BARF Help

[Pudding]

I need a little help, I would like to start with one or two meals a week.
I have got some chicken necks and hearts and chicken wings, i know i can not mix kibble with raw
but can i mix differant kinds of raw food, and how much shall give him for each meal.
he has about 70g Kibble with some veg
but i have not got a clue how much raw to give him,
for his breakfast i will give him his kibble then at 10.00am he will have a chicken wing and then i would like to give him
barf but how much......

Thank you

[Scarlett]

thanks for asking... I need to know exactly the same! 

[Scarlett]

About mixing raw cannot tell you...

The daily quantity I found is:
 2% of his weight ...(adult average activity), 4% (adult high activity), 6% (puppy)
http://www.barfworld.com/html/barf_diet/product_care.shtml

[elaine.e]

Some raw food gives guidelines, usually that you feed 2 to 3% of your dog's bodyweight (or desired bodyweight) per day, but slightly more for puppies.

William and Louis have been fed kibble in the morning and raw in the evening for some time but I've now just changed to raw for both meals. They have Natural Instinct, which is a mix of raw meat, ground raw bone, raw fruit and veg. I call it BARF for lazy or busy owners as you don't have to mix anything up or add anything to it.

William is 6 years old and very active. He weighs about 13.5kg, so 2% of his bodyweight is 270gms, or 135gms per meal based on 2 meals per day. I started him on that but he lost weight so I increased it to 150gms per meal and his weight is now steady at around 13.5kg, which is perfect for him. He's very fit and slim and to my eyes looks exactly the right shape with a visible waist. He also has a tripe stick most days and a few training treats or a couple of small biscuits at bedtime.

Louis is 15 months old and still maturing. I think it will take him a few more months to reach his mature body weight and shape. At the moment he weighs 13kg but gets more food than William, 2 meals of 175gms each, plus more treats than William has. He's very active, fit and slim.

They have 1 chicken wing each a couple of times a week as part of their evening meal, so I reduce the amount of raw food for those meals.

So I would recommend that you try feeding either 2 or 2.5% of bodyweight initially (half of that if you're only raw feeding one meal). Monitor your dog's weight for the first few weeks and adjust accordingly.

[Scarlett]

Thanks elaine...very helpfull...

What does each raw meal has in?
You only mentioned chicken wings...do you give several raw meat in each meal?
Can you please specify?  
thanks
Julie

[elaine.e]

Thanks elaine...very helpfull...

What does each raw meal has in?
You only mentioned chicken wings...do you give several raw meat in each meal?
Can you please specify?  
thanks
Julie

I've just looked at the packaging and Natural Instinct is 80% raw meat and bone, but there isn't a breakdown of how much of that is muscle meat, how much offal and how much bone. The remaining 20% is made up of carrot, apple, butternut squash, brewer's yeast, cod liver oil, flaxseed oil and kelp. Sorry, I realise that's not much help Julie and that you can't get Natural Instinct in Greece, but I know there are other COLers who make up their own mix so hopefully one of them will be able to help.

When I feed chicken wings I feed one at a time and use it to replace half a meal. Lots of people feed two as a whole meal but if I do that poor William gets very constipated 

I also give them pieces of banana, apple and pear for treats sometimes.

[mlynnf50]

Hello Pudding,  I am sure Karma will be along and be able to advice you.  But in the meantime this is what I feed Selby.  AM:  Fresh Sardines or 2 chicken wings or Ribs anything with bone.  PM:  he has a mixture of Muscle meat with heart, lungs, and kidney and Liver,  I mix them together but I do not mince them, I am not sure of the ratio I just do what I think, he loves it.  he has 300/400 grams split into 2 meals, i will give him some carrot sticks to chew on and he also has marrow bones as recreational bones. He weighs 10.5 kilos and is 10 months old.

Hope it helps but the ones that have been doing it along time i am sure will be along,  I f you do a search you may find my old questions about Raw feeding.  Good luck

[Scarlett]

thanks Elaine again...
I am so stupid....you use Natural instict...how should you know all ingredients..
I love it....As it helps lazy people like me...
Wish we have it in Greece....
So, 1 chicken wing is appx. half meal? This helps to understand  

[Karma]

With raw food, you look for a balance over the space of many meals - there's no reason you can't give a variety of meats in one meal (though it could upset a delicate digestive system), but there's no need to and would be a lot of work....

As Elaine says, you look at 2-3% of adult body weight for a day - Honey is on the lower end of this scale, as she can look porky very quickly. 
We feed 2 chicken wings as a meal, but I know of dogs of a similar size who have 3 - equally I know of dogs of a similar size who can only have 1 without causing weight problems... the 2-3% is just a guideline, as with the recommended feeding amounts on kibbles.  You adjust it to suit your dog...

It's probably too late, but I wouldn't feed a chicken wing just a few hours after kibble - kibble takes much longer to digest than raw, and would still be in the system a couple of hours later.  It's not going to be the end of the world, but for some dogs it can give a bit of an upset tum.

I would really recommend starting out with very little variety - your dog is not used to a variety of food sources, so too much too soon can upset the system.
When we started raw feeding, Honey was used to chicken wings as snacks, so we introduced tripe as a second meat source - so she would have one meal of chicken wings, one meal of tripe. 
The following week we introduced Ox heart, the following week pork ribs, the week after that lamb... the lamb upset her system for a while, so we didn't introduce anything new for another 3 weeks or so, at which point we introduced tinned fish, and then the week after we started introducing liver.  We had to be careful with lamb for months, because we had introduced it too quickly for Honey... but now she has no problem with it at all.

We were recommended to introduce liver, veggies and raw fish last, as these are the things that can upset tummies most - and to do liver and veggies gradually, starting out with a small amount in each meal.  These days we don't feed veg, but we have eventually worked up to entire meals of just liver.  The only time I feed more than one thing in a meal is if the portion is a little under for any reason, or if a particular bone portion is too boney - then I just add a bit of tripe mince to bulk it out for her.

[Scarlett]

Karma thanks!!
That, really helped!!

[Pudding]

Thank you all that will be very helpfull
i have just weighed Bob and he is 13.5kg as William is so i will do 135gm for one meal
and see how we get on

[Karma]

Remember you can give and take on meal sizes too - 2 chicken wings are a bit more than Honey would normally get in a meal, so I cut down her other meal sizes a little to compensate... rather than trying to chop up bits of meat to get the right weight!!! 

[Pudding]

Thank you very much
i some times wonder what i would do without the help and advice from all you lovely COLers
THANK YOU

[Scarlett]

you should hear me talking to my dog owners' friends, telling them, OK, I will ask my English friends & let you know! 

[Scarlett]

I have 3 more questions.

1. Do you take out the skin from the chicken wings or not?
2. Can I combine boiled brown rice with raw food? (I was thinking of mashed beef meet & brown rice)
3. The veggetables you give raw or boiled?

thanks