Cocker Specific Discussion > Feeding

Gearing up to BARF but is this a bad reaction?

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CraftySam:
I've been toying with the idea of switching to BARF for a while now. I've read alot about the benefits of it and also some of the negatives but in the end decided to give it ago when our current bags of food run out. I'd been a bit anxious about how my three would accept it so have tried a few things out, like raw eggs and shells which they love. Yesterday I gave them a chicken wing each. It took them a while to work out what to do, but in the end they all seemed to like them, though Barney struggled a little as he's not a strong chewer, but I've since learnt that I could bash it with a rolling pin to break the bones. I did end up chopping it into chunks for him, though I'm not sure that was the right thing to do as he didn't chew much.  ph34r He didn't have a whole wing, Sapphi had the rest of his.

Sorry this is going to be a bit uggh.  ph34r This morning I was woken early by Max whining, something he only does when he's desperate to go out to toilet. He had a lot of diarrhoea.  :-\ and he has on and off all day.  Sapphi had a normal poo this morning but had diarrhoea this afternoon once. Barney's poo has been fine.
They all seem fine in their selves.

The chicken wings were fresh, bought the day before I gave them and in date. Is this something that happens when you first try them with raw, or are they having a bad reaction to it? I would think if the chicken was off that Barney would have diarrhoea too and that they'd maybe be off it too. They all ate their breakfast.

Should I try again with a chicken wing or not? Should I forget BARF all together?

I'd be grateful for any advice as to what I should or shouldn't do.  :-\

I wasn't sure where to put this so sorry if its in the wrong place mods.  :embarassed:

MrsMac:
I'm not experienced in this at all - Melody eats dried food and mixer but I would have thought that would be normal for a first time eating raw food.

Hope someone experienced will come along soon.

miche:
I experienced this with Ronald.  Ended up taking him to the vets who said he had a tummy bug.  I still don't know if it was related to the chicken wings or if it was something he picked up conincidentally at the same time as I tried raw.  I didn't tell the vet about the chicken wings for fear of being told off ph34r.  The chicken wings must have been OK because Mikey and Herbie were both fine.

I can't feed Ron a raw diet, it just doesn't agree with him, but he's 15 and maybe just to old now to change.

I am not saying this is what's happening in your case - just what I experienced but hopefully some-one will come along to help you.  :D

Cob-Web:
Raw food can be a bit of a shock to the system  ;)

One thing I have discovered the hard way is that it really is important that Molo doesn't have a meal of raw and a meal of processed food too close together  :-\ I now make sure he has 10 or 11 hours between the two - if he doesn't , then things get a bit yucky  :-\

Also, there are a number of BARF'd dogs on COL that cannot tolerate chicken  :-\

Annette:
The first time we gave Buddy a chicken wing he failed to chew it properly and it kind of got stuck.

The result was that he had a bit of a runny poo which sort of escaped around the chicken wing, and soon after that he became a bit distressed, was in obvious pain and within a few minutes (which seemed like hours!) passed a very hard poo which obviously hurt him. Within minutes he was fine again, but it worried me enough to make me avoid giving him wings for quite some time.

When I did eventually give him his next wing, I took the advice of some other COLers and bashed it with a hammer first so that even if he did swallow it whole, at least the bones weren't very big. He has had no problems with them since.

I know it is a scary scenario, but it comes as a result of their lack of experience with raw food. I would suggest just leaving them to settle for a few days then try again with well-bashed wings. Eventually they do get the hang of it and it's great to hear them chomping away and enjoying them so much.

I hope the dogs tums settle soon. Of course it might be a bug in their case, but just thought I'd share. Try not to let this put you off. We are enjoying our BARF experience now, about 3 weeks into it. Even though Buddy is turning into more of a foodie than ever!

Just read Rache's post, and agree about not mixing raw and cooked.

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