Can you feed BARF/Raw and kibble at the same time? The reason I ask is because I would love to change my little rascal over to raw feeding, but we go away a lot at weekends visiting friends and family and I was wondering how raw feeders cope with this? Can you feed raw and then suddenly go back to kibble for a weekend? It doesn't sound right to me somehow?

On the ocassions that my Boxer pup (6 months) has been fed a home cooked meal like last nights chicken and rice, you've never seen such enthusiatic eating. Whereas I could leave a bowl of kibble down all day and he'll ignore it. I just think raw would suit him better and he'll be more enthusiastic about meal times. I have bought some chicken wings and they are sitting in the freezer, so I am gong to give him one of those for dinner to see how he takes to it.

What happens to those raw feeders out there when you go on holiday?

Just some questions before I make the leap as I don't want to start and then have to go back to AG cause I can't feed him consistently on raw.

Thanks all.

When I go away for weekends I use tinned fish Naturediet and take out something from the freezer which I will use the first night as it's defrosted by the time it's needed

Yes.. I do it all the time..

In the main.. I feed Raw.. every meal. and its not Landywoods or pet shop bought.. I feed fallen stock, and carcass (still not adept at butchering though lol) and anyone who I get to look after my dogs while I am away.. would not touch the stuff .. I am happy for them to be fed kibble for a day or two..

Can't advise at holiday times.. I don't take holidays..

Apart from one dog of mine who is on 100% raw, and the 4 little ones who are 100 % commercial (they won't touch raw), the rest of my dogs gets one meal of raw and one of complete dry every day. I don't like handling all the yucky stuff (I'm a vegetarian) so my husband feeds that, and the meal I have to feed when he's at work is dog food so easy for me. :)

That's all really interesting stuff... thanks. I would never have realised this was the case. I thought it was either one or the other. I have to say I'm rather pleased.

Funniest thing is now when I'm in the kitchen preparing meals for the 'humans' my pup is velcroed to my leg wondering if it's his dinner or ours. He looks most dissapointed when we sit down to eat and there's nothing in his bowl. That boy can hear (or should I say smell) a can of sardines being opened a mile off!!!

Excellent. I shall invest in some of the reading material I have seen recommended on here and get started then.

KAYC - When you say 'fallen stock'... what exactly do you mean? I'm curious!

> KAYC - When you say 'fallen stock'... what exactly do you mean? I'm curious

dont read anything into that lol.. Its my words, not a 'terminology'

I have friends who shoot, and also deer cull. (during the season). I get the carcasses, I call that fallen stock

I also have a couple of local farms.. both are licensed to produce dog/animal feed.. They do my mince for me.. but the rest comes as half or whole carcass.. :-)

> Its my words, not a 'terminology'

HeHe... I was just so curious when you said that, I had these visions of you in a field waiting for animals to keel over!!! LOL!!!

Ah I see... nice. You're dogs must be the happiest ever!! It's no wonder you're such an expert on raw feeding when you have all that available to you. I am going to have to do some 'sourcing' to see what's available to me.

I'm not sure I have the freezer space for whole caracasses! I may be sticking to the chicken wings!!LOL!

Thanks again

>Its my words, not a 'terminology'

I think it is a terminology, isn't it? Meaning farm stock that has died unexpectedly?

I got a couple of huge freezers Old. but in working order (until they gave up the ghost during our cold spell)

Ask around local farms.. I only found one of mine by accident.. talking to someone else about feeding.. and they put me in touch.. he is only 15miles from me.. and delivers free.. he makes my mince for 50p per kilo.. but I do have to buy bulk, but still much cheaper than anywhere else..

the carcassess are not completely stripped, so loads of good meat and a whole carcass costs me around £20.. feeds 12 dogs for a week..

My butcher supplies my chicken wings and stock carcasses.. and a box of around 200 costs about £8/9   chicken wings.. around £20 per box.. goes by weight so the quantity can vary.. but usually around the 100 mark...

any bones I get.. regardless of meat on or off.. are free.. usually 2 or 3 black bin bags full at a time

I just ask around.. some farms are licensed to sell, some are not..

ooh.. dont forget the smallholding and farms who do free range eggs by the roadside.. those that are not sold by a certain date need to be disposed of.. I get those too

:-)

sticking my head under the blankets now JG.. yes it is a terminology.. but I was not using it in its correct context 

Flippin heck... I am going to definitely have a look around speak to some people!! Thems are some good prices. Not quite sure I can buy in that qty though. We'll see what I can find. I also just have the one dog, it would take him an age to get through that lot!

We have a local butcher in town and an other in the next town along. I assume they're a good place to start.

