B.A.R.F. 101

[Red]

Barb, I think I saw that you primarly feed chicken and turkey, which is what I fed Ice for two years, for the most part.It was chicken and turkey wings, part of the legs, necks , beef and beef ribbs here and there and whole fish.Her intestine is quite delicate, she wasn't doing good with kibble so I put her on the BARF diet after reading a few barf e-mail lists and books, when she was about 8 or 9 months old.
Unfortunately she doesn't chew well, 4 or 5 chicken wings lasted maybe one minute.I had to hand feed her for the whole two years and often wondered about a bone grinder.But lately she started to puke , mainly chicken wings and legs (I would take off part of the meat from the legs, for the ratio meat/bone ).I am almost sure it was the fact that she did not chew well but I got worried and switched her to Canidae and then Solid Gold, plus cottage cheese, yougurt, veggies and fruit, eggs (raw mostly), kelp, solid gold seameal, cod liver oil, garlic (very little), alfalfa powder and raw beef ribs (not on the day when I feed kibble or at least in different meals) and her glucosamine supplements.She is doing good on it and so are my other dogs.
Anyway, I was wondering if it is enough to feed only chicken and turkey primarly,I have always thought that variety is important and I was often worried that my dog would not get enough different kinds of meat.Chicken is the easiest meat to find here, often on sale so the dog's freezer is always full of it.

[barbponys]

We feed a decent variety. They eat a lot of poultry but they also get fish, beef, rabbit(at least the ones that will eat it ) and all my dogs are good chewers so I don't worry about the bones. They get beef on the nights my hubby feeds cuz, for some reason, he won't cut up chicken and turkey . So tuesdays, thrusdays and sundays they will usually get beef, the rest of the week they get poultry.........

[pblove]

Barb, I think I saw that you primarly feed chicken and turkey, which is what I fed Ice for two years, for the most part.It was chicken and turkey wings, part of the legs, necks , beef and beef ribbs here and there and whole fish.Her intestine is quite delicate, she wasn't doing good with kibble so I put her on the BARF diet after reading a few barf e-mail lists and books, when she was about 8 or 9 months old.
Unfortunately she doesn't chew well, 4 or 5 chicken wings lasted maybe one minute.I had to hand feed her for the whole two years and often wondered about a bone grinder.But lately she started to puke , mainly chicken wings and legs (I would take off part of the meat from the legs, for the ratio meat/bone ).I am almost sure it was the fact that she did not chew well but I got worried and switched her to Canidae and then Solid Gold, plus cottage cheese, yougurt, veggies and fruit, eggs (raw mostly), kelp, solid gold seameal, cod liver oil, garlic (very little), alfalfa powder and raw beef ribs (not on the day when I feed kibble or at least in different meals) and her glucosamine supplements.She is doing good on it and so are my other dogs.
Anyway, I was wondering if it is enough to feed only chicken and turkey primarly,I have always thought that variety is important and I was often worried that my dog would not get enough different kinds of meat.Chicken is the easiest meat to find here, often on sale so the dog's freezer is always full of it.

red, so do you feed kibble some days and barf others?
hw many days of barf and how many days of kibble?
or do you feed both, one for am and one for pm?
how do you determne, how much of which to feed that way?

[barbponys]

If you feed half and half, figure out 2-3% or your dogs body weight and cut it in half. That's how much raw you would feed. Kibble, cut the daily feeding in half as well.

[tjbsandy]

So it's better to do one day kibble, one day raw, rather than, say, kibble for breakfast and raw for dinner, right?

I think I'm going to try and do a little at a time and get our feet wet.

[barbponys]

You can do kibble morning, raw at night. Or how ever works best for you. Once you get the hang of how much and all that you can make the decision on whether or not to go all raw.

[cheekymunkee]

I have started with Munkee & will the others when this bag of food is gone. So far he has had ground chuck, salmon steak & pork steaks ( My freezer died so I am feeding him from what is in it. I added an egg & some yougurt & sprinkled kelp on as well. Is that all there is to it? He's loving it so far & no stomach upset at all. Although I do need to get the serving sizes down a little better. Last night I guess I gave him too much pork & his tummy was ROUND!

