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Old April 29th, 2009, 10:09 AM
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Iggette Iggette is offline
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Thinking on switching

So I have thought about this on several occassions.... I have 2 cats and 2 dogs.
One dog is like 70 lbs the other maybe 6 lbs.

How do you determine the amount to give to an animal?

This really concerns me also....


Another concern with B.A.R.F. diets centers on the fact that carcass-based meals may be more likely to physically damage the gastrointestinal tract than traditional pet chow. Bones, especially chicken bones, have the potential to sliver and poke through the esophagus, stomach, or intestines, causing serious problems, often requiring hospitalization and surgery to fix. Choking may also be encountered if bones become lodged in the throat.


Can I just remove the bones on chicken and turkey or all for that matter?


The thread about what a daily menu looks like was helpful but not much veggies there.


Where can one obtain freezedried meats?

and one last question if I may...lol

How do I introduce them to a raw diet?....slowly or suddenly?


I have recently aquired a peekapoo dog and have noticed these dogs are prone to many health issues and was thinking maybe a raw diet might help avoid some of these things or at least put them off till later years
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Old April 30th, 2009, 09:53 AM
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bendyfoot bendyfoot is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Iggette View Post
So I have thought about this on several occassions.... I have 2 cats and 2 dogs.
One dog is like 70 lbs the other maybe 6 lbs.

How do you determine the amount to give to an animal?

A good guideline is 1.5-3% of their body weight every day. It really depends on the individual animal though. Start at maybe 2% and then monitor their body condition carefully...if they're gaining unwanted weight, reduce, if they're losing weight you want them to keep, increase.

This really concerns me also....


Another concern with B.A.R.F. diets centers on the fact that carcass-based meals may be more likely to physically damage the gastrointestinal tract than traditional pet chow. Bones, especially chicken bones, have the potential to sliver and poke through the esophagus, stomach, or intestines, causing serious problems, often requiring hospitalization and surgery to fix. Choking may also be encountered if bones become lodged in the throat.
[B]

Blah blah blah. COOKED bones splinter, but raw bones are completely consumable. Carnivore's teeth and digestive systems are designed to chew, digest and eliminate meat and bone. Have you ever heard of a wolf or a lion dying from a bone? Nope. You don't see it in raw-fed dogs either. Now, the SHAPE of bones can be an issue...I avoid anything round and smaller than an inch or two long, same as I would avoid toys/balls that are small enough to get lodged in the throat. But "normal" bones (ribs, spines, chicken legs etc.) get crunch crunch crunched


Can I just remove the bones on chicken and turkey or all for that matter?


There's really no need to. If you do, you'll absolutely have to supplement with calcium. Removing bones will also eliminate the absolutely amazing dental benefits of raw feeding.

The thread about what a daily menu looks like was helpful but not much veggies there.

Dogs and cats are true carnivores. The notion that dogs "need" veggies is outdated; while they CAN consume vegetable matter, they don't need it to thrive. Wolfs (of which dogs are a subspecies) only eat vegetable matter in times of famine/when meat sources are not available. It's a nutritionally inferious source of food. My dogs get fruit/veggie scraps when I think of it (like when I'm preparing human food) but not because they need it, only because they like it.

Where can one obtain freezedried meats?

I don't know...some smaller, independant, holistic pet food stores might have it. They'll most certainly have the frozen prepared diets, though.

and one last question if I may...lol


How do I introduce them to a raw diet?....slowly or suddenly?


You can switch over right away. Mixing raw with kibble can cause some issues in the stomach (carb-based food vs protein-based food are digested differently and at different rates). Some dogs will experience gastro upset (some vomitting/diarrhea) for a few days or a week as their digestive system reconfigures to the meaty diet. Ours had no trouble whatsoever, though.

I have recently aquired a peekapoo dog and have noticed these dogs are prone to many health issues and was thinking maybe a raw diet might help avoid some of these things or at least put them off till later years
The one indisputable thing with raw feeding is, you know exactly what your dogs are eating, and can avoid a lot of the preservatives and additives that are questionable at best and dangerous at worse in most prepared dog foods.

We've seen some great changes: gorgeous teeth, fabulous coats, muscle gain, weight gain in our bonerack gsd, lots of energy. Everyone's doing beautifully.
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Old April 30th, 2009, 01:53 PM
LittleMonster LittleMonster is offline
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whatever you do, don't start off with prepackaged raw. I've used them before and now I wouldn't recommend them to any of my friends and here is why:
1. Most of the bacteria in meats live on the surface, so grinding the food will actually increase the number of bacteria
2. There is no way to tell what animal parts get ground up into the patties
3. Quality control of the patties isn't so great, some have way too much fat in them, some have too much bone, etc etc
4. It is hard to tell how fresh the food is or how many times it has gone through the freezing/thawing cycle
5. Feeding ground patties all the time is not good for your dog's oral health


You should start with some chicken breasts with bones attached and maybe a little bit of liver, both of which you can buy at your local grocery store. You might want to take off some of the fat attached. thats all. And like the poster above says, veggies are over rated. whenever I gave my dog cooked/raw veggies, it came out in his poop undigested in nice solid pieces.


Its amazing how well pet foods are marketed. I was speaking to this lady at the park, and I told her I give my dog raw food, and her face went "I thought you should always feed your dog pet food"
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Old May 1st, 2009, 08:04 AM
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Iggette Iggette is offline
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Some dogs will experience gastro upset (some vomitting/diarrhea) for a few days or a week as their digestive system reconfigures to the meaty diet.

and does it always configure?...Sorry Just cant picture poor Sadie vomitting for a week or Buddy for that matter....ohhhh what a mess that would be.


And how do you handle it when the puppy gets babysat at a home that always has kibble down for their own dogs will it hurt them at all or would it be like a really healthy eating person going to Mcd's
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Old May 1st, 2009, 08:44 AM
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They really shouldn't be getting both kibble and raw at the same time...plus, if there's always food down, you can't possibly monitor how much they're eating and therefore adjust portions as needed to keep the body condition ideal. And the one week thing is really a worst-case scenario.
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Owned by:
Solomon - black DSH - king of kitchen raids (11)
Gracie - Mutterooski X - scary smart (9)
Jaida - GSD - tripod trainwreck and gentle soul (4)
Heidi - mugsly Boston Terrier X - she is in BIG trouble!!! (3)
Audrey - torbie - sweet as pie (11 months)
Patrick - blue - a little turd (but we like him anyways) (6 months)
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