BARF feeding

[bobslurchers 1]

Have been considering BARF for a while now, the dogs have always had fresh meat occasionaly as treats. Im now wondering about changing them over to it fully BUT;

 

how much it will cost to feed them compared to kibble?

 

where do you get it from? We live in a quite built up area so dont really have a local butcher.

 

how much do you feed?

 

how much do you get in one go, how long does it last?

[sandymere 8,263]

Feeding of any sort depends on the dog and it's lifestyle ie a pet terrier will need a diferent diet and amounts than a working lurcher. In broad terms feed enough to hold condition, so start with what you think and monitor the dog if gaining weight reduce ect. Cost will depend on if you buy from a pet shop in small batches or order bulk. Store in a freezer and it will keep for weeks. In comparison to complete it will depend on what brand you use, personally I'd go for a cheaper complete and add in raw meat rather than discontinue the complete completely.

BARF in the true sense is thankfully being left and people are moving to feeding a balenced diet rather than sticking to a raw only regime, the adition of a carb source such as cereal or complete helps to balence the diet.

[Guest it's all my land after 12]

Feeding of any sort depends on the dog and it's lifestyle ie a pet terrier will need a diferent diet and amounts than a working lurcher. In broad terms feed enough to hold condition, so start with what you think and monitor the dog if gaining weight reduce ect. Cost will depend on if you buy from a pet shop in small batches or order bulk. Store in a freezer and it will keep for weeks. In comparison to complete it will depend on what brand you use, personally I'd go for a cheaper complete and add in raw meat rather than discontinue the complete completely.

BARF in the true sense is thankfully being left and people are moving to feeding a balenced diet rather than sticking to a raw only regime, the adition of a carb source such as cereal or complete helps to balence the diet.

 

This is good advise .... we however feed as 'sandymere' suggests a combination , we use chicken carcases

obtained from a localish butcher (semi-bulk) in boxes of 30, we use fresh vegetables-:carrot ,turnip,

greens etc as available, to which we add flaked maize for carbohydrates,occasionally we add fresh local

fish, and eggs from a local supplier who has a percentage of damages he sells at a reduced cost, also

cod liver oil and sa37, this is as sandymere suggests monitored and the amount varied (ie) food to work

rate to hold the condition we require of our dogs to undertake the work we require of them.

[budgie123 163]

I am currently rearing a pup on the complete barf diet and feeding another mature dog on the complete barf diet.

Prior to going down this road i purchased 3 books by DR Ian Billinghurst an austalian vet. They are The Barf Diet,Give Your Dog A Bone and Grow Your Pups With Bones.These books give in great detail how and what to feed and why.Feeding the full barf diet is not cheaper than feeding complete food and is time consuming preparing the vegetables.Also to produce the vegetables you need to purchase eiter a quality juicing machine or old stile mincing machine.The books will explain why this has to be done.Since changing the older dog to barf it is in my view in better condition and has performed better this year.

Feeding a pup is simple but as it is the first pup i have raised this way i do not know if it will perform any better.The pup in my eyes looks superb on this diet.With regard cost i do not think it is much dearer to rear a pup this way when you look at the ever increasing cost of quality pupy food.

I purchase chicken carcases from a local poultry processor who also sells chicken wings,minced chicken carcases.I purchase liver and heart from a local smal abbatior.Some cheap fruit and veg can be obtained from local supermarket when they sell items near sell by date.

I would strongley advice reading the books first they are excellent.

[bobslurchers 1]

I think we may for now have to stick to the kibble, as i would like change them to meat - they may even get a few more meaty snacks. So long as i can find some cheap - we normally go the meat auctions at the bootfair in the summer and get them ribs.

 

Thnking about it it looks likey we would need another freezer with the quantity of meat we would need, so i think this will have to wait untill we can move.

[Shuttleworth 0]

My twopenny worth, I have two border terriers, eighteen months and 30 months, don't work them, but do feed them on the Barf diet, I used to feed them on various tinned and dried food but the bitch, the older dog was becoming a very fussy eater, it was the girl who strips the dogs that kept recommending the diet, I changed their diet on the 23rd of September 09 and from day one they seemed to love it, they are not as "hyper" as they were and are more biddable, up to a few weeks ago I did keep a diary of their behaviour as I was rather cautious about feeding them raw meat.

We have had no problems at all.

 

I was lucky to aquire a small table top freezer and use that to store the food, I buy chicken carcass from my local market and lambs hearts from my local butcher they cost about £2.99 for 6.

I also buy cheap mince NOT "pet mince" as sold by some butchers as this contains all sorts of stuff.

 

I also give them pork or beef ribs once a week, do not give them load bearing bones ie, thigh or leg bones.

 

As mentioned by other posters I get cheap veg from Asda boil it all up in a saucepan and then put two dessert spoonfuls in a freezer bag, this splits into two portions for them.

 

It does take more preparation than feeding tinned or dried food, but over a month I don't think it costs any more.

 

One thing you notice is that they don't Cr*p as much and it is smaller and firmer, but be careful they don't get constipated, veg and oily fish helps stop this.

 

I also bought the book Give Your Dog A Bone.

 

Here is a link to a site that tries to calculate how much food to give your dog

 

http://www.raw4dogs.com/calculate.htm

 

And here is a link to a company called landywoods who supply/deliver raw frozen meat, the actual link here is to some advice on feeding.

http://www.landywoods.co.uk/barf_diets.html

 

Here is my weekly feeding diet.

Sunday - Chicken thighs or carcass or pork ribs

Monday - Mince or Rabbit

Tuesday - Mince or Rabbit

Wednesday - Tin of Sardines in Oil and eggs each.

Thursday - Mince or Rabbit

Friday - Offal (slightly cooked liver or raw Lambs heart)

Saturday - MInce or Rabbit.

 

I mix the veg in with the mince twice a week.

 

HTH

Peter.