Debby

[pblove]

Debby,
did he dive rigth into it?
I am afraid to feed raw pork, Paige had an issue with it last year.
throwing up and diarrhea, stopped feeding raw after that happened, felt I did not know enough about it!

[Red]

red, so do you feed kibble some days and barf others?
hw many days of barf and how many days of kibble?
or do you feed both, one for am and one for pm?
how do you determne, how much of which to feed that way?

You know, I've been doing this for the past 4 months only as I have never liked the idea to mix raw and kibble at all.
I started feeding Solid Gold on one day (I always add veggies, home made broth or fruit on it, plus the supplements) and the following day only uncooked food.For example I would feed eggs, cottage cheese and veggies in the morning and beef ribbs at night or chicken or fish.Then the following day kibble plus whatever I wanted to add but not raw meat.Then I started to feed raw in one meal and kibble in the other, on the same day.It was just a try as I wasn't sure of the result.Definately never mix raw meat and kibble together, on the same meal.The dogs are doing good, I think.
Even Ice with all her problems seem to be just fine.I try to alternate, I would say that they get 3 raw meals a week at least, plus the kibble but it is not a rule.It can be more but not less than that.Veggies and fruit are an everyday thing, raw.
I am still not feeding bones because of Ice's issue with the chewing but I use the bones and chicken carcasse (what is left after I take off the meat) to make broth.
As far as how much, it depends on the dog and on the activity level of that week.With Jack here the dog aren't worked as much as they should so they get not even two cups a day of kibble.Tigger gets about 3/4 of cup and Ice about 1 cup a meal.Jack the foster gets about a cup and a half a meal, plus he gets all the supplements as well.I don't go by what the bag of food says, per weight, I look at the dogs.If 3/4 of cup might sound not enough food, it sure is, the girls don't look starved at all.
For the raw meals, I go by what I think it is good for the dog, after two years of barf with Ice I trust my eye with the quantity.
I have never fed pork , I don't like to feed it raw, unless it has been in the freezer at zero degrees for a month, to kill the flukes.
And even then, I am not too sure.Some people feed it without problems, I just don't want to.

[cheekymunkee]

Debby,
did he dive rigth into it?
I am afraid to feed raw pork, Paige had an issue with it last year.
throwing up and diarrhea, stopped feeding raw after that happened, felt I did not know enough about it!

Yep. He had no hesitations at all. I feed him chicken skin & bones when I debone a chicken so he is kind of used to eating a little raw for treats & snacks so he had no qualms. I gave Ollie a little of the salmon & she ate it up too. She gets chicken parts too when I am cooking. Justice should be no problem, she will eat poop if it is her bowl.

I have read that if you freeze pork for a few days it is safe to feed. These steaks had been in the freezer for a while so I felt they would be safe. Other than a huge round tummy he did fine.

Debby

[tjbsandy]

What about fruits and veggies? Are they included in the weight/amount that you feed, or are they seperate? Lilith loves veggies, but I don't want to overfeed her right out of the gate. (since she is so fat that that dumbass asked if she'd had a litter)

[stella]

Veggies are included in the total amount that you feed. Pork needs to be frozen for 3 weeks.

Oh, and I've been feeding raw for about 7.5 years, been researching it continuously and spent some time working in a Dog Raw Food store where we were alway dealing with dogs who were battling various illnesses and were sent to us by vets with special requests.

The meaty bones that I mostly feed are lamb, beef and buffalo necks. (ostrich necks when I can get them) and chicken necks and wings.

[cheekymunkee]

Veggies are included in the total amount that you feed. Pork needs to be frozen for 3 weeks.

Oh, and I've been feeding raw for about 7.5 years, been researching it continuously and spent some time working in a Dog Raw Food store where we were alway dealing with dogs who were battling various illnesses and were sent to us by vets with special requests.

The meaty bones that I mostly feed are lamb, beef and buffalo necks. (ostrich necks when I can get them) and chicken necks and wings.

Oh mine was in the freezer for well over 3 weeks! But thanks for the info!

Debby

[Raja]

At what age can you start feeding raw or barf? I have a 10 week old pup and I like the concept of raw or barf in the future. When can start to switch him over?

R

[barbponys]

Now is a good time to get the youngster started. He's young enough that giving him straight raw right off shouldn't cause any trouble at all.