Calling All Raw Feeders

[poodlefan]

Howdy BARFers and other raw feeders.

I was recalling why I made the switch to raw feeding the other day when I responded to a BARF question.

I made the switch when I got involved in dog training. A couple of people I highly respected at my dog club fed this way (they were breeders too). I went to a talk at my club by Dr Ian Billinghurst and the rest is history. I've been raw feeding for 8 years now.

What about you? Why did you decide to raw feed your dogs?

[Trisven13]

Heard so much good stuff about it on here.

Read about it in Natural Nutrition for Dogs & Cats.

Heard it reduced poo - always a good thing in a multiple dog house.

Gave it a shot and have been very pleased with the results - still learning, still refining but my dogs look great and every rescue pooch we get just loves it!

[zayda_asher]

I have two dogs with Chronic Allergic Skin Disease. Zayda has food allergies and food companies have a habit of changing products and we were limited in what we could use as just about everything has things that she is allergic to in them. Asher is very sensible to chemicals and preservatives and gets ADD from some of them. So being me I was researching options and the more I read about raw feeding the more I liked the sound of it. I had control of exactly what I fed, I can exclude chemicals and preservatives to a much smaller amount, I can make sure that their diet suits them. The general health benifits lead to an overall improvement in general health which (important for any dog) helps to ensure that a dog with allergies is as healthy as possible to deal with the antigens that will be thrown at them.

My dogs have flourished and its been a great part of their general helath program. On top of that the dogs LOVE it and are so much more enthusiastic and happy about their food. Everyone wins! :D

Dan

[Dog_Horse_Girl]

It's all b/c of Lilly!

Really, she had a lot of trouble with processed foods, and the only one that didn't go straight through was Royal Canin...which was unafforable with the dog numbers we have. So, I researched the alternatives and decided that a raw, whole foods approach might be the solution.

I started off reading the BARF diet by Billinghurst, joining a raw feeders mailing list, and swapping stories with other GH owners (pets not racers). It was easy once I got started and I realised that the benefits were many. All our dogs including Piper (my foster) are raw fed. I've been doing this since late 2002 and I'd never go back to processed dog foods. :D

[MonElite]

I have neve fed commercial krap.

Got the puppy that came with a can of food and some buisquits and it just didnt make any sence to me AT ALL.

How a dried bisquit can have ALL of the nutrition, be kept in a packet for months on end and taste great........ and if that is so where is the human equivalent?????

[border14]

The way I see it, it makes perfect sense.

Before we got Duke, I knew I didnt want to give him processed food and found Dr Billinghurst Barf diet and researched the whole diet

Natural foods are always better than processed. It works the same way with humans as well

Duke, our border collie, has been on a raw diet as soon as we took him home (at 8 weeks) and he is thriving on it.

[Allerzeit]

I had developed an interest in switching to a raw diet for probably around 12 months before we did, I thought it was all a bit too scary to make the leap after a lifetime of kibble and home made dog stew :D

The catalyst for us was when Stewie was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma. Immediately switching him (and everyone) to a raw diet, along with herbal medications was the first stage of our treatment for his cancer.

[noisymina]

I read about it here soon after we got Kaisie.

I liked the sound of it and, knowing that profit dives companies, figured it made sense - and I know what is in the food.

Kaise has been fine on it, but i've been getting lazy as it is sometimes a bit of trouble if I am busy, so I have started to use a bit of Nutro - but all the meaty bones stay and the other bits and soon I will make another veg mix.

I really can't see me lugging home the tins again. It is no more trouble to pick up the meat and freeze it.

[Nadia]

My family has never lived on crap in a bag why should my animals.

Just makes sense to me.

I can't understand how some people can be so fanatical about their own health, eat no crap , work out etc etc but are quite happy to dish up processed food every day for their pets.

Fresh, wholesome foods are the go for the basis of everyones diets.

Like us junk food is ok as a treat but not the basis of a diet.

[SALTWOOD]

I had been using premium dry food plus raw chicken necks, etc. for many years.

Was satisfied to an extent but always felt that perhaps there was a slight intolerance to the dry food in some dogs.

Got converted to raw feeding by a fellow breeder - hallelluah!! Brothers and sisters I saw the light!!!!

Now feed all natural, raw, etc. foods and the dogs are much happier so I will continue to feed that way!

Smaller poos, far less gut related problems, they rarely eat grass (which used to worry me when they did) and they look forward to their dinners and raw treats!

Everyones happy including my butcher!! :D

[Pink Panther]

I have a question - I feed partly commercial, with raw meat, what would a typical BARF or raw food dinner consist of? And breakfast? (I don't like the idea of feeding even adult dogs once a day, that's a long time to go without food)

[MolassesLass]

When I got Molly I was feeding PAL dry and tins to my dogs. She did awful on it, always had upset tummy (gurling) and lots of wind. Moved to SuperCoat because it had no chemical additives or preservatives and she did much better. Then I read about BARF and thought it would make Molly do even better with no artificial items at all. Changed over and haven't looked back (although I do feed a "commercial" BARF mix and do still feed dry in addition although in very small amounts.

Pink Panther, have a read on Dr Billinghurst's sites for information on feeding. He has books available too if you decide to give it a go.

