hi...i have a 3 year old male dogue de bordeaux who has allergies to quite a few things making feeding fairly hard.we have been feeding him potatoes and frozen pet mince from the pet shop and the occasional veg.i am quite worried about the amount of vitamins he is getting and i have just come across this BARF diet that seems exactly what he needs.i am researching it now but it seems very complecated.i have been searching this forum and also the internet.is there a easy guide on what and how much bones,veg etc i should feed him?i know its been posted before and i have read through old posts but the more i read the more confused i am getting..cheers

Some more links for you :D

http://www.rawdogranch.com/rawdietbasics.htm (good examples of working out percentages of food here - a lot of people do judge how much to feed overall by sight but I found it really helpful to mathematically work through the amounts using my dog's weight).

http://njboxers.com/faqs.htm

http://www.justamere.com/newsletter/rawfeeding.asp

http://www.rawlearning.com/

http://rawfed.com/

There are also several yahoo groups you could join.

Join BritBarf (http://www.BritBarf@yahoogroups.com). You'll get all the help you need on there, from people with many years experience in raw feeding.

Good luck
Karen

An example of what my Dobe eats in a week (I don't feed any veg):

Monday AM - Lamb ribs, liver
           PM - Minced beef

Tuesday AM - Chicken wings
            PM - White fish, heart

Wednesday AM - Turkey necks
                PM - Lamb mince, 1 egg

Thursday AM - Pig leg/trotters, liver
             PM - Beef tripe, oily fish (sometimes fresh, sometimes tinned)

Friday AM - Lamb breast
         PM - Minced beef, kidney

Saturday AM - Chicken carcasses
             PM - Rabbit, tinned tuna, 1 egg

Sunday AM - Turkey wings
           PM - Lamb tripe, fresh salmon

hi roughly how much does this cost per week if you dont mind me asking please? Do you buy all from the butcher?

I am keen to to start raw nut have 5 dogs, 2 medium and 3 small. Think i may get confused about amounts for each dog.

Lorri

Hi Lorri

I've got 5 dogs, 4 large and 1 medium, and to feed all of them it costs me around £5-7 a week. I get lamb ribs free from the butcher, sometimes heart, and minced meat/tripe from Landywoods. They get occasional leftover vegetables, sometimes fresh, fish once a week (tinned usually) and offal once a week.

At first it is scary, but in time it becomes second nature.

I get a bag of lamb bones from the butcher for £1 and usually 5lb of chicken wings for £2 - so it is also an economical way to feed.  I always use the butcher as I know exactly what I'm getting!

Hi Lorri,

Not sure offhand, but definitely not as much as a commercial complete food. I buy almost everything from Landywoods, other than the fish and rabbit and sometimes the offal (offal is very cheap from the supermarket). I met someone on one of the Yahoo raw feeding groups who I occassionally get organic chicken carcasses from (she gets them free from her butcher), so it's worth joining as people often offer any excess they have and I also share Landywoods orders with people I've met on there as Landywoods has a minimum £50 order.

If you know your dogs' weights and go through the calculations on the website above it should give you a general idea of how much to feed which you can then alter as you go along.

if you look at another thread, you will find some of us have had problems with Landywoods.

Yes, me!

Not sure what's going on with them lately - always been fine until the last 3 or so months, but now seem to be going down the pan.

I am keen to to start raw nut have 5 dogs, 2 medium and 3 small. Think i may get confused about amounts for each dog.

For pups it is approximately 10% of their weight and full grown dogs approx 2% and the best thing is to keep an eye on them to make sure they look healthy (not too fat or too thin)

Does depend very much on the dog though - mine goes between 3% and 4% but he is very very active.

It does seem very complicated at first but once you are used to raw feeding it is a doddle.

I feed Ian Billinghursts method, so approx 35-40% of their diet is veg & fruit with added vits c, e, kelp, brewers yeast, garlic, bio yoghurt, raw eggs & cottage cheese. 

The meat they have is: chicken wings, whole chickens, lamb breast, lamb bones, small amounts of liver or kidneys and I don't do tripe as can't find a supplier of green tripe and my butcher only does white which isn't that good for them.  If you worry about the bones, you can always mince the chicken wings and feed that way until you feel more confident.

I rarely feed beef, occasionally they get it but not very often.

They have large marrow bones for recreation.

I know some people don't feed as much veg and fruit as IB but it really suits my dogs so I won't be changing.  It is worth investing in one of his books IMO.

Jasper has been fed this way from 7 weeks of age and Henry our rescue dog since he joined us in June, and both seem to be doing really well on it.  Henry did have itchy skin and a very thin coat when he arrived and now he doesn't scratch anymore and his coat is thicker too.

forgot to add:
the tinned tuna and pilchards in tomato sauce and also fresh fish (uncooked) with heads etc