Anyone feed BARF?

Galway K9

How much time a day do you spend preparing it including the purchasing and travelling?

Chris_Heilong

I dont feed BARF but I do feed RAW, I have a schedule based on my dogs ideal adult weight and many different meats to feed each day so there are no problems like calcium deficiency. I get most of my meat from Tesco, butchers and Chinese shops in Dublin.

Galway K9

Do you have vegatation in it too?

Wisco

A bit off topic here, but asking if there's vegetation makes me picture meat chunks with shrubs growing out of them

Chris_Heilong

No, vegetable matter is not needed in a RAW diet, I do feed green offal from time to time as predators in the wild would not eat plants and the only greens they would get would be from the prey animals stomach which have already started to be digested and have the prey animals enzymes breaking it down before the wolf, coyote, fox or wild dog eats it. Dogs dont need a balanced diet in the same way humans do, that is just a sales pitch from the pet food industry.

There is alot of data to back up what I am saying, if you take a look at http://eskimohuskies.com

and have a read trough it, I would love to have a chat with you after you have had a read.

TooManyDogs

I do a raw food diet, not sure what my version is actually called but I feed bones, muscle meat, organ meat and veggies.

We get 14 kg of chicken carcasses every week and we chop it so they don't wipe it up and down the floor :eek:
It takes about hour and half to chop, another half hour to weigh out daily portions and then I freeze. Once a month I make up the veggie gloop and that can take a couple of hours but I freeze it then so I just take out a container every few days.

My local supermarket breaks chickens daily so they sell the necks, backs, wing tips and other off cuts for €1 a kg. I also add in fish and other meats depending on what money I have left over from the groceries but mainly they're on chicken.

It is more work than commercial food but for me it's worth it and I wouldn't go back

DBB

I was feeding BARF, have gone to a half-and-half option for now, but intend to go back to the full shebang soon.
I lightly cook the food as the dogs far prefer it, and it just seems nicer to work with! But I mean it when I say lightly cooked.
I get the veg from the local farm shop: they keep their odd-shaped veg which is perfectly fresh and lovely, people just won't buy odd-shaped veg:rolleyes:
I get Prize Choice meat either delivered for about €6 per 2kg bag, or a buy it in Jollye's in Newry for £4.20ish.
I pulverise the fresh fruit and nuts etc in the food processor, and add it to the appropriate amount of meat into meal-sized portions, which I stick into the freezer.
I spend an afternoon every 3-4 weeks preparing it all in advance.
It is slightly harder work, but it's not too bad. And the health benefits are worth it!

SukisMam

BARF all the way. There is NOTHING like it. My dog loves it, it's real food as opposed to little dried balls of God knows what that is marketed as "dry food". Initially it's a bit daunting when you're giving your dog a chunk of meat dripping with blood, but very soon the benefits are clear and you just start to realise how absolutely natural it is. If you want a TON of info and a bit of help from me, just PM me, I'd be more than happy to share what I know!

Chris_Heilong

DBB wrote: »

I was feeding BARF, have gone to a half-and-half option for now, but intend to go back to the full shebang soon.
I lightly cook the food as the dogs far prefer it, and it just seems nicer to work with! But I mean it when I say lightly cooked.
I get the veg from the local farm shop: they keep their odd-shaped veg which is perfectly fresh and lovely, people just won't buy odd-shaped veg:rolleyes:
I get Prize Choice meat either delivered for about €6 per 2kg bag, or a buy it in Jollye's in Newry for £4.20ish.
I pulverise the fresh fruit and nuts etc in the food processor, and add it to the appropriate amount of meat into meal-sized portions, which I stick into the freezer.
I spend an afternoon every 3-4 weeks preparing it all in advance.
It is slightly harder work, but it's not too bad. And the health benefits are worth it!

Just a word of warning about feeding half and half, RAW food and kibble have different rates of digestion, RAW food is usually absorbed into the body very fast whereas kibble hangs around and slowly digests, when mixing the two, there is a chance that RAW meat can stay in the body longer than it should leading to inner intestinal infections.

ISDW

SukisMam wrote: »

BARF all the way. There is NOTHING like it. My dog loves it, it's real food as opposed to little dried balls of God knows what that is marketed as "dry food". Initially it's a bit daunting when you're giving your dog a chunk of meat dripping with blood, but very soon the benefits are clear and you just start to realise how absolutely natural it is. If you want a TON of info and a bit of help from me, just PM me, I'd be more than happy to share what I know!

Do you feed BARF or raw?

SukisMam

ISDW wrote: »

Do you feed BARF or raw?

BARF. It works. It's natural and healthy and not any more expensive than any of those top end dried foods. AND, for any doggies out there with a dodgy tummy, this seems to remedy sensitive digestion.

ISDW

SukisMam wrote: »

BARF. It works. It's natural and healthy and not any more expensive than any of those top end dried foods. AND, for any doggies out there with a dodgy tummy, this seems to remedy sensitive digestion.

Can I ask what veggies etc you give, and how you give them. I'm switching to raw, because I don't think I could sustain a BARF diet properly, but if you manage it well, I'd be interested to know how.

Chris_Heilong

Karen are you a member of http://eskimohuskies.com/ yet?

They really are the best place to learn about RAW, even if you dont get it they are willing to phone you and discuss things with you, they are UK based and specialize in Huskies. I recommend them.

ISDW

Chris_Heilong wrote: »

Karen are you a member of http://eskimohuskies.com/ yet?

They really are the best place to learn about RAW, even if you dont get it they are willing to phone you and discuss things with you, they are UK based and specialize in Huskies. I recommend them.

No, I'm not, won't be joining I don't think. I'm grand with RAW, it was the BARF that I was interested in hearing more about:)

Galway K9

SukisMam wrote: »

BARF. It works. It's natural and healthy and not any more expensive than any of those top end dried foods. AND, for any doggies out there with a dodgy tummy, this seems to remedy sensitive digestion.

How long to prepare, how hard to get everything?

SukisMam

The veggie prep is simple (well at least the way I do it!). Mainly carrots, some broccoli and a few basic herbs. Whizz them up with fresh lamb's liver in the food processor to a mulchy puree. Do a load of it at a time, 50/50 or even less meat of you like. Then freeze it in batches. When it defrosts, I sprinkle linseed and various other recommended seeds on it and also a spoon of udos oil. Each box I freeze is a max 3 day supply (don't like to keep it too long). I do use other veg from time to time but this is the staple.

Galway K9

Nice Job, youve answered my question