Have started to introduce BARF diet to my 7 month husky pups with meat mince/chicken wings in the morning and kibble in the evening. Not sure how to go about tackling the veggie bit though. I know I have to liquidise it all but I`m not sure which things to put together.Does anyone have any suitable combo recipes for veg/mince or on its own. I only feed one barf meal a day so I don`t think they would appreciate just veggies on their own!

Any help useful

Liz

Hi Liz, brocoli/carrots/cauli/cabbage/green beans/toms/lettuce/celery, just liquidise 2/3 things of what you have in the fridge & put it on top of their meat. You can get more info on feeding from the group below.

BritBarf-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Christine, Spain.

Hi Liz

The group Christine recommends above is very good! Also there are some good books out there to help you out - 'Natural Feeding for Dogs and Cats' by Kymythy Schultze and 'The Barf Diet' by Billinghurst.

Also a lot of good websites out there so if you do a search on BARF or Raw Feeding you should find some good stuff.

Wendy

I had to experiment with my dogs, to find wot they liked and what they didnt.

I did start by feeding kibble, and a raw meal, but found that it was a bit like feeding Burger King and then a salad, they definately preffered the junk food at first, which made giving them new foods that much harder.

Anyways, without ranting on about whether to feed kibble or not (i think not but its your choice, many ppl do)

Nasty tasting veg;
Broccolli
Cauliflower (these both have a fairly unappealing texture rather than taste)
Spinach,
Cabbage
Sprouts
Spring Greens

Nice veg (any the dog would choose to eat whole and raw)

Apples,
Tomatoes
Celery
Carrots
Avocado
Sweet Potato (boil it just enuff so you can mash it)

You dont have to feed all the things on each list each time, but try to balance out for every 'yucky' thing, put in a nice thing.
Also texture is REALLY important to dogs, as it is to us, so i tend to add a fair amount of Olive oil (although Safflower is much better, its very expensive), garlic, herbs (favorites here are Basil, Thyme and Coriander) and i add Kelp powder, and a supplement called Keepers Mix.

Try to get it to a fairly thick but runny consistency, the avocadoes i usually use make it nice and greasy and its great for their coats.
If you are feeding a high fat kibble, dont add too much fat to the vegs.

If you are adding veg, and you should probably add some offal and a raw egg once or twice a week, and maybe some fish, u really dont need the kibble at all.

Em

LOL - I have to laugh at your description of broccoli as the 'nasty tasting' veg as for some strange reason Chelsea has always adored broccoli. Whenever I'm preparing it she begs for the stalks!! And that was before any raw feeding!

Wendy

sorry, should have added to that, these are what 'my' dogs regard as nasty.... though with the broccoli, its not so much the taste, its the crumbly texture when its blended that they dont like, i think the stalks they would eat whole and raw..

Liver, now there is a different story, only Dill will eat raw liver, Saffi takes it and hides it in her bed, and Rocky just looks at it with a disgusted face. I have to blend it with garlic and veg before they will eat it!

Em (with the crazy dogs!)

Gotta love our dogs and all their quirks eh??

Wendy

yup!

though, finding a piece of ancient liver down the back of the sofa is not my favouritest thing in the world!

Em

Have given pups a mushed mixture of broccoli, carrots and a little bit of peas. They seem to love it! Have to use kidneys and liver in fridge up tomorrow so guess what will be chucked in. Will try not to heave doing it I am only just managing to deal with the chicken wings!

Murph likes his veggies mixed with fruit. I've just made up a batch of kiwi, apple, carrot and green bean trimmings, with a little yoghurt and garlic.
I only give him a cube a day now. Too much gives him the runs.
He's back on raw now after a short break for holidays!:D

TTFN

Ruth

Thsat nice to hear Ruth :) How is Murph doing now?

Christine, Spain.

Hi Christine,

Murph's fine thanks. He's not limping at all now...if it was Pano, it's sorted itself out VERY quickly!:)
We're walking him twice a day, half an hour each time and he seems fine with that.
Yesterday he had a poussin for the first time...he loved it!:D
He's growing well - couldn't even begin to guess what weight he is now but he looks good.

TTFN

Ruth

Hehehehe,
U get used to it in the end. At first i couldnt bear to touch the wings, or in fact any raw meat with my hands, had to wear gloves n hold the wings with pliers....anyway it was taking me so long to feed three dogs, i finally gave up and just dived in with bare hands!

U feeling bold enough to drop the kibble? If you are, go for it, (makes everything a lot cheaper, n simpler, and less poo as well!)

I brought up Dill from 6 weeks old on an entirely raw diet, the only time he has ever had kibble was when i went to stay with Jo in sunderland, and he had some Burns occasionally.

Dillys puppy diet was chicken wings, minced beef or turkey chunks, various kinds of AMP Prize Choice blocks (lamb, rabbit, beef n kidney, etc)...some offal, some recreational bones, plenty of veg and herbs/garlic, oils, and when he was very tiny, goats milk in boiled blended rice, with an egg. When he got older i dropped the goats milk rice thing, and started to feed tinned sardines/tuna mixed with veg for breakfast. (yuck, fish breath, but shiny coat for a rough coated lurcher!)

Em

We initially introduced the morning BARF meal following various visits to the vets over a suspected zinc defiency with one of our husky pups. However vets being vets wanted to do blood tests and skin scraps before issuing any meds. We let them do the bloods which surprise surprise can back with nothing!. As huskies can be funny with being drugged I didn`t want the biopsy done as we more or less knew what it was. However I noticed that her face had got better after feeding her mince in her dinner alongside a couple of big meaty bones to chew on at the weekend. I insisted on trying a new diet before I would go any further with the tests. Her face seems to be clearing up!

Pups seem to enjoy barf over kibble and one pup is refusing to eat the kibble without some sort of added extra - cottage cheese seems to be doing the trick atm. Will likely change over completely at some point however I want to get in the rhythm of getting all the fresh meat in before we go the whole hog.

I`m not sure about the cheaper factor! I`m sure I`m spending more than dry food! We use the prize choice mince blocks, chicken wings, occasional pieces of braising steak etc.

Pups are OK chomping down on chicken wings but is it OK to feed them things like the thigh or are these bones too big?

Veggies are just a nice addition to the diet not necessary; IMHO I would not feed any sort of potato, keep away from onions, veggies from the nightshade family eg toms need to be few as do cruciferous veggies such as broccoli etc. I only feed small amounts and liquidise with live yoghurt, keepers mix and a raw egg with shell etc.

I feed whole chickens and turkeys including the drumsticks; it takes my dogs approx 2 minutes to scarf down a 750 gram turkey drumstick!

I am not surprised your dogs prefer raw food over "insta meal"! Would not you prefer a varied fresh diet to a can of slimfast every meal? Much healthier and without lots of potential allergens and toxins. If you buy via a wholesaler it will be just as cheap if not cheaper than commercial diets and bones you can get for free from butchers.

Allyson

New to this, do you leave the bones in turkey/chicken wings? Our breeder told us to be v careful as they can splinter. Like the sound of the natural diet idea though.

Jude

Your breeder is correct if the bones are cooked. Cooked chicken and turkey bones are very dangerous and it's the process of cooking them that makes them so. RAW bones are fine. You still need to make sure the dogs chew them (or take a hammer to them yourself) so the pieces are small enough when swallowed to not cause a blockage. But they shoudln't splinter or cause the problems your breeder was talking about.

Wendy