Raw Feeders

[NorthernStarPits]

G'day i need some help with raw feeding,(proper barf) specifically an ingredients and sample meals for a week, if anyone can post what they feed it would be most apprecieated

My dogs get raw meats and bones some vegies and kibble Atm,but i want to give true barfing a go to see how my dogs go on it.

i have three dogs whose ideal weights are 30kg and 37kg and 40-2 kg two very active and one not so active

I have had a look at some sites about barf feeding, and well i'm getting infomation overload lol

if anyone can give a few sample meal plans would be great

[longdogs]

G'day i need some help with raw feeding,(proper barf) specifically an ingredients and sample meals for a week, if anyone can post what they feed it would be most apprecieated

My dogs get raw meats and bones some vegies and kibble Atm,but i want to give true barfing a go to see how my dogs go on it.

i have three dogs whose ideal weights are 30kg and 37kg and 40-2 kg two very active and one not so active

I have had a look at some sites about barf feeding, and well i'm getting infomation overload lol

if anyone can give a few sample meal plans would be great

Congratulations on your decision to go totally barf, you won't be sorry.

I have fed totally barf for quite a few years now.

Every 2nd evening they get a meat mix meal which consists of the following:-

50% raw minced meat( chicken, beef, lamb, either or a combination of.

50% crushed raw vegetables and fruit( anything except onions) I use a juicer to process the fruit and veg, and use both the pulp and veg. If you don't have a juicer you can process them in a food processor till they are as finely chopped as you can get them.

To this I add a small amount of crushed garlic, brewers yeast, kelp, cold pressed extra virgin oil, cod liver oil, flaxseed meal or oil. Mix everything together thoroughly.

I make up a big batch of this on a weekend then freeze in meal size portions.

I ad vitamin E when I serve their meals as it is not known whether vit. e can survive freezing

They get this meal every 2nd evening.

The following is an 8 day meals plan that I feed my dogs:-

Day 1 - Meat mix.

Day 2 - Raw whole fish with only the scales and fins removed.

Day 3 - As for day 1.

Day 4 - Cottage cheese followed by a milkshake of raw honey, eggs and skim milk.

Day 5 - As for day 1.

Day 6 - Raw offal, (liver, kidneys, heart, brains, whatever I can get at a decent price)

Day 7 - As for day 1.

Day 8 - Raw lamb flaps.

After every meal they also get raw chicken wing(s) or necks.

These meals are for adults, slight changes are needed for young puppies and bitches in whelp or lactating.

I hope this is of some help to you.

[noisymina]

Can be a bit of an overload.

I'm all for the KISS principle myself.

I get a selection of meaty bones - will be looking a bit further soon to get more variety, hopefully, but at tha moment we get lamb flap, chicken frames, necks and any other chicken that is cheap - got thighs at Woolies last week for $!.99 kg. Pigs trotters are an occasional addition. Lamb off cuts are sometimes OK if meaty and not too fatty.

I freeze it all in approx serving sizes. For my 30kg Dobe, the 400g servings seem to be a bit much, so am reducing a bit and will see how it goes.

She gets a serving of meaty bones each night. I have found there is really no need for mince - and don't believe it is strictly "BARF" anyway. It also tends to have preseravatives etc in it - depending on where it comes from, of course. It is also hard to tell how much is fat, meat or bone - and it doesn't do anything for the teeth!

For the morning ration, I make up a huge mix about every 5-6 weeks - and freeze in 500g lots - and she gets 1/3 of one of those each morning. She gets any "dog friendly" leftovers as we go - and OH shares his banana with her and the horse each morning. She also gets a slice of toast and vegemite. Somehow I don't think that is in the "BARF" book either.

The mix varies - to keep it simple, just make up a list of all the things you would like to include and just make it up with whatever you have of those - not all things need to go in every time. Mine is usually based on carrot, apple and celery, you may or may not want to add cereals (my options include raw, ground, rolled oats and cooked barley) and things like raw eggs, oils of various types, sardines and offal (mine get liver or kidney in this mix rather than at the night meal), yoghurt, cottage cheese and so on.

And that's it.

Hope it helps!

[NorthernStarPits]

Thanks Longdogs,noisy.. thats the sort or things i needed...what ile do is make up a list of ingredients and model it on someone elses plan ,adjusting as i go to suit my dogs needs, just untill i get a feel for what ime doing lol,(while learning all i can about it) and then i should be able to customise a diet and amount fed for my dogs..I have one of those hand held whizzer/blender/chopper things that should be enough to pulp all the vegies..

