BARF diet

[ClaireandGeorge]

We are possibly getting a rescue dog. He is currently on a diet of raw chicken wings and tripe which they say helps with his skin condition. I have no experience of feeding raw and the wondered if any one had any experience/thoughts on it. My main concern would be feeding bones and them puncturing the gut but also bacteria on raw meat and getting a balanced diet.

If you google "raw diet dogs", loads of pages come up - here's one www.petforums.co.uk/dog-health-nutrition/111437-raw-feeding-everything-you-need-know.html

My dogs are raw fed. It's a fab diet for them. They have raw chicken wings as an occasional treat but are fed Natural Instinct daily as it is all measured and pre balanced out. They are cocker spaniels. Their coats are great + raw fed dogs have smaller less smelly and firmer poos! There is loads of research on the internet supporting it. Good luck!

I have been raw feeding for 6 months and it would take something disasterous to make me go back now as I had a pup who had the constant runs who can now eat anything without problems.

There are slight risks I'm sure, dogs who swallow rather than chew could choke on a bone but I have heard of dogs choking on kibble too so it is about calculated risk to me.

Bacteria wise, dogs are not human and are physically built with a much shorter digestive system than us, because they are designed for a raw diet. Wild dogs were not kibble fed and I think the whole evolution process takes a little longer than the time commercial doog food have been around! But they are my personal thoughts I guess, each to their own and its not for everyone.

Variety wise, just feed variety. Mine has allsorts within the recommended 80% muscle meat, 10% offal and 10% bone frame. Usually its chicken wings or pork and lamb ribs or spine for the raw meaty bone quota. I feed a mix of chunks or minced beef, lamb, turkey, heart, green tripe and sardines for muscle meat and kidney/liver for offal along with a couple of raw eggs a week.

There is a facebook group I use called raw feeding UK who are happy to give advice and have lots of info you may find useful if you do want to continue feeding this way

And I will be eternally grateful to LadyTurmoil upthread who gave me the confidence to try it back in early spring because I cannot believe the changes it made for my little dog

Congrats ClaireandGeorge on the new dog! I totally get your concerns about bones. Why not try a pre-made raw? I use barfworld.com's diets for my little Havanese mix and he simply LOVES it :) Plus that way you know you're giving your dog a raw diet that is balanced. Good luck.

Aaw, thanks so much Fan, that's really sweet of you! I probably told you about my brother's dogs who are fed on raw and seem to love it. I'll have a look at that FB group as well, sounds interesting.

And Claire, two of those dogs are small (1 a Bichon/poodle and other a shih tzu) and they happily chomp up chicken carcasses, drumsticks or wings (along with other stuff) within minutes and haven't had any problems at all with choking on bones etc...

And we need a photo on your profile of your new doggy

Mine is a 7kg Border Terrier so yet again a small dog who can cope. Lots of teeny chi's etc on the facebook page who love their bones

Lurcherboy is fed raw, he's a 25kg Lurcher and is on a very similar diet to fanoftheinvisibleman's dogs.

Feeding one of the pre-prepared raw diets, such as Natural Instinct or Nature's Menu can be an easier way of doing it, but just check the bone to meat and offal ratio, as some can be far too high in bone content.

This website is another good source of information about feeding raw and this is a simple start up guide.

Thanks ladies, All sounds quite positive. I like the sound of the ready done stuff you can buy especially as we only have a small freezer. My main concern with the bones is not choking (although I know full well my old dig would have swallowed them whole as chewing was a foreign concept to her) it's the splinters in the digestive system puncturing the gut wall. I knew q jack Russell who was a terrible scavenging and he got very poorly from this happening. I have discovered he also gets fed the natures menu trays sometimes which is what my old girl had.

Raw bones shouldn't splinter but cooked ones will. Never give a cooked bone.

Some people recommend starting with really big things that can't be swallowed whole to encourage chewing - so a nice big slab of lamb ribs or something.

As fanoftheinvisibleman said though, it's cooked bones that splinter, not raw. Chicken bones in the UK are particularly soft as the chickens themselves are so young when they go to slaughter.

WE pick our puppy up on Sunday - he's been weaned onto raw minced tripe, raw minced chicken (with bone) and has chicken wings too. I was planning to get some raw mince in to start with but I am actually quite scared of feeding raw - I am terrified I don't give him the right balance of stuff. Do you think switching him to the ready prepared stuff on eg Nature's Instinct would be OK?

The breeder should give you details of his diet, so you won't have to worry about getting it right. Also you can always phone with any questions once you've got the dog.
Its best to keep him on the same food at least for a few weeks as pup will be stressed being away from littermates and getting to know strange places and people. A change of diet on top of all this will virtually guarantee an upset tummy.