Putting my Lurcher on BARF

[Gaz_1989 9,539]

Hello,

 

Im thinking about putting my lurcher onto a BARF diet and then when i get another pup next year i will start that off on BARF from young.

 

I am aware of the basic make up of the BARF diet, 60% Meaty Bones, 20% Offal, 20% Fruit and Veg.

 

But how do you feed this over a week?

 

Some people say feed the fruit and veg blended up every 3rd day, wouldnt this give the dog the shits on day 4?

 

And also do you feed the offal on one day or spread over the other days with the Meaty Bones?

 

Any example diets would be great,

 

Thanks

 

Gaz

Edited March 11, 2010 by gareth_daniel

[Richie10 345]

I feed mine on a mix of green tripe and minced chicken mainly, some rabbit at times as well. Don't really give veg.

The pup sometimes gets some beta puppy and some deer and pork bones, but that is really it.

 

Not sure if I am going right or wrong but they seem to be doing alright on it.

[kill um with crisps 7]

I get big bags of offcuts from the butchers. Theres rarely any offal in there but when there is my dogs will get that too. When i get it home i have to seperate the good stuff from the rubbish and get rid of the rubbish. By rubbish i mean trotters as my dogs dont bother with them, pig skin etc etc. The good stuff i bag up into daily portion sizes and freeze them then get one portion out each day.

As for veg, go and buy loads! My latest batch is 2 apples, 1 orange, 10 carrots, a handfull of peas, 2 heads of brocolli, a leak, a load of fresh herbs. This all gets thrown in the blender untill well shredded and then put into those little plastic money bags and also frozen. I give 1 bag per dog twice a week.

[Kay 3,709]

Get your dog on raw its the best thing i ever did .. its a little bit trial & error at the beginning but my dogs look so much better on it

 

All i feed is raw chicken wings & plain mixer both dogs have good clean coats & the doggy smell has redused 10 fold & they have stopped farting ... the amount of wastes about 90% reduced

 

My male greyhound has a very delicate stomach so the slightest change upsets him .. so i stick to chicken but they bolt the lot in seconds so i do chop the wings in half

 

Good luck with it

[kill um with crisps 7]

Heres my pup having a munch on some barf.

[Kay 3,709]

Heres my pup having a munch on some barf.

 

Is it just the pic or is that meat cooked .. nice pup whatever

[kill um with crisps 7]

Hi kay, no not cooked. Just a pic taken with my phone and bad light! Lol! Thanks for the compliment!

[skycat 6,172]

Surely the whole point of feeding raw is to AVOID giving 'mixer' or biscuit type dog food as this would defeat the object of feeding raw. I know that you can mix it, many people do, but the whole thing is about notfilling a dog's stomach with cereals which its digestive system is less well able to digest.

On the odd occasion when I do feed cereals (biscuit/mixer/complete) I don't feed meat at the same time as the two take different lengths of time to digest. Some people poo-poo this notion as being a bit over the top, but I've noticed that if I do mix meat and biscuit my dogs are a lot looser and some really get the sh*ts.

 

Nowadays I buy a 25kg bag of brown rice (more goodness in it than white) which lasts for ages, and if I want to bulk out certain dogs which do need more carbs than the others I just add a handful (cooked handful that is) of rice and it doesn't seem to have the same squitty effect that wheat and other cereals do.

 

I've never known veg give a dog the squits unless they've picked loads of blackberries and overdosed on them! Though if you have a dog that likes ripe plums that will have the same effect if they eat loads: mind you, does on humans too LOL

 

Bit of offal at each meal, or a bit twice a week: makes no odds, the thing to remember is to give offal in the proportions you would find it in, say a rabbit carcase: mostly meat, some bone and a bit of offal (heart, liver, kidneys) Think whole carcase and you won't go far wrong.

[Gaz_1989 9,539]

Okay, thanks for replies.

 

I have been told that ‘rack of lamb’ is a good meal and also cheap and readily available.

 

My adult lurcher is on 2 meals a day, so I was thinking of a diet something like this…

 

AM – Tin Fish, Offal, Veg, Eggs, Tripe, Fresh Fish, Veg (Cycled over 7 days)

 

PM – Either Rack of Lamb or Minced Chicken Carcass

 

How would that look?

 

I appreciate its trial and error but I think I need a basis to start me off so that I feel a little more confident about the change over.

 

Also when I get my pup, would it go on something similar? Just spread over 3 meals and obviously smaller portions?

 

Do working dogs not need any carbs? I know some people are feeding rice or dry biscuits but isn’t the main aim of BARF to get away from this?

