Barf Diet Or Raw Meaty Bones Diet

[FB Rescue_Adoption]

Hi There,

I have a 7 month old Staffy called Stella who is the love of my life and lately she has started to get some bald patches along the topline of her back. Weird thing is she is not itchy, it's just that the hair seems to be falling out and going a bit scaly. I'm looking at changing her diet as I've heard that some dogs can have allergies to red meat.

I've been on the internet reading about the BARF diet and wanted to try this but then I read about the 'Raw Meaty Bones' diet and I must say, I'm a bit confused. The BARF info says that dogs are Omnivores but I clearly would have thought that they are carnivores so not sure why the BARF diet includes so many vegetables (pulp) etc Is anyone able to help with this?

A raw meat diet sounds more like what mother nature would have intended for a dog to eat but then I'm not sure if that would lead to nutrient definciencies alone.

I've ruled out environmental factors as she is walked daily and runs in the park and backyard and is never itchy after that. It seems to be diet related although she is on Eagle Pack and roo/beef mince in the evenings.

Does anyone have any suggestions about either of my questions or these two diets in general?

[DeltaCharlie]

My dogs are both fed a prey model diet which is 75% meat, 15% bones, and 10% organs (liver and kidney). They also get eggs and yoghurt regularly. I switched a few years ago and have never looked back. The dogs are incredibly healthy and everyone is always commenting on them, they have so much more energy (which is needed when you train 5 days a week lol) and they just seem happier. Once I got the hang of it I have found it is just as convenient as any commercial diet. Once a month I buy all the meat and it takes me about 30mins to portion it for the dogs and cat. Costs me about $20-$30 to feed 2 dogs and a cat for a month.

Dogs are carnivores and do not need vegetables. Their bodies cannot even digest them without human interference (blender) which should tell you something about its importance to them. Basically the vegies just go straight through them and end up on your lawn. With the diet mine are fed there is hardly anything coming out the other end as it is all utilised by the body. I changed the diet 18mnths ago and have not done a poo run since.

The diet of dogs is something I am incredibly passionate about and have researched at great length so if you have any questions feel free to PM me and I can offer some advice.

Edited coz I cant spell

Edited December 24, 2007 by DeltaCharlie

[JeffnCel]

The vegetable content for wild dogs come from eating the contents of the stomach of the animal they have killed (usually a herbivore) so they do get a variety of foods in the wild.

Our Buffy is on a BARF (bones and raw food) diet which we prepare ourselves. While the bones are good, you have to be careful your dog does not get a little constipated. We give Buffy bones in the morning, and a meat mix at night. She had her weekly meal that included oats and lentils last night.

We swapped her over from Royal Canin as she was getting terrible flakey, dry and itchy skin. I originally thought it was the beef in the dry food, but I think it was just the preservatives.

Find what works for your dog Everyone's different

[Guest Tiggy]

Hopefully the diet change will do the trick but it could be something like Demodectic Mange which is fairly common in the Bull breeds.

[Andisa]

Does it matter if you feed both? I do. Like any diet there is many ways of feeding raw. I live in the suburbs and would love to throw a whole roo in the back yard and tell the dogs to get stuck into it. But I think the neighbours would go nuts over that one.

I have been feeding a whole raw diet for almost 3 yrs. I used to do dry and raw before I swapped totally over. I feed Barf, (bought and homemade) Raw Meaty Bones and the Vets all Natural which has some grains in it.

I think as long as it is raw and they are getting variety it doesn't matter. I understand the theory of dogs not processing fruit and veggies but it won't hurt them so it doesn't matter. Lets face it there is much worse that they can and do eat than fruit and veggies.

[Jed]

Hi, Delta Charlie, that is interesting. Do you have some references for the diet? What are the ratios for the diet please?

[wylie]

Jed

Delta Charlies Diet is based on the book "Raw Meaty Bones" by Tom Lonsdale an Australian Vet.

There is lots of information available through his website as well as the yahoo group Rawfeeding.

The only additive many Prey ( or Raw ) feeders would give would be Salmon oil in the diet.

Yoghurt is not something that is considered a part of the diet but any other part of an animal is. It is basically about feeding whole prey over a period of time. So a whole rabbit, a whole chicken, a whole pig or a whole cow. Every part is supposed to be a part of the diet.

It is interesting that so many feed vegies cos if you have ever watched dogs rip up a carcass they go for the stomach first but the contents are emptied out and then it is eaten. The stomach is gone for as it is soft tissue to break into the carcass to get to the rest of the meat.

I feed a modified prey diet and love it.

I love hunting for all sorts of different things. People think it is weird how my dogs love hearts and kidneys and any other offal. Mind you they also get turkey tails and emu meat and bones as well. And pigs heads are an ultimate treat here.

[DeltaCharlie]

I was actually put onto it by a friend in Canada. I feed it over about a week which means that they get meat 4 days, bones 2 days, and organs 1 day. If I havent been to the butcher and only have meat left then thats what they get that week and I increase the other stuff the next week. The idea is that they are fed whole prey over a large period of time, the percentages dont have to work out daily (or you would drive yourself insane!) They get raw egg once a week and yoghurt once a week/fortnight. It is only a small amount of yoghurt usually mixed in with the liver or something, not fed as a meal on its own. It is supposed to be a great source of calcium and nutrients for the dogs. One of their meat meals is fish, usually canned tuna/salmon/mackeral/sardines from the supermarket or leftover bits from the smelly fish place (don't know the technical name- are they a deli?). I have this chart on my fridge so I can keep track of what I have fed them that week (b=beef, c=chicken, l=lamb, k=kangaroo, f=fish).

There are alot of good websites around, I just need to find where I saved them :cool: I had them the other day when I was PMing Stella1 so they cant have gone too far.