Too thin?

[KarIng]

He does look too thin in the 2nd pic - Burns is useless for putting weight on a dog - its brilliant when you want them to lose weight.... you need to feed him on tripe, pasta, potatoes, raw breast of lamb which is fatty....
Here lemme show you two pics of our little waif Gracie - first one a few days after she came to live with us....



and this one taken at the beach this week.... 4 months later after a raw diet, of tripe and lamb breast.... ( I know she still looks very slim but that's the type of dog she is - but you can see how much weight she has put on - about 4 kgs in 4 months)

Can I buy raw lamb breast at the butchers, and will they know how I want it cut if I say it's for my dog?  will it be on the bone or cubed?  I'm going to slowly introduce some pasta, potatoes and tripe, and some raw meat and see what happens.  Maybe he has just  stopped gaining weight since he was put on Burns but as he's very leggy and may still be growing a bit, he looks thinner. 

BTW, Gracie is beautiful!

[Petra]

You can get the raw blocks of tripe in Pets at Home (that is where I get mine, they have freezers...)

Good luck, and give the gorgeous Teddy a big squidge from me.

[Penel]

Yes I think all Pets at Home have freezers - certainly all the ones I've been in do anyway.
I buy breast of lamb from Tesco - its rolled up and is v cheap - £2.99 per kg (its Tesco value).... I then slice it into pieces to feed to the dogs.  I've never bought it direct from the butcher so I dunno how much it would be - but its a v cheap cut ..

[Cob-Web]

Dill is on the raw tripe blocks that Penel describes as part of his Barf...

It does not smell - I take out his portion (I split the block whilst frozen and freeze in individual portions) at teatime ready to feed at breakfast.   He loves it!!
Try it - honestly, it won't smell,  don't cook it as it will smell!!

Where do you buy it?  I've searched and searched online, there don't seem to be any pet shops locally apart from Pets at Home and Jolleys and I don't think they have freezers so guess they won't stock frozen tripe.  Can I order it for delivery?

Our local Jolleys (which is pretty small) has a freezer with a small range of frozen food in it - until I started looking into BARF I had no idea they had them though; they are hidden in a corner  They sell the Prize Choice 400g blocks of tripe, or beef/tripe dinner which I buy too.

Molo puts weight on if he so much as looks at Tripe - I have to restrict him to a small portion twice a week, otherwise he looks tubby 

[flozac]

  I would rather see a lean dog than some of the lardy a**es I see on some of my walks 

Same here although I was worried Floss was a bit thin when she was younger, but she is looking just fine now. More so since going on to a raw food diet  with plenty of tripe and pasta included with a little bit of dried food occasionally.

This was her looking skinny about 4 months ago bearing in mind she was only 7 mths.


and this is her now shwe is almost a year old now

[lyn]

aww i lurve little floss

[KarIng]

Success!  I went to Pets at Home but they didn't have a freezer so no tripe, also they only had NatureDiet in Lite or Puppy.  But then I went to Jolleys where they had a freezer with tripe and also NatureDiet Lamb and Carrots and Rice, so  I've got 8 of those and gave him half a pack for his second lunch which he wolfed down - he had his Burns lunch just before I went shopping.  Should I give him one whole pack of Naturediet for one of his meals, one meal of Burns and one of tripe?  All with pasta and/or carrots etc added?  I bought two blocks of the minced tripe and chicken to try him with - I shied away from minced tripe on its own because it said on the pack for working dogs only, do not feed to pets!  Does this matter?

Now I'm going to go on tesco.com to add lamb breast to my order!  I will fatten this boy up!  But don't worry, I'm adding it in gradually.  He's very happy up to now!  Loved the Naturediet food.

Thanks everyone, I'll keep you posted.

Karen and Teddy x

[Penel]

HI Karen,
well done !!!    when it says for working dogs only thats a tax dodge - just means we don't pay VAT on tripe.... mine aren't working dogs  (they are lazy gits !) and they all eat tripe 
I personally would like to try and persuade you to feed only raw - but can understand you wanting to take it slowly.  Maybe finish up the Burns you already have, and then phase that out - Burns really does not put weight on dogs - its great for dogs needing to lose weight but not the opposite.
You don't need to add pasta or veg to the Naturediet - that is already a complete meal.  Same as Natures Menu pouches they are a very similar food, and also complete.
You can add pasta or rice to the raw tripe / chicken if you want to but it isn't really necessary.
Remember you are feeding the lamb breast raw  - not cooked...
Good luck !

[happydog]

Remember you are feeding the lamb breast raw  - not cooked...

I know similar questions have been raised on COL but can I just ask specifically with  lamb breast, is there no fear of splinters with these bones? Do your dogs automatically crunch them up? If I were, for example to offer Fern raw lamb breast with the bones, a seven year old, who has never been offered raw meat before and  is used to swallowing everything offered her whole  , is there no chance that she might try to swallow these whole too and cause her to choke? 

 I am not trying to put anyone off BARF at all. The theory behind it makes perfect sense to me, I just wonder -would a pup perhaps take to BARF more readily and more sensibly than an adult?

This sounds stupid now I have written it down but she is so 'enthusiastic' with her food - doesn't know what 'being picky' is. .....perhaps I should start her off with a large cow shin bone 

[Penel]

The lamb breast we've been referring to that you buy in Tescos doesn't have any bones in it.
But - the lamb breast with bones in is more likely what you would get from the butcher - you'd have to ask them to leave the bones in though... mine eat it with no probs - and I have introduced 3 adult dogs to raw feeding .... only 2 of  mine have been fed raw from pups.
You'd just have to make sure the pieces you gave her were large enough that she couldn't bolt them down - and had to lie down and chew them !

[kb]

Excuse the ignorance but what is exactly is tripe - I mean where does it come from and which animal?

[Abby]

Stomach lining 

[happydog]

Cow, sheep or pig stomachs

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tripe

[Penel]

yum yum eh kb 

[kb]

Do people still eat this?

What about you Penel - have you tried it out?