[noisymina]

Sounds fine.

You will probably be looking at a juicer before too long.

I'd be interested if you put up a poll or something on juicers - could be an eye opener!

[Dog_Horse_Girl]

My dogs are not fed as per BARF but as per a prey model: essentially, the canine diet is modelled on the following:

1. Mostly RMBs (raw, meaty bones).

2. Small quantity of offal (organs), esp heart (both organ and muscle meat), kidney, liver.

3. Some vegetable and fruit matter, pulverised.

4. Some extra ingredients such as raw egg, canned sardines or any raw fish if you have a source that is free from heavy metals and other toxins.

5. Yoghurt with probiotics.

I feed RMBs from chicken, duck if cheap (not often), lamb, beef, roo, ox, and rabbit. I do not feed minced meat from any source unless I ask the butcher to mince a steak such as a couple of pieces of blade steak that I have just bought whole. These RMBs make up the bulk of the diet.

I feed organs four or five times weekly.

I feed vegetable and fruit matter three times weekly, sometimes less, sometimes more. If a dog needs to lose weight, she gets extra veg/fruit and reduced animal products.

I feed extra ingredients once or twice a month, with the exception of yoghurt which is fed one week in two.

With three dogs, I can't give you quantities b/c it varies. That's one advantage of feeding this way: you can adjust it to suit each dog each day.

I prepare things in bulk: I buy RMBs in bulk and package up into a day's worth per bag (that is, enough to feed EACH dog one meal per bag). I process veg/fruit once a month or every six to eight weeks, depending on what's in season, what's on sale, etc. I use a juicer to process this. I remove all the pulp and mix 1/2 the juice back in to make the slop. This is frozen in ziplock bags, again one day's feed per bag. I buy offal in bulk, pre-sliced and freeze it into ziplock bags.

It's a really simple way to organise for multiple dog households. Every bag contains ONE meal component for all the dogs. All I do is go to the freezer every night, and remove the next bag for the following night.

My dogs are fed once daily...but Molly gets a tiny breakfast of kibble (Dick van Patten's Natural Balance Organic Formula ATM) b/c she needs to eat two meals daily and she takes far too long with RMBs to do this in the morning rush!

They also get a kong every day, usually stuffed with peanut butter, vegemite or cheese spread. If I bake dog cookies, they sometimes get those mixed in with the spread.

[KitKat]

I have one of those hand held whizzer/blender/chopper things that should be enough to pulp all the vegies..

That's what i often used when feeding barf - if you can get the vegies uber mulched then once they are done freeze the mix as that will break down the..err can't think of hte word...lol, but it will make it easier for the dog to digest if you don't get it mulched down enough.

Just be careful if you use one of those with raw pumpkin as you might blow the motor...

[JAG]

Hi Guys,

Sorry to hijack but can you post pictures of your fur kids since being on BARF please. Or if you have before and after pics that would be great. Would love to see how these kids flourish on the diet. May also encourage others to join in.

[KitKat]

Hey Jag I'd post pic's before and after (if i had decent ones)...but it would just drag this thread OT as my boy didn't do well on Barf

However most dogs look great/better (depending on what they were fed etc) within a short period of time on a well balanced barf diet It's a great diet if they do well on it...and most dogs think it's great getting 'treat bones' all the time...lol.

[JAG]

Yep I am all for it although when you have a few dogs it does get harder and more expensive to feed this type of diet.. My kids are on a raw diet plus kibble and they all do very well on it.

[NorthernStarPits]

Hi Guys,

Sorry to hijack but can you post pictures of your fur kids since being on BARF please. Or if you have before and after pics that would be great. Would love to see how these kids flourish on the diet. May also encourage others to join in.

I'll be doing just that in the near future, once i get everything sorted about the diet ect ile be posting pics from starting day,-- weight ,condition ,energy, ect,, a bit like an online Dol Barfing diary lol.

I'll run it as a trial thing for about four weeks and see how it goes..i just bought a new bag of kibble yesterday so it will be in about two weeks time before i start which will give me some time to work everything out with what i will be feeding them ect..

[noisymina]

I've been playing around with the Barf idea ever since we got Kaisie over 2 years ago, and I don't know what she was fed prior to that.

One thing I do know is that the vet comments on her teeth every time he looks at them - not a sign of a problem there!

