RAW Feeding (BARF/RMB) for newbies

[freekygeeky]

Originally Posted by Ssthisto

Stupid as it might sound, Freekygeeky... do they appear to be having any trouble or discomfort when they poo?

Maybe you're just used to the over-inflated "look, we're feeding carnivores on grain they can't properly digest" poo that commercial cat food produces, and the cats are now doing poo that's completely appropriate for the diet they're eating?

havent seen them do their poos unfotunatly. but maybe i have only ever seen semi runny poos...maybe for once i am seeing a normal poo, which im not usedto? hmph

[welsh_lady21]

Ive just started looking into this diet for my Beagle. I've seen they make minces, i was just wandering if you can just feed the minces and some bones but i dont fancy whole rabbits n stuff

[fenwoman]

Originally Posted by welsh_lady21

Ive just started looking into this diet for my Beagle. I've seen they make minces, i was just wandering if you can just feed the minces and some bones but i dont fancy whole rabbits n stuff

If you don't fancy feeding BARF properly, perhaps you should stick to kibble. BARF is no good for squeamish people. The whole point is that they need the fibre from the bones and fur and all the reast of the carcase. Feeding nice clean mince which doesn't look like a dead animal is just a cop out.
You might just as well feed tinned food and biscuit with the occasional bone as a treat.

[welsh_lady21]

Originally Posted by fenwoman

If you don't fancy feeding BARF properly, perhaps you should stick to kibble. BARF is no good for squeamish people. The whole point is that they need the fibre from the bones and fur and all the reast of the carcase. Feeding nice clean mince which doesn't look like a dead animal is just a cop out.
You might just as well feed tinned food and biscuit with the occasional bone as a treat.

Ahhh ok I think we're gonna go with the dry food option. Thanks tho! Im not squeamish just no idea where to get these things

[fenwoman]

Originally Posted by welsh_lady21

Ahhh ok I think we're gonna go with the dry food option. Thanks tho! Im not squeamish just no idea where to get these things

Ahh well I'm sure someone could have helped you to source them if you had wanted to go that route. It is a pretty intensive way to feed though and requires some effort and thought. Leaving a bowl of kibble down all day is by far the easiest way to do things.However even that can be mucked up by for example adding tinned food to it. Complete food is complete food, anything added simply messes up the balance of nutrition. If people want to feed tinned food, they need to add a mixer instead of using a complete diet as a mixer.
Ideally to feed BARF you would also need freezer space, if not to store whole carcase, but to get a good selection of the mices which ideally wouldn't come from a pet shop but from someone like landywoods and which has chciken mince which inclused minced bone, and they also do chicken carcases and wings, turkey neck and the like so that the dog actually gets the nutrients it needs. BARF is not just about feeding your dog raw mince and the occasional bone, it tries to emulate the diet a wild carnivore would get.
It's a brilliant way to feed dogs, but is fairly intensive and to be honest with humans passion for feeding easy peasy no effort ready meals and take aways to themselves, I can see that kibble would be on a par.

[dragons jen]

I've just switched to BARF and I don't find it any trouble at all, just a case of getting into a routine, and not forgetting to take the meat out the freezer . I do the veg once a week, weigh out the meat, bag them up in portions and bung them in the freezer.

I've been lucky enough to find a local gamekeeper who butchers venison and he is keeping me all the bones and other bits he can't use, heads, hoof end of leg and the odd bit of skin. He also keeps me the Pheasant carcases. He only takes the breasts off, so I just skin them, to save having feathers everywhere, and take out any unwanted bits from inside.

[Esarosa]

Wow pheasant and venison. What posh doggies you have

[fenwoman]

Originally Posted by dragons jen

I've just switched to BARF and I don't find it any trouble at all, just a case of getting into a routine, and not forgetting to take the meat out the freezer . I do the veg once a week, weigh out the meat, bag them up in portions and bung them in the freezer.

I've been lucky enough to find a local gamekeeper who butchers venison and he is keeping me all the bones and other bits he can't use, heads, hoof end of leg and the odd bit of skin. He also keeps me the Pheasant carcases. He only takes the breasts off, so I just skin them, to save having feathers everywhere, and take out any unwanted bits from inside.

what bits inside a pheasant are unwanted? My lot get the lot including the feathers and whatever is inside too.

[dragons jen]

I was told to take out anything that might have food in it, like paunching a rabbit, but if I don't need to it saves me a messy job!

And my dog IS very posh, well he will be once I've finished grooming him!!

[fenwoman]

Originally Posted by dragons jen

I was told to take out anything that might have food in it, like paunching a rabbit, but if I don't need to it saves me a messy job!

And my dog IS very posh, well he will be once I've finished grooming him!!

My lot always get whole carcase. I feed them my surplus bantam cockerels and all I do is neck and chuck. They eat the lot. When I'm doing a big cockerel for my dinner, I cut off head, feet and then gut and the dogs get that.
As I tell people , in the wild, there is no little hedge fairy to jump out on a kill and stop the animal from eating everything until she has filleted the thing and taken out 'unwanted bits'

The only thing is that you do have to have a proper worming regime in place if you feed whole carcase. I worm every 3-4 months anyway as I live closely with my animals and several also sleep in or on my bed. However I horrified at the amount of dog owners, good , loving and caring ones at that, who rarely worm their dogs. Some as infrequently as only once a year. Well why bother at all then? It horrifies me because often the dog is part of a family where there are children , and while I'm not a clean freak, having children playing with dogs who are probably infested with roundworms, the larvae of which can blind them, and the possibility of the children getting tapeworm segments on their hands and getting them in their mouths to infest them with tapeworms is shocking to me.
Feeding whole carcase is a good way to get the brain in gear about worming more frequently.Especially if you feed wild rabbits as I do.

As for posh dogs, I too have posh dogs. I also have one who is not only posh, but done TV appearances and is rare. HRH the Princess Katie Pumpkin, my Tibetan spaniel.