Jump to content

About two raw food brands - Big Dog & Dr.B BARF


 Share

Recommended Posts

Hi all, greetings from Taiwan. I've been feeding my 3-year-old Mini Poodle, Vontae, a raw food diet that alternates between two Aussie brands - Big Dog and Dr.B's BARF - with a bit of K9 Natural raw thrown in once in a while. How are the reputations of Big Dog and Dr.B BARF in Australia? We don't have too many commerical raw food choices here in Taiwan, so I definitely would appreciate any feedback on these brands. Vontae seems to be doing well on this combo diet so far, but I wanna make sure that these brands have strong long-term reputations and results.

 

Would appreciate any feedback. Thanks!
 

Kevin

Link to comment
Share on other sites

G'day Kevin, greetings from Aus. :  )

Can't say that I've heard of those brands.

Every Aussie that I've known who feeds a raw diet, including myself, actually feeds things like chicken carcasses, turkey necks, green tripe, lamb brisket for e.g.

The benefits include a healthy gut, teeth & gums.

 

Not only is it healthier than commercial products, it's also cheaper. Check out www.rawmeatybones.com

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've heard of those brands and have used Big Dog Combo myself for years. I've offered most of the pre-made raw options out there but find Big Dog is eaten with gusto every time and it actually smells good which some of them don't.  For Ingredients (below) and ease of use I'm really happy with it. :) Meaty bones for teeth and gums are fed on top and I dehydrate my own meats for treats.  

 

The only way to know for sure if any diet is working would be to have bloods done at the vet and see if the dog comes back as deficient anywhere.  I haven't done this myself but have considered it a few times.  So far I'm banking on the dogs visually looking in good condition with great skin, teeth and coats.    Im sure your poodle will do great on this too!

 

Beef, finely ground beef bone & cartilage, chicken, finely ground chicken bone & cartilage, beef & lamb heart, beef & lamb liver, beef & lamb kidney, whole fish (salmon & sardines), seasonal fruits, vege & herbs (kale, spinach, broccoli, bok choy, silver beet, carrots, celery, beetroot, lettuce, cucumber, capsicum, apple, orange, pear, tomato, strawberry, ginger & parsley), cold pressed ground flaxseed, whole egg, alfalfa powder, kelp powder (brown seaweed), brewers yeast, wheatgrass, live probiotics, prebiotics, garlic.

Edited by Roova
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've used both and both have agreed with my dog. 

 

I believe they were developed by the same two guys who then had irreconcilable differences - essentially I think the mixes are pretty well the same, though the Dr b's barf seems wetter than the big dog barf.

 

I use them in conjunction with an excellent grain free kibble, meals for mutts. They're available in most pet supply stores here in Aus in the freezer section and seem to sell well 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, Paul777 said:

G'day Kevin, greetings from Aus. :  )

Can't say that I've heard of those brands.

Every Aussie that I've known who feeds a raw diet, including myself, actually feeds things like chicken carcasses, turkey necks, green tripe, lamb brisket for e.g.

The benefits include a healthy gut, teeth & gums.

 

Not only is it healthier than commercial products, it's also cheaper. Check out www.rawmeatybones.com

Really? You're not familiar with the brand of food sold by Dr. Ian Billinghurst, one of the people responsible for making BARF and raw diets as mainstream and popular as they are now?

Whether or not "homemade" raw is "healthier" than commercially produced raw is questionable, at best. Just because something has been produced in a factory, that doesn't mean it's somehow tainted with malevolent commercial-therefore-bad germs, you know.

 

Personally, I stick with homemade because firstly, my dogs don't eat vegetables (and unfortunately, most prepared BARF meals are heavy on vegetables) and secondly, because I'm often feeding multiple dogs with different fat requirements so it's easier for me to adjust diet in response to their weight and how they're doing.

 

To answer the OP, if your dog is doing well on those foods,I'd stick with them. I'm not sure on the availability of safe, inspected raw "pet" grade meats over there but I imagine it's probably not as easy as we have it here. Personally, I'd stick with imported commercial if I couldn't be sure that raw meat was coming from a processor who inspected for all the things we consider standard. The only thing I'd suggest is adding actual bones to chew because the barf/raw minces won't do anything for your dog's teeth. That said, bones or no, teeth still need to be cared for and brushed as needed. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, Paul777 said:

G'day Kevin, greetings from Aus. :  )

Can't say that I've heard of those brands.

Every Aussie that I've known who feeds a raw diet, including myself, actually feeds things like chicken carcasses, turkey necks, green tripe, lamb brisket for e.g.

The benefits include a healthy gut, teeth & gums.

 

Not only is it healthier than commercial products, it's also cheaper. Check out www.rawmeatybones.com

Info for Paul777 http://bigdogpetfoods.com/raw-food-for-dogs/

http://barfaustralia.com/

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We usually feed home-made raw for dinner and a high quality kibble for breakfast. But a few times we have used Big Dog BARF and found it really awesome. It's definitely handy to grab a sealed up patty and defrost it the night before and have it ready to go. Although it did take me half a box of it to figure out it had a peely bit to open hahaha I'd been cutting it the whole time. 

We've had the fish and the rabbit, both are good and I like to buy flavours that have meats that aren't cheaply/readily available at the supermarket. As mentioned before, I'm not sure what the quality or price of meat in Taiwan is. I'm not sure if they outsource? Do you live in the city? I haven't been to Taiwan, but have been to HK. If I recall correctly they had the Chinese butchers which sold all the fun & weird "bits" haha. Raw pigs ears, all sorts of guts, trotters, chicken feet, duck (yum! Costs a lot here :( ) etc. Although not sure of the regulations there if they might use hormones in the animals which could get in your dogs diet. As an occasional treat it would be good though. Edible bones are definitely important to include though, things like chicken necks (if your dog can handle those), chicken feet/wings/drumsticks. :)

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for all the replies - definitely reassuring to hear that the brands have a good reputation back in Australia. Vontae has been on both Big Dog and Dr.B since I got him a year ago, and he's due for his annual physical next month, so we'll see what the blood test shows. But visually he seems to be doing great, more active than when I first got him - although I'm not sure if that's due to the food, the lifestyle (I hike/swim/play frisbee with him pretty much everyday), or a combination of the two. We do have some locally made commercial raw food brands here in Taiwan and their ingredients look good - one, which I've fed off and on, even publishes the actual sources of where their meats and veggies come from (farms, some organic, here in Taiwan). But at the end of the day, I don't quite feel as comfortable with local Taiwan brands because they have not been in the market that long and have not established a track record of safety and success. 

 

Here's a video of my boy :) Thanks again for all the feedback and advice.

 

Kevin

 

 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2017/1/24 at 6:55 AM, Stitch said:

 

I just found out that there are vendors in Taiwan who carry the Leading Raw BARF, so I'm thinking about also giving this a try. But Leading Raw doesn't seem to have its ingredients clearly stated - i.e. no nutritional breakdown by %. I know the brand says the breakdown is different depending on the life stage of the food, but still it would be nice to see the different % for different life stages. Or am I missing something?

 

Kevin

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...