feed in such a way as to provide insufficient nutrients. Really it is just a case of mimicking what dogs would eat naturally - in the wild they would consume every part of a carcass including bones and innards. This would include stomach contents such as partly digested fruit/green matter so these are natural for dogs. Other forms of protein such as yoghurt and cheese are often added. Feed a really good vareity of meat with plenty of bone matter, add a good portion of vegetable matter, some rice/pasta or other carb source if you want to and you should have most bases covered! There will always be people happy to help and advise when you need it, don't worry!
 
Bones are far so long as they are not cooked. Chicken bones especially tend to splinter once they have been cooked but raw are fine. Some people do feed other bones that have been cooked but I don't - I still think the change in composition makes them too much of a risk.
 
Ah thankyou, so would fresh meat,, oily fish, eggs, veggies and pasta be ok for my dog to cover all the necessary nutrients.

I would be doing this to try and cure his skin problems.
 
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Ah thankyou, so would fresh meat,, oily fish, eggs, veggies and pasta be ok for my dog to cover all the necessary nutrients.

I would be doing this to try and cure his skin problems.

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Most of these would be fine but I would actually not feed pasta if he has skin problems as wheat is a common cause of these. Could you perhaps add a little rice instead? I don't feed any rice or pasta - all carbs come from veg. including potato.
 
QR I found it a hell of a lot cheaper than feeding dry and became quite expert at picking up the best bits from the bargain bins at Asda, Iceland, Tesco, I was able to pick up a whole week's worth for a fiver.
And it really easy once you get going.

Ditto no pasta if your dog is sensitive - wheat sets my boy off.
 
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QR I found it a hell of a lot cheaper than feeding dry and became quite expert at picking up the best bits from the bargain bins at Asda, Iceland, Tesco, I was able to pick up a whole week's worth for a fiver.
And it really easy once you get going.

Ditto no pasta if your dog is sensitive - wheat sets my boy off.

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Reminds me that I forgot to add anything about cost: yes, I've found it cheaper too. I get almost all mine from the butcher and it still works out less than dried food - I imagine that if you can get special supermarket deasls/offers/bin ends then the saving could be huge.
 
Just to prove (and I still feel proud of myself
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) I am the queen of the bargain bin
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Iceland
3xpack chicken wings
2xpack drumsticks
2xpack thighs
=£5

Asda
2 MASSIVE turkey drumsticks
4 packets of liver
2 packets chicken wings
1 packet diced turkey
£4

Tesco
3xpackets chicken wings
2xthighs
1xliver
£4.50

Whack em in the freezer, bob's your uncle
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Cool - thanks guys.

From what I've been reading I gather the bones are quite an important part aren't they? I might see if I can buy a cheap little chest freezer to go in the shed.

What veg do you feed them? My pointer will eat anything but I'm not sure my terrier would eat raw veg..

Oh and another question - when we first got my pointer (8 months) cooked nuckle joints that you get from the pet shop made her really poorly - do you think raw bones would have a similar effect?
 
That's brill CC!! TBH I go to Tesco and Sainsbury's a lot but don't go the the butchers much so it would be much easier for me if I could get stuff from there..

How do you know how much to give them??
 
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Cool - thanks guys.

From what I've been reading I gather the bones are quite an important part aren't they? I might see if I can buy a cheap little chest freezer to go in the shed.

What veg do you feed them? My pointer will eat anything but I'm not sure my terrier would eat raw veg..

Oh and another question - when we first got my pointer (8 months) cooked nuckle joints that you get from the pet shop made her really poorly - do you think raw bones would have a similar effect?

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Bones really are essential Starbucks and your dogs will thank you! A small chest freezer will be ideal - we have ours in a shed near the kitchen door as I just defrost enough for about 3 days at a time which I then keep in our fridge.

Veg: if your dog won't eat raw, then lightly cooked is fine. Pretty much anything will do - mine has carrots, cabbage, potato and broccoli mainly. You can also whizz them all up in a blender to make a sauce that you can add to the food - this may be more appealing than big chunks of raw veg. This will also freeze so you can do batches of it.