Dr Ian Billinhurst

BARF World

[shmoo]

Sweep used to be allergic to everything in the garden and always had scabs on his belly, a poor coat and bad skin.

found DOL, researched BARF and three years down the track Sweep is fit and healthy, never been sick and has baby soft skin and a gorgeous coat!

wont be going back!

eta: i used to feed him My Dog because i thought it was the best tinned food. gees i didnt know much back then!

Edited January 13, 2007 by shmoo

[JackieW]

I had lots of trouble finding a diet for Jamie that didn't give him the trots and ended up on premium dry foods. He wasn't particularly enjoying it and had to be hand-fed in summer and I thought there ought to be something better. Someone put a link to api4animals on one of the dog lists I was on, I read the article on what's really in dog food and decided to switch to raw. Jamie's never looked back. And my younger dog was switched to raw at 9 weeks and is doing well too. As is the cat :D .

[J...]

I had no intention of feeding BARF initially as I was concerned about doing it correctly. My lab x started to blow out weight wise at about 5 months, and no matter how much I cut her food back she was still too heavy for my liking. I was already feeding raw bones.

I started with adding some mushed vegies to her diet to supplement, and haven't looked back. Now I only have EP light as a backup, she gets a single handful every now and then, or she'll get a cupfull if I forget to take her mush out of the freezer :D

[sas]

It just made sense considering what a dogs digestive tract was most suited to.

[Jed]

Because I owned, showed and bred dogs prior to commercial food, the dogs always ate meat etc. - basically a raw diet - before BARF was even heard of. Everyone fed a raw diet.

When the great new improvements to dog feeding - dry food and cans - came in (about 30 years ago) - I gave them a go, but the dogs didn't do as well on them, they cost heaps more, and getting rid of the cans was always a problem.

Also, I am very sussy about pelleted foods. Having bred and shown horses I know they never achieve the same finish when fed pre-packed pre-mixed diets, or pellets, so it makes sense that dog food would be the same. More for the convenience of the owner (and the profit of the pet food manufacturers) than the good of the dog.

So, the dogs are still eating the same old, same old raw stuff, and continue to do well on it.

I do keep a quality dry food, although not always the same one, but they only get it if I am home very late, or extremely tired. They like the change, although I suspect there is enough variety in their regular diet to keep them happy. It's certainly a lot easier to pour some dry food into the bowls, but after a few days, they all jack up!!

I must confess to having a little giggle when someone new to raw food stresses about quantities, and sees it all as a fairly difficult exercise. I just make sure mine have lots of variety, meat, chicken, fruit, vegs, oil, supplements, fish, offal, ACV, whatever takes my fancy, so I know their diet is complete - and of course, bones.

After Dr. Billinghurst's books were published, I did adjust the diets slightly. If I hear or read about something I think would be beneficial, I do some research, and may add that to the diets too.

Despite having fed the same things for 40 odd years, I like to learn, and to use the information to improve things for the dogs.

Mine also have sad looking things from the fridge; veges, custard, cheese, left overs; stale biscuits, stale bread etc - not a huge amount, just the leftovers, which makes a bit of a change, and is better than throwing it out!!

I do feed cows milk, and sometimes (cooked) rolled oats with it, which I find excellent for expectant mummies, or those with babies, or for someone who needs to put on a little condition. Never had a problem with milk - either for home bred, or dogs I've bought.

[Steve]

My history is in herbal and natural medicine and even as a child I had a huge interest in nutrition and natural healing, preventions etc, which was fed by my Dad who was in the British medical journal as the first documented case where an ulcer was cured via natural remedies and diet .

I can’t get enough of it and given the choice I study nutrition for pleasure and it’s a constant quest to understand it all. There is always something new to learn and I love it.

The more you become educated on dogs, vitamins, minerals ,amino acids , enzymes how they are destroyed and interact with each other and the power they have to make such a difference to health , longevity ,the immune system and well being the more you clearly see that feeding commercial dog food just doesn’t cut it .One of my challenges was to set a canine nutrition course which doesn’t advocate one diet over any other but teaches all of these things to help people make a more educated decision on what’s best for their dogs .

To get to the position Im in now where Im able to have a go at proving the way diet impacts on everything not just in one generation but how several more generations may pay more for the way a bitch is fed than the bitch herself is truly my dream come true and something Im so passionate about its sometimes hard to contain.

I also have to say feeding raw made me look at other things we take for granted in owning dogs so now I look at everything holistically, and it’s impacted on how I do almost everything not just the feeding

[PAX]

I switched three years ago after my dog developed severe skin problems at dog puberty, and I didn't want to be in for a life of drugs and treatments.

When I switched, within a couple of months his skin was under control and drug free.

If eating fresh is best for us why would it not be the same for our dogs. The more I researched it the more I thought dogs should not eat cereal which is often the main ingredient in commercial dog foods.

I was always fanatic about doing all the BARF vegies and offal but after reading some great posts by STEVE (thanks Steve) and her comments relating it back to how we humans eat, I have been much more relaxed and the dogs look just as good. I often get asked what I feed my dogs becuase they look so good.

[Vehs]

I wanted to do the best thing by my boy and after talking to Tracy (who was Jim's puppy school teacher) I was talked me into it

oh and something about a sawdust factory.....

Edited January 14, 2007 by Vehs