why oh why has this happened!?

[lucyjane84]

Over the last couple of nights, after weeks of sleeping 10-7 right through  Charlie has started at seemingly random times in the night - waking up and barking the house down. We have neighbours who I assume enjoy their sleep, as do I, and not going down to stop the barking is not an option.

Last night it was 4.30am, when we went down he had done a wee (which is not unusual) but also a poo     which he never does anymore. After cleaning up and trying to settle him I left him, 15 mins later started barking again  The night before he woke up and barked 2.30, 5.30 and again at 7 but settling and being left alone in between. Last night my OH ended up just sleeping down stairs with him because he couldnt be doing with going back to bed and then getting woken up by barking and then having to go down again 

Over the last couple of days we have been trying him out on BARF and i'm not sure if this is upsetting his tummy as when we go down his tummy is bubbling away - and it has seemed to coincide with this change in diet. He is also teething and it is my feeling that his stomach is waking him up and making him unsettled alongside his sore teeth   

Has anybody experienced this before, or think they know what it else it could be? I think i'm going to go back to biscuits and see if this sits better with him, and maybe come down at some point when he's not barking to let him out for a wee and poo if he wants it 

Anyway, advice or suggestions would be much appreciated guys!

[Abby]

Don't give up with the Barf yet - it's very early days. I take it Charlie is still very young? Clive did this too, choosing all of a sudden to wake us up every day at OMG o'clock in the morning and refusing to settle after that - the sleep disruption was a killer.

When does he have his last meal? Does he have a couple of biscuits at bed time? Sometimes an emtpy stomach can upset dogs during the night - Clive gets the dry heaves sometimes because of this. Is there anything new int eh environment around you? Noises or lights? Does he seem alright otherwise or could he have a tummy upset? Sore teeth can be very unsettling. Did you change him over straighaway to BARF or is he on a mix still?

Lots of questions I'm afraid, but it helps us help!

[lucyjane84]

He has his last meal about 5ish, I havent been in the habit of giving him biscuits before bed time and cant think of anything new in his environment. I pretty much changed him straight over to BARF!

[*Lucy*]

How old is Charlie?

[lucyjane84]

How old is Charlie?

21 weeks!

[happydog]

I would be pretty sure that it is the BARF coupled with teething. I switched Fern straight over to BARF. It took a few weeks/months for her digestive system to settle down but she was fine after that. You will get the occasional runny or hard poo as his system adjusts and you may have to play around with the veg/bone/muscle meat ratio to get it on an even keel as every dog is slightly different in their requirements. If you are feeding bones feed those in the morning rather than at his last meal, so he can digest those more fully before night time. Feed mince/veggies at night. Dont give up on BARF yet. As Abby says it is still early days.

Forgot to say that it is a good idea not to mix cooked/cereals with a BARF meal as they are digested at different rates and woul;d also account for a rumbly tummy. Are you feeding biscuits at the same time? If you are only feeding biscuits at night a few hours after his meal this should be fine. 

[happydog]

The other thing I have just thought of is that if he is teething he might  not be as good at crunching bones at the moment. What bones are you feeding? It might be a good idea to give him just raw chicken wings for the next few weeks and then gradually introduce him to lamb ribs/whatever other bones you want to feed him. The chicken wings seem easier for Fern to digest to begin with, the bones are smaller and crunching them in to manageable pieces is easier. I introduced her gradually to lamb ribs after a month or so and don't give it to her that often, but that's Fern. As I said every dog is different. The first lot gave her a rumbly tummy too. They don't now  .

Just thought of something else  I always freeze Ferns bones/meat. Although dogs digestive system is different from ours and because of their shorter bowel they can tolerate all sorts of stuff that we couldn't cope with (Salmonella being one). It does give me peace of mind as a lot of bugs are killed off this way. (Might be useful info for later  )

[lucyjane84]

Forgot to say that it is a good idea not to mix cooked/cereals with a BARF meal as they are digested at different rates and woul;d also account for a rumbly tummy. Are you feeding biscuits at the same time? If you are only feeding biscuits at night a few hours after his meal this should be fine. 

I dont feed biscuits and BARF together.

I am thinking I might go back onto biscuits and then perhaps nature diet tinned stuff, I feel too overwhelmed with BARF at the moment and am just not confident enough - and what with him being unsettled at night. 

[happydog]

Forgot to say that it is a good idea not to mix cooked/cereals with a BARF meal as they are digested at different rates and woul;d also account for a rumbly tummy. Are you feeding biscuits at the same time? If you are only feeding biscuits at night a few hours after his meal this should be fine. 

I dont feed biscuits and BARF together.

Sorry. Didn't mean to suggest that you were. Just mindful of others who read this and might be  .

BARF is scary to begin with. I prevaricated for months until I took the plunge. The first week is the worst (or was for me), but it gets easier the longer you do it.  I agree if you're not absolutely happy with it then wait a while and perhaps do a bit more research. Having a couple of recommended books on BARF finally gave me the confidence I needed  .