Food

[Jess]

Hi all,

Buddy is fed CSJ dry food but as that gets a bit boring i tend to add things to it to liven it all up a bit like gravy or ham or chicken every now and again

but i was wondering about raw meat? is it safe to give him seeing as he is only 11 months old and if it is how often can he have it? thought i'd ask before i gave it too him :)

also a seperate issue but buddy barks EVERY time he hears ANY type of bell on the television and i really don't know why because we don't have a doorbell so its not like he associates it with somebody approaching the house? but he refuses to stop barking for ages after and obviously its really annoying, so any suggestions on why he's doing this or how to stop him would be really helpful :)

[Jilly]

Hi Jess.....If you say a short sharp `no`..it should do the trick.

They say that the raw meat diet is the best for dogs in every way. I looked into it a couple of years ago when I rescued Cassie as she was in a poor state but * I *couldn`t deal with it.....If YOU can....I would go for the whole deal....It is called the BARF diet .

I think Jenna feeds it to her dogs so she`ll probably see this.

Years ago I fed my Greyhound raw tripe always . I used a good mixer with it and he did really well on it. I had the tripe delivered every week and kept it in my doggy part of the freezer and took the next days meals out the night before ....It smells horrid and my family didn`t like it much !! hahahahaha !

There is some food called `Natures Menu`...I think it is tripe mixed with veg all prepared for you if you wanted to try that, or go with the raw tripe to which you can add the odd veg to liven it up.

If you put the BARF (Biologically Appropriate Raw Food ) Diet into google...You should get loads of info on it.

Be extremely careful with hygiene when feeding raw meat....Disinfect tops , wash hands thoroughly , keep utensils and bowls for that purpose only and make sure nothing else is near to contaminate .

If you can do it, it is said to be really excellent !!

let us know how you get on.

[Jess]

thanks jilly!
yeah we used to have to feed then danes raw tripe and it really does smell haha!

i was liking more like beef and steak though? are they still okay along with his regular mixer?
i'll look into that BARF diet now thankyou!
x

[Jilly]

I think I used WAFCOL with my tripe but it was years ago. Ofcourse there is stuff like pigs` ears etc....ooooh , can`t go into that...I`m having a fainting do !!:sick:

In answer yes, I would think any mixer will be fine. My Greyhound Bobbie had a sensitive tummy like lots of them do but once on this tripe/wafcol diet , he was fine and lived to a good age.

Good luck !!

[jennawing]

The Barf diet includes fruit and veggies, I believe. Dogs and cats are carnivores. Many fruits and veggies can be just as bad as grains for your dog and others cause gas, diarrhea, etc. They are not necessary and sometimes harmful.

There are many raw diet plans out there- and many pre-prepared frozen raw diets (though be careful with those- I have seen several of them recalled in recent months)

I have heard of a raw diet recently called KISS= keep it simple, stupid- it stands for- not really sure why they had a desire to give it a name. It is pretty much what we feed. Meat. Bone. Organs.

Our dogs eat a basis of raw chicken. On top of that they get- several times a week- beef or fish or turkey or game(when we can get it) or green tripe. They also get organ meat- liver, gizzards, hearts, etc.- every day. We freeze yogurt into ice cube trays and they get these as treats on hot days or defrosted in their food when it's cooler weather. The yogurt stays fresh if frozen. They get boiled yams if they need more fiber. We add in brewer's yeast and fish oil. We do not feed pork. I find it makes the dogs very gassy. Sometimes Sirius gets some if i find a good price on necks. He's outside and he can be as smelly as he likes. Pork is pretty fatty, though.

That is their diet. They get fed, depending on the dog, 2-3% of their body weight every day. For the cats, this is divided into 2 meals. We skin the chicken for the speutered pets and leave the skins on and add it to the dogs in our breeding program and to Booger's food (she's getting old and has always been on the slender side). The dogs are fasted occasionally- when we notice they are taking longer to eat or appear over-full. Fasting is a good way to reset the digestive track so it works more efficiently.

We get in our shipment of chicken and gizzards every 3 weeks- 120lbs of it that we have to weigh out and divide and bag and freeze. We keep it frozen until about an hour before feeding time. We thaw it in hot water. I do not feel comfortable letting thawed meet sit in the fridge- chicken fat can turn rancid very quickly.

The cat food we chop- the chicken and the fish and everything else we feed- and freeze separately in a total daily portion in what we call the 'cat food casserole'. It is the one thing I will allow to sit in the fridge overnight. I thaw out their bag for that day for the night feeding and put half of it back in the fridge until morning. I reheat that briefly by setting the bag in warm water. Warm food is always better for them. Don't want doggies getting brain freeze!

