BARF

[Wicked Whippets]

Last night I spent three hours grinding up chickens, turkeys and any other meat I could buy on the cheap (bones and all) for the Wicked Whippets dog pack.

For the past six months I've been feeding the pack the BARF diet. I will have to admit initally it was a little weird giving them whole bones, raw meat and ground meat mixed with veggies. But the results are better than I expected.

Four of the pack really took to the BARF (bones and raw foods) diet, while the two oldest are still adjusting to it.

Jonny the whippet has days where he scarfs it down and others where he would rather go hungry.

We haven't introduced it to Eddie the show dog whippet yet. He's been living with a handler in California and is addicted to Bil Jac kibble. After he returns to Arizona we'll see if he likes BARF.

It does take longer to prepare the food than just scooping up a dish of kibble, but the pups are thriving on it (they are bigger than their kibble-fed litter mates).

I thought it would be a problem hauling the raw meat and bones in the RV for long trips, but the Vectra has a freezer in the basement that keeps the food good and cold. When I shop on trips I look for really cheap chicken, turkey, beef or pork and voila the dogs have dinner!

My vet initially was against the BARF diet, but she said the pups are doing amazingly well on it, so now she thinks it's a viable alternative to regular pet foods.

I do supplement the meat diet with fish oil capsules and vitamin e capsules from Costco. The dogs think the capsules are treats and gobble them down in a flash.

Having a meat grinder is a huge help. You can find these used on craigslist.com.

[Wicked Whippets]

Last night I spent three hours grinding up chickens, turkeys and any other meat I could buy on the cheap (bones and all) for the Wicked Whippets dog pack.

For the past six months I've been feeding the pack the BARF diet. I will have to admit initally it was a little weird giving them whole bones, raw meat and ground meat mixed with veggies. But the results are better than I expected.

Four of the pack really took to the BARF (bones and raw foods) diet, while the two oldest are still adjusting to it.

Jonny the whippet has days where he scarfs it down and others where he would rather go hungry.

We haven't introduced it to Eddie the show dog whippet yet. He's been living with a handler in California and is addicted to Bil Jac kibble. After he returns to Arizona we'll see if he likes BARF.

It does take longer to prepare the food than just scooping up a dish of kibble, but the pups are thriving on it (they are bigger than their kibble-fed litter mates).

I thought it would be a problem hauling the raw meat and bones in the RV for long trips, but the Vectra has a freezer in the basement that keeps the food good and cold. When I shop on trips I look for really cheap chicken, turkey, beef or pork and voila the dogs have dinner!

My vet initially was against the BARF diet, but she said the pups are doing amazingly well on it, so now she thinks it's a viable alternative to regular pet foods.

I do supplement the meat diet with fish oil capsules and vitamin e capsules from Costco. The dogs think the capsules are treats and gobble them down in a flash.

Having a meat grinder is a huge help. You can find these used on craigslist.com.

[Avalondanes]

I have been feeding raw for 10 years. I do not start my pups on raw until they are about 4-5 months old. I do supplement with digestive enhancer, tri-cran C, and cornacopia from Natures Farmacy. Digestive Enhancer is enzymes(1 tsp = 100 cups yogurt) Tri-Cran C is all 3 C's plus cranberry, Cornucopia (3tbl sp water with 3tbl sp cornucpoia = 1 lb fresh veggies) All my dogs love the raw and it is easy on the road at shows. You can find these Here

[Avalondanes]

Oh, and with my dogs, Great Danes, Pointers, Greater Swiss, I do not grind the meat/bones. They take great pleasure in crunching them. Even raw chicken bones are ok. It is only cooked bones that are bad because they become brittle and will splinter, while raw is very pliable and easy to digest.

Richard

[Wicked Whippets]

I only grind the bones and meat for their evening meal, which is veggies stirred into ground meat with yogurt, vinegar and some powdered vitamins.

In the morning they get 1/4 chicken or turkey necks. As a treat (if we can find it really cheap) they get a chunk of steak or roast (they go crazy for beef).

[mom2mastiffs]

I have fed BARF for the past 12 years. My guys get pork necks, venison necks, buffalo tails, etc in addition to Bravo raw food which is ground meat, bones, veggies and organs. I started selling it 3 years ago so of course they get it . Because Surf had the cystinuria he couldn't have any chicken and not much turkey so it made it easier since they have the pork and beef rolls.
They love it and are much healthier I think.

We also have the basement freezer in addition to the MH freezer--they get 1/2 of it too! Those 2 week trips are a bit of a challenge though

Thanks for starting great conversations!

karen