B.A.R.F. 101

[ArdentWinter]

I just came along this thread and was wondering how much it costs to feed your dogs?

I have a 46ish pound dog ( give or take a little) that i think will benefit from this diet but i am concerned about costs. I know prices vary from place to place but can i just get a ball park of what you guys expect to pay monthly?

Thanks

[El_EmDubya]

I spend $30-40/mo to feed a 65lb dog. He eats about a pound a day, as he is a senior, low drive dog. However, when I started feeding raw, I didn't know anything and was spending $120/mo to feed a 8mo old active 40 lb pup. Shopping at Whole Foods for meats did not help the bank account!

If you want to feed raw, you'll need to invest in a freezer to keep your average price per pound low.

[Scarsmommy]

I have learned to shop around.. I spend about 80 to 90 a month.. but that feeds 4 dogs who each eat between 1 to 2 pounds a piece. My advice would be to do your research and check out & compare prices from your local meat markets.. also you can join different yahoo groups to see what else is available in your area.

[willyg44]

I have learned to shop around.. I spend about 80 to 90 a month.. but that feeds 4 dogs who each eat between 1 to 2 pounds a piece. My advice would be to do your research and check out & compare prices from your local meat markets.. also you can join different yahoo groups to see what else is available in your area.

Hey where do you get your meat? I live a couple hours from Tampa, but travel that way occasionally. If you have some good, trusted markets in your area that you don't mind sharing please let me know, thanks!!

And per the question about cost, I currently feed Leo 1.8 pounds/day. It comes to about 40 per month on average. Sometimes if I'm feeling especially nice, I splurge a bit on some tasty beef for him :X

[Scarsmommy]

There is a meat market right off of I-275 & Sligh ave called House of Meats. Its about 5 minutes from my house. I go there mainly because its the cheapest place I have found for my chicken quarters. 18 dollars for a 40 pound box of quarters. They also have all sorts of other goodies like chicken backs, huge turkey legs & turkey necks. They also have different types of hearts, kidney & liver. As well as whole rabbits (skinned) and whole chickens (skinned).

[kaytenmags]

for anyone else who feeds whole prey, do you ever have issues with... umm.... furballs?
maggie was chewing on a deer leg recently, and it had fur. she took to it like a trooper and just munched right through it. i was pretty proud of that because she's never had anything with fur before. BUT, the next day i came home from work and there was a small furry vomit on the floor.

i've got a few more deer legs left (2 deer, 8 legs, one down, 7 to go! ), but i'm not thrilled about the idea of coming home to little hairy vomits after each one.


on a completely unrelated note: there's someone fairly local that's advertising meat rabbits on craigslist. they're cheaper than the supermarket, but still not super cheap. i was thinking of getting a couple to try out, but i'm not sure if there's any nasties that i have to look out for in rabbits?

[ArdentWinter]

Thanks for the replys guys. Seems like i would almost definately be paying less for raw than i do now for kibble so thats definately a positive.

El, I dont have room in my apartment for another freezer but since we already have a deep freezer i can try to utilize some of that space. I definately wont be shopping at whole foods for the meat.. i dont even do it for myself .

I am going to set up a yahoo account and look for those raw groups. Thanks for suggesting it, ScarsMommy

[FBODGRL]

Hi all... I have been researching RAW for a while and am planning on switching over soon. I am currently feeding premade raw 1 meal a day. He is eating the NV venison and I plan to switch to the beef while I continue to research and get everything I need.

Khan is allergic to chicken, while I do plan to try chicken later in the game I think I am going to start with beef. Any suggestions on actual cuts of beef? Would anyone suggest I start with something else?

I have some questions and/or statements that I want to verify I am "getting" it. I realize that every dog is different and everyone feeds differently. (btw I am only 78 pages into this thread) I plan to feed the prey style (RMB, organs and meat).

Correct feeding would be 2% of 55lbs. I plan on feeding twice a day. That would be a total of 1.10 lbs. To be adjusted if he has weight lose or gain. I don't prepare a lot of meat myself at home, but 1lb doesn't seem like very much. I'm curious how everyone makes meats "small" enough...or is it really not that small of an amount?

My plan for feeding is 80% meat, 10% RMB and 10% organ. I hope to feed fish 1-2 times a week

Is is correct that when starting you should use 1 protein exclusively for a couple of weeks, then another and so on? If this is correct and say I feed beef for 2 weeks and then another "new" protein. I can still continue to feed beef, right?

Also if you are only feeding 1 protein are you supposed to feed only that protein for RMB and organs during that 2 weeks or can you mix that around?

[julie64]

Today is Sassy, (7lb toy poodle) 3 rd day of raw. I am feeding NV turkey and she gets almost 1/4 cup. She has been constantly puking it back up. Not bile, but the actual food. She really likes it and isn't a fast eater. Suggestions? Tonight I fed her cooked chicken and she didn't vomit at all.

