Barf Diet?

[DobermanDave]

ive decided to put my doberman and amstaff on a barf diet but i need a kind of extra strengh barf diet to make them big..does anyone have any recipes for me to use ..also i know nothing about the barf diet i only know its raw foods.. thanks

[DobermanDave]

i couldnt be bothered mnaking the barf myself cant you get ready made barf??

[KitKat]

Yes you can get 'ready made' BARF...if you do a seach on BARF in this forum and the General forum you'll be bombarded with info Happy reading

[DobermanDave]

thanks

[MonElite]

This is how I "make" my BARF.

Drive to the buthcer and buy in bulk chicken frames, wings, necks plus

Lamb necks, pork bones. Plus chicken mince.

Come home and package into meal size bags and freeze. When ready take a bag in the morning before I leave for work and is defrosted by the time I come home, ready to serve on the silver platter :-P

Go to the pet shop to get mince meat (beef or kangaroo) on the way back stop at the fruit and veg shop get vegies and some fruit (for myslef as well)

At home throw into the food processor vegies, eggs (yes with shells) some nuts, some seeds and blend into a paste.

Mix with minced meat and package into meal ready sizes and freeze.

1/2 hour of preparation for at least 4 weeks supply.

Oh and must not forget - OH brings fish from his fishing trips - bones, fins, guts and heads for the dog. If no fishing $2.99/kg for spanish makrell in the local fish shop - 2-3 for Rex's dinner is all its required.

BARF is not time consuming, you need to prepare yourself well and source food in good cheap places.

[espinay2]

A BARF (Bones and Raw Food) diet or raw diet as some of us prefer to call it is very easy to prepare and feed. Doing it yourself is ideal as while you can buy pre-prepared things such as 'BARF patties' in some areas, the cost of them is way more than if you were doing things yourself. I do suggest doing a bit of reading first so you get the idea of how it is done. There are a few main princples however, that a very good to remember:

*Feed a variety of foods over time

*feed balance over time and dont necessarily strive to create a 'perfectly balanced' meal in every bowl

*bones that your dog can chew up and eat are just as important as meat as without them your dog will not be getting important nutrients such as calcium.

Think of it this way though - your aim is to re-create a prey animal over time by feeding meat, bones and organs. You can also add things like fish, eggs, some veggies, a bit of yoghurt etc once or twice a week, but meat. bones and organs - in the proportions you see in a prey animal - are what you will generally feed the most of.

Look for things like chicken frames/necks/wings; turkey necks; lamb flaps/necks; beef brisket bones/tails; kangaroo tails/mince; rabbit; heart, kidney and liver from various animals; and so on. Whatever you have available in your area

When it come to feeding and 'extra strength' diet, there is no need. If you have a growing pup/young dog, for starters, you will want to grow them slow and lean. I really have to emphasise that. There is NO REASON, apart from owners ego, to grow a pup fast and it can do way more harm to the pup than good. By trying to grow them quickly you only leave the poor dog open to bone and joint growth problems. Keeping the pup/young dog wiry with plenty of good muscle tone is the best way to ensure a dog will have the best chance of growing up healthy into the big strong dog you want.

That said, even just switching to a raw diet many have found that health and muscle tone have improved. I am presuming that is what you mean by 'big' and it is not an ego thing where you are trying to create artificially macho 'pumped up' gym junkies out of your dogs

[DobermanDave]

thanks so much but u know the confusing part is feed a variety of foods at diferent times like i understand the fish once a week stuff but who could be bothered changing the dogs diet every couple of weeks to something new

[DobermanDave]

and na i dont mean muscled up i just dont want my doberman too skinny

[DobermanDave]

ohh ok i get it so things like vegies and fish and that i only feed a couple of times a week but the chicken frames,pork bones ,liver and so on i feed everyday

[zayda_asher]

Try getting a copy of Carina MacDonald's "Raw Dog Food" - very easy guide to follow...

http://www.raw-dogs.com/

Dan

[espinay2]

the changing foods is not that hard - you just need to establish a bit of a different mind set and routine from feeding the same thing out of the bag all the time.

