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~Newbie and interested in switching to BARF~
~Hello everyone ~
~My name is Kim and Im new to the site! I have 2 dogs...Athena who is 75 lbs and is 4 1/2 month old English Mastiff and Hannah who is 1 1/2 yrs old and is a fat 4.1 oz Chihuahua (should be 3 1/2 lbs). I am wanting to switch to BARF because my Mastiff puppy is allergic to every commercial dog food we have tried thus far she has seen vet after vet after vet and we keep changing her food, keep trying new shampoo's, new medications, etc and my girl is still itchy and frustrated. She sheds quite a bit, and just overall isnt a happy puppy right now. She is good weight and size but she goes from solid stools to runny stools overnight and back again. We cannot seem to get her stable as far as food is concerned. We have been on all natural (well as all natural as a commercial food can get) food for the last week or two and her poor tummy cant take it anymore! SO PLEASE HELP ME!~ ~I need as much information as possible. Ive been reading online, Ive joined yahoo groups as of today, and Im trying to learn how to feed both my dogs RAW without breaking my budget because after all my vet bills I am on a budget now. I live in a small town where we dont really have butchers and such. We have local grocery stores...like Walmart, IGA, Krogers and such so I need tips and info on how to make meals for a LARGE breed such as Athena and store food for the week/month . Also if anybody can give me a day by day break down on feeding a dog of this size (and larger because she will be much much larger than this eventually as her father is over 200 lbs and mother is 180) I would greatly appreciate it.~ ~Also...last but not least at all...Hannah....my teeny tiny babygirl. I need to know how to feed BARF to such a tiny dog. Her ideal weight should be 3-3 1/2 lbs but thanks to commercial food and treats she is overweight at 4.1 lbs and so she could stand to lose a tiny bit of weight. I havent read much info on feeding raw to the tiny breeds so info on how to feed such a small dog would be awesome too.~ ~Also Ive read different information on feeding veggies. Do I need to feed them or dont I? Some say you should and others say they would NOT eat veggies and fruits in the wild therefore I should not feed these things to them. Some of the items I am reading about are hard to come by in my small town so how do I feed my girls a wide variety of items or what do I supplement them with if I cannot find certain things like the Tripe or tongue etc?~ ~I would love to see an actual menu or breakdown of a few peoples daily/weekly routine to give me an idea or beginners start here. Thanks SOOO much for allowing me to join your wonderful group! Cant wait to get my girls on a healthier path to a new life.~ Here is a slide show of my girls Hannah & Athena http://www.slide.com/r/HiEN9EGa3j-1M...Nl6KkrluwSDxA? |
#2
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PS...I went to the local grocery this morning and stocked up on the basic from what I read so far the first 2 weeks I should give them chicken leg quarters until they get used to the RAW right? (PS I found leg quarters for .58 cents a lb is that pretty good as far as price in a grocer since I have no butchers?) So I got home and gave Athena hers and she just licked it at first like umm what is this nasty stuff mom...then I cut in up a bit and she would chew on it a little...and after cutting it down a bit more she is finally eating it. She wouldnt touch the stuff until I made it into more manageable pieces haha...for such a big dog she is a bit of a baby lol
Hannah is licking hers like a lollipop haha...I have a feeling this is going to take some getting used to |
#3
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Hi and Welcome....
First good for you for choosing raw. It becomes easy and fun. But to start - take it slow. It's usually a good idea to start on one protein source for a couple a weeks until your dogs adjust. Most people start with chicken because its easy to find and usually pretty cheap. For Athena chicken leg quarters would be a good size for her. And for Hannah you can start her on chopped up bone-in chicken breast. Check out http://www.projectmutt.com/index.php/nutrition - there is a really simple breakdown for starting raw. Once your guys stabilize you can start adding more variety. But in the start go slow and enjoy. |
#4
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I started my little one, Hannah, out today on the RAW as well. She tends to be a gulper so I offered her a chicken leg so she wouldnt eat so quickly. She caught on quicker than Athena did. So I guess the decision to feed veggies later on after the initial "chicken" process is up to me right? Ive read some do and some dont. I prefer to keep my girls strictly on the meat, organs, fish etc if possible. After reading about the RAW diet and if Im going by what a wolf would eat in the wild...Wolves would not be eating veggies and fruit. So why would a person add that to their dogs diet?My dogs dont care for fruits and veggies anyway.
Well...Im super excited. I took Athena to another vet yesterday...actually she seen 2 at the same practice. They did a skin biopsy, skin scraping, etc and found no mites, no fungus on her skin. Only thing they found wrong was she had a yeast infection in her ears which I am not treating her for and she had a slight skin infection on her belly from all the itching. Im in a small town and they dont offer the skin allergy test here and I would have to drive her 2 1/2 hours away to do that so they agreed with me on her problematic itchy skin is either seasonal allergies, a food allergy, or she is allergic to something in my house. I guess with switching to the RAW diet I will find out if it is food related soon enough. They put her on yet another antihistamine and gave me a medicated bath to wash her in 2-3 times a week. Gosh I hope its food related so the RAW diet will take care of it that sure would solve my problems! PS...I put down cloth pads for Athena to eat her chicken on so she didnt get chicken all over my floors. Hannah tried to drag hers off and hide them so I had to pull out my puppy pen and keep her contained while she was eating so she didnt take off with hers. She even growled at her big sis Athena while she was eating which she has NEVER done haha. Guess it was sooo tasty she didnt want her near her food. Last edited by KY_K9; September 19th, 2009 at 09:22 AM. Reason: to add pictures |
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