I would think that raw bones will be very different to the processed ones you can get in pet shops but play it by ear. Try different animal bones; smaller chicken bones like wings instead of carcasses; you can even ask a butcher to include minced bone in the pet mince. I'd be surprised if there is any problem though - mine showed no signs of any adjustment at all from dry to raw and I did it straight away with no gradual switch over!
 
1) What does your dogs diet actually include?

Meat, bones, veg, fruit, eggs, cheese, natural yoghurt, fish (in oil or tomato sauce), tripe, organ meat. I don't feed grains/cereals etc of any discription as it doesn't agree with one of mine

2) Where do you get ingredients from?
Landywoods - http://www.landywoods.co.uk/price_list.html (mainly use these due to convience)
Supermarket for bargains if i see them

3) How much would you say it costs per week?
Approx £3.50 a week per dog, would be cheaper if i had a good butcher but i can't find one!

4) Do you feed extra supplements?
No

I've been doing this for about 2 years and think it's a great way of feeding. I've got a freezer at work so i can get two months worth of food delivered at a time (a tall upright freezer). I then have a half size upright freezer at home just for the dogs and take home food from the work freezer once a week. I can't get deliveries to home as Landywoods deliver to me on a Monday usually.

Our dogs get about 500g of food each a day. They are 25kg lurchers.

Landywoods food (except bones/carcasses/ribs etc) come in 454g packs so they are quite easy to grab out the freezer and defrost in the fridge for 24 hours.

We make up a load of veg and fruit every now and then (cheap stuff from the supermarket, blend it all up with a bit of water and then freeze), we feed these either mixed with something or as ice cubes which they'll eat as they are.

They also get dinner leftovers.

It's def improved both their coats and one has stopped having a sensitive stomach.
 
So if for example I gave them chicken wings/similar with some lightly cooked tinned peas and carrots (I'm lazy) with a whole raw egg a couple of times a week and tinned fish once a week instead of the meat...

Would that be ok?? Or would they need some more carbs from somewhere? Do they need to have bones every day?

Another question - if you feed it in the house is it not a bit minging? Can imagine they like to take it out of the bowl??
 
They don't have to have bone every day but you can do if you want, the best way is to experiment with it and see how much suits your dog. The bone will really improve their poo though, it's much nicer to pick up and less smelly! If you want to minimise mess get meat with ground up bone in it, you then only need actual meaty bones for teeth cleaning etc so you don't have to feed it so often. Small bones go down quite quickly with mine so we just hand feed them (chicken wings etc), big bones can get a bit messy and we try to keep ours on an old towel or mat when eating them!!

We do have one dog that likes to bury things though and have found the odd chicken wing in our bed
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, that or he'll bury something in the garden and retrive it a few days later - lovely!!!
 
Just a v. quick reply as I don't often come on here anymore...

But there is lots of info on the landywoods site: http://www.landywoods.co.uk/barf_diets.html

Which is helpful - I also bought an ian billingshurst book - which I would recommend. his website is here:
http://www.drianbillinghurst.com/

but you can get his books on amazon.

Basically tho - I buy meat from supermarkets/ butchers etc - looking for bargains - trying to buy a wide range of meats.

I feed totally raw - I don't cook anything. I puree the veg and mix in with meat prob about 3 times a week. I do raw meaty bones in the morning (eg. chicken wings, lamb meaty bones etc) and then i feed minced meat in teh evening - sometimes I mix in cottage cheese or a raw egg as well as the veg. I supplement with sea kelp, cod liver oil and glucosamine. I make sure there is offal a few times a week as well. Usually in with the evening mince. I do give sardines in olive oil - but my dog won't eat too many of those, so just occasionally. I also give big reacreational bones a couple of times a week too.

No sure on cost - variable - but cheaper than the dog food...

You really need a freezer to keep the stuff in!