The first thing is to buy stuff and stock your freezer (a good size freezer is useful). Buy a variety of things and bag them up in bags that represent a meal (or a days worth of food) for your two dogs. When you shop for your weekly/fortnightly food supplies for example you may get something like the following (amounts may vary depending on how much your dogs eat):

*10 kgs of chicken frames (you can buy this usually for under or around $10 depending on where you are and where you buy from)

*A few kgs of brisket bones or assorted 'offcuts' if you prefer

*4 or so lamb necks or flaps

*a bag or two of turkey necks (woolies sells them down here)

*a kilo or two of kangaroo mince and/or a few kilos of chicken or 'pet mince'

*a few lamb hearts, a tray of liver (chicken, beef or lamb) and one of kidney (I usually stock up when they have 'mark downs' at woolies - just get what is available.

Bag the frames and bones and mince into meal-size bags and then just throw everything in the freezer. You can bag the organ meat (heart/liver etc) into smaller bags if you wish too. The organ meats are 'accompaniments' to meals and not full meals

Now comes the 'hard' part :

Each day, pull a bag out to thaw (I usually get one out to thaw for the next day at feeding time). Doesn't matter what order you pull them out in.

Every couple of days pull out a little bag of organ meats as well (eg a couple of chicken livers) and feed that as well.

On the days you pull out the mince, occasionally throw in an egg or a glob of yoghurt or a can of sardines or other fish as well.

You can save leftover veggies and other healthy food scraps and add this to the meal too (I find it easier to just feed leftover veggies than preparing veggies especially for them) - try to mash veggies up or puree them in a blender or with a drinks blender first as dogs cant really digest them otherwise.

You can also keep an emergency 'I have run out of things in the freezer' or 'whoops I forgot to thaw something' meal in the cupboard. Cans of mackeral, tuna or salmon for example or something like Home Brand cat food sardines or tuna! (basically they are just the fish with no additives and they are cheaper than the human ones) For that occasional day when you just need something to feed, a can of fish with some egg, yoghurt, veggies, or whatever you happen to have available does just fine.

HTH

[MonElite]

bones and chicken 4 times a week

mince with veg and other bits twice a week

fish once a week

Just as a guide.

if it means 3 days in row for chicken - so be it, next week it might be 2 x fish and 3 times meat and veg meat. whtever is in the freezer.

Just try not get into "all meat" diet.

[DobermanDave]

ok thanks now i know what to buy but will bones and chicken really satisfy a dog and you said to only buy 1 to 2 kg of mince how long should this last isnt that only a little bit

[MonElite]

My dog eats 1kg of chicken necks or frames for dinner. You should see how satisfied he is after them LOL - he loves it!

mince meat about 500g for a meal - the rest is veg etc (I break the BARF rule a bit and give small amounts of pasta or rice or bread in the meal) - he is nto crush hot on this type of a meal (dislikes vegies)

I buy 5kg of mince in one go.

I buy 10kg of frames in one box for $4 - there is about 12-14 big ones in there. He eats 2 for dinner.

close to 1kg of fish for a meal

Oh - and when Im really lazy I buy scottys rolls from a petshop they are $6.50 for 2kg he eats 1kg for a meal.

And this is how my dog looks like - when enjoying himself

http://lukrowi.pl/galeria/index.php?p=2&id...re=6872#section

[DobermanDave]

yeah that sounds exellent i wrote all the ingredients that you use down im gonna go and get them tomorrow i cant wait to see how he likes it..because he hates dog food

[DobermanDave]

is rex your dog?? if it is thats a very solid looking dobe ..the food you feed him must be excellent

[MonElite]

Yes my dogs name is Rex and he is not a "solid" or big build doberman.

He weighs about 36 kg where majority of males weight about 40kg.

He might be looking solid becouse he has great musce tone however he is not big boned or big build.

Let me know how your dog enjoyed chicken necks.

[DobermanDave]

my dogs 35

[DobermanDave]

ok this is what i could find please critique my diet... this is what i plan to feed my dog every day mix chicken frames,lamb neck,turkey necks, chicken necks and pet mince beef this is all i could get for now so im planning on putting a little of everything in bags to give to my dog everyday plus ill do that eggs vegetables and fish thing twice a week... am i doing it wrong?

[MonElite]

you will be better off with one day chicken necks, next day lamb flaps, another day mince meat with vegies, egg and joghurt. one day for fish etc.

Its easier to prepare and the dog that is choosy will not eat only the bits it likes and leave half of the meal not eaten.

Just remember your dog will most likely turn his head away from veg and egg mix so you need to "spice it" up.

I do half of the meal as mince meat and half as veg etc.

I often put some liver (raw) into the blender with the veg.

Of course all of this is mixed nicely by hand so that she can not eat meat and leave the vegies.