Raw Diet

[feher]

Post em up if you have one. Just spent a bit on the Eagle Pack Holistic Kibble, and the boxer bitch is not all about that either. So I guess I'll have to give raw a go...

Quick easy to do recipes would be much appreciated..

[aus_k9gsd]

I get mine already made

Big Dog

Canine Country

[Bully]

Post em up if you have one. Just spent a bit on the Eagle Pack Holistic Kibble, and the boxer bitch is not all about that either. So I guess I'll have to give raw a go...

Quick easy to do recipes would be much appreciated..

I really suggest that you read up on the subject first. "Give Your Dog A Bone" by Dr Ian Billinghurst is a good start.

There are lots and lots of websites if you "Google" BARF. It's not about just chucking some meat and bones in a bowl. The diet must be balanced. There are suppliers of BARF diets that someone may be able to put you on to. I've never used them.

Here's a good website from Vineen Boxers http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Flats/7244/vineen.html

I've been feeding BARF ("Bones and Raw Food" or "Biologically Appropriate Raw Food") for around 13 years now. It's the best thing that I've ever done for my dogs, and there's no way that I would ever feed commercial.

Go for it. It will be the best thing that you ever do for your 4-legged best friend.

[Golden Rules]

The other option is to part feed a prey model diet while you work out how to change over to a BARF diet.

Try chicken carcasses for breakfast and then the commercial diet for tea.

Chicken carcasses are cheap and great for their teeth - as well as often having a lot of meat on them.

[tramissa]

Mine is no fuss

From Pet Cafe, I buy their pulped vegge mix (450g for about $2.50). 2 of those does my 2 a fortnight (7kg & 8kg).

I also buy 5 x 900g packets mince/chunks - combination of roo, roo steak & kidney and combo (chicken, beef & roo) at about $22 for the 5 (discount to buy 5). They only go through 3 of these a fortnight, just cheaper to buy in packs of 5 and then one fortnight I won't need to buy any

1 packet turkey necks @ $3.20 - ~1kg. 1 x 1kg packet chicken wings @ $2.80. 1 x 1kg packet other bones (lamb flaps, brisket - whatever is in stock at the time - usually enough for 3 meals each) @ $4.20

1 x 500g tub natural yoghurt (this usually lasts the month).

3 pack homebrand sardines

400g or closest to of offal - I try and get 2 different types, usually kidney and liver, sometimes brain/tongue etc. Sometimes I can only get bigger packs so I cut it up.

6 pack of eggs (cheapest brand)

Menu for the week;

Sunday - breakfast - 1 x chicken wing OR 2 x chicken neck OR 1 x turkey neck

dinner - vegge mix, 1 egg, 1 tbsp yoghurt

Monday - breakfast - 100g mince

dinner - bones

Tuesday - breakfast - chicken bones

dinner - vegge mix, 1/2 tin sardines, 1 tbsp yoghurt

Wednesday - breakfast - chicken bones

dinner - 100g mince

Thursday - breakfast - mince

dinner - bones

Friday breakfast - chicken bones

dinner - vegge mix, 100g offal, 1 tbsp yoghurt

Saturday breakfast - chicken bones

dinner - mince

They get 2 - 3% of their body weight over the course of a day, so Jonno gets 160g - 240g and Minnie 140g - 210g per day. May get less one day, more another - I'm not toooo strict on it but I watch how they look carefully. The bones/chicken/turkey I mix around, but I save the bones that they don't eat all of (like brisket) for when I am home for a longer period.

Sounds like a lot of fuss, but it's not really - it's just as quick to do as pouring a cup of biscuits etc. I freeze everything into meal size portions, except the mince, which comes in a 900g packet and just make sure I take enough out for the next day at breakfast. The vegge mix I just use a spoon and plop everything in their bowls, give a quick stir and down on the ground They are loving it. The Pet Cafe vegge mix has supplements added to it as well.