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Some bone every day is ideal but not essential in dietary terms. However, as Gina says, it is great for their poo and the firmer stools that you get with a raw diet can help prevent or treat anal gland problems. Mine does prefer to take the bones out of her bowl but, whenever possible, I let her eat them outside. Could you use a large, wipeable mat to put the bowl on?
 
I feed Raw.

I use Durham animal feeds.
Alfie gets mixture of chicken mince, Lamb mince, beef mince, venison, pork, rabbit, fish, lamb ribs, chicken quarters, liver, heart, kidney, raw eggs and tripe. I have a chest freezer.

Although its hard to get your head around when starting it does all become very simple once youve done your research. I dont feed veg. No need to feed supplements if you choose your meats, offal and bone correctly.

This site is quite good for new starters..

dogster
 
I actually went to see R's breeder today and was discussing diet with her and she recommended turkey mince which is apparently cheaper than normal mince so ideal to buy in bulk.

Okay, a question: I don't want to feed a raw diet but want to feed her cooked meat, eventually changing over to 100% natural diet. Is it possible to do this with cooked meat as opposed to raw meat? What about bones? Obviously I cant give her cooked chicken bones... so what would I give her instead? are there any cooked bones that are okay and would give the correct 'firmness' to her poos??
 
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1) What does your dogs diet actually include?


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Mainly Chicken carcasses Chicken wings or legs or thighs, breast of lamb, pig trotters, game birds, fish, lamb bones, liver, heart, green tripe, turkey leg, liquidised veg, eggs, rabbit, cold pressed oil.

All will be Human grade except the green tripe.

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2) Where do you get ingredients from?


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Mostly from the butcher, but other bits from the reduced counter of the supermarket. Tripe from pets at home freezer.

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3) How much would you say it costs per week?


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Have just got a freezer full of bits from the butcher the base of their diet for 4 weeks for £7.50

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4) Do you feed extra supplements


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No only the veg, cold pressed oil and pumpkin seeds liquidised in the veg for worms, but some give kelp tablets. A diet with a good variety of human grade meat, offal and bones over a 2 week period should not need supplementing.
 
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Just a v. quick reply as I don't often come on here anymore...

But there is lots of info on the landywoods site: http://www.landywoods.co.uk/barf_diets.html

Which is helpful - I also bought an ian billingshurst book - which I would recommend. his website is here:
http://www.drianbillinghurst.com/

but you can get his books on amazon.

Basically tho - I buy meat from supermarkets/ butchers etc - looking for bargains - trying to buy a wide range of meats.

I feed totally raw - I don't cook anything. I puree the veg and mix in with meat prob about 3 times a week. I do raw meaty bones in the morning (eg. chicken wings, lamb meaty bones etc) and then i feed minced meat in teh evening - sometimes I mix in cottage cheese or a raw egg as well as the veg. I supplement with sea kelp, cod liver oil and glucosamine. I make sure there is offal a few times a week as well. Usually in with the evening mince. I do give sardines in olive oil - but my dog won't eat too many of those, so just occasionally. I also give big reacreational bones a couple of times a week too.

No sure on cost - variable - but cheaper than the dog food...

You really need a freezer to keep the stuff in!

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Don't think I didn't see you sneaking in here! Where have you been? Please come back!!!
 
we are very new to feeding raw however after years of struggling to keep weight on our male dobermann we finally started feeding him raw tripe and i am really surprised at the weight hes put on.. He looks fantastic now and hes happily eating all his dinner and breakfast now which is something he never used to do.. Hes a real fussy eater but with the raw tripe thro his dinner hes just munches it! We get our raw tripe from Durham Animal Feeds and we are in Scotland, we get a delivery once a month. Our youngest is a bit different and shes really really fussy.. she ate the tripe for a couple of weeks and now shes off it...shes such a pain, shes now on beef... will be getting her chicken and lamb too on our next delivery next week.. their coats are fantastic, much better than they were on their dried food..
 
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