[El_EmDubya]

You're giving her too much!!!!

Try an 1/8th of a cup x2 per day.

This happens a lot when dogs get too excited and eat too much. Just decrease the amount you are feeding, so it is more like a treat, less like a meal.

BTW, our 65 lb dog eats about 1 fist size meal x2 per day. If I feed him too much, he pukes it up. ESPECIALLY if it is super yummy food.

LMW

[julie64]

Thanks LMW, will try reducing today and see if that helps.

[FBODGRL]

Anyone have any input on my questions? I was hoping to go shopping for stuff tomorrow.

[FBODGRL]

Someone posted this on a yahoo group and I thought some of the newbies like me,might find it useful.

http://public.sheet.zoho.com/public/moo ... Ozjg%3D%3D

[kaytenmags]

Khan is allergic to chicken, while I do plan to try chicken later in the game I think I am going to start with beef. Any suggestions on actual cuts of beef? Would anyone suggest I start with something else?

i'd start with pork. some pork bones are soft enough to be edible, but i haven't found any beef bones to be edible.

Correct feeding would be 2% of 55lbs. I plan on feeding twice a day. That would be a total of 1.10 lbs. To be adjusted if he has weight lose or gain. I don't prepare a lot of meat myself at home, but 1lb doesn't seem like very much. I'm curious how everyone makes meats "small" enough...or is it really not that small of an amount?

my dog gets about 1lb a day, but it's up and down. granted, i can feed chicken leg quarters which are a little less than 1lb, but most of the time i feed 'big' meals and 'small' meals. so one day maggie might get a 2lb chunk of ribs or what have you, and then the next day she'll get a lighter meal of some meat trim/stewing beef or something. it all evens out.

Is is correct that when starting you should use 1 protein exclusively for a couple of weeks, then another and so on? If this is correct and say I feed beef for 2 weeks and then another "new" protein. I can still continue to feed beef, right?

yes on both accounts

Also if you are only feeding 1 protein are you supposed to feed only that protein for RMB and organs during that 2 weeks or can you mix that around?

when you start with one protein, you usually skip the organ meat until things even out. too much too soon can cause tap-ass. if you're concerned about allergies tho, i'd stick with one protein at a time.

[ammadien]

I've used this thread along with other reading to come upon what works for our bulldogs. So I figure it would be good to share our experiences.

Zuki was started about a year and four months ago on raw. We got her at 8 weeks and she had the "rhea" basically her whole life up until about 9 months old. We tried kibble after kibble, and couldn't find anything that helped, more protein, less, no grains, staying on one decent kibble for 4+months, but it never made a positive difference and just kept getting worse.

So I finally had enough and gave her tract a day to rest, then started on "home cooked" the next day. Scrambled eggs and pumpkin for a couple days. Evened her out, then we made a vegetable mush, cooked chicken, eggs, and supplements for a bit. We found this time consuming but it worked fantastic. She loved it and for the first time in her life she had good poop for an entire day. We decided to switch to raw to make it less complicated as far as supplements go. So now she has whole chicken/rabbit, organs included(gutted and skinned/feathered) and her coat is fantastic, she keeps easily trim and has much better water intake, great teeth, no dog smell or dog farts. She's about 45 lbs for the winter and more like 42 for the summer when she is in better shape.

Pic in action this summer:



Then on to the boy -

We got him about 8 months ago. He was on a crappy kibble, so we slowly switched him over to a good kibble. No grain, lots of protein. He did ok on it. He was overweight when we got him, so we were able to slim him down and had enough exercise to give him some more muscle. Once he was switched over completely he still had a very greasy coat, and a pretty doggy smell, his poop was ok, very large and numerous. He got the big "D" prolly once a week on the good kibble.

We finally decided to switch him too. Between eggs and pumpkin to help him settle his stomach on the switch and the chicken he is doing great. Within 2 days his coat was much better, not greasy and softer. He did have some diarrhea on the switch, but the egg and pumpkin has been doing it's job. Had to teach him to chew, which really just took hard freezing the food and hand feeding him while making him slow down between bites(sitting/working for his food). Kibble fed his whole life(about 4 years old when we got him) and took about 2 days to teach him to chew. I don't think I have any good pictures of him now, need to get some but here is before the switch in the summer leaned out a bit:




Costs are fantastic. We get cases of leg quarters for filler between the whole more prey model for .40-.50 cents per pound. Then we get whole chicken(minus feathers, stomach and intestines) for .85 cents a pound and rabbit in the same condition for 2.00 a pound. This is from a local(<50 miles) farm. Bought a nice chest freezer to reduce trips. They both eat about a pound a day, give or take depending on the season/activity level. Kibble for the boy was 60 bucks a bag and he ate about 2.5-3 cups a day. Feel free to pm me if you have any questions. We do "large screen" blood tests yearly to check some of the levels.

Nate