hey. I have been feeding my dogs for a while now on BARF but am a bit confused and worried about it all now.
One of my dogs has got a nasty chokeing type cough (but not a cough it just comes in intervals) which I am worried is to do with the bones they get in the pm. Two my other dog might have tape worms (will be getting a drontal tommorrow for her) which could be to do with the raw meat?
So what do I do. If I stop the BARF and have kibble with extras then one dog gets really itchy (tried it for approx 1 1/2 weeks and she was itchy and biting her self like she used to before the BARF) I tried this last week and just full on itchyness after such a short period is not a coincidence I don't think. But then stopping the bones will make their teeth worse and then that is bad for their health. I am so confused.
Also because I weigh out their food each weekend for the next week I find it hard to do as much training as I don't want them to get fat and yet don't want to waste any food in the morning which I would have to do to reduce their daily amount. I could reduce their RMB but then they expect more if they don't get much in the evening.

As you can see I am in a bit of a dilemma and just want to keep them as healthy as possible.
So confussed.
If anyone has any opinions I would be glad to hear.
Many thanks
Sorry

You certainly won't be getting tapeworm from raw meat.  All Pet meat has to come from animals passed fit for human consumption (even if the bits the dogs get are those we prefer not to eat) so should be parasite free.

The most common vector for Tapeworm are fleas.

A good wormer like Drontal should sort that out.

Could the choking type cough be kennel cough?  Just a thought, but if not try give your dog some dry bread which shoud help if anything is stuck in the throat and also get him checked out at the vets both for the cough and the worms.

Do you add garlic to their food and brewers yeast - both help prevent worms and I also give Four Seasons Anti Parasitic wormer every month.

I don't think the raw food would cause the worms, unless the food itself was contaminated.   I'm always really careful about the food I buy for Jasper from our butcher and wouldn't give it to him if it wasn't something we wouldn't eat ourselves.

I don't think swapping and changing their diets is going to help, my advice would be to get the choking cough and worms sorted out at your vets and decide exactly how you want to feed your dogs before making another change.

Do you have any books on raw feeding ?  I find them invaluable becasue even though I've read them I always use them for reference if I forget something - which is quite often!

I should have said, the garlic helps prevents fleas and therefore tape worms!

A way to avoid wasting food if you are not quite sure about the amounts is to weigh it out in split portions so you can add or subtract to it if your dogs need a little bit more or a little bit less.

For example - if you normally feed, say, 400g in the morning then you could weigh out 300g in one bag and 100g in another bag. If your dog is maintaining the correct weight with 400g then feed both bags at the same time. If he needs to lose a little weight feed just the 300g and every third day you can feed 3 x l00g bags so nothing is wasted at all. If you find he needs to put on a little bit of weight you could then add a bag and so feed 1 x 300g bag plus 2 x 100g bags. If adding or subtracting 100g food is too much or too little you could use just half a small bag and save the other half in the fridge for the next day.

You would have to work out the best way to split up the portions depending on the amount that you yourself normally feed each day.

With raw feeding the daily balance isn't critical but is usually achieved over a period of around a month - so if less is fed one day a bit more can be fed the next day to make up for it if needed.

If your are trying to take weight off your dog it is recommended that it is done gradually with no more than a 10% reduction in food at a time.

The longer you feed a raw diet to your dogs the more relaxed you become with it but it can be quite daunting to begin with. :)

You will not get worms from raw meat that is destined for human or even animal consumption in the UK!

Why weigh?  I cannot remember the last time i weighed anything; feed by hand and eye!

When first starting out on raw I always weighed until I had the confidence to go by hand and eye. I think OP is fairly new to raw feeding so is probably still lacking in in-depth experience as well as confidence :)

Kennel cough is doing the rounds at the moment!

Me too - I always weighed the food for the first few months, it can be daunting initially but it does get easier and now I wonder why I used to be so nervous about it - especially giving whole raw chicken wings to eat :D

That is true actually, I forgot..............

Been doing it for over 6 years, need to give myself a reality check occasionally!

That is true actually, I forgot..............

Been doing it for over 6 years, need to give myself a reality check occasionally!

Don't we all at times :D  If I am feeding something which isn't an every day item - such as pig's trotters - I still weigh them just to see what they actually do weigh :)  I usually also keep several weighed and bagged meals in the freezer anyway just in case there is a time when I'm not around for meal time. We don't posess a long enough pair of tongs for my daughter to feed raw meat to Harley from an adjacent room where she doesn't have to look at it

And if I left my OH to guess the correct amount .... well we all know that men are prone to overestimate measurements anyway :D :D

Don't we all at times   If I am feeding something which isn't an every day item - such as pig's trotters - I still weigh them just to see what they actually do weigh

And when I give a chicken carcass and thighs, not just wings I'm a little on edge - just in case:rolleyes:

>well we all know that men are prone to overestimate measurements anyway

>We don't posess a long enough pair of tongs for my daughter to feed raw

Harley you really do have a way with words :D ;) Thanks for always managing to put a smile on my face :)