These are common questions I get asked when I recommend a raw diet.

Is it a lot of trouble? Yes. It is. But keep in mind we are feeding 9 animals. For one dog what takes us a couple of hours every three weeks would take you merely minutes.

Isn't it expensive? Call around and see what groceries will allow you to buy in bulk. You will pay 1/2 or even less per pound this way. Little extras like beef, fish, turkey you just have to bargain shop for. We also buy our green tripe by the 48can flat and get it 75cents a can that way. That's half what it costs 1 can at a time. Find people that raise feed rabbits, will donate the parts of game they don't use. All wild game needs to be frozen 30 days before feeding, though.

Is it worth the trouble? Absolutely. My dogs never have to have their teeth scraped. Sirius and Pagan have not been on meds for allergies since we began feeding raw almost 3 years ago. Booger has not has a single uti in this time- and she was to the vet 3, 4 times a year for them before. And besides health benefits, we actually save money feeding raw. We can buy the chicken in bulk.

What about salmonella? Dogs are not susceptible like humans. A very immune-deficient dog, possibly. But salmonella is very very rare- not like the companies that sell disinfectants, etc want us to think. Salmonella shows up about 1 in every 20million chickens. We are a lot more at risk eating a McChicken than your dog eating chicken necks every single day of their life.

What about worms? Again, dogs are not susceptible like humans. For one thing, their digestive track is very short (we all know this because doggy needs to be walked an hour or less after they eat). In fact, dogs fed a raw diet are less susceptible to common digestive parasites than kibble-fed dogs. Many raw purists will not worm or vaccinate at all. I ca understand their reasoning- and I worry very much about poisoning my animals with chemicals- but I haven't gotten to that point where I am willing to chance it.

Does feeding your dog raw meat make them aggressive? Absolutely not. My dogs know their food comes from the freezer. It used to come from a bin. That's all they understand. When Sirius hears the meat cleaver from outside, he gets very excited. It doesn't make them want to go out and kill cows or anything. We do feed them in their crates, but this is more to be sure they eat their own portion and to keep Pagan from trying to eat a chicken leg on the sofa than anything.

How can you stand to touch all that raw meat? You get used to it. You find little tricks to get you through it. This is the main reason I keep everything frozen- I can't stand the smell of day-old chicken blood. Buy a nice pair of kitchen gloves and use them only for raw. Wash them before you take them off- when you wash the cutting board and the cleaver. Wipe down the counter with bleach water. Gets rid of the smells and any cross-contamination from sharing food-prep surfaces between animals and humans. A ceiling fan in the kitchen really helps, too. ;)


Feel free to ask me anything. I would encourage anyone to change their pet's diet to raw, but I don't pressure anyone. It's not for everyone and there have been times I get frustrated with the routine and the extra time and wish I could just scoop kibble into bowls and be done with it. And then I walk my dogs in the field between our yard and the neighbor's and notice the difference between my dogs' scentless, small poops that wash away the next rain and the neighbor's dogs' giant, orange, smelly piles made from cheap dog food that never seem to go away and feel that extra time and effort on my part is worth it. Knowing this one sacrifice I can make keeps them healthier and with me longer!


Just in case you do decide to change your dog's diet, I feel resposibilty to mention- it is recommended you fast your dog for 24 hours and then change cold turkey. (no pun intended). Start with 1 meat (on the bone), feed for a few days to a week before added another, or adding an organ meat. It is recommended that you start with something milder like chicken or turkey. It is not uncommon for your dog to experience diarrhea at first (though ours never did) but just add in some yogurt and keep at it. If you have any trouble getting them to eat, I may can help there, too. We had the hardest time getting Natalie to eat at first. And Hermie, too. (Never change a cat cold turkey, though- mix with their regular diet gradually. This is because cats should never be fasted, so their digestive track can not have a chance to reset itself.)

[Jess]

Thankyou both of you, i've decided to change him onto a raw diet, its cheaper for one and as long as its good for him thats all that matters
he seems to love it and eats all his food where he's been fussy before and no matter what i tried him on he's always gone off it at some point to i'm really happy he's eating properly now
i thought touching the raw meat would be really hard for me but it doesn't bother me at all!
is there any meat i shouldn't give him? he wont be getting lamb because nobody in this house eats it haha (because of milly) but other than that i have no issues with the raw meat :D
x

[jennawing]

I will pm you a link to a website with more information. I really cannot stress too strongly, though, about adding in new foods slowly.