Ok - taken the plunge!

[Karma]

Am collecting 2kg of meaty bones from the butcher tomorrow... Freezer has one ice cube tray with blitzed vegetables.... We live fairly close to a fresh fish stall, so will be sourcing an occasional meal of fish from them.  Just need to figure out what offal to use, and what supplements, if any....   

Honey will still be having a small kibble breakfast, as she has kibble in her Kongs and Treat Ball when we go out, but evening meal will be BARF (with treat ball having been picked up so she can't mix the two!).
Just hoping I'm going to be getting the quantities and ratios right.... I know fish is really only once a week, and offal similar (is that right??).  If I am doing it in one evening meal, how many of these should be bones (most, I know, but is that 4 times a week or 7??), and what sort of non-boney meat is best to use - Honey has had some Turkey mince, which she loved...  It's great to see her actually excited about meals, as she never is for her kibble!!!! 

Have read Dr Billinghurst's Give Your Dog A Bone, but I must admit some of it went in one eye and out the other.... 

Sorry to create yet another BARF thread - I have read all of the recent ones here, as well as the BARF diary, so I think I've got a bit of an idea, but I'm sure you all remember the jitters that starting out gives, and will forgive me going over this ground yet again!!! 

[Joules]

Don't worry, sure you will be fine.  I remember starting out and there are plenty of us on here who do so don't feel shy about asking questions. 

Good luck - once you start you will never look back. 

[joanne_v]

I fed my lot a lamb rib for the first time yesterday!(Pinched from alfie and tillys stock  ) Felt so weird giving them raw meat and bones but it went down VERY well with Krum and Arwen...as expected Lily didnt eat it and guarded it as if her life depended on it! I'm just about to start the proper BARF researching as I want to start doing most evening meals BARF (not for Lily though!)

Shall watch this thread for advice! 

[Nicola]

I fed my lot a lamb rib for the first time yesterday!(Pinched from alfie and tillys stock  )

*gasp* 

Mine are on part kibble and part barf and they get bones as the vast majority of the barf part of their diet, probably 5 nights out of 7 are bones and the other two are usually tripe and sardines&egg. I don't bother with offal (which they pretty much refuse to eat anyway) or non-bone meat as the main reason I feed raw stuff is for their teeth. They mostly get lamb ribs, breast of lamb, pork ribs and chicken wings. I got a huge bagful of mixed lamb bones in Morrisons before I left Scotland the other day for a couple of quid.

As they still have the kibble part of their diet I don't supplement other than Tilly's coat capsules (which I forgot to give to Jo for her  ) and the occasional scoop of Keeper's Mix when I remember but that's more to use up the massive tub of it I bought rather than because I think they really need it.

[Karma]

I'd prefer not to supplement, but I know she really doesn't eat much of her kibble (part of the reason for going part BARF) - she's happy to work for it, and we do get through a fair amount just during walks, but I just don't know if she'll be getting enough from that. 
She's actually had raw dinners the past 4 days, and it's great to see her excited at her food...  she keeps asking for more, so I will have to keep a good eye on her waist - she's never been a big eater, so I don't want to give her too much just because she is enjoying it.  She's currently about 11kg (I think) but is obviously still growing.  We were getting through less than half the recommended amount of JWB kibble, as she just wouldn't finish her meals, so I don't know whether we need to stay on a fairly small amount of food, or not.  She's certainly not overweight, but I don't want her getting tubby!!! 

[Helen]

i would watch the raw fish - sushi doesn't have very good results in this house 

[Karma]

She will get one as an initial trial and see what the "outcome" is... to be fair, aside from her initial move to us and the time she ate chocolate, she's never had any upset tummies - the stuff she snaffles when out on walks never seems to upset her at all....

<touches wood>
 

[LesleyW]

well done!!! 2 more new BARF-ers!! 

Play it by ear, you will soon work out the amount she needs to keep her well and not too round.  I slipped up a little with Bracken when we started out and have cut down the amounts now and she is looking very well I think - she was definitely too thin when she came here, then got too round - now shes ok! 

As time goes on, you will sort out what she likes to eat, and what you can feed her for variety - like Helen, I never had much luck with raw fish - its the one think Brackens not really keen on, although she will eat if its poached....you can add in things as you go along, and remove things that dont suit.  I find its an ideal way to feed for us both!   

We dont supplement here either, apart from a capsule of Evening Primrose Oil.

Lots of variety and you cant go wrong.

[Karma]

OK, I know you shouldn't mix kibble and raw food in the same meal.... but does this go for the veggies too?  Honey is loving her veg, and I can't help but think putting a tasty veggie topper on her kibble would be the compromise we need to actually get her eating a reasonable amount of breakfast...

I'm sure eventually we'll convert to fully BARF, but she eats so much kibble as training treats at the minute... What do you fully-BARF people do for treats, kongs etc...

Again, Honey loves her dried chicken fillets and pigs ears etc... do these also need to be kept as far away from BARF time as possible??

She does seem to have the constitution of an ox, but would hate to cause upset through trying to do the right thing!!
 

