Hi,

Well, soon I shall be switching from Raw to Burns. The Gonz only likes to nibble on his food, which was ok in winter as he is fed in the kitchen and its colder in there. Now its getting warmer, the food is going off too quickly as he only has a couple of mouth fulls, then leaves it for 20 mins or so. He doesnt like eating it all in one go, and he's fed twice a day, meaning his meals are down too long. taking him around 2 hours to eat one meal :rolleyes:

So with Burns I can leave it down longer, without the smells (especially his tripe) and it going off.

So, just wanted to say, thanks for everyones help with BARF. Im not through with it completley. As soon as it starts going cold again i'll switch back in the winter. The people at Burns are really helpfull aswell. Sent me some free samples (which he ate quicker than he did fresh meat) which is great news :D

Also, I now have a 20KG bag of 100% Wheatmeal Biscuit Meal Laughing Dog Terrier Mix (from Landywoods) which is

Protein 11.4%
Oil       1.6%
Fibre    3.1%
Ash      1.4%
Calcium 0.12%
Phosporus 0.26%
Carbohydrate 64 %

So if anyone wants it (for free) they are welcome to come and get it. If not, ill give it to the dogs home.

Regards

Ben :)

Edited to say: the bag has been oppened, but only a few mug fulls are gone. It is kept in a food bin, but obviously I will be keeping that, but it is in the orrigional bag.

"Leave Burns down longer?" rofl......with my 2 labs, it's disappeared within seconds! And they love it for treats, too....:-)

I wish Gonzo had the appetite of a Lab sometimes I really do, lol :D

Shame that trait wasnt bred into my breed all those years ago ;)

Where are you, Gonzo? I think the Laughing Dog biscuit is excellent but can't get it easily.

Edit: Doh! Just clicked on your profile. You're too far from me, sadly. :(

Hi JG,

Im in Altrincham, which is South Manchester / Cheshire. If you're around these parts (within reason obviously ;)) I can try to get it to you, if you cant get here!

Edit: ROFL. Ok then, we could be at this all day :p

Gonzo, I would really recommend All in One - www.naturaldogfoodcompany.co.uk

It is miles better than Burns, I know, I have tried both. Many peopole will tell you, on Burns their dogs were constantly hungry and underweight, plus a few other things. Do a search on here and it will tell you more. All in One is much more holistic too IMO. (Can't go into details, might get done for liable!)

Regards, Claire

I can't find this web page, Claire?

I tried talking to the natural dog food company about their food but they said they would not discuss it by e-mail so suggested that I ring them. I tried ringing them and they told me to e-mail!!!! I wanted to talk to them about some of the claims they make about their food but they  wouldn't give me any information about it, they wouldn't even discuss ingredients with me, something about people stealing the recipe? In the end I gave up asking as it seemed like I was fighting a losing battle. I feed mine Burns and keeping weight on one of them is hard so I am open to suggestions if I could find another food that would suit them. I know of a couple of people that use this food and swear by it so I tried to find out more and was not impressed by their attitude. Most companies are happy to discuss ingredients, feeding amounts etc and deal with queries, but I found them downright rude.

Sorry that should have been - http://www.naturaldogfoodcompany.com

Who did you speak to colliemad? The guy I spoke to was really helpful. I phoned them to ask if I could join the breeder club, even tho I am not a breeder, but 3 agility collies eat quite a bit. Breeder bags are £24.75 for 15kg, as opposed to £32.59! Anyway, I started chatting to him and told him all the problems I'd had with feeding Burns and that barf was too expensive. Not only did he let me join the breeders club, but he also said they were having a lot of trouble with Burns and that what I said in writing would be very helpful and confidential. In return he gave me a free bag of food!

He did say some of the details in confidence, so I can't really repeat it on here, but what he did say made so much sense and answered a lot of questions I'd had about Burns when I fed it. My dogs are now having 250-300 gms day of All In One. At one point they were on 150 gms of Burns and still having the squits if I gave them anything else. Look at it this way - if Burns is so holistic, why can't you feed other natural foods alongside it? (chicken wings, etc) If something is truly holisitc you should be able to feed other holistic foods without a problem. Twice a week my dogs still have chicken, oily fish and the like. This guy said that is how dogs should be fed.

I'm not sure why they were rude to you, but he did say they were having trouble with 'like companies' causing problems for them. Maybe they were suspicious of you. Try phoning again, this time mentioning you want to feed holisticly but are having trouble keeping weight on with Burns. That's all I did.

Good luck, let me know what happens.

Claire 

My bitch has pancreatic insufficiency and I switched to Burns fish and brown rice which I feed twice a day in 2 amounts of approx 100grams each feed, together with half a 400 gm tin of Butchers in a morning  and AMP mince, approx 150 grms in the evening, and although I obviously have to use an emzyme powder on the food, she has put weight on and is thriving.

I personally have found the Burns a life saver.

Im sure that there are people here who still use chicken wings etc occationally.

Im still going to supplement his diet occationally with raw veh, cod liver oil etc. TBH, I looked at JWB, Burns and a few other dry complete food with no additives, colourant or preservatives, and found Burns better, IMO anyway!

Each to their own I guess!

You could also try eaglepack http://www.postalpets.co.uk

I'm not too keen on Burns,Rice being the number one ingredient put me off straight away!

Gonzo have you tried putting the food down for 20 minutes,then taking it up,not giving anything till next meal time?
Maybe your dog will will get that he has to eat it all NOW,or else miss out! There's also nothing wrong with giving chicken necks,wings etc. whilst stil feeding a commercial food,the more fresh foods added the better :)

'Not having a go,but i've heard some bumper excuses for going from barf to commercial,but yours takes the cake,LOL :)

Hi Rose,

I am still going to bump it up sometimes with chicken wings, necks, carcases etc.

Ive tried removing his food and putting it down for tea instead of breakfast, still no go. Then threw it out, and started again next day. This went on for four days, until 'I' gave in, and rather he ate something, than nothing. He's right stubborn he is, honestly :)

Took me 10 days to break my first rescue collie of that one! Believe me, he won't fade away! :-)

I had a sample of the 'holistic complete' from the natural dog food company but couldn't see whats actually in it! ie. the ingredients. Can anyone enlighten me?

Stubborns the word!!Whats wrong with these dogs??? I have one like yours,except i always give in first :o ,the 20 minute rule didnt work for him either.I'm forever picking up his dish putting it in the fridge and back out,back in!!

10 days,you say,Claire,i last 3 maybe 4.I spose if i just kept persisting the dog would eventually give in.
I am tough with everything else but when it comes to my dogs,they just have to look at me with those eyes and i melt :p

I know I should give in to him at all, but like Rose, I just feel too guilty to carry on Im a biiiig softy with him.

He's quite active, and even after a couple of days, you can see he's lost weight (unless its just me being too daft) What you reckon ;)

Nope your'e not being daft :) I can see my dog wasting away when he goes on a hunger strike,he looks and feels thinner :(

I liked feeding Burns as it really suited my dog (very lean and good poos!) but I had concerns about the protein level for a quite active adult dog.  Do you all think the levels of protein are high enough?  I really am considering going back to Burns from Jwb.

cheers

The do the Canine Active which is VAt free for working dogs, 24% protein and there is always the Canine Extra which is 24% again but a little lower in fat. My 2 have the Active and are still very lean but they do agility so are very active :-)