Hi,

I'm thinking od starting my dogs on a BARF diet. They are currently on James Wellbeloved dry and wet. (they wont eat plain dry food). It's a good food, but the more i hear about BARF the more I want to change.

Someone suggested i read Give your dog a bone, which I have ordered. Until to arrives I have a few questions, which I'm hopeing someone can help me with. It's been suggested that I start by one day a week feeding a mixture of veg, offall bio yogurt/ cottage cheese etc, (the list is too long to bore you all with,) and raw chicken/lambs ribs to see how they go. Any think this is a bad idea?

They did stress that all veg has to be blended for digestion.
I'm worried that the diet will be hard work to prepare, I'm not lazy, but is limited of a morning etc.
I'm also worried about cost I currently spend about £70 a month for two dogs, don't really want to have to spend much more.



Thanks so much.

Sue

Hi Sue!

Since nobody has answered so far, I'll give it a go, even if I don't adhere to the Barf rules when feeding fresh food.

As for switching: a lot of people have made an abrupt switch from one day to the other. Others have started slowly, by giving the odd fresh snack or adding some fresh food to the meals - there's no hard and fast rule here.

About vegetable foods: yes, that has mostly to be treated to be made digestible. Since the Barfers will not cook, they puree the veggies and fruit. But you need not give veggies with every meal, normally you wouldn't do so when feeding meaty bones - these are fed on their own. So if you're pressed for time in the mornings, defrost some meaty bones overnight and give them that! Another good idea is to freeze the veggie blends in the required portions; ice cubes trays are very good for this. Once the cubes are frozen, you can put them in freezer bags and just take out what you need to defrost for the next meal. Apple and carrot you can also feed finely grated, they are easier to digest than other things.

Can't advise you about costs, but it all depends on discovering sources wher you can get meat and offal at decent prices. If you are not generally against feeding a moderate amount of carbohydrates, you can also feed some locally grown potatoes or grains for fuel. It all depends on what you have to pay for meat. Personally, I'd rather feed some high quality grains than huge amounts of slaughterhouse refuse, but I might think different if I had unlimited access to wild rabbits.....

Susanna

Whoops sorry I did reply to Sue but sent her an email as I thought it would be easier as I wanted to send her some more info at the time Sorry!

Sandy

Never mind, surely no harm done by a belated public answer!

Fact is, I was feeling quite barfy this evening, as I've pureed something for Rhian only the second time ever! But deep down in the freezer I found some rather elderly raspberries, having lost shape but still smelling good. So I blended them with some apple and banana and now have a rather nice fruit mix which will make a nice change from the eternal carrots.

Normally, I won't be bothered too much by making up all sorts of veggies, as I think carrots and apples and occasionally some green stuff will cover most of the benefits of phytoprotectants, but some variety there won't come amiss!

I think I'm all set.

Thanks Sandy for the info, Gathered quite a bit off the net. Going to place an order with Landywood for some stuff, and stocking up with asda smart price chicken quarters.

Next job is to clean the freezer in the garage that i haven't used in a while, fun

Hopefully the dogs will like their new diet!

Sue