 

Thanks

 

Gaz

[Hannah4181 260]

The best bit of advice i was given when i switched to raw was . . . don't over think it!! As easy as that is to say, i think some people get way too hung up on percentages etc etc. Mine get a huge variety of bone, flesh, offal, fish, tripe and maybe veg a couple of times a month, they have had this diet for 2 years now and look great on it.

 

If i was you i would go to your butchers and get a selection of bone, chicken carcasses, wings, lamb bones, anything he has really. Just try the dog out and see how he goes, again i find a lot of people stress and worry about amounts, you will soon tell if your dog isn't getting enough or is getting to much . . . looking at him is the best way!

 

If he will eat veg then stick some in with a few eggs, a bit of offal and some tripe . . . i would describe this as a "wet" meal . . . . . mine would get that every 3 days roughly. 3 days bone, 1 day wet, stops them from getting bunged up.

 

I know it sounds really confusing, but honestly dogs survive being fed on utter crap and scaverging rubbish tips all over the world . . . . . . extreme i know, and obviously you want to give your dogs the best you can, but if they have a good varied diet and look well then your home and dry.

 

I'll include a list of all the things mine get . . . just t o give you ideas, but they don't have any strict pattern, its normally what i grab out of the freezer first!

 

 

Chicken wings and carcasses.

 

Turkey necks.

 

Breast of lamb.

 

Venison bones, with flesh.

 

Whole rabbit, guts, fur and still warm is their preferred choice!

 

Lamb necks.

 

Turkey legs.

 

Minced tripe.

 

Whole pheasant.

 

Whole Pigeon.

 

Beef chunks.

 

Whole raw fish . . any variety.

 

Beef ribs.

 

Horse flesh.

 

Canned fish.

 

Offal . . heart, liver, kidneys . .any animal.

 

Raw eggs.

 

Veg scrapes, or if i can be arsed i make a mix of various fruit and veg blitzed with fresh garlic and fish oil.

 

I hope this helps. Good luck with it and try not to worry!

[kill um with crisps 7]

With the butcher its a case of you get what your given (its free after all), what i dont want ie pig skin and trotters gets diposed of and what i do want gets portioned out and frozen. If feeding rabbits there pissed and gutted then frozen for 3 weeks min to kill off any worm eggs. I feel they need a mixture of red and white meat and the butcher doesnt often include white meat so every now and then i buy them a tesco chicken if i dont have any rabbits. You dont need to mince any of the meat, in fact its better if you dont. A dogs digestive system was meant for dealing with CHUNKS of flesh and bone. Mine love fish. Also i give them boiled eggs (iv heard that raw eggs are bad for them) now n then and weetabix with a tin of fish mixed in and 3rd of a pint of kiddies milk with some gravy granules for flavour. All of the above i class as barf. My pup gets 50 % barf and 50% beta puppy.

[waidmann 105]

mine get meat nearly every day(minced chicken or cooked rabbit) along with any scraps i happen to have(from our food,chop bones,veg,pasta,rice,gravy etc etc.) and there is always a bowl of complete food in the kitchen( dry) where they can eat as much as they need.

they seem to be doing fine on this and certainly have enough energy to scrap and play all day when they are not working.good coat and teeth

[Gaz_1989 9,539]

Thanks again for the further replies.

 

Those of you who dont feed dry biscuits aswell, do your dogs get any carbs at all or not?

 

Apart from the veg, do dogs need carbs or not? Can they thrive on just meat and bone?

 

Also can Rabbit be fed straight from the field? Or do they need to be gutted?

 

I noticed 'kill um with chips' - you said about freezing them to kill worm eggs, can they be frozen whole and defrosted then fed?

 

 

Thanks again

 

Gaz

[kill um with crisps 7]

Carbs are not nessassery mate. A dogs body can "learn" to use um but theres no real point. They will be more than happy on just meat and bone mate but but a blender full of various veg doesnt cost much and in the wild a dog will eat grass etc so i do give some veg. Personally i do gut my rabbits but you probably dont need to. My terreirs caught a rabbit the other week and had a tug o war with it, the guts came out and were promptly grabbed and swallows by my plummer terrier. It did him no harm! I always pee and gut my rabbits then put um in a carrier bag and freeze um. When im ready to feed um i take um out the freezer the day before and leave um in the kitchen sink to defrost overnight. Next day they just get dumped on the floor and the dogs take over. The whole lot gets eaten, meat, skin, bones, fur, heads.

[Gaz_1989 9,539]

Cheers mate,

 

This whole BARF business doesnt sound that bad really.

 

Im gonna give it a shot.

 

Will give the veg a couple times a week yeh, as well as tripe, fish and eggs now and then.

 

Thanks

 

Gaz