[merrysmum]

Am watching this thread with interest as I'm new to BARF too 

Been feeding it for probably about a month now as, like you Karma, I just couldn't get Merry to eat his kibble and he was noticeably losing weight (was worried as he was only 5 months and still growing  ). Certainly haven't looked back as, again like Honey, sniffing his first BARF meal was the first time Merry was actually excited about a meal!

So far I have found the balance quite hard to get right. I feed him his boney meal (usually chicken wings or legs but any other bones when I can get them) in the morning (by far his favourite meal  ) and then his meat and veg meal in the evening. Is it right to keep the boney meal separate? I've got a bit confused about different things taking different times to digest....
I'm finding it hard to keep consistent what comes out the other end  After his boney meal it's fine, but after the meat and veg it's usually pretty squidgy! (sorry for the details!  ) Should I include bones with his evening meal too?

I've been giving him different types of mince and once a week either hearts or liver (have to flash fry the liver or he won't touch it and he just won't go near kidneys at all!).
I've tried him with all sorts of fish and, like others have said, it doesn't go down well in this household either and usually makes a nasty reappearance some time in the middle of the night! 
I'm even finding now that he won't eat tinned fish anymore (used to like it) and am beginning to wonder if he might be allergic to it?? 

I'd be interested to hear what everybody says about the treats that Karma mentioned, such as pigs ears etc, as I've been wondering if these might be the cause of Merry's squidgy tummy 

Anyhoo, sorry to kind of hijack your thread Karma! It's just quite scary isn't it?! I was fine at first when he was wolfing everything down but now I keep worrying that I'm not balancing things properly.

[Hurtwood Dogs]

Well done Karma!

I want to start giving my two some bones. They are both on Burns for their main food and I will chuck in raw veg and occasionally off cuts from raw fish or meat but I tend to rely on carrots for their teeth. Where do you get 'bones' from and with the likes of lamb ribs etc do they eat the whole thing?

So scary!!
Hannah xxx

[merrysmum]

Hannah, on the subject of bones, PAH do frozen chicken wings and I think some of the frozen mince packs they do also have a small amount of bone mixed in.
I also buy whatever's on offer in Tescos when I go - last time it was 4 huge whole chicken legs for £1 a pack! (sorry, I'm not an advert for Tescos, honest!  )
Also, my local butchers is very good and has lamb bones and even whole rabbits on occasion! (haven't braved Merry on one of these yet... )
Hope that helps x

[Nicola]

Where do you get 'bones' from and with the likes of lamb ribs etc do they eat the whole thing?

If you haven't got a friendly local butcher then Morrisons is probably the best supermarket for getting bones. They do chunks of lamb breast for 50-60p and packs of pork ribs for about £1.20; lamb ribs are a bit more expensive, about £2.50. If you go in at the right time though they sell off lamb bones wrapped in clingfilm for about 15-30p each which is fantastic. I usually get their chicken wings from Asda or Sainsbury's, they're about £1.40 per pack. I don't buy chicken legs, weight bearing bones are more friable and likely to splinter. Yep they do eat the whole lot as well!

[Karma]

Definately can't do without kibble at the minute.... just spent the last hour hand feeding it to get Honey to stand still while I dematted some of her more feathery bits... we're a long way off being able to do that without treats!!! 
Will be picking the chicken and lamb bones up this afternoon, from a local butchers.... have to see what the quality is like from there (eg how much meat, what bones etc)....

 

[clairep4]

Well done for taking the plunge!

Hannah - the lamb ribs I think most of us feed are breast of lamb (my butcher does a whole one for £3 and I get about 4 meals out of that - 2 meals per dog). It's quite soft bone (you can cut it with a sharp knife without too much problem) so it's easy for them to crunch their way through. I feed it twice a week as a meal, Bella gets just one measly rib as she hardly needs any food before she starts getting tubby   , and Zorro gets a big fat slab of 2-3. It is VERY fatty though so I generally cut a few hunks of the fat off and bin it.

Karma:
1. Non-boney meat, I tend to use beef or turkey - Zorro gets full-fat beef and Bella gets low-fat turkey so I base it on their tendency to put on weight (or not in Zorro's case).

2. Treats - you don't have to be too fanatical (i.e. giving them a cooked treat doesn't matter!). Mine tend to get natural type treats, those dried fish cubes, Kelties, sometimes dried liver if I can be bothered with it, but also chopped frankfurter sausage (I try to get the ones with less nasties in). And anything in their kongs - banana and yoghurt, tuna and yoghurt, this morning they had Waitrose chicken liver pate   - how's that for spoiled!?

3. Veg - I'm sure you could add these to the kibble, I think the thing with the meat is it's in big old chunks whereas the veg is just a small bit pulped up so I don't think it would cause any problems. My two happily eat their veg mix off a teaspoon if offered.

4. Supplements - if you're feeding kibble for breakfast you probably don't need to worry too much. Mine get either cod liver or evening primrose oil most days, and Keeper's Mix added to their veg, and that's it.

Hope it goes well, feel free to keep asking questions, we've all been there!