Starting BARF any tips??

[Helen]

eeeeejit - the parasite in pork is meant to be long eradicated but I am still cautious with Pork as I spent 4 days in a portugese hospital on a drip after getting acute gastro-entiritis from it!

All I do is freeze the pork which kills any parasite which could have been in there and then feed it thawed 

[Joules]

eeeeejit - the parasite in pork is meant to be long eradicated but I am still cautious with Pork as I spent 4 days in a portugese hospital on a drip after getting acute gastro-entiritis from it!

All I do is freeze the pork which kills any parasite which could have been in there and then feed it thawed 

Ditto - I always freeze pork before I feed it.  I do that with chicken too but that is mostly for convenience although I think it is a sensible precaution I get the pork ribs in Waitrose when they are reduced - usually about £1.20-£1.50 for a rack - and put them in the freezer.  I sometimes get other meat for Coco there too - so most of her food is v high quality.  I buy whole rabbits in the Farmers' Market when they have them for £3 each - I chop them up and get about 5 or 6 meals from one.  The rabbits are probably the best thing she has as they often still have some of the organs in them.   


I get my chicken carcasses from a good quality butcher near me - they sell things like stuffed chicken portions, chicken kiev etc so have the carcasses and often the wings left over. Their stuff is all free range and fab quality.   They actually have to pay the bone man to take them away so they are happy to give me as many as I want and just ask for a donation into their charity box    So, my tip is find a high quality butcher and ask them if they have chicken carcasses   

[AnnieM]

Thanks for that, great tip re freezing meat first, will do that.    How many of the pork ribs would you generally feed as one meal?

I have 104 packs of the AMP being delivered tomorrow!!    Didn't seem that many when I ordered it.    Just hope my new freezer is big enough, with all the chicken wings I have bought in tesco too. 

[Helen]

depends on the size of the pork ribs, 2 medium ones seem to be enough for Jarv 

good luck with your AMP delivery and packing your freezer 

[Karma]

It normally works out as 2 for Honey, too... 

[Abby]

I tend to weigh out bones and mince, especially for Clive as he's a fatty fat boy if I take my eye off the ball for one moment  and if I judge by sight I easily over feed.

I too recommend trying to find a good butchers - don't be put off if they say silly things. My butchers first thing was 'doesn't that make them wild  ' but now they're used to it they are forever putting stuff aside for the boys  . There are also companies that you can buy meat from and get bulk dlivered - great if you have a big freezer. Desperately trying to remember their names....someone with a better memory help?

Oooh...Landywoods is one I'm sure, and there's definitley at least one other. I can't remember if they do actual bones or not.

My boys get different stuff, Clive doesn't get lamb much cos he's already a porker    so his mainstay is chicken for bones, beef and fish for other meals, with offal. Dylan refuses to eat raw chicken, fish or offal so he gets more of a half raw half cooked diet to ensure he gets the variety of meat types. He also gets protein in other forms like beans. They only get pork occasionally because I can't get the ribs from my butchers, and I don't use supermarket meat these days (personal choice).

You may have to fiddle around for a while to find out what each individual dog wants / needs.

[AnnieM]

Thanks for all your help,    you guys hold a wealth of knowledge and I must say it is comforting to hear that people do feed their dogs other than chicken bones without ill effect.  I am still nervous as I have 3 very greedy dogs, for instance my SIL gave them all one of the pedigree jumbones  the other day, jade chomped twice and swallowed  I couldn't believe it had gone that quick, Amber was only about 10 seconds behind her.  I am not sure if it is the competition element that makes them eat so quickly.

My natures menu delivery has arrived and it was actually 116 blocks,  so my freezer is full to bursting, the dogs were going mental at the delivery man, trying to pull the boxes out of his arms and they currently have 2 blocks of rabbit defrosting at the moment, which is driving them wild because they know it is there.    Am I right in thinking that they should be having approx. 200g - 250g a day each or is that too much?  I am a bit concerned that they will be hungry after being fed on kibble for years, as it has so much bulk to it, that 1/2 of a block doesn't seem very much for a days food after that.    Does it take them a while to adjust, or do they seem content with the smaller volumes of raw food?

[Abby]

It's generally 2-3% of bodyweight, so it might be a bit different for each dog. And that includes everything they get in one day, so include the weight of any treats as well.

The amounts of raw do seem small to start with and it can disappear extremely quickly  but they will feel full. Quantity eating is habit and opportunity, Clive will eat a houseful of food if allowed  so is very untrustworthy when it comes to the 'but mum I'm still starving looks' as he nudges his empty bowl around the kitchen...that's why I weigh and go by feel of his body (though it's been a while since he needed extra food to put on weight  )

For various reasons these days I hand feed a lot of their food. So bones are doled out one at a time (obviously because I have two they are not left together unattended with food but I can potter about in the vicinity while they eat - Dyl is much slower than Clive) and if I want them to make more of their dinner I even sometimes hand feed mince, interspersed with little bits of cabbage which they love crunching up and find easy to digest. If I just give Clive a bowl of mince, its gone in about 2 seconds flat and I like to give him the opportunity to mentally register he's had a good amount of food by making it last longer. Oh the lengths we go to....

