Hi all, sorry another question re BARF. I have just started my westie on it. He has been on nature diet for a long time but I want to try BARF to see if it would help with his chronic ear infection (allergy related). The shop advised 100g meat per day, and some other web sites said this too, but split between 2 meals, this seems such a small amount compared to what he has been eating. Its hard to tell if he is hungry because he always is anyway (if you see what I mean!). I used the calculator in one of the previous posts and it calculated that for a 10kg dog who needs to lose a bit of weight, I should feed him 200g daily. So I am confused. I dont want to overfeed but I do want to make sure he has all the nutrition he needs.

Hi June
It is confusing when you first start feeding BARF.  Have you got any books on it?  If not I'd recommend Ian Billinghurst's books.  It isn't just meat that you have to feed, but also veg and fruit.  One of the best types of raw meat is chicken wings as you get the correct ration of bone/meat/fat in them. 

Usually for a puppy it's recommended to feed 10% of the dogs weight and for full grown dogs about 2% of their weight.  If they need to lose weight then it's best to up the veg/fruit mix and reduce the meat and vice versa if they need to put weight on.

I can let you have the recipe with the recommended amout of oils and vitamins added if you want them, just pm me :)
Maria

You need to do lots of research before starting out.

The big difference between feeding a raw diet and a commercial one is that the balance is achieved over a period of time rather than in each meal. A lot of people who feed raw tend to balance the diet over a period of around a month. So you might be feeding muscle meat and bone for one meal, organs and fish for another etc etc rather than trying to feed everything in one meal.

I feed around 2-3% of my dogs weight (20 months old) and just adjust up or down to gain or lose a bit if needed. The amount may seem less than you feed now - he won't need extra ingredients to bulk out the food you give him so although the quantity of raw food given weighs less it provides the correct ingredients necessary to keep him healthy  (as long as you have done your research :) )

Not all raw feeders feed fruit and veg - I very rarely do myself - but others do as you will find out from your research. I also don 't feed grain but others do.

I can't over emphasise the importance of researching the diet before you embark on it - but, for me, I wouldn't feed our current dog any other way :) Try googling BritBarf and have a look at the info on there - lots of knowledgeable and experienced raw feeders who are very willing to help out with any queries you may have.  :) :)

Won't add anything about the actual feeding, but I find it very useful to know the feel of my dogs :) Run your hands down his ribs/body and get used to his feel. Can you feel the ribs ?? Easily, just a bit, not at all ?? I just cut/increase the amount that I feed my dogs by the 'feel'of them - if they are getting too ribby then up goes the quantity, or if those ribs are disappearing under a layer of fat then I cut it down. Also, judge how much exercise he is getting and, I find, also the weather - in a hot summer I cut my dogs' food by quite a bit :)

Hope that helps :)

Daisy

You can buy complete in BARF, if you buy frozen blocks. It's has veg and bones in with the mince and I have raised puppies to a very good old age like this, with the occational bones, hearts, scraps and wings thrown in for good measure. I go by eye too.

Hi
Definately join the Yahoo BRITBARF group - it would appear that the thinking has moved on since Billinghurst in many respects.  Have just posted on there myself asking for up-to-date recommendations on reading matter and got some good responses.  If you don't register and need the list, let me know.  I would suggest that you do your research first if you have a puppy rather than just diving in.........I thought I knew what I was doing feeding-wise having a 3.5 year old dog that had been on BARF since 12 months of age but got it VERY wrong with an 8 week old pup that now at 8.5 months has panosteitis.  :-(  Yes, I know there is no conclusive proof re diet - however, there is no conclusive proof re genetics, virus, vaccine or any of the other mooted causes of this disease, so I guess all I am saying is, be careful.    

Good luck.

Thanks for all your advice and I'll look at the website several of you mentioned. I did do a lot of reading on BARF some time ago and decided against it because it seemed too complicated to get things right. However a shop has opened up near us who do ready mixed in freezer containers ie meat and veg. so I have started with that. Also bought some chicken wings. I was just worried about whether my dog (2years old) was getting the right amounts of vits, minerals, proteins etc

Do you know the right amounts of vits, minerals and protein he should be getting in complete food?

You are leaving it to someone else who does know in that instance.  Surely you are not saying if people wish to make up their own diet for their dog that they don't need to know the requirements?

Stop calling me surely.............

Feeding ANY diet to ANY thing means that you need to know what the nutritional requirements are for that animal.  The onus does not change because you buy a commercial product, otherwise what differentiates the product and how do you conclude one is optimal for your dog or not?

I prefer NOT to rely on anyone other than myself to determine the optimum feeding and nutritional requirements for either myself, my child or my animals. 

One should ALWAYS know.

The way to find out is to research..............

>otherwise what differentiates the product

In the UK, very little :)  Thanks to the laws governing our pet food production they will all fall within the spectrum of what the majority of dogs require.
As far as humans go we don't have complete diets made up for us by professionals (although it might be better if we did :)) so we do need to take advise on the appropriate daily requirements.  I don't know that any lay person can take steps to determine their optimum feeding and nutritional requirment though that would take some rather costly laboratory experiments wouldn't it.........................surely? ;)
People are doing these things for you and packaging it together in the case of dog food, job done!