Hi,

I have Gonzo on the BARF diet. I use a complete dry food as a mixer as I cant get him to eat bones. He used to eat Chicken wings as long as the meat was cut off, would never eat with the meat on, just used to chuck the meat in with the rest of his meal. I then tried him with ribs, he just goes and hides them in the house. Which I left for the day, but couldnt leave them any longer, and he didnt eat them.

Ive tried joint bones (cut out before cooking), Marrow bones from butchers. He wont eat them.

Any idea's on what else I could use, as I want to stop using the complete once it runs out, and he's costing me a fortune in bones.

Thanks for any help.

Regards

Ben

My eldest Irish Setter Fagan ( 10 months) is like this, sometimes he eats the bones if he steals them from the puppy but as a rule he hust burys them around the house.  This of course is worrying because it is a major part of the diet :)

You can buy minced chicken and minced lamb etc that is made from meat bones rather than all flesh and hence will provide the same nutrients as bones
Archer

I buy that complete food "natures own" which is frozen meat, heart, bone and veg.  They have this for breakfast sometimes.  Where could I get mince with bone already in ?  They have AMP which says it contains bone ( I think) but doesnt say how much.

I use Landywoods...foods great,frozen within 24 hrs of slaughter and made to your own requirements.If you emailed them then I'm sure they would tell you exactly what quantity of bone it contains.

quote....Our minced chicken range come from whole fresh birds (excluding feet, heads, inners and some breast meat) and is minced either fine or coarse (including the bone).

www.landywoodpetfoods.co.uk
Archer

I've just bought some natures menu stuff to keep in the freezer for those odd days I run out of bones/meat. If I remember rightly it has about 4% meat, which doesn't sound like a lot to me. I'll check the package next time I'm in the freezer and let you know if I'm wrong!

:-)

p.s. Archer I swear I'm going to move some day soon so I can be in the delivery radius for landywoods!!!  :-D

edit edit edit!!!:   eek! I mean 4% bone!!!

think we must be talking about different things...natures menu is made from a high quantity of meat
Archer

Think they are widening there delivery area...have you checked recently??

I just this minute checked.. unfortunately they stop just short of the Kent/Sussex border, and I'm on the south coast of east sussex. Will be moving to Norfolk coast at the end of the summer.. and again this is out of their delivery area too :-(

Might be worth e amiling them...if no one shows an interest in an area they're never gonna cover it :d
Must admit they are very accomodating....got to be worth an email????

good point.. no harm in trying anyway! Won't even cost the price of a stamp :-P  I'll let you know if i have any luck!

:-)

edit - email sent :-D

Thanks for your replies.

I will try emailing them and get it delivered (proving area ok). What else would be good for cleaning the teeth aswell, as bones obviously do this, or would the bones grinded up in the meal be enough?

Sorry to go on!!

No...you'd need to find an alternative for cleaning teeth since it is the abrasion against the bone which cleans.You could always brush their teeth
Archer

whereabouts on the Norfolk Coast are you moving too nitody, thats my area??

Thanks Archer, they do cover my area ( just ;) ) and they sell an excellent range, I will just have to wait until my freezer empties a bit and I will give them a call - just got to work out how much will fit in my freezer :)

Yes they do a really good range.
If you phone or email don't get concerned if you don't get an immediate answer...they are a small family business and are usually working but will get back to you.
Archer

In Newport, Lady D. Just north of California and Caister. Already got the house there (right on the beach :-D )and take the dogs up about once a month. Where abouts are you?

Gosh we will be nearly neighbours :-D   We are at Stalham, which is about 15 minutes from Newport.

Mind you that is only for the next 6 months or so, we are moving about 15 miles further inland in about 6 months time, when the building work is finished!!!

it is a small world! My ex used to work at the boatyard in Stalham  :-)

Crikey now that is a small world, my son works for the boatyard in Stalham!!!

Well I'm glad to say my ex isn't your son (doesn't work there anymore and he wasn't a very nice person to know!)  :-)

If you are just looking for something for him to chew, have you tried carrots? No great nutritional value as most will just come out the other end, but good recreation and help keep teeth clean.

Have you tried the BIG rawhide chews, that really make them work. Also Nylabones, the edible variety are very good. the do lots of different flavours including potato, cheese, bacon and they do all different sizes. They are very hard as well. Paddywacks are good also, but they can cause the runs :(
Anne

Hi Gonzo - have you tried rabbit??  I can feed them whole to my hound but I usually clever them up abit as this helps prevent her from burying it in her bedding :D  The bones are really quite soft (compared to some) especially the ribs!  As well as the bone you of course get the muscle and the internal organs - even some pellets in the rectum....YUM!!  My bitch gets about one a week but that is on top of her normal RMB 'allowance'.  My friend has a EBT on raw that doesn't do bones, but I sometimes get extra rabbits for her when I go to the butchers as her's loves 'em!
Sarah :)

Blimey, I missed a raw diet thread!!  Yes Rabbit is a great part of a BARF diet.  Wild ones smell a bit, commercially bred ones don't.  Saying that, my Ferrets will NOT eat a commercially bred Rabbit, only a wild one.  The dogs, well........  if it fits in their mouth they will eat it!

