BARF Diet will it help?

[Jordb543 9]

Hi all,

 

we have a 32kg dalmation, he is a very athletic, strong and well built dog with endless amounts of stamina, he goes on 2 walks a day one is a 6mile bike ride, the other a really long mooch around (approx 4mile walk) and some addtional walks hiking and along the beach within the week aswell,

 

He gets the shits alot, he will have one 'good' solid turd a day and then he will have around 3/4 runny turds, i have been harping on for months to everyone that it is his diet but it seems to fall on deaf ears, he has been to the vets had tests etc and they cant reccomend anything, they put it down to 'excitment' when being out, he is wormed every 2months so i think it must be the diet.

 

the dog is on a pedigree mixer and tinned meat, (please tell my step dad thats a crap diet)

 

so basically will a BARF diet work better or with him not being a working dog will it be too rich for him? or will a complete biscuit supplemented with raw/chub be a better option?

 

if you cn reccomend any brands please do

Edited November 4, 2010 by Jordb543

[WILF 47,353]

Whole minced chickens with the bone in will help this, and it will certainly help your pocket.

I get 100lb in weight of whole minced chickens delivered for £36.

[bert the fert 28]

Worming every 8 weeks seems a bit ott. Also, when i was in the petfood industry, pedigree chum was a byword for wild shites. There's a lot of dogs intolerant of that stuff. There are plenty of folk who feed raw diets on here, very successfully, but if you do go down that route, take a couple of weeks to introduce it, gradually. Especially given that his gut is already inflamed.

 

Mebbe try a bland diet for a few days, cooked chicken and rice, until he settles down then try slow introduction of the new diet.

 

Hope he mends up

[Jordb543 9]

Whole minced chickens with the bone in will help this, and it will certainly help your pocket.

I get 100lb in weight of whole minced chickens delivered for £36.

 

Thanks wilf ill look into that,

 

Worming every 8 weeks seems a bit ott. Also, when i was in the petfood industry, pedigree chum was a byword for wild shites. There's a lot of dogs intolerant of that stuff. There are plenty of folk who feed raw diets on here, very successfully, but if you do go down that route, take a couple of weeks to introduce it, gradually. Especially given that his gut is already inflamed.

 

Mebbe try a bland diet for a few days, cooked chicken and rice, until he settles down then try slow introduction of the new diet.

 

Hope he mends up

 

The worming was reccomended by the vet, he also has a habit of eating cat crap (i also put this down to him needing more from his diet), im looking into it as much as i can before suggesting it as i know they will be abit hesitant of the dog going onto raw, but the cats eat all sorts an they are healthy as hell

[skycat 6,173]

Feeding a dog on tinned meat and mixer is a bit like you eating nothing but pot noodle and burgers: it ain't a balanced diet, no matter what the dog food companies like to say. Apart from which, when buying tinned food you are paying for a lot of water: up to % in some cases.

 

A properly balanced raw diet is far better: wolves in the wild have been known to reach in excess of 13 years old: and they eat nothing but raw carcases. It's not just a matter of buying the dog a load of minced meat and chicken wings: Google BARF and read all about what a properly balanced raw diet is all about: there's loads of information on it.

 

Bone content in the diet will help to firm up the stools, but don't feed large leg bones OR those Godawful fried knuckle bones: not good at all if they swallow a lump: impossible to digest.

 

I've also never known a dog eat other animals' shit when on a raw diet: though when cats are fed tinned food what comes out the other end smells very similar to what the cat ate in the first place! Tinned food is so full of preservatives, flavour enhancers and other additives it doesn't break down in the gut (or in the air once excreted) which makes it smell irresistable to dogs.

[Jordb543 9]

Feeding a dog on tinned meat and mixer is a bit like you eating nothing but pot noodle and burgers: it ain't a balanced diet, no matter what the dog food companies like to say. Apart from which, when buying tinned food you are paying for a lot of water: up to % in some cases.

 

A properly balanced raw diet is far better: wolves in the wild have been known to reach in excess of 13 years old: and they eat nothing but raw carcases. It's not just a matter of buying the dog a load of minced meat and chicken wings: Google BARF and read all about what a properly balanced raw diet is all about: there's loads of information on it.

 

Bone content in the diet will help to firm up the stools, but don't feed large leg bones OR those Godawful fried knuckle bones: not good at all if they swallow a lump: impossible to digest.