[tramissa]

Just to note, I feed twice a day because if I don't feed in the morning, my girl throws up. Every time. And if I don't feed in the evening, they harass me until I put them to bed. I know I could phase that out if I really wanted to, but it's not doing them any harm to split their meals with the main meal in the morning, so I can't be bothered going through the torture of cutting out the evening meal

[indigirl]

I love the idea of a raw diet.. its just so labour intensive, i tried it and found i was so over it by the time Id prepared the dogs food that I was buying takeaway or just eating toast for dinner myself! Why cant they invent a raw diet that comes in a tin or a box LOL

[rose of tralee]

indiegirl: 'I love the idea of a raw diet.. its just so labour intensive...' and OP, you might like to read up on prey style (raw by definition), there are a # of happy users here. Sorry I don't have time to hunt down the comprehensive thread, which is only a page or two back probably. The variety in the prey model comes from sourcing parts from different species, tossing in regular eggs, maybe supplementing with fish oil. Some folk prefer to make out a weekly plan and stick to it, others more flexible. Personally, I am cool with dogs with consuming good quality people leftovers a la Lonsdale but she who ate *everything* is RIP. The only child is very selective! Got to do our own pan licking

On chicken frames, a more determined person than me might like to dig out the kidney which is welded inside the backbone and see what percentage it makes up. If a male, the 'nads may still be there too for extra variety. Pity no liver, which is THE organ. It's a happy day when the heart is still inside

[persephone]

http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?show...982&hl=BARF

http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?show...609&hl=BARF

[indigirl]

indiegirl: 'I love the idea of a raw diet.. its just so labour intensive...' and OP, you might like to read up on prey style (raw by definition), there are a # of happy users here. Sorry I don't have time to hunt down the comprehensive thread, which is only a page or two back probably. The variety in the prey model comes from sourcing parts from different species, tossing in regular eggs, maybe supplementing with fish oil. Some folk prefer to make out a weekly plan and stick to it, others more flexible. Personally, I am cool with dogs with consuming good quality people leftovers a la Lonsdale but she who ate *everything* is RIP. The only child is very selective! Got to do our own pan licking

On chicken frames, a more determined person than me might like to dig out the kidney which is welded inside the backbone and see what percentage it makes up. If a male, the 'nads may still be there too for extra variety. Pity no liver, which is THE organ. It's a happy day when the heart is still inside

I sourced cheap plentiful chicken frames.. and bought them 10kgs at a time but alas they did not agree with 2 of my dogs.. they lost condition and weight so had to stop feeding them.

[Guest Tess32]

I love the idea of a raw diet.. its just so labour intensive, i tried it and found i was so over it by the time Id prepared the dogs food that I was buying takeaway or just eating toast for dinner myself! Why cant they invent a raw diet that comes in a tin or a box LOL

It isn't. It takes the time that you can go to a freezer, take out some meat and give it to the dogs Add to that say a once a month mash up of vegies if you choose to or bagging the meat you buy, and it's really not that much time.

The majority of the time my dogs just get pieces of meat on bone, and in the morning get chopped up bits of offal, meat or fish. Pretty simple.

[jans]

This isn't raw, but it's easy and economical. But you need a slow cooker. This quantity lasts my 2 smallish dogs about 5 days.

Chicken risotto slow cooker recipe:

· approx 700g of chicken fillet (thigh with skin on is good)

· 2 cups white rice

· 3 carrots-roughly chopped

· 2 stick celery-roughly chopped

· 1/2 bunch parsley (optional)

. clove of garlic

· 1- 1.5 litres of water- enough to cover all ingredients by 2cm or so.

chuck all in crock pot. put on high for 4 hours. I use a timer so it is ready when I come home from work. Add 1Tbsp doggy vitamin powder + 2Tbsp Flaxseed oil to risotto when cooled. Serve to doggies who will gobble it up.

[Guest Tess32]

This isn't raw, but it's easy and economical. But you need a slow cooker. This quantity lasts my 2 smallish dogs about 5 days.

Chicken risotto slow cooker recipe:

· approx 700g of chicken fillet (thigh with skin on is good)

· 2 cups white rice

· 3 carrots-roughly chopped

· 2 stick celery-roughly chopped

· 1/2 bunch parsley (optional)

. clove of garlic

· 1- 1.5 litres of water- enough to cover all ingredients by 2cm or so.

chuck all in crock pot. put on high for 4 hours. I use a timer so it is ready when I come home from work. Add 1Tbsp doggy vitamin powder + 2Tbsp Flaxseed oil to risotto when cooled. Serve to doggies who will gobble it up.

That isn't all you feed though? It would be lacking in calcium. Dogs don't need carbohydrates so the rice is just a filler and they need the vegetables to be mushed in order to digest the nutrients.