Hiya, I have just started my two Akitas on the BARF diet after one of my boys refused to eat the Hills Natures Best Puppy Large Breed that he has been on from day 1.
I started by introducing chicken wings and mince which they love (although the sound of crunching bones was a bit off putting), I have just been out and bought a new chest freezer and I am about to head to the shops in order to fill it up with meat of them, I have also ordered loads of meaty bones.
What I want to know is now that I have seen that they like the mince and chicken wings would it be okay to give them any type of raw meat now or should I continue to mince the meat for them. I gave them raw blended vegetables yesterday but they didn't seem too keen on that. I have also found a couple of sites that do 'ready prepared' raw meat mixes, are these worth trying or am I better just sticking to fresh meat.

Hi joanne

I have been feeding my dogs on raw food for over 3 years now.

I generally advise people to stay on chicken wings/carcases/legs/thighs etc for a couple of weeks before introducing other protein sources just so that you are comfortable that they are comfortable with the food.:

You can then gradually phase in turkey, lamb, pork, beef, duck, rabbit, venison etc.  One at a time so that you can see how they manage it.

If your dogs don't like veggies you can mix them in with mince or mix them with live yoghurt and an egg.  I don't get too worked up about veggies, they should only be a very small part of the diet.

You might want to leave raw fish last :D some dogs love it, some learn to like it and some can't stand the stuff or worse eat it and reacquaint themselves with it at a later date.

I only feed human grade meat to my dogs bar green tripe but many people feed the frozen AMP etc blocks ok.  I always manage to find meat cheaper than their stuff thank goodness! :D

Not sure if that helps.

Hi Joanne, Like you I started on chicken wings but it didn't take my dog too long (couple of weeks) before she was on bunny, steak, heart etc (bunny is a particular favourite!)  She didn't do to well on ribs (lamb) caused some sharp poo's, which I guess is due to the higher bone to meat ratio so I have stopped feeding these.  I always have a look in the reduced meat section in sainsbury's or tesco where I can pick up organic steaks, mince and even poussin (adores poussin) at a very reduced price to to its imminent sell by date :D  She eats better than us I think :rolleyes:  I also feed AMP tripe and the frozen Natures Menu lamb/tripe mix and chicken/tripe mix which Lana absolutely loves - just defrost and feed!  Also she wont eat veggies so doesn't really get them unless she eats the leftovers of a sunday roast!
Sarah
PS I love the sound of her crunching her bones :D  Work those teeth!

I upgraded today to chicken pieces, thighs and drumsticks as well as wings and the boys devoured them in minutes, it is so nice to see Akira eating again because I was becoming very worried about him, Zak will eat anything. Like I said I am heading into town today to fill the dogs new freezer up and although we have a couple of butchers in town I don't think any of them do rabbits, where will I get them from, I know I may sound pretty thick but as I am not a big meat eater myself I don't know whethers the best place to go. What is green tripe?

Green tripe is the stuff that is fit ONLY for dog consumption.  You can find it in frozen blocks or freeflow; do NOT attempt to cook it.  Dogs love it but it does honk! :D

I get my rabbits from a local who goes lamping or they catch their own on the hoof so to speak :D

Some butchers will sell you pigs trotters etc if you ask nicely and don't forget to look in your yellow pages for local farms, poultry processors and farmer's markets are an ideal spot for striking up a relationship with your local farm shop  etc.

HTH

Jo - You can get the freeflow tripe in frozen bags at Pets At Home...Be prepared as Tohme say's it honks - I left some to defrost but left it in the microwave so the dog couldn't get at it, I had a nasty shock when I opened the door   Also, as I live in the middle of Bristol I had to shop around and do lots of research as to where I can get certain stuff - I do a two hour round trip every saturday morning as my fave butcher doesn't do rabbit or venison, so I have to travel :rolleyes:  I also work in Chepstow that has a lovely butcher who does game!  One thing I have found is that I generally dont tell butchers what the meat is for - My fave man who gives me marrow bones knows its for the dog of course but I cant be bothered with butchers I dont know, when I buy 8 rabbits and he ask's "making a stew!!"  I just reply "yes" and leave - I have unfortunately offended many a butcher by telling him his meat is going in the dog!!!
Sarah :)

Tohme, I thought that your dogs would be FAR too well-behaved to chase rabbits! ;-)

They do it on command Havoc! :D

Seriously they have times they are allowed to and times they are not.  It comes in very useful sometimes!  It is the Premack principle.

A dog performs a less desired behaviour in order to get the opportunity to engage in a more desired behaviour.  Eg the dog will give me great heelwork whilst training in order that it can chase and eat a bunny. :D

I had to look up the Premack principle and then you edited in an explanation! I've learnt something today.

I'm not so convinced that a dog would have such a sophisticated appreciation of 'cause and effect' but its an interesting theory.

The "Havoc principle" is that if the dog chases a rabbit I will seriously fall out with him! ;-)

Gotta say, it works with lurchers!!!!

i CAN tell my dogs NOT to chase 'this' rabbit, but go get 'that' one........

When they NEVER get the opportunity to chase, when the chance comes up, i got NO chance of stopping them!

Similar idea i reckon.

Em

Joanne72 uk
hi again
glad your dogs are taking to the BARF....mine haven't looked back since we changed about 6 months ago.
I buy bulk from www.landywoodspetfood.co.uk.They sell tripe for 22p lb,minced chicken for the same , aswell as lamb,beef etc.
I buy about £50 worth which fills my freezer (about 200 lb) and then I buy whatever I can whenever I can aswell for example pigs trotters,carcasses(my lots favourite)etc.
As far as veg are concerned I buy a good mixture of veg along with lots of offal...liver kidney and heart and blend it all together .I then freeze it in small portiond and then defrost it and mix it in with the tripe/chicken etc a couple of times a week.
Archer

Hiya Archer,
The boys are loving their new diet, tried them with tripe today, Zak loved it Akira was a but unsure. I have already made an order with Landwoods Pet food and I am expecting my first delivery next week. Yesterday I bought them a couple of hearts to try and they made short work of them, I think this diet will be really good for them, thank-you so much for your help and advise.
Many thanks

Joanne

Its really worth shopping round! I have found a butcher who will supply me with chicken carcasses for free and another who gets me pigs trotters fresh from the abbatoir when ever I ask. Others can be very 'offish' about supplying for pet food . I have found a large difference in price...especially for things like ox heart.One place charges 99p per heart and another charged 99p per lb...which makes it MUCH more expensive!!
I find local market butchers are more helpful and usually cheaper.
One bit of advise I was given when I started was to buy a large air tight container.Then first thing every morning I get that nights feed and put it in the container to defrost.I use a large 'tupperware' type container(about12 inches square) and then I can use it to mix the food up if I'm using mince since I usually use 2 or three different meats and mix them together.
Archer   

How can you avoid salmonella poisoning with raw chicken though?

Lucy

By washing your hands thoroughly after touching it :D

Dogs have a lower stomach ph than us (0  - 2) and the acid is designed to cope with bacteria that we are not as they evolved to eat "high" meat and putrefying flesh being opportunist scavengers as well as predators.

The risk of salmonella, e-coli or campylobacter etc is very small unless the immune system has been compromised. 

Remember, these are animals that lick their bums and eat animal excrement............................