Anyone Feeding Barf ?

[PuggaWuggles]

Hi all,

Just some curious questions for you.

Can you add sardines to BARF Patties and mix it in?

Can you swap straight over to canned(Natures Gift) food from BARF?

What should be added to BARF Patties or Natures Gift canned food to make it better ie-sardines,or fruit?

I am at the cross roads as to what to feed Wuggles,he currently has BARF with a few raw meaty bones per week,but is really not very keen on RMB's,so i was thinking of swappring him over to Natures Gift wet canned food,and only giving him 1 RMB per week.BARF is really getting to the hip pocket,Natures Gift is a lot cheaper,and i have been told that Natures Gift is the same as BARF,but it has been cooked in the can and sealed all the goodness in.

Any advice or knowledge would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[westiemum]

Hi PW,

I feed Barf patties 'cos my guys do soooo well on it. If expense is an issue, there are a few raw feeders on DOL who make their own Barf mix cheaply, quickly and easily - if I can find the links tonight I'll post them for you.

Personally, I'd try reducing costs by making my own barf before I switched to cans (which IMHO are not always cheaper anyway) - and I really want to know whats in my dogs food and I can't do that with cans. But bear in mind I'm a biased raw/barf feeder...

Hope that helps

[RallyValley]

I tried roo BARF patties and my dogs wouldn't touch them.... and these are dogs that eat lettuce. I ended up giving them to my dad's friend to use for fishsing burley.

[PuggaWuggles]

Hi PW,

I feed Barf patties 'cos my guys do soooo well on it. If expense is an issue, there are a few raw feeders on DOL who make their own Barf mix cheaply, quickly and easily - if I can find the links tonight I'll post them for you.

Personally, I'd try reducing costs by making my own barf before I switched to cans (which IMHO are not always cheaper anyway) - and I really want to know whats in my dogs food and I can't do that with cans. But bear in mind I'm a biased raw/barf feeder...

Hope that helps

Thanks westiemum,that would be great.BARF is great,the pug loves it,but i cant get him to chew much on a RMB.And the cost is a bit more than i like.I am still doing alot of research on all of this before i change anything.Thanks for the advise and the links.

[PuggaWuggles]

I tried roo BARF patties and my dogs wouldn't touch them.... and these are dogs that eat lettuce. I ended up giving them to my dad's friend to use for fishsing burley.

Thats pretty expensive burley .so what do you feed now?

[Red Fox]

Make your own

The recipe for the BARF patties is in the Ian Billinghurst book 'The BARF Diet'. It's MUCH cheaper to make than it is to buy

All you need is 60% RMB -minced chicken frames are an average of $2 per kilo

15% minced up veg -cheap if you buy whats in season or on sale, or just use up old/left over veg from you fridge

10% offal -again pretty cheap

5% minced up fruit -You want it ripe so this is a good way to use up old fruit you may have in the fridge

The other 10% is made up of things like yogurt, eggs (inc shells), garlic, flaxseed oil, sardines, etc.

The books explain things in much more detail but that's the basics of it. It's cheap and easy to do, a few hours each month to mix it all up and freeze in small portions and you're done

Natures Gift doesn't have any bone content as far as I'm aware... Just meat, veg and rice

[PuggaWuggles]

Make your own ;)

The recipe for the BARF patties is in the Ian Billinghurst book 'The BARF Diet'. It's MUCH cheaper to make than it is to buy

All you need is 60% RMB -minced chicken frames are an average of $2 per kilo

15% minced up veg -cheap if you buy whats in season or on sale, or just use up old/left over veg from you fridge

10% offal -again pretty cheap

5% minced up fruit -You want it ripe so this is a good way to use up old fruit you may have in the fridge

The other 10% is made up of things like yogurt, eggs (inc shells), garlic, flaxseed oil, sardines, etc.

The books explain things in much more detail but that's the basics of it. It's cheap and easy to do, a few hours each month to mix it all up and freeze in small portions and you're done

Natures Gift doesn't have any bone content as far as I'm aware... Just meat, veg and rice

Thanks SecretKei,Do you use a food processor to mix it all up,or can it just be chopped up and can i put everything in together and mince it all?

Do the minced chicken frames make up the whole 60% of RMB,or do you add other meats to it?Can these frames be minced even more as so there are no sharp bones that could cause damage,as Wugs snorts his food,no chewing involved.

