I've recently moved to the Forest of Dean and am looking for a local supplier of tripe - preferrably green.

Can anyone point me in the right direction please?

Oh and while I'm reading up on raw feeding... if I was to switch over completely I'd need to be giving my dog around 4lbs a day according to barfproducts BUT is this only if I use their pre packaged products or would that be if I could get good bones, mince, tripe etc locally??

4lb doesn't seem an awful lot when you weigh a big bone :S

4lb doesn't seem an awful lot when you weigh a big bone

It seems a huge amount to me unless you have a very large dog :-) I have fed my dogs on a raw diet for the past 4 years. My GR, weighing 32kg, gets between 1lb and 1 1/2lb of food a day. The amounts usually recommended are between 2-3% of their adult body weight and this is adjusted up or down if needed. How much does your dog weigh and how old is he?

The weight of the bones is included in the normal daily amount so if a bone weighed more than 1lb I would feed less at the next meal.

Her weight is around 35kg, she's 18 months and walks for around 1 1/2 hours a day. I'm going to have to do a bit more research into rough % of meat/bones/veg so if there's a web site you can recommend I'd be greatful!

Thanks

I would join BritBarf - there is a wealth of knowledge on the site and members are very friendly and willing to share their knowledge.

It sounds as though you have got confused with the percentages. Normally one is advised to feed the equivalent of 10% of a puppy's weight or 2-3% of a puppy's predicted weight as an adult :-) Adult dogs are normally fed the percentages mentioned in my previous post.

For my dogs raw feeding suits them very well but it is a method of feeding that needs to be researched fully before embarking upon the diet. Although it is very easy to do you have to ensure that you understand what you are doing - there is a lot more to it than just deciding to feed some meat and bones to your dog. It is important that you get the ratios correct and that you feed a variety of meats from different species. Research is essential to avoid problems but I personally feel it is the right diet for my dogs and they are thriving on it.

Do your research and then decide if it is a diet that suits your life style and your dogs :-) It all seems very complicated to begin with and it took me many months to get to the point where I had the confidence to make the switch over to raw food :-)

Check out naturesmenu they do green tripe as well as a lot of other raw foods. They have been going years and have a good reputation. You can order online and they deliver to specific areas once a week our everytime I place an order it turns up on a Monday morning at 8.30am on the dot cant fault them.

T.P.M.S deliver in this area (Forest of Dean) They're very reliable and delivery is free to your home. 

Big bones would not count as part of the food intake but be recreational, it is only meaty bones like those that are at least half meat that would figure in the weight of food.

Soooo much reading to do!

Anyone want to mentor me through this lol?!

Thanks for the links, I'll check them out x

I use TMPS ( I'm in Cheltenham) but they do charge a delivery of £3.95 - how come you get it for free LOL!

I joined Britbarf  - very informative but a few contracticted each other which can be confusing when you first start off.  I would recommend any of Ian Billinghurst's books 'The Barf Diet' for instance, if you follow his principles you should be fine. Good Luck :-)

Sorry BarkingMad. You're right, we pay £3.00 + vat for delivery from T.P.M.S.

Well I've registered to join Britbarf and am waiting to be accepted (or not) and I'm ordering a Billinghurst book from the library - if I decide BARF is for me then I'll buy a copy to keep as reference. Will def be buying in some frozen tripe as it's a half hour drive to a decent pet shop - and when I say decent I actually mean pets at home lol!