BARF

Michelle · Master

BARF

tootsmazza · Enlightened One

Hi Michelle, I've been contemplating this as well. Mason loves raw bones and Morrisons down our way often sell packs in their meat counter for pennies.
I prefer those to the big knuckle bones you get from a butcher because they seem to be a bit much for him and have sparked vomiting in the past after he has overgorged on the marrow.
I haven't tried chicken wings yet but plan to try them soon.
Hope Jet is well and we see you down the Links soon wink

Marie

Indiana · Guru

My two love raw bones. I can get a big bag of chicken wings from my butcher for about 62p and I buy the odd sizes bag of frozen chicken bits from Sainsbury's at just over £1. They'll happily munch down mince and liver too. I just need to keep a bottle of antibacterial spray handy for the floor as they make a right mess...

feldandjack · Guru

Spot on about the mess, I get paranoid about cleaning the dish and floor after the raw food has been spread about. Mince is quite clean, Cara won't eat it if it's gone that strange colour, even if it smells fine and is not out of date. She won't eat defrosted stuff, but gobbles down the nice fresh red stuff smile

When it's not raining she gets her chops/ribs outside, She likes these lots wink

So far so good, she doesn't look fatter, but at least I can see a lot more going in and a lot less out the other end. ashamed

Thistle · Old Hand

Hi, I have also been reading up about the BARF diet and as a result visited two butchers today and managed to get six bones, for free biggrin

Then visited the supermarket and bought pigs hearts and liver bleh

I had always thought that bones were not allowed as they splintered so it has been refreshing to see they can have them. However one of the butchers said not to give dogs Lamb bones as they are too soft and will splinter. Dexter has been chewing his knuckle bone solidly now for over 2 1/2 hours

with no signs of giving up

I have definately discovered that even I cannot get near him when he has these bones

I am going to seek out chicken wings tommorrow. Will watch this thread with interest, forgot to say that after the length of time chewing his bone so far there will definately be no need for

Katie · Master

I was having a look at the BARF diet also, so I went along to the shops bought a pile of chicken wings and a couple of bones, all the dogs loved the bones, so next morning I gave them chicken wings, Sally stuck her nose up at them, Dust and Lulu loved them, then Dust 'barfed' his up, but I had given them 2 each so I thought perhaps that was too much for Dust, so next day he got 1, Lulu got 2 and he kept it down so no puke to clean up! Only the biggest dose of skitters I've ever seen come out of a dog

.
So it's back to the regular food with the odd bone as a treat and Lulu can have the odd chicken wing.
Good luck to everyone else

tootsmazza · Enlightened One

I'm pretty sure Mason's bones from Morrisons are lamb bones and my vet reckons they're fine, as long as they're not cooked.
He absolutely loves a piece of lamb breast bone as a special treat although it is pricier.
Marie

feldandjack · Guru

Cara loves lamb chops, or chump chops. I get them in Lidl £2.79 for six. They are the only things she eats defrosted. Other defrosted meats are not even looked at doh

she is still only 26.3kg so the toffee popcorn hasn't helped yet! She did eat all the grandchildrens leftovers furious

(mince, tatties and carrots) so I hope to see an ounce or two sitting on her hips soon biggrin

lezils · Graduate

I've read up on this diet a lot in the past few months and am still a bit confused. My Greyhound, Shannon, has gone off dog food completely and the only thing I can get her interested in is fresh meat, either chicken or liver, or sardines. Also she'll pick out the complete biscuit unless it;s coated in the meat juices. I'm worried she's not getting enough nutrients, should I try her occassionally with raw bones? I also have a Foster boy who'll eat anything and a lurcher who's starting to realise if she doesn't eat dog food she'll get something better later!!! I don't want to have to treat them all differently but i might have to. Any suggestions?? Meal times are a nightmare!!

PS How do I add photo's into my profile, I'm a newbie!!

max · Enlightened One

Hi Lezils and welcome, if you go to "HOW TO GET STARTED AND FURTHER HELP" it is explained there how to add avatars and photo,s also if you go to " INTRODUCTIONS OF NEW FORUM MEMBERS" and tell us a little bit about yourself and your dogs. As for the food problem my lot all get the same,a complete with sometimes sardines added, meat or yoghurt or whole tomatoes they seem to do well on it and they occasionaly get raw bones. Good luck finding the right balance. biggrin

Nora

Valerie · Guru

lezils wrote:

a lurcher who's starting to realise if she doesn't eat dog food she'll get something better later!!!