Can you just use frozen Veges of all sorts to mince up?

Can i use any fruits,mostly i would use bananas,apples,strawberries,and oranges?

Are the 10% of yogurt, eggs (inc shells), garlic, flaxseed oil, sardines, etc all mixed in together,or do you use different ones for different batches?

Thanks

Edited November 30, 2009 by PuggaWuggles

[RallyValley]

Right now they get chicken mince, she gets senior biscuts, he gets pumpkin/sweet potato mash and they both get chicken frames and necks.

I tried roo BARF patties and my dogs wouldn't touch them.... and these are dogs that eat lettuce. I ended up giving them to my dad's friend to use for fishsing burley.

Thats pretty expensive burley .so what do you feed now?

[PuggaWuggles]

Right now they get chicken mince, she gets senior biscuts, he gets pumpkin/sweet potato mash and they both get chicken frames and necks.

I tried roo BARF patties and my dogs wouldn't touch them.... and these are dogs that eat lettuce. I ended up giving them to my dad's friend to use for fishsing burley.

Thats pretty expensive burley .so what do you feed now?

Now that would be easy enough for me to do,the only problem is that Wugs snorts his food(typical piggy pug),he doesnt chew,we did try the minced chicken frames,but we found alot of sharp bones that we were not comfortable giving to him,as he has had chocking problems before.

[RallyValley]

The chicken mince is just minced up frames so it dosent make a diffrence if you give the frames or not. You could use chicken wings or legs, we just give frames to them to occupy thier time and keep their teeth white and sharp.

Edited for making sense.

Edited November 30, 2009 by valleywa

[Sandra777]

we did try the minced chicken frames,but we found alot of sharp bones that we were not comfortable giving to him,as he has had chocking problems before.

I doubt the bones would be the reason he was choaking but all the chicken mince I've ever seen is very sticky and stays in a lump so would easily cause choaking. If you're prepared to try again I have found that if you keep the chicken mince in a fairly flat open container in the fridge it dries out a little (don't need to petrify it ) and it's easier to divide into appropriate sized pieces for the size of the dog. With dogs that hoover everything in their bowl up into their mouth and then try to swallow (pelican dogs ) you sometimes have to either feed them bit by bit or lay a trail around the floor so all the food isn't in one place at one time.

[Shmurps]

Hi all,

Just some curious questions for you.

Can you add sardines to BARF Patties and mix it in?

Can you swap straight over to canned(Natures Gift) food from BARF?

What should be added to BARF Patties or Natures Gift canned food to make it better ie-sardines,or fruit?

I am at the cross roads as to what to feed Wuggles,he currently has BARF with a few raw meaty bones per week,but is really not very keen on RMB's,so i was thinking of swappring him over to Natures Gift wet canned food,and only giving him 1 RMB per week.BARF is really getting to the hip pocket,Natures Gift is a lot cheaper,and i have been told that Natures Gift is the same as BARF,but it has been cooked in the can and sealed all the goodness in.

Any advice or knowledge would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Is that true, Nature's Gift is the same as BARF patties? I have never bothered to read the ingredience in Natures Gift.

[Kelly_Louise]

I would not change from BARF to Nature's Gift straight away... it will only end messily :rolleyes:

No I don't think that Nature's Gift canned food is anything like BARF at all.

I have tried BARF, Sasha loved it, it was cheaper - but she did not hold condition and it upset her tummy. I had no choice but to switch to canned food, I use Advance canned - it's much more expensive to feed this way but it's the only thing I can do to keep her in good condition and to avoid upsetting her stomach and she now has nice, consistently firm poos rather than consistently runny ones.

Stick with what your dog does best on. I'd love to be able to feed a raw diet - Sasha gets a small meaty bone every week and it is the only thing we can get away with without upsetting her belly and putting her off food. She loves chicken necks too, and chicken frames - but they just don't agree with her...

[Red Fox]

Hi PW

Yep, I process all my fruit and veg together in the food processor. I also add eggs (w/shell included), kelp, garlic, parsley and either Omega Pet or Flaxseed oil to the mix.

I don't actually make the barf patties up like in the book. Kei chews his bones so I tend to feed whole chicken frames, neck and wings, roo tail and leg bones and also roo mince, along with my vegie slops, yogurt, sardines, etc.

