Buddy's BARF progress

[Annette]

Thought I'd share it with you anyway!.......

I guess it will take time for me to get the hang of it, and we may even find that he can't tolerate one kind of meat and have to spend time discovering which one and eliminating it, but.....

To be honest I am not at all sure that Buddy is doing very well on Barf. I will continue with the month trial, but he smells again (it hadn't completely gone before, but wasn't soooo bad!) and now his eyes are really mucky. We have just started a course of antibiotic drops

I guess that's enough to make him (the wuss) feel a bit out of sorts, but I am also disappointed with his poos which are NOT more pick-up-able than on Burns. They are sometimes, but not always.

Have to say that I was despairing last week. I was going all-out to ensure a good diet for him, and he snaffled:

2 cow pats
1 cheese sandwich
the remains of a big Mac
something grey, mushy and probably dead for some time
cat poo
rabbit poo
and heaps of other really gross stuff. Much more than usual.   Do you think he's trying to make up for some kind of deficiency?



Can I just ask one more sardine question here?

 
Please?
 

Is it ok to give raw, fresh sardines? If so, does he have them with the bones or without?

[Cob-Web]

Is it ok to give raw, fresh sardines? If so, does he have them with the bones or without?

Yes, with bones 

Stick with it if you can - he might need to detox for a bit longer, especially if he is scavenging yucky stuff in-between meals 

[Joules]

Sounds like he is still detoxing if that program Celebrity Detox was anything to go by!! 

As for deficiencies, judging by what he snaffled, looks like a poo deficiency!! 

[Penel]

I agree - stick with it.  I would think the not so great poos are down to the scavenging - which is probably not anything to do with a deficiency, more likely cos he is a cocker spaniel 
Agreed - sardines - raw - with bones - but prepare for him to regurgitate them so feed in the garden and leave him out there for a while just in case....

[happydog]

I agree - stick with it.  I would think the not so great poos are down to the scavenging - which is probably not anything to do with a deficiency, more likely cos he is a cocker spaniel 
Agreed - sardines - raw - with bones - but prepare for him to regurgitate them so feed in the garden and leave him out there for a while just in case....

Eeeeeewwwww it sounds as if this barf thing is hard work!!!!!   

[DennyK]

Annette

The Kymythy Schultze book says that it can take up to a month for a dog to detox - some don't at all, some do it in a week - but some take a month.  She describes it as being, at its worst, diarrhoea, runny eyes, bad wind, lethargy, skin problems - refers to it as deep healing.  So I'd stick with it for six weeks and then see how he is....

Denise

[Annette]

Crikey, Does that mean he's going to get all windy on me too! I think we have all the rest!

I forgot to add to the list of snafflings, the pile of human vomit which he had two days running because I forgot about it then too! I think he's really taking his BARF diet a bit too seriously!

[Petra]

Annette, stick with it, it took a while for Dill's pooh to become pick-up-able, but now they are great...
Also, he now only poohs once a day (first thing in the morning) which means I don't get the embarassment of him pooing on the pavement whilst on the school run...

I did a little experiment last night to see if Dill actually LIKES Barf.   In one big bowl a put a dessertspoon of nature diet, a small handful of kibble, a dessertspoon of left over lasagana from our dinner (normally his absolute most fave special treat) a dessertspoon of minced lamb raw dinner and a chicken wing.
I then sat and watched what he did.
He sniffed the whole bowl, then took the chicken wing.   He then had the raw lamb mince, then the lasagna, then the nature diet and finally the kibble.

Whilst that was in no way scientific, it proved to me that Dill prefers his raw food best...

Annette, re the smell, honestly, Dill does not smell.... His eyes are virtually clear bar some 'sleep' gunk in the mornings.   He smells of hair, sunshine, grass and muddy puddles, but does not have that 'dog' smell.   His breath does pong, but hey ho what can I say - he licks his own bum!!

Stick with it a bit longer, and minimize his snaffeling tendancies which are probably the cause for his soft pooh...

Edited to add - it may take a while to get the meat/bone ratio right for harder pooh.... perhaps he is not getting enough bone??

[Abby]

Definitely play around with different amounts of bone, Annette, I've found it makes loads of difference to Clive's poos. Atm I have him on a bone breakfast 2 days running and then a non-bone breakfast the 3rd day (or a very small amount). He doesn't get bones in the evening. This seems to suit him, as otherwise his poos are rock solid and the poor boy gets them stuck part way out  . Not good in the park, if you know what I mean.   

I've also cut down on the amount of veg he gets as I think I was over doing it to start with. You will relax about it soon, and it does take time to sort out (clive's beath is sitnky stinky atm  ).

Keep with it!

[Penel]

None of mine have bad breath - honestly - and none of them smell either.... you are welcome to smell them all on the 21st Annette if you come on the walk 

[Annette]

None of mine have bad breath - honestly - and none of them smell either.... you are welcome to smell them all on the 21st Annette if you come on the walk 

That's one of the reasons I am giving this a try.

Buddy's breath is pretty good (but tbh I don't let him get too close after tripe), it's just that earthy smell he had a few months ago. It never really went away, but it became overpowering again last week. Seems a bit more tolerable this week.

The only bone he gets is chicken wings x 2 meals per week, and whatever is monced into the Natures Menu about three times a week. I am still working on sourcing my £1 bag of bones all the rest of you seem to manage to get!

Maybe it's a Berks/Oxon thing for Joules and me?

[clairep4]

Hi Annette,

I wonder if more bone would help? Bella gets a meal with bone in it 5 days a week - Mon to Fri she either gets chicken on the bone or breast of lamb as her main meal (partly because of her anal gland problems - they do still need emptying sometimes but it's far, far better than it was, although of course at the last SE cocker meet people may remember her waiting till everyone was stood around chatting and then scooting along in the frost in front of everyone!  ).

Thinking back, Bella did actually seem to do more scavanging when she was first put on the diet but then it settled back down to normal cocker scavanging (i.e. she'll stuff in a chunk of bread, a KFC bone or discarded chips if she comes across them but doesn't tend to really actively seek them out). But like Penel said, the soft poos could be down to the scavanging if he's doing it alot (Bella has firm poos unless she has been scavanging).

He could also still be detoxing - I know after about 6 weeks with Bella she suddenly became really scurfy, I tried all kinds of different oil supplements but then suddenly it all improved about 3 weeks later and she then looked absolutely incredible, so I'm sure it was something to do with the detox (esp as now I only give her salmon or evening primrose oil every other day and her skin is fine).

Stick with it, it can take a while for everything to settle down, I know it's scary though as you panic that you're not doing the right thing for them...