CockersOnline Forum
Cocker Specific Discussion => Feeding => Topic started by: clairep4 on October 12, 2006, 04:16:23 PM
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Has anyone raised a pup on BARF? I know you have to be quite careful about quantities esp of bone due to their calcium intake etc but if anyone has any experience of this I'd be really grateful.
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Alfie was weaned on BARF but his breeder puts them onto Burns before they go to their new homes to make it easier for the new owners. I think he starts them on lamb mince and chicken.
... that's not terribly helpful really is it?! ph34r But he's still here so they must have done something right! :005:
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I'm pretty sure Bluegirl (karen) has her dog Penny on Barf and weaned her recent litter (squeaky bunch :luv:) onto raw food as well. Can't find the thread at hte moment but might be worth PMing her.
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i was going to ask something very similar to this, we pick our puppy up on saturday and i plan to get him on to BARF as soon as possible, just not sure of what he can have (at 7 weeks) and the amounts. :D
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My two were weaned on BARF.
The bones didn't come until they were a little bigger (about 4 months) so the bone content of their diet until then was ground up in their meat feeds.
That was on the advice of the breeder. From four months they started on chicken wings and never looked back!!
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Thanks for the replies. Silkstocking did you basically feed them on the same as an adult dog in terms of content then? I think I'd better do some quick reading on it all before little Zorro arrives and starts cutting "Z" into the doors with his needle teeth :005:
He's on Burns at the moment so I was thinking of just introducing one meal a day which would be minced up beef, chicken or whatever but without the bone, but at least so his tummy gets used to dealing with raw meat early on, and then maybe do as you did and from 4 months introduce chicken wings. It will be interesting raising a pup on BARF, Bella was put on at 9 months and it made such a difference to her.
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Thanks for the replies. Silkstocking did you basically feed them on the same as an adult dog in terms of content then? I think I'd better do some quick reading on it all before little Zorro arrives and starts cutting "Z" into the doors with his needle teeth :005:
He's on Burns at the moment so I was thinking of just introducing one meal a day which would be minced up beef, chicken or whatever but without the bone, but at least so his tummy gets used to dealing with raw meat early on, and then maybe do as you did and from 4 months introduce chicken wings. It will be interesting raising a pup on BARF, Bella was put on at 9 months and it made such a difference to her.
Yes, they had pretty much what they have now,( chicken, rabbit, tripe, beef etc) just with the bones ground in! When they were on four meals they had scrambled eggs for breakfast with cottage cheese or natural yoghurt and then they had 3 meat meals with puried veggies included as and when, oh........... and one meal had a small handful of wholemeal biscuits in.
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Thanks Lisa - he's been having chicken wings and mince already (plus Burns) so I think he'll be fine - what you gave yours sounds very sensible. :D
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Does anyone know how much in weight a 7-8 week old puppy should be having of mince, our pup comes home tomorrow and i've spoken to the lady in our pet shop (very into BARF) and she recommended we go for it right from the start, she said her toy breed puppies were mananging wings at 9-10 weeks so she doesn't think it will to long before our little one will be able to cope with wings. :D
Also is it ok to give him raw eggs and tripe?
He is on CSJ at the moment but i plan include a couple of raw feeds this week and increase it gradually. :blink:
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Does anyone know how much in weight a 7-8 week old puppy should be having of mince, our pup comes home tomorrow and i've spoken to the lady in our pet shop (very into BARF) and she recommended we go for it right from the start, she said her toy breed puppies were mananging wings at 9-10 weeks so she doesn't think it will to long before our little one will be able to cope with wings. :D
Also is it ok to give him raw eggs and tripe?
He is on CSJ at the moment but i plan include a couple of raw feeds this week and increase it gradually. :blink:
Tripe is fine. As for how much in weight, erm I never weighed anything ph34r but each meal was about a handful of mince.
I can't imagine a 9-10 week old pup tackling a chicken wing, it must be a sight to behold!!
Not sure about raw eggs at that age. I cant see it being a problem though. Mine had scrambled eggs as pups and LOVED them!
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she said her toy breed puppies were mananging wings at 9-10 weeks so she doesn't think it will to long before our little one will be able to cope with wings. :D
OK, so my boys are officially rubbish then. ::) A 16 month Golden Retriever and a 6 month old cocker couldn't cope with whole chicken wings on their first attempt. ph34r BARF starts next week here so lets hope they get the hang of it soon. :005:
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Max first started on chicken wings at 15 weeks and could crunch and swallow in 2 seconds flat but i guess it depends on the dog. ::)
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My Scout is on barf now. When i got her she was on dried food and she got the runs so I gradually weaned her off it on to raw food. she seems to be doing well on it. Like penel said she has had her bones ground up, until now. I am thinking of giving her a chicken wing this week to se how she gets on. I am sure she will be fine as she trys to pinch of Zac and Floss anyway. she will be 16 weeks on wednesday so should be OK.
re eggs she has raw egg mixed in occasionally and so far no problems
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Max first started on chicken wings at 15 weeks and could crunch and swallow in 2 seconds flat but i guess it depends on the dog. ::)
It really does!! When I first gave Milo one he licked it to death and didn't attempt to crunch at all! Where as Nance did a Max and finished it in two seconds flat!! :005:
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Karen mentions giving Penny's pups chicken wings to 'suck on' at 4 weeks - presumably no munching taking place though!
http://www.cockersonline.co.uk/discuss/index.php?action=search2 (http://www.cockersonline.co.uk/discuss/index.php?action=search2)
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My pups could strip a chicken wing at 4 weeks old :005: and by 6 weeks they ate the lot - of course under supervision.
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Hi,
I weaned my pups with a raw meat diet, but I don't follow BARF. It is similar.
I gave my pups chicken wings and lamb ribs to suck on from the age of 3 weeks, it was just to give them a taste (suck!) of what was to come. I officially weaned them at 4 weeks old.
After about 1/2 a week I offered them a teaspoon of raw meat each to see what they did, I was also giving a communal bowl of milk in the morning and a bowl of milky cereal at dinner time, both of which contain natural calcium. I then introduced a teaspoon of meat at about 4pm and another teaspoon at about 8pm. I didn't offer bones as I wanted them to get used to the new tastes first, but their mother Penny was excellent and she began to regurgitate food for them with bones in from 4 weeks so I just watched them eat it. Obviously if the chunks were too big I'd cut them with scissors (Yuck) and if the bones were too big I took them out. At about 6-7 weeks I was offering full chcken wings and chicken thigh bones and they were fine. I did collect egg shells and crushed them to a fine powder and sprinkled them onto their food daily to make sure they had enough calcium. By the time they were 8 weeks the amount of meat I gave was up to a heaped dessertspoonful twice a day and I continued with the milk starter and milky cereal aswell. They could eat a chicken wing also by then, but Penny was still reguritating too.
I always watched them with any food I gave them and used to check their poops to to see colour and consistency. They were generally dark brown and formed which I was happy with, if they were looser I'd give wings if constipated hold back on bones that night.
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Thanks Karen, that's really helpful. Zorro has already been having chicken wings so should be fine. I was thinking of feeding him a mix so he has 2 meals which are Burns and 2 meals which are raw, eg a small chicken wing for one meal and a spoonful of mince with some veg for the other one. I guess really I'm just not quite confident enough to get the calcium levels correct with him at this young age, so I might do a mix and then when he's a little bit more grown swap him over fully.
I can see I'm going to have to buy one of those mini freezers for the dogs!