How dies the whole Raw food thing work?

[WTFwasthat]

Max has turned 1 and seems bored with his food! He rarely eats breakfast before lunchtime and seems nonplussed by it. I am considering switching to BARF diet but am very confused. is it pricey? A faff? Smelly? How do you measure it? All advice welcome

[morethanyoubargainfor]

generally its cheaper, healthier and all round better for the dogs. I have 3 dogs on raw and it costs me under £15 per week to feed them all. I have two large breed and one small. I get alk my foid delivered monthly from naturally healthy dogs. co.uk julie who owns the xompany is very knowledgeable and helpful as is the website. As a general rule you feed 2-3% of the dogs body weight a day. you start with one meat and gradually introduce more. I would never feed my dogs anything else now.

[fanoftheinvisibleman]

I raw feed and don't find it a faff at all now I'm into the swing of things. I enjoy sourcing a bargain though so I like the challange. I portion things before I freeze so shopping day is the most effort, after that it is just a quick rifle through the freezer.

I won't lie, tripe stinks but most of what I feed is human grade so not at all smelly but slightly more costly. It costs me between 30 and 80p a day depending on whether it is wings and cheap mince or maybe ribs and diced meat. Morrisons is great for strange bones and reduced meat. I have just found a local supplier who charges 40p per pound for chicken, beef or tripe mince meaning I could get as low as 20p per day for my dog!

As mentioned you are looking at 2 - 3% of their body weight daily with an average ratio of 10% bone, 10% offal (liver/kidney) and 80 muscle meat inc heart and tripe. Raw eggs and fish are all good too. This does not need to be daily by the way. For instance my dog has his weekly offal quota in one meal. If you are bone heavy one day then you would feed boneless meat the next. And most chicken mince by pet suppliers can be as high as 50% bone so consider that too.

It sounds daunting but it is great and really easy once you get your head round the quantities.