Anyone feed a B.A.R.F diet ?

[Dobified]

Bones and raw food.

After watching Rudy's health deteroate ( sp ) and not knwoing what was going on I was desperate to find out why ( he does have tyroid problems but at that point we didn't know that ). Every food we would feed him made him worse, I called my breeder and asked her what to do, she told me she was using a raw diet and had had great success with the one female she was feeding and had swicthed all her dogs to it. I had literally tried what seemed like all the different brands of food. I went from Pedigree to the Gucci brand at the vets office that costs 80 dollars a bag . LOL! Nothing helped Rudy. Our breeder sent me info on the raw diet and I went to work researching it. This diet is not for everyone, it takes time and research to do it properly but I have never looked back and the dogs love it , after thier first intial , " Mom ? Are you trying to poison us ? This food is raw !!! " reaction. LOL!~

I spend hours perparing veggies every couple of weeks , we feed mostly raw chicken, which I buy from a small packer by our town and they get vitamins , minerals etc. They get beef, organ meats, fish, pork , and veggies that are put through a juicer then a blender ( dogs can't digest unprocessed veggies very well so to get all the nutrition out of them you need to pulverise them ). You need to change the protien around every week , but 80 % of the time it's chicken. I do not feed chicken leg bones , only wing bones, neck bones and carcass bones , they get raw beef bones but I will not feed the beef rib bones , they say it is OK but I have seen them splinter and will not take the chance. I use to buy the ready to feed raw food from a supplier but this is cheaper and I beleive better because I know what I am feeding, for sure. They get oils, alfalfa, somethimes I even give them some soaked beet pulp ( this is horse feed but they put it in dog food too ) .

I think they eat better then we do at times. They are doing great, coats are beautiful and shiny ( they get milled flax or flax oil ) they have great muscle tone and less gas ! Yup they do not **** as much but when they do, LOL!!!!! it is just like a human **** ROTFLOL! There is less stool mess to clean up because they process almost all they eat and there is no fillers in this food.

I am a true believer in the raw food diet, I was not when I started but after reading and researching this for a while I tried it. While it is time consuming and there are days I want to go back to bagged food, after finding out what is in bagged food , I will never go back. This diet is certainly not for everyone, you need to really learn about it before you implement it, but for us it has been great, a labour of love for our dogs.

[Dobified]

I just read a couple of the other threads on this topic, hmmm.....

Here are a couple of links to websites which have great info on them about raw diets :

http://www.mountaindogfood.com/

Make sure you check the " Why Raw " and " raw help " actually there is a ton of good info on this site.

Next:

http://www.barfworld.com/html/barf_diet/barfdiet.shtml

and there are many many books written by Vets on the subject.

Fell free to ask me any questions or if you have concerns. Our dogs ave been on this diet 2 years now and are doing great, better then ever actually.

[Dax]

My main concern is the amount to feed. Both my dogs love raw food and will eat til the burst. With dog food they eat but not excessively. The other concern is cost. For my 2, I can't even imagine what it would cost to eat like that.

[Dobified]

Dax,

We feed about 2-3 pound of meat a day , depending upon how much exercise the dogs are getting. You just adjust it if you see weight loss or if you see weight gain. They get about a cup of pulverised veggies & fruit, with kelp, oil ( canola, sunflower, olive ) usually a brewers yeast tablet ( Vitamin B ) they get a vitman E every day and they get C every couple of days . They also get flax oil everyday, Salmon oil every week about 2 times a week, fish oils about once a week. You need to be careful with the fish oils if you are feeding liver because of the Vitamin A content.

We feed them ground beef or cheap cuts of beef once or twice a week, sardines or various cheap raw fish every so often and I am hoping to find a supplier of lamb ( for me and the dogs ) SEE they do eat better then I do !

They get yogurt, eggs ( raw of course ) Alfalfa , rolled oats ( on occassion ) .

It really doesn't cost that much different then a good quality bag of dog food, it is time consuming and I can't stress enough: you must do your homework so you can make sure the dog gets the proper nutrition. You have to read books, etc on how to do it right ...

Believe me, there are days where I want to switch back but my faith in this diet and way of feeding overides that urge. Our dogs are very healthy and doing great. I have spoke to different vets , Dr. Jackson being one, he believes in it too. Some do others don't but if you think about it , the dog food indusrty really has only been around 50-60 years and before that dogs did just as good if not better on raw food and cooked foods then they do on commerical food.

I know alot of people disagree with this approach but it has been fantastic for the health of my dogs.

[Dax]

How did you make the switch over? Did you study all the information then try to line up suppliers? Do your dogs get a fishy odor from the fish & fish oils? Did you have a nutritionist you consulted?

What do you use as treats or training rewards?

[Dobified]

We switched over fairly slowly, mixed the raw in with their regular food. I consulted a nutrionist @ Mountian Dog Food and started to read book by vets. I read lots on canine nutrition, what was good, what was bad , how to give vitamins etc. it was a lot of hardwork but has paid dividends. I also talked to people who feed this way and what kind of results they had, they lent me books and advice . The dogs look great, feel great and we have never looked back.

I shudder at what is actually in commercial dog food. I will not post that here but I can send you a link privately if you want. It is not for the faint of heart. I have done hours of research on that as well to try and figure out why Rudy was reacting to the food the way he was, part of it was his Thyroid problem but the other was the foods.

Mountian Dog Food is actually in Edmonton...

[vnguyen1l]

Please do send link to me...I would be interested in reading more about this raw food diet..

[lou3]

a home made diet can only ever be "adequate" NEVER "optimum". Obviously optimum is better and this is offered by any good quality commercial food. Saying that i am glad i live in the UK and all ingrediants in pet food MUST by law be deemed suitable for human consumption.
I would never feed a dog anything as bad for them as a totally raw diet - BARF itself is hideously bad, even a cooked home-made diet is not ideal.
Lou

[Dax]

Lou, I’m not up to all the arguments for the BARF vs Commerical dog food so could you please give me some more information on why you advocate the Commerical food.

By all accounts – dog owners who are feeding a Raw diet love the results it gives with their dogs. Many “champion” breeders advocate the raw diet.

If these people are providing a balance supplemented diet, why is the feeding of fresh meat and vegetables worse than feeding something that may have been sitting in a warehouse for years?

As dog owners we put out trust in companies that their quality control and their ethics.

[Dobified]

Lou, It is a wonderful thing we live in free countries where we are able to speak our thoughts and minds and express our opinion freely and openly.


I have read your other replies to the other threads on raw feeding, although I feel you are out in left field on them ( and I will explain why ) you are entitled to your opinion.

The reason I feel you are in left field is exactly how much research have you given a raw diet ?

Can you tell me exactly what is wrong with feeding dogs in a natural holistic way ?

Commerical foods are full of things I care not to discuss here, but I can provide you with the information on rendering plants etc that provide " meat" for commerical dog and cat foods .

Dogs are designed to be fed this way, look at what Coyotes and wolves and wild dogs eat .

How would YOU like to eat processed foods day in and day out with the same nutrient content all the time ? I bet you wouldn't and your body wouldn't either. It would be like eating potato chips for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

I can also provide you with the books , research and testimony from other raw feeders, breeders that feed it and people like me who have done thier research.

See , it's great to live in a free country !

Albeit,raw food is not for everyone because of lifestyles etc, it is what I choose to feed and my Dobes look fantastic, feel better then ever and love what they eat.