I would suggest you buy the books 'The BARF Diet' and 'Give Your Dog a Bone' available from here: http://www.barfaustralia.com/

They would answer all your questions much better than I can. I'll try though :rolleyes:

Do the minced chicken frames make up the whole 60% of RMB,or do you add other meats to it?Can these frames be minced even more as so there are no sharp bones that could cause damage,as Wugs snorts his food,no chewing involved.

According to the book you can make up the 60% from any RMB's. Minced chicken frames/wings/necks is probably the easiest thing to get hold of already minced up though. Just ask your butcher to mince them up finely, should be easy enough.

I DO add other meats (roo mince) as part of my own dogs diet.

Can you just use frozen Veges of all sorts to mince up?

Can't see why not. I use fresh though, either old fruit/veg from the fridge or whatever is in the specials trolley at the supermarket.

Can i use any fruits,mostly i would use bananas,apples,strawberries,and oranges?

I use whatever I have around, normally apples, pears, bananas and oranges

Are the 10% of yogurt, eggs (inc shells), garlic, flaxseed oil, sardines, etc all mixed in together,or do you use different ones for different batches?

You could do either.

Hope that helps

eta. Puggy Puggy on this forum feeds her Pugs a raw diet. Maybe shoot her a PM

Edited November 30, 2009 by SecretKei

[~Anne~]

I feed my dogs my own raw mix. Their diet is varied depending on when I shop, what is in season and how much time I have.

My raw mix is made up of a combination of any or all of the following;

Minced chicken carcasses

Minced beef

Minced chicken

Minced turkey

Minced lamb

Chopped offal (hearts, liver, kidneys and whatever is available) -although I only feed this once a month on average

Veges including carrots, cabbage, zucchini, peas, corn, pumpkin, beans and others

Pasta and rice

Orange juice (freshly squeezed and combined with the mince and vege mix when I am not using carcasses)

Crushed egg shell powder (when I am not using carcasses)

I also feed tinned sardines once a week.

I was feeding a mix of (any or all) yoghurt, eggs and or pet milk each morning but have recently cut this down to only a couple of times a month now.

I also feed a sprinkle of kibble each evening.

When I have no fresh food available I feed Nature's Gift.

I make the raw mix up in large batches and freeze it in smaller portions. I might buy a few kilos ov various minces and offal, and a heap of veges and process all the veges and then mix it through a combination of the mince. I then package it into 500g bags and freeze for when I need it.

To help with their teeth, I give them really large meaty bones to chew on weekly. They spend literally hours and hours gnawing on them and then I throw the bones away.

[PuggaWuggles]

Hi all,

Just some curious questions for you.

Can you add sardines to BARF Patties and mix it in?

Can you swap straight over to canned(Natures Gift) food from BARF?

What should be added to BARF Patties or Natures Gift canned food to make it better ie-sardines,or fruit?

I am at the cross roads as to what to feed Wuggles,he currently has BARF with a few raw meaty bones per week,but is really not very keen on RMB's,so i was thinking of swappring him over to Natures Gift wet canned food,and only giving him 1 RMB per week.BARF is really getting to the hip pocket,Natures Gift is a lot cheaper,and i have been told that Natures Gift is the same as BARF,but it has been cooked in the can and sealed all the goodness in.

Any advice or knowledge would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Is that true, Nature's Gift is the same as BARF patties? I have never bothered to read the ingredience in Natures Gift.

I emailed Natures Gift to ask a few questions,and here is the response i got-

"The only purpose dry food serves is to clean teeth unless it’s a meat based dry. As most dry foods are wheat based, they also delivery very little meat based protein to your dogs diet. As you would be aware with the barf diet, dogs require high levels of meat based protein. This is why your breeder would have recommended our canned food. Our food is 70% real meat with the rest made up from grains and vegetables. Only difference between ours and the barf diet is that we cook our ingredients in the can and seal in the goodness. "

"What you have suggested about feeding one raw bone a week is perfect and your dog will thrive on our canned diet. You will see a difference in your dogs condition within a few weeks of using our food. It is complete and balanced and delivers the right amount of muscle meat protein your dog needs for optimal tissue growth and repair. "

[PuggaWuggles]

Hi PW

Yep, I process all my fruit and veg together in the food processor. I also add eggs (w/shell included), kelp, garlic, parsley and either Omega Pet or Flaxseed oil to the mix.

I don't actually make the barf patties up like in the book. Kei chews his bones so I tend to feed whole chicken frames, neck and wings, roo tail and leg bones and also roo mince, along with my vegie slops, yogurt, sardines, etc.