 

I've also never known a dog eat other animals' shit when on a raw diet: though when cats are fed tinned food what comes out the other end smells very similar to what the cat ate in the first place! Tinned food is so full of preservatives, flavour enhancers and other additives it doesn't break down in the gut (or in the air once excreted) which makes it smell irresistable to dogs.

 

you know what i bet thats the reason he eats it, as the older cat wont eat alot of foods, except for tinned but only certain flavours, tbh he lives almost off a barf diet come to think of it, he has alot of tuna, fresh fish, sardines, chicken and occasionally tinned food, i dont have much to do with the cats as they are my mums and she tends to do all the feeding.

 

Thanks for the advice ive been looking into BARF for a while, i have studied a little bit on dietry needs and nutriton in college etc but until recently when i got my own dog i hadnt really thought about for them,

[WILF 47,353]

I feed the raw chicken, but I also add in all the leftovers from dinner (veg, pasta, rice, garlic, chillis or whatever).....I also feed whole rabbits after freezing (skin, guts the lot) whole feather (magpies, pigeons or whatever)

They seem to do well enough on it all.......no cooked bones mind :thumbs:

[sandymere 8,263]

If the vet has checked that there are no underlying problems then trying a change of diet is certainly worth considering. Perhaps your dad would try a complete as a first stage. Then get to the butcher and get some waste lamb bone/ribs and add in a couple of days a week. The dried and the bones will certainly improve the teeth if nothing else. If the is a nervous cause ie IBS type thing it may still be a problem. Cat poo has a lot of undigested protein etc and most dogs will eat it if given the opportunity. At a cattery the local foxes used to clear the waste from the dump area. Adding some cooked veg should stop eating herbivore crap but only training will stop the cat poo.

All diet changes must be done gradually over a couple of weeks.

[Jordb543 9]

Thanks for the help everyone,

 

my step dad actually cam home with a bag of different dog food (wheat and gluten free) the day i wrote this tpoic, so he has said he wants to get him onto that fist for a few weeks and see how he fares up

 

If the vet has checked that there are no underlying problems then trying a change of diet is certainly worth considering. Perhaps your dad would try a complete as a first stage. Then get to the butcher and get some waste lamb bone/ribs and add in a couple of days a week. The dried and the bones will certainly improve the teeth if nothing else. If the is a nervous cause ie IBS type thing it may still be a problem. Cat poo has a lot of undigested protein etc and most dogs will eat it if given the opportunity. At a cattery the local foxes used to clear the waste from the dump area. Adding some cooked veg should stop eating herbivore crap but only training will stop the cat poo.

All diet changes must be done gradually over a couple of weeks.

 

We always introduce new food gradually i always thought it made sense, its better for the dog and your the one who has to pick up the shit so why make it a harder for yourself with runny crap lol

 

i think this is the route we will take after hes been on this new food for a little while, and if it starts to improve im sure he will end up on a BARF diet,

[Kay 3,709]

I didn't have any health issues with my dogs when i switched to raw but boy the difference is amazing.. there waste is firm & easy to clean up & i would hazard a guess its a good % less in volume... they don't have smelly breath .. rarely break wind ... there coats are clean & no scurf in it

 

basically i am very pleased with there overall condition & well-being ... i am finding it harder to buy now due to costs but i switched to roll ups to compensate :laugh:

[Jordb543 9]

I didn't have any health issues with my dogs when i switched to raw but boy the difference is amazing.. there waste is firm & easy to clean up & i would hazard a guess its a good % less in volume... they don't have smelly breath .. rarely break wind ... there coats are clean & no scurf in it

 

basically i am very pleased with there overall condition & well-being ... i am finding it harder to buy now due to costs but i switched to roll ups to compensate :laugh:

 

% less volume sounds good, the dalmation shits are like a horse lol, luckilymy step dad is good mates with the local butcher so im pretty sure we would get a good deal on the off cuts etc he's going to go in on monday to ask

Edited November 6, 2010 by Jordb543

[smasher 1,055]

I didn't have any health issues with my dogs when i switched to raw but boy the difference is amazing.. there waste is firm & easy to clean up & i would hazard a guess its a good % less in volume... they don't have smelly breath .. rarely break wind ... there coats are clean & no scurf in it

 

basically i am very pleased with there overall condition & well-being ... i am finding it harder to buy now due to costs but i switched to roll ups to compensate :laugh:

good advise, and i admire your money saving tecniques,however i do feel your dogs would run much better if you could ween them off the tobacoo altogether