Hi Lezils - I've got a lurcher like yours!! I'm in the process of moving him over to raw food, and he is enjoying it, but it must be hard pandering to 3 of them!! You'll find lots of good advice and support here, but with food, they all seem to make up their own rules! ashamed

feldandjack · Guru

A wee update on Cara and BARF, she is scoffing down mince, lamb chops, cheesy spuds and boiled eggs, (well one boiled egg a week, smashed up in to her mince, with the shell ground up and added.) She gets a tin of oily fish twice a week and seems to be enjoying her food more. Her car sickness has improved greatly ashamed

we went from East Lothian to Chesser then on to the Hotdog show, with one small barf in the carpark at Holyrood. We got all the way back to Chesser then home with no sickness biggrin

and when she got home she scoffed some mince and had a long sleep. (She used to come home from a car trip and go to her bed looking very green, refusing to eat for at least 12hrs) It's a pity she won't eat the chicken wings, but she is eating more than she has for ages. This diet won't suit every dog, but as Valerie says, they make up their own rules when it comes to eating evileye

Shadows mum · Graduate

feldandjack wrote:

A wee update on Cara and BARF, she is scoffing down mince, lamb chops, cheesy spuds and boiled eggs, (well one boiled egg a week, smashed up in to her mince, with the shell ground up and added.) She gets a tin of oily fish twice a week and seems to be enjoying her food more.

I thought BARF stood for Bones And Raw Food confused

Just wondered what bones your dog has been eating because what you've described above, doesn't sound a very balanced diet weirdface

I'd be worried if my dogs had this diet they weren't getting all the things they really need?
Sorry just wondered as like to hear about new things smile

feldandjack · Guru

The only bones she eats are the ones in her chops, I have tried other bones, but they are not touched cry

she does get veg mixed in with the mince, but you are quite correct, it's not a balanced diet, but compared to the tiny amounts of cooked meat she used to eat, it's getting better. smile

She is starting to show interest in the lamb neck/spine as long as there isn't too much meat on it confused

Thistle · Old Hand

Fab news that Cara is showing an interest in food biggrin Heres hoping her collar may get too tight for her one day biggrin (I know that feeling....not my collar though weirdface )

feldandjack · Guru

Cara has eaten 'DOG FOOD' for the last two nights, I mixed up Caras food at the same time as the two new girls grub (same tin of dog food with mixer), and as long as I put her dish down in the pen with the other two, she scoffed it weirdface

She was more concerned with not letting the new girls get it, than what was in her dish. biggrin

If I put the dog food in her dish and let her eat it in the kitchen, she turned her nose up at it. Tara and Zac came out for a spin the other day, and Cara scoffed the treats Claire had, instead of spitting them out as she has in the past.
I think pack life is good for Cara wink

I'll keep you posted.

max · Enlightened One

Sounds like Bella and Bess have solved Cara,s little food problem, clever girls. LOL biggrin

Nora

feldandjack · Guru

Had all three on the scales yesterday, Bess is 14.5kg (doesn't look that heavy) Bella is a whopping 15kg (looks every gram) and Cara is now 27.1kg. I'd forgotten about the huge amount of **** that comes out of them after eating dog food. I'm off in search of large poo bags, on second thaughts I may just put them all on BARF biggrin

max · Enlightened One

LOL

Nora

Valerie · Guru

Yay - good for Cara - not a size zero anymore biggrin

must be that cheesy mash smile

evilshiddenclaws · Old Hand

i'm thinking about sticking my two rotties onto the BARF diet but i havent a clue on how to provide a balanced diet... and i was wondering if any of you find it more expensive than a decent dried food

at the moment i have them on james wellbeloved with tripe or different packs of raw meaty stuff. my bitch loves anything and everything but my dog refuses to eat raw chicken, hes spat out wings, legs and thighs, i even tried top give him a raw breast but he wasnt interested...

Indiana · Guru

The cheapest option is definitely the raw chicken. If you can't feed that, I'd reckon it would get very expensive on BARF.

evilshiddenclaws · Old Hand

even so, they cant live on just raw chicken, even if my fussy mutt did eat the stuff :S