And lastly we've noticed Max seems to have lost a bit of weight.
And my last question, with three dogs will BARF cost me more than I already spend on their food?
Hi Sam - Bella's very prone to the weight gain thing as well but with the raw diet she seems to have stabilised. I think it helps that you can really adjust it to the dog - they say to feed them between 2-3% of their bodyweight per day, and then obviously adjust depending on how active your dog is, whether they're neutered etc etc. Bella is on 2% but I work on her weekly ration (so 2% of her weight x 7) and then as long as at the end of the week it all adds up, it's fine. I did this cos she gets breast of lamb twice a week and I have to give her slightly bigger portions to make her crunch it all up properly, so she then gets smaller portions elsewhere to balance that out. I do weigh her meals out fairly carefully although last time I did some of it by eye as I'm getting used to what 150g of breast of lamb looks like!
In terms of cost, she's 9.4kg and it costs me around £14 per month - she gets through 1 large chicken, 2 whole breasts of lamb (£3 each), about 1lb of beef mince, some kidney/liver, 1 block of frozen tripe and a few eggs. I buy it all from the local butcher - could probably get it cheaper some places but we use him to buy meat for us as well and I like knowing where the food comes from.
It felt really difficult the first 2-3 months, I'd done lots of reading but did lots of worrying and adjusting before I eventually felt happy that she was getting everything she needed. I think the biggest bonus for me has been that this year, despite all this hot weather and her being in and out of rivers etc, Bella hasn't had a single ear or eye infection whereas last year she just had too many to even remember, as testified by all the half used bottles of drops and cleaners in the cupboard. That in itself has made it worth while for me, she's gone from a sickly dog to one brimming with health.