We use http://www.tpms.co.uk as our supplier, they also do an excellent range of food.  I have also been told of "Albion Meats", although I have heard of it, I am not sure of how much they do, and they don't have a website, but a quick search found their phone number.  Both companies do deliver.
Dawn.

The one problem I've found with wild rabbit is tapeworm. Most of the ones I've gutted have been infected (you can see the horrid things, still alive) so make sure your worming regime is up to date.

Good point :)  My butcher supplies me with wild caught (netted) bunnies.  They are be-headed, skinned and to an extent gutted but the heart, kidneys etc remain.  Anyway, even though fit and sold for human consumption they still do a 'stint' in the freezer before the lady gets her fangs on them :D
Sarah
PS - if you do your food shop in Tesco or Sainsbury's (or the like) you can check out the reduced section for meaty bones such as poussin or duck??  Poussin are great as they are a little softer than chicken and are another interesting meal for your dog to get stuck into, if I'm lucky I can pick them up for about 50p each if they are on their last day ;)
I also find that, as briefly mentioned earlier, that by giving a food item whole it can encourage burying/leaving - just something I've noticed with my own dog...I have wondered if this is instinctual, in that, when coming across such a hearty prize the immediate reaction is to store it until its safe to eat???  Just a thought! 
As I do with rabbit it may be worth you chopping up your rmb's slightly, avoiding weight bearing bones (thighs etc) and bones with a higher bone:meat ratio such as ribs?

Thanks for all the help with this.

I have just been to Tescos and bought 2 poussins for him. Never had them personally myself, but they're only small. Ive just finished chopping them up into smaller pieces to 'try' to discourage him hiding it. Ones just gone into the freezer, and im going to try him with one for breakfast instead of his meal (he can have his meal for tea instead). If he goes allright with it, ill try to do this from now on. Never thought of rabbits tbh. Ill check out the site and see if I can get hold of some for him. I did find him the other week eating a grey squirrel that he had either killed or found dead in the garden. It was dead when I saw him with it, so I left him to eat it. He seemed to enjoy that more. Although I felt a bit bad, it was already dead, so I thought it would just be a waste for him not to eat it, all his shots are upto date and he is wormed once a month.

I cant wait to cut out his dry complete food completely. He's doing much better on Barf then he ever was. No eye problems re-occuring anymore since the  switch, he's put on weight but kept lean (himself more than me as he only eats until he's full). Im so glad I founf this site, otherwise he would still be fed on Bakers from scratch.

Thanks everyone for all your help

Ben and Gonzo
:)

All you guys that like feeding rabbit etc, should try contacting a local shooting club or game keeper, most have more carases than they know what to do with! They may not be very well presented but if you can pull off a few feathers Im sure that you could feed your dogs for almost nothing. I believe that the going rate freshly shot in this area is about 50p per item from a game dealer.

Rozzer why do you reccomend staying away from ribs? Pork and lamb ribs are 2 of my dogs fave bones :)

I think Rozzer meant dont cut them up - although dont quote me :)

Mine love ribs too.

Mine love's ribs too!!!  I dont recommend 'staying away' from them necessarily - BUT, my point in this instance, is that with some 'apprehensive' dogs it is an idea to avoid weight bearing bones and bones such as ribs (much higher meat : bone ratio) as they can be harder work/encourage burying and/or leaving in some cases (personal experience ;))  I'm not saying NEVER feed ribs, just that it may be an idea to try other, 'easier' bone types in this instance?
Sarah :)
PS I realise my last post didn't explain this point very well - must have been that bottle of red I had :D

Yeah your right Rozzer,ribs would have to be the most buried bone around my house,probaly because they ARE hard work to get through and sometimes maybe the dogs just couldnt be bothered??

I tend to find the smaller rawhide chews better, not least because one of mine managed to get the knot off the end of a large one and proceded to try and choke on it :0 Also too much rawhide tends to go streight through (or get buried down the back of the sofa).

Personally not too keen on the idea of nylabones, plastic in their stomachs cannot be doing a huge amoung of good. Personally say carrots are cheep and natural and do as good a job.

I steer clear of the knotted ones myself. I find the best for mine are the huge rolled rawhides by Chewdles I think. The small ones only last 10 minutes or so, so it's difficult to take it away before it gets to a swallowable size.

P.s also do the occassional frozen carrot, but they don't last very long with my two!

Well, Gonzo eat all of the Poussin since ive started chopping it up into smaller pieces. No hiding or anything, Fabulous :)

Ive just ordered some lovely things from Landywood for him also, so I shall get my meat cleaver out and hack away at the bones from there :D

Nice one Ben :)  They eat better than us dont they? :D  My girlie had rainbow trout for breakkie today....I had weetabix :D
Sarah

I know. My OH goes mad at me because "I faff" over the dogs food, and make sure he has a proper diet and he gets pampered, and has good quality food, whilst OH has to cook own food most nights (usually anything that can go in the microwave :rolleyes:, lol :D

Actually just waiting for Landywood to deliver now. Gonzo's in for a treat tonight. Im sure OH will be their usuall happy self when they see all the yummy things Gonzo is getting today :P

Bluebell I'm pretty certain the EDIBLE nylabones don't contain plastic as they are designed to be digested. I have fed plenty to mine without any after effects. If there was anything untowards in them my girl with the problematic digestion would have let me know by now :D :D
Anne