BARF - anyone use this company?

[Sheepscheeks]

Found this site:
http://www.darlingsrealdogfood.com/
Wondered if anyone uses it or anything similar? I am just transferring Freddie onto Barking Heads dry kibble from Wainwrights because of sloppy poo issues but am seriously considering this option. It doesn't seem to include any offal and wonder if this is an issue?

[Helen]

That website is so confusing - I'm guessing this is all minced up?  They don't say anywhere about the format of the food etc

price per month for working dog (out of season) is £48.30    I think that's expensive -  you could  do a balanced BARF diet yourself for less than that 

[Sheepscheeks]

Have found another website which looks quite good: http://www.naturalinstinct.com/
This seems to be a reasonable compromise between creating a barf diet from scratch and feeding a kibble. Freddie weighs about 7.5kg at the moment at 4 months old so if I feed 2% bodyweight he should be on 150g per day. A 1kg pack would last 6.5 days so 10x1kg packs would last 65 days. At £32 per 10kg I work that out at something like 50p per day or is my maths completely out?

[ladylola]

I use the natural instinct.  The dogs love it.

Having five dogs it's not cheap for me as I use 2 packs a day 

I'm using the natural mixture at the moment [chicken and lamb mix]

You will have to portion it as a pack won't keep long in the fridge.

Seems good food though. I give mine chicken wings and lamb ribs too a couple of times a week.

[tigs71]

I also use Natural Instinct and Mason loves it.  Last time I ordered 30kg.  It took a while to portion it all up but when it is done I have food ready for a few months.  3 times a week he gets chicken wings or lamb ribs instead of the meat.

I have recently looked into Darlings food but it doesn't offer anything I am not already getting from Natural Instinct so at the moment I shall stick with that.

[DennyK]

Please do double check this with other raw feeders on this site (and maybe check out BritBARF on yahoo.co.uk) but I think that, for raw feeding of puppies, you feed 2-3% of their anticipated ADULT weight, not their puppy "as they are now" weight.  It's only when they are 8+ months old that you start using their "as they are now" weight.

I'm not certain about this though - I didn't start feeding raw till my dog was 8 or 9 months old, but I do recall reading that feeding puppies a raw diet requires more food to deal with their growth requirements.

D

[Karma]

Yes - hadn't spotted that.
But the recommended amount is 2-3% of ADULT weight... 

[jogillan]

Hi everyone,

I get Milo's food from www.ukbarfclub.co.uk.  They are quite reasonably priced I think and Milo seems happy!

Jo