I would suggest you buy the books 'The BARF Diet' and 'Give Your Dog a Bone' available from here: http://www.barfaustralia.com/

They would answer all your questions much better than I can. I'll try though

Do the minced chicken frames make up the whole 60% of RMB,or do you add other meats to it?Can these frames be minced even more as so there are no sharp bones that could cause damage,as Wugs snorts his food,no chewing involved.

According to the book you can make up the 60% from any RMB's. Minced chicken frames/wings/necks is probably the easiest thing to get hold of already minced up though. Just ask your butcher to mince them up finely, should be easy enough.

I DO add other meats (roo mince) as part of my own dogs diet.

Can you just use frozen Veges of all sorts to mince up?

Can't see why not. I use fresh though, either old fruit/veg from the fridge or whatever is in the specials trolley at the supermarket.

Can i use any fruits,mostly i would use bananas,apples,strawberries,and oranges?

I use whatever I have around, normally apples, pears, bananas and oranges

Are the 10% of yogurt, eggs (inc shells), garlic, flaxseed oil, sardines, etc all mixed in together,or do you use different ones for different batches?

You could do either.

Hope that helps

eta. Puggy Puggy on this forum feeds her Pugs a raw diet. Maybe shoot her a PM

Thanks so much for the advise and suggestions SecretKei,i will surely do alot more research,and read alot more books on the subject.I am actually looking forward to making my own BARF,i just want to make sure that i am doing right and with every essential food he needs in it.

[PuggaWuggles]

I feed my dogs my own raw mix. Their diet is varied depending on when I shop, what is in season and how much time I have.

My raw mix is made up of a combination of any or all of the following;

Minced chicken carcasses

Minced beef

Minced chicken

Minced turkey

Minced lamb

Chopped offal (hearts, liver, kidneys and whatever is available) -although I only feed this once a month on average

Veges including carrots, cabbage, zucchini, peas, corn, pumpkin, beans and others

Pasta and rice

Orange juice (freshly squeezed and combined with the mince and vege mix when I am not using carcasses)

Crushed egg shell powder (when I am not using carcasses)

I also feed tinned sardines once a week.

I was feeding a mix of (any or all) yoghurt, eggs and or pet milk each morning but have recently cut this down to only a couple of times a month now.

I also feed a sprinkle of kibble each evening.

When I have no fresh food available I feed Nature's Gift.

I make the raw mix up in large batches and freeze it in smaller portions. I might buy a few kilos ov various minces and offal, and a heap of veges and process all the veges and then mix it through a combination of the mince. I then package it into 500g bags and freeze for when I need it.

To help with their teeth, I give them really large meaty bones to chew on weekly. They spend literally hours and hours gnawing on them and then I throw the bones away.

Hi PugRescue,with the large RMB's you feed the Puggies,what do you use.I have tried chicken wings,chicken necks(both whole and mashed a bit),beef brisket bones,lamb brisket bones and everytime i give him any bone,he does his best to swallow it whole,then he will chocke,cough it back up,chew a bit more and try again to swallow it whole.I dont give him chicken wings anymore,as he will only chew the tip off,and the rest he tries to swallow whole,reluctant with the chicken necks,and even the brisket bones he tries to swallow whole.he wont spend hours just chewing,i dont know if he gets bored,if he is really hungry,or he is just not the smartest pug in the world and doesnt know how to chew a bone properley.

[~Anne~]

I buy large shanks and have them cut. On the weekend, I purchased one and had the butcher cut it into three pieces. This gives me three bones the size of cauliflower head (roughly).

I don't feed wings or necks to my dogs or any bone smaller than the above. I only feed bones that they have no hope of getting into their mouths due to ahistory of choking episodes, mainly with one dog.

Edited November 30, 2009 by PugRescueSydney

[PuggaWuggles]

I buy large shanks and have them cut. On the weekend, I purchased one and had the butcher cut it into three pieces. This gives me three bones the size of cauliflower head (roughly).

I don't feed wings or necks to my dogs or any bone smaller than the above. I only feed bones that they have no hope of getting into their mouths due to ahistory of choking episodes, mainly with one dog.

Sounds like you have another Wuggles "the non chewer dog" there.

Do you just buy the shanks from a butcher or the supermarket?are they Lamb shank bones?And should i get them cut for him or let him knaw on the whole thing?