Raw Food Diet Experience

gerrygelin

Hey guys I've heard a lot about the Raw food DIet for dogs (BARF)...I've never done it before but I'm thinking of trying it because i heard a lot of good things about it...does anybody hear have any experience with it?

Losech

There are several threads here about it, lots of good information in them, do a search in the nutrition section and you'll find them.

I have 4 years experience feeding raw foods. I started shortly after getting my Shiba.
My Laika pup and my Mom's two mixbreeds do great on rawfoods, never had a problem. Excellent muscle tone, gorgeous coats, great stamina and energy, good clean teeth. I prefer to feed entirely raw/whole foods to my dogs but am tight on finances at the moment so they get a raw/kibble mix.
Conker did really good on it too, but was recently diagnosed with Inflammatory Bowel Disease so I switched him to a strict homecooked diet the time being.

Saya

I feed raw to my shiba she does well on it.

I started her at 6months she got raw egg once week as a treat then 7 months got lamb ribs and gave her one with egg plus canned sardines a dinner then at 8monthes bought chicken thighs, drumsticks and breasts and made the switch.

This has a pdf guide that is helpful on raw diet.
http://www.chanceslittlewebsite.com/prey-model-raw.html

Here's spreadsheet to help on portioning
http://manteega.com/pack_lunch/calculator_spreadsheet/

I've looked into barf diet little bit, but don't know a ton to really give you much info on it..

I found this guide helpful
http://preymodelraw.com/page/articles.html/_/raw-chat/how-to-get-started-feeding-a-prey-model-raw-diet-r19

My best advise don't be afraid to ask questions or ask if something normal.

Don't rush it get dog used to one protein at a time and introduce organs later once the dog is used to raw and handles it. introduce organs slowly as they're rich and some dogs do better with small amounts at a time especially at first.

Be sure the meat you get has no brine, or added stuff that makes the sodium high. It usually says on front or in the nutritional box if there is anything added plus if sodium is very high like 150 or 300 or whatever..

There is pre made which is easier since it's portioned out and has everything added and there is barf, preymodel and all kinds of diets..

Honest kitchen makes base mix where all you add is the meat and the base mix has veggies, fruit and vitamin stuff.. there is one base mix that has grain in it.

I've given preference before and it worked out pretty good.. fed Bella on it for couple weeks and she did fine with it and loved it. I used ground beef, chicken gizzard, heart, and bit of beef liver for meat portioning. she got a egg twice week too..

She was used to those meats, but if she wasn't I'd probably just done ground beef then introduce other meats..

I think I liked the base mix stuff over their complete meal mix.. Probably since the meat is fresh and I can choose what she gets easier.

Bella is mainly on kibble, but gets raw for dinner.. She's my parent's dog.

What location are you in exactly I might or someone else might know of supplier close to you.

I mainly get stuff from grocery store, butcher and meat processor, but have gotten items from hare-today.com and my pet carnivore.

gerrygelin

I'm in New York City and thanks for the info...the prey model seems pretty interesting ..
.i think i want to wait till he's a little older before i start

MapleTwinkie

I started off following barf but then after you adjust the diet to what works for your dog. Some days Saigo will only want to eat chicken wings, so next day we feed him organs and tripe. You learn to play it by ear and assess his meals according to his poop, lol.

gerrygelin

lmao so i will know how good it is based on his poop sounds like fun (

Bootz

@gerrygelin

Once you switch over to a raw diet... The poops will be less frequent as well. My shiba went from twice-thrice a day to once a day.

zandrame

Also check out @Saya's raw thread on the shiba forum!
http://www.shibainuforum.org/forum/discussion/9663/raw-thread/p1

shibamistress

And do a search on this forum....there are several threads with lots of information on raw feeding. I've been feeding BARF style raw for....15 years or so? After awhile, yeah, you get quite used to it and manage dogs diet by weight of the dog and overall health. My dogs have great clean teeth, great coats, smell good, etc. Plus I can feed four dogs (including one who is 115 pounds) cheaper on a home prepared raw diet than I could feed them super premium kibble....even though I buy their food (chicken leg quarters primarily) from the grocery store. You need a freezer though for multiple dogs--we go through almost 40 pounds of chicken a week.

MapleTwinkie

@shibamistress - totally agree. Home prepared raw is way cheaper than most kibble (not to mention so much healthier).

gerrygelin

maybe its because i lack any experience but it seems like it would be more expensive especially if your buying the prepackaged raw food

Bootz

maybe its because i lack any experience but it seems like it would be more expensive especially if your buying the prepackaged raw food

Once you get comfortable with feeding raw, you'll notice you will look out for deals more often and buy in bulk. For example the chicken breast at my local market is usually $3-4 a lb. when it's on sale it's $2 a lb... And I buy enough to last me and my furbabies a couple weeks (til it goes on sale again). Same goes with other types of meat.

It's even cheaper if you can get it directly from the butcher. And of course additional discounts if you can buy in bulk. As the previous members have mentioned, you'd need a freezer JUST for raw foods for your dog. I'm currently doing half/half because I don't have freezer space

Losech

Cost depends on your local food prices. Food is WAY cheaper where I am now (south-central Michigan) than it was in southern Oregon. However, I haven't been able to find as good a variety here than over there... There is no set answer to the "how much will it cost" question. Lots of variables go into it.

Premade raw is usually more expensive than the most expensive high-quality kibble. But I wouldn't feed it even if I could afford it...

I disagree on the "you need a separate freezer to do raw" thing I see mentioned in a lot of places. I lived in a 20 foot trailer for a year, and easily fed the dogs homemade/raw food for most of that time. Some of that food was livestock/wild game I processed myself. My fridge was less than 1/4 the size of your standard American refrigerator, with a freezer as big as a regular shoebox. (Who knew you could fit a whole deer into a fridge that small...) I had five dogs then, and went through more than 4lbs of meat a day. For sure a freezer helps cut costs since you can buy in bulk or stock up on sale items. But it is no no way a requirement for feeding raw. You just gotta buy fresh food more often if you don't have the freezer space.

gerrygelin

i love my boys but i dont think raw food is the way for me i never had problems with blue so i might stick to it

shibamistress

And

maybe its because i lack any experience but it seems like it would be more expensive especially if your buying the prepackaged raw food

And like I said, it's cheaper because I feed chicken, not prepackaged raw, which is really pricey.

Regarding whether you need a freezer or not, you do if you want to take advantage of sales and if you have a lot of (big) dogs. We tend to buy a lot of chicken when leg quarters are on sale. Since we feed 40 pounds a week....and I'm simply not willing to go the grocery store that often. Is it a requirement? Of course not. But it certainly makes life easier, and it is more cost effective (plus chest freezers are cheap).