[AnnieM]

Thanks Abby, I am just waiting for it to defrost, but the pittiful whines and nudges I am getting are driving me mad, so they may end up with half frozen rabbit in a minute.       I dread to think what it will be like when they have wolfed the bowl down in 20 seconds flat and they are still sat waiting for their dinner!!     Don't think I will be hand feeding them that though it looks like mush.     Off to try and source some bones for them now.  Wish me luck. 

[clairep4]

If you can get hold of breast of lamb (about £3 a pop in my butcher in London) that's a good boney meal. It's very fatty so I usually trim it a fair bit. Zorro gets 2 ribs and Bella gets 1 as she's a little midget gem    So from one breast of lamb I usually get 4 meals (i.e. two meals for both of 'em).

I also give raw fish (usually mackeral) once or twice a week although you have to not be squeamish as the sound of a mackeral's head being chomped through, brains, eyes and all, ain't all that pretty at 7am    They do love it though and it's great for their skin and coat. I usually give them half a mackeral each and alternate who gets the tail and who gets the squidgy brains.

In terms of amounts, really you'll get to know as you go along. Bella is 10kg ideally (varies by a couple of hundred grammes each side of that) and an average day's food for her is one small chicken wing for breakfast, a fruit 'n' yoghurt frozen kong, a small handful of treats, and a miniscule 40g lean beef mince for dinner.

Zorro's 11.5kg but very high energy and gets 2 larger chicken wings, the kong, the handful of treats and more like 100g of full fat mince for dinner.

If we go on holiday so Zorro is doing more running around then we have to up his food even more as he just loses weight, if only I had his metabolism!

[AnnieM]

Thanks Claire, I think I will need to cut them down even more then, I gave them half of one of the AMP blocks (which looked nothing!) for breakfast and a chicken wing for tea, they always have a bonio for bed too.  Probably why Amber is a bit of a porker really, she is so sedate when we are out, whereas Jade has a little more food than Amber but she is perfect, as she is very enegetic.  Think they will be getting one pack between the 3 of them and a chicken wing or rib when I manage to get some and see how we go with that. 

It really is a vast contrast to the volume of dry food they eat isn't it. 

[bluegirl]

Weigh them all, and initially find out what 3% of each ones weight is and give them that as food per day. This is just to get them used to smaller amounts, once adjusted weigh them again say in one month and maybe drop down to 2% food per day per dog, split into two meals each.
Mine are raw fed and I don't really have weight variations of more than +/-500g per dog usually. I like to weigh the dogs every 3 mths just so I know where I'm at and if porkier its so much easier to shift a bit of weight as opposed to alot.

[MollieMoo]

Well thank you AnnieM for starting this thread, I was going to start one myself as I just started (last Thursday) albeit on the cautious side with the AMP blocks and chicken wings.  My main reason for this is that Mollie is having problems with her anal glands, and we have got to the point where she is having them emptied every month, but today I have had to take her again and she only had them emptied 7 days ago   She is also having skin problems around her back leg, tummy and base of her tail, and I think this is definately linked to the anal gland problem .  Last Thursday I went to PAH and bought a stock of AMP blocks and decided to give Mollie and Daisy both Burns kibble in the morning, then AMP mince or chicken wings for the afternoon meal, but now I am going to have a go at giving them both BARF for all their meals.   I did admit (with caution) to the vet that I have started on a raw diet for Mollie and she wasn't adverse to it, but just mentioned about making sure she got all the varitey needed for a complete diet.
I also got my hands on the BARF Diet book, so just started to read that now
It all just seems really daunting, but I am writing down notes from all the great guidance on here, and I'm sure it will become second nature, but at the moment I'm in training

My one question i would like to ask is that Daisy is a real pig, she gutseys everything, so when I have given her a chicken wing she gives it a little chew and then gulps it down, I did bash it with a rolling pin first and she didn't regurgitate it, so should I continue to give them to her?  Mollie is very good and takes her time and savours every bit

[AnnieM]

It all just seems really daunting, but I am writing down notes from all the great guidance on here, and I'm sure it will become second nature, but at the moment I'm in training

I agree, very scary, but I too am taking baby steps at the moment, using the AMP blocks and chicken wings, I am getting some ribs too when I can find a butcher or get to a supermarket that stocks them. (going to try morrisons tomorrow) I must admit though that I am scared about giving them ribs as they eat the chicken wings SOOOOOOO fast it is frightening, although this morning I gave them to them straight from the fridge and it did take them a bit longer, so maybe that is the key. (I had been leaving them out of the fridge for 1/2 hour first)  Maybe worth a try with Daisy. 

I bought the Tom Lonsdale book Feed Your Dog Raw Meaty Bones, not sure if it is any good or not, but it is easy reading. 

[Karma]

Honey takes longer to eat a rib than she does a chicken wing....