Raw dog food, Is anyone else here feeding the same ??

[wackyjaki]

Hey !!! I am feeding my dog on a raw meat and bone diet and have done since he was 10 wks old, he is coming on a treat and is very lively/active !!! Does anyone else on here feed the same ?

 

i fed my alsation on raw minced chicken and eggs and fish on vets advice because she had sencertive bowls

[tavie_chain]

I've been wanting to change my jack Russell over to a barf diet since he was a puppy, but my other half wasnt keen. However, ive finally convinced him it would be a good choice but now i feel pretty clueless and don't know where to start or what to feed him.

 

Up until now, he's been fed on kibble but has been having chicken over the last week or so (cooked drumsticks so no bones) to try and get him prepared for it.

 

He weighs about 7kg, so would be it right to feed him about 200g a day? i know this is more than the 2.5% suggested in this thread, but he's pretty thin and needs to put on a bit of weight.

 

also, how often should i give him the richer foods like liver, kidneys or heart? i'm going to go to the butchers today and get him some chicken necks and carcasses, beef mince and rabbit meat to try him on raw, is that a good way to start? i feel quite lost now that im doing this!

 

sorry for all the questions!

[Evei]

If he is underweight feed him more I would always start on just raw chicken for the first week, they may get an upset tummy but don't change, just stick with the raw chicken (it must have bones in or minced bones in it) until he is fine, some dogs might take up to two weeks but being a JR I bet he's got a sturdy stomach!

 

Slowly introduce offal and mixed meats, introduce one at a time so you know if there is something that disagrees. I feed offal 2 times week, chicken 3/4 times a week and then a mixture of other meats inbetween. He gets beef bones some days but there really for entertainment value as they are not very meaty ones and too big to be eaten.

 

I use dried liver as treats. I boil it, cut it into small pieces, then cook it on a tray in the oven to dry it out. I do a load at a time as it stinks, freeze it in a big plastic bag then you just pour out what you want and it defrosts in 30 minutes. Cheap treats that they go mad for and are good for them!

 

It can get expensive if you buy from a butcher depending on what they are giving you, so it may be worth checking out the raw dog food place mentioned before.

 

Good Luck

Edited June 10, 2010 by Evei

[medusa]

Yes, that's one thing that isn't apparent to anybody new to raw feeding. Standard mince which is used for humans isn't actually nutritionally complete for animals. We take out all of the bits which contain the minor (but important) nutrients which animals need because they can't make them for themselves from other nutrients. Cat and dog food has been fortified and had those nutrients put back into them, but if you just feed lean muscle (which is essentially what human meat is) then that's not the best thing for your animal.

 

For instance, if you were to feed a cat chicken breast and plaice for its entire life, the cat may think that it's great, but they're likely to lose their sight through lack of taurine, which is contained in the offal and organs rather than the lean muscle.

 

So it's expensive to feed the human variety but it's also less helpful for the animal. Better off donating a shelf of your freezer to dog food and buying the cheaper but better stuff. I'd imagine you could feed a little one like a JR for next to nowt at 40p a pound

[wackyjaki]

i used to by my raw mince from jollys pet store in sheffield it wasnt very deer in price they have chicken beef and lamb i used to mix it with rice and paster my dog loved it

[tavie_chain]

thanks for all the info! I didnt get him mince in the end yesterday (they looked at me like i was mad in the butchers!) and just got him quartered chicken legs to start with and it didnt even touch the sides and so far no upset stomach so i think it'll work out ok!

 

evie ill try that with the liver, thanks =]

 

and medusa, can you get all of the mince with bones from that petshop behind towsure? im moving back to sheffield soon so it'll be a lot easier to sort out when i know where im going because the only petfood shops near me in essex are all pets at home type ones and the local real pet shop think im crazy for suggesting i wanted to feed my dog raw meat!

 

sorry for all the questions again, you guys are really helpful though =]

[fabcakes]

i had nothing but trouble with June & gorge

June is soo very fussy & gorge was no better

until one day someone told me to feed them

tripe & i have never ever looked back since

i think if i ever stopped it they'd protest against it

id have visions of them both out side with their boards

saying bring back tripe or else the cat gets it

[medusa]

thanks for all the info! I didnt get him mince in the end yesterday (they looked at me like i was mad in the butchers!) and just got him quartered chicken legs to start with and it didnt even touch the sides and so far no upset stomach so i think it'll work out ok!

 

evie ill try that with the liver, thanks =]

 

and medusa, can you get all of the mince with bones from that petshop behind towsure? im moving back to sheffield soon so it'll be a lot easier to sort out when i know where im going because the only petfood shops near me in essex are all pets at home type ones and the local real pet shop think im crazy for suggesting i wanted to feed my dog raw meat!

 

sorry for all the questions again, you guys are really helpful though =]

 

Yes, the shop behind Towsure has a full selection of BARF things including Molly's favourite food which is their 'meaty mix' which is beef with offal, bits of tripe and bone added.

 

Ignore any pet shop which thinks that raw feeding is a strange thing to do- feeding raw meat with plain mixer biscuit is one of the oldest ways to feed dogs and makes a lot of sense to me when looking at what dogs evolved to eat. Dogs aren't that good at using the hob to cook their meat before eating it, so it makes me smile to think that people have no concept of feeding just what dogs in the wild would eat.

 

Molly's not a complete BARF dog- she has some really plain mixer biscuits and does have a dental treat at night and dried black pudding for treats, but the first time I saw her diarrhoea free was once we'd given up on processed food and gave her raw tripe. Her diarrhoea was so severe on all sorts of processed dog food that we didn't even go onto chicken only option- we went straight to raw green tripe and the difference was amazing.

 

I'm sure that there will be somewhere local to you which sells raw food, but often they're a very well kept secret. You tend to find out about these places when talking food with other dog owners, but it can take some time.

[NoPests]

Both my Mastiff and Caucasian Ovcharka are fed on raw meet and veg, we moved over when the CO was getting skin problems as the vets were making a killing out of us and I must say it has sorted her out a treat.

I buy beast hearts and trim direct from the abattoir and cut the hearts up into big chunks which the dogs and the cat love munching through, also bones and any other game I can happen to get hold of mixed with a hand full of veg and the odd piece of fruit.

The pre packed meats are ok but you must know that these meats are mechanically recovered and I personally would not eat them myself so I wont feed them to the animals.

 

Nothing gets cooked, when was the last time you saw a wolf/wild dog cooking? it doesnt happen and dogs are unable to digest cooked food and get all the nutrients out, also mixer biscuits are made mainly from cereals which dogs cannot digest either.

[Evei]

Both my Mastiff and Caucasian Ovcharka are fed on raw meet and veg, we moved over when the CO was getting skin problems as the vets were making a killing out of us and I must say it has sorted her out a treat.

I buy beast hearts and trim direct from the abattoir and cut the hearts up into big chunks which the dogs and the cat love munching through, also bones and any other game I can happen to get hold of mixed with a hand full of veg and the odd piece of fruit.

The pre packed meats are ok but you must know that these meats are mechanically recovered and I personally would not eat them myself so I wont feed them to the animals.

 

Nothing gets cooked, when was the last time you saw a wolf/wild dog cooking? it doesnt happen and dogs are unable to digest cooked food and get all the nutrients out, also mixer biscuits are made mainly from cereals which dogs cannot digest either.

 

I think it depends where you get the minced meats from. My minced meat comes from my trainer and it is just whole chicken carcasses minced with some veg. He had to buy an industrial mincing machine to make it! Getting in touch with an abottoir is a great idea

 

I'm guessing you are talking about the minced dog meats from supermarkets that is mechanically recovered dog meat?