My parents live in a farming village in Norfolk, I'll get my Dad to do some 'digging' around there too. They are not that far away from me. There's plenty of 'fallen' rabbits around their way, but I'm not sure I'd let him eat them!! Eurgh!!

Rabbits are excellent.. I used to have a good source from a local gamekeeper years ago.. but I moved and not really found another source..

> Rabbits are excellent

Not the mangy ones that we find dead in my folkes garden!!!!

Not the mangy ones that we find dead in my folkes garden!!!!

Those are my dogs favourite! (BLEH!)

> Those are my dogs favourite! (BLEH!)

Eeeuuuuw! I do love dogs, but they are gross!! I found Boomer tossing around a mangled dead fledgling the other day... he thought it was the best fun ever! Needless to say he didn't get a kiss from me that day!!

Can you really let them eat dead rabbits that they find??

No no, I never LET them; once I see that they are interested in something obviously dead and pungent I am usually seen running after them and screetching at them to leave it.  A "Leave it" just isn't enough when the temptation is so strong :-)

> A "Leave it" just isn't enough when the temptation is so strong

I'm pleased I'm not the only one seen running after my dog screaching "leave it" to no avail!! :-D

i feed my dogs raw and spend alot of weekends away. i got cool box n lots of ice packs. this keeps my meat frozen for at least 2 days if not 3. i just make sure its packed realy well. or if your staying with family, could always see if u can stick some wings in the freezer.

Hello All,

Well I gave my little man about 300g of kibble and one small RMB on Friday, he had an egg (plus kibble) on Saturday... so far so good. He was VERY happy with the RMB... it kept him busy for an hour while he got the hang of it. Alls well so far... BUT...

Yesterday he had his kibble in the morning and then I gave him a chicken wing about 5.30ish... he ate it up pretty slowly as he spent most of the time tossing around the garden (just to make sure it really was dead!!) and I guess finished it about an hour later. He then got the squits about an hour After that, I kinda expected this may happen. I took him out for his pre-bedtime stroll at 11.30 and all was well, gave him his pre-bedtime biscuit and didn't see him again until 7.30 this morning... lovely I thought! BUT... when he woke up I could hear his tummy gurgling and when he went into the garden he was eating grass with gusto. He was OK within himself but I knew what was coming... Yup he was sick. He was sick a couple of times, but ate it both times also. Then he wouldn't eat his breakfast... which is nothing unusual if he's been sick.

My question really is should I leave the chicken wings now, or is this him just getting used to them? I don't want to keep giving them to him and him keep being sick if they are not going to agree with him. Is this something that has happened to anyone elses dog the first time they were given a chicken wing?

Any advise would be grately appreciated.

Thanks

When feeding bones they do tend to eat alot more grass, and sick up undigested bones i have found this with mine.

If i'm showing and my hubby is not totally clued up on what i feed them i feed kibble that day so i at least know they have been fed the correct amount, but you do notice the poo's being alot more running than when totally on the barf diet

Hi,

I changed our Boxer onto raw food about six months ago when he was 8 months old. He was a fussy eater from when we got him at 8 weeks old and never showed any interest in food. Since changing to raw he is loving his brekkie and dinner time. When I changed him over to BARF I still had a huge bag of kibble so I fed him RMBs in the morning and kibble and mince in the evening and he was fine with this.

He took a bit of time to adjust and had the squits and was sick several times like yours has been but after a few weeks he settled down and now he eats lamb ribs and chicken wings, thighs, drumsticks and he absolutely loves tinned sardines and mackerel. I tried him on fresh fish but he turned his nose up at that and pork doesn't agree with him at all so I steer clear of that.

My butcher gives me free beef bones which he gets very excited about and will keep him quiet for hours.

Hope your Boxer enjoys his grub time as much as mine does now

Rosie

Hi Rosie,

Thanks so much for your reply. That makes me feel a lot better about feeding my little man on raw. He was sick yesterday morning (on the door mat?) and it was just a big pile of grass! He's OK within himself and really does his like bones. He really does have a runny bum. Although that could also have something to do with the fact that he jumped in the resevoir yesterday for the first time... I almost jumped in after him!! He lept into the water and under estimated how deep it was!! At least I know he can swim now though ;-) I think he may have drank a fair bit too!! Wally!!

He really is loving his food now. I have him potatoes, peas and RMB on Monday night for dinner... flippin heck you've never seen anything like it!

Just need to find a reliable raw supplier now.

Any suggestions?

> When feeding bones they do tend to eat alot more grass, and sick up undigested bones

That explains the grass deposit on my mat yesterday morning!!! :-D

When i first changed over i got sick with quite a bit of bone in, they would eat it back up, but now after being on it a while they don't sick anymore, just takes a while for them to adjust to it, but keep at it, seeing them so excited over dinner is just great now