Raw Diet

[Nicola]

Does anyone do half and half

maybe kibble in the morning,barf in the evening ?

I am aware you never feed them together.

Mine are fed half & half - they have kibble for breakfast and raw meat and bones in the evening, which seems to work well for us.

Same here for Rodaidh and Caoimhe, it works really well for them and I'm happy with it.

[Archie bean]

I'm also considering making the change to BARF. Although all the replies here are very positive, it is worth noting that there are still negative opinions out there. Although it's quite old, this is an interesting article giving the opposing point of view.
http://www.thepethealthportal.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=113

I'm not trying to stir up a hornets nest, just trying to get as much information together regarding risks vs benefits before making up my mind. Hope it doesn't offend anyone. 

[dizzytrish]

I have a question!
I have been thinking about going down the barf route for a while, but one big problem keeps holding me back.
Ella is an ex breeding bitch, apart from the usual problems associated with her previous life, she still has the tendency to 'clean up' after the other dogs if I don't get there first.
Ella has reduced the amount of times she does this but when they are fed sardines etc, it is worse. any idea if a raw diet would make this problem worse?, I know to her it is normal, but to us its gross!!
any ideas?
thanks

[ollie nathan's mum]

Ollie had that habit when he was younger, changing him to raw didn't make any differance. 

[Toni-UK]

Sorry to the OP

Another question,

For those of you that do half and half what do you feed for the raw half,ideas please  

[vixen]

Does anyone do half and half
maybe kibble in the morning,barf in the evening ?
I am aware you never feed them together.

Mine are fed half & half - they have kibble for breakfast and raw meat and bones in the evening, which seems to work well for us.

Same here for Rodaidh and Caoimhe, it works really well for them and I'm happy with it.

My two girls are fed this way too.
AG kibble in the morning and then raw in the evening.
They look very well on it, glossy coats, shiny eyes and lots of energy. 
For the raw part I feed Prize Choice frozen raw meats, bones, chicken wings and sardines. 

[LurcherGirl]

Sorry to the OP

Another question,

For those of you that do half and half what do you feed for the raw half,ideas please  

I use different types of mince for the "other half": beef, chicken, tripe, lamb, turkey, offal (liver, heart). The chicken and turkey mince contains bone as well.

Mine get both halves in one meal and are doing great on this. I use Taste of the Wild kibble.

[Nicola]

For the raw part of the diet I use a variety of chicken wings, chicken portions, green tripe, pork ribs, lamb ribs, lamb breast, pheasant portions, rabbit portions and once a week tinned sardines which aren't 'raw' but they love them. If I forget to defrost any meat I give Nature Diet instead.

[kcj]

Thanks for all the info,
I have started with the raw diet, but introducing it slowly,  kibble in morning and raw at night. They are enjoying it immensely, apart form one. The one I wish would put on some weight. She just looks at it and walks away.  So i gave in and fed her kibble, will keep trying with her as the other 4 are happy with their new meals. In fact her mother is the opposite she is turning her nose up at the kibble.
Teeth are clean with the raw bones, so far so good.
Think this will be regular fixture on the shopping list.
Thanks K

[Joules]

They are enjoying it immensely, apart form one. The one I wish would put on some weight. She just looks at it and walks away.  So i gave in and fed her kibble,

Raw tripe is very good for bulking up a skinny dog - it stinks but Coco loves it 

[Sherlock]

I'm just making the transition to raw too, but I'm going to do it as a straight swap rather than gradually.  I did try Sherlock out with a chicken wing last night which he loved, (though I didn't, as I held it while he chewed it for fear of him swallowing it whole and being a vegetarian who has never handled raw meat I found it quite disturbing, with the little wing joints moving around to the sound of crunching bones  ) and then I'm getting a delivery of minces on Friday to propertly start his raw diet!!

It'll be interesting to see how your dogs do, kcj. I'm really apprehensive about the change, but after doing so much reading on the benefits of raw I felt like I need at least to try it out for Sherlock's sake.  I'm going to do it all through frozen minces which have the 80:10:10 ratio, plus a chicken wing or other bone a couple of times a week.  And after a few weeks, assuming he's ok on it, I'll start introducing some offal.

[sands]

They are enjoying it immensely, apart form one. The one I wish would put on some weight. She just looks at it and walks away.  So i gave in and fed her kibble,

Raw tripe is very good for bulking up a skinny dog - it stinks but Coco loves it 

Coda loves it too but apart from that and raw veg I can't get her to eat anything else - except treats of course  - but her coat is getting thicker and silky and all the itching and biting herself she used to do has stopped.