Her urinary problem seems to have almost gone - I'm still waiting to see if it comes back in the cold weather while she is off the meds she was supposed to need for ever to control it. lol. Have added things like ACV, barley, yoghurt, parsley in the hope they will help - still to come to a definite conclusion on that, but it certainly has done no harm.

A skin problem that was also supposed to be an ongoing thing is not evident at the moment, even tho I have not used the shampoo (she was going to need for ever) for months now. Again - don't know if it will come back, and no way of "proving" that BARF, per se, as done the trick. Again, it has done no harm.

Not relly great photos, but, what the heck -- I think you can see the teeth

Kaisie 1

Kaisie 2

Edited May 2, 2006 by noisymina

[noisymina]

Just be careful if you use one of those with raw pumpkin as you might blow the motor..

That is one reason I'm interested in the juicer issue. Mine, I think, is less than satisfactory - and the pumpkin and sweet potatoe just don't go through at all well - that is why I have resorted to cooking them with the barley.

ile be posting pics from starting day,-- weight ,condition ,energy, ect,, a bit like an online Dol Barfing diary lol.

Great idea - I was too busy to even think of documenting it all - new dog etc at the same time.

Edited May 2, 2006 by noisymina

[Erny]

You will probably be looking at a juicer before too long.

When you do look for a juicer , go for one of the ones that allow you to fit big things in it (eg. a whole sized apple). This will make life easier and preparation time quicker.

ETA: I find it easier and quicker to juice (returning the juice to the pulp) than I did when I used to blend the vegies.

Edited May 2, 2006 by Erny

[jbbb]

Here are a couple of our girl. She has been fed on BARF her entire life.

Here is one where you can see the shine on her coat:

And here is one where you can see her teeth.

[Hazz]

Here's my before an after - I feed 50 % Dr B's BARF pattie to 50% rmbs - I'm too chicken to formulate it myself as I fear leaving anything out.

My Wei had a few issues on a kibble based diet, the two main ones were itchy skin and overweight - I could hardly feed her anything on the kibble yet she'd till be overweight (exercise was not an issue, and I brought high quality kibble formulated for dogs with weight issues) I switched her over to BARF and she's 200% better no more itchy skin and no more overweight issues - she even eats more on the BARF diet (volume wise) which makes a far more content doggy !

First showing off that BARF smile, second after body shot and third the before shot.

All ours are fed BARF or a slightly skewed BARF diet and they've never looked better - incl. St Bernards, Papillon and Vizsla.

Edited May 3, 2006 by Hazz

[JAG]

Excellent representations guys - well done! Your kids look fantastic! Beautiful teeth, shiny coats and obviously happy dogs. Look forward to seeing the new thread SMS.

Cheers

JAG

[noisymina]

When you do look for a juicer, go for one of the ones that allow you to fit big things in it (eg. a whole sized apple). This will make life easier and preparation time quicker.

Only makes it easier if it doesn't shoot out huge chunks that one has to sort out from the rest of the pulp and re-process or put in the food processor to chop up in addition to doing the juicing.

One also has to look out for the pulp that is shot out all over the kitchen if it is not fitted exactly right - and one has to actually start up to see if it's all Ok or not. Sometimes, i'm still cleaning up the bits a week after the event!

[glorybea]

hi all just a comment about ,I have a breville Juice fountain it takes a whole apple the shute is very wide and REALLY reduces the the carrot apple to almost a dry sawdust mixture .When I mix with other ingredients I used the juice from said pulp as the moisture .I hope I explained that so you understood .my husband AND i HAVE CARROT, APPLE +LEMON at night with our meals and the dogs get the same , would recommend juicer -Cheers Glorybea

[Erny]

When you do look for a juicer, go for one of the ones that allow you to fit big things in it (eg. a whole sized apple). This will make life easier and preparation time quicker.

Only makes it easier if it doesn't shoot out huge chunks that one has to sort out from the rest of the pulp and re-process or put in the food processor to chop up in addition to doing the juicing.

One also has to look out for the pulp that is shot out all over the kitchen if it is not fitted exactly right - and one has to actually start up to see if it's all Ok or not. Sometimes, i'm still cleaning up the bits a week after the event!

I don't know why you'd be having these probs .... I don't. I agree, there are a few thin bits that don't get pulped, but I don't fuss with them too much. I also agree ..... make sure the processer has completely stopped before you take the lid off - otherwise you'll THEN find food is splattered (by centrifugal force) over the room.