For Caroline - RAW feeding info

[Tanya]

Ok, by request of Caroline here is how I raw feed...

First I would always recommend joining BritBarf, a yahoo mailing group which has a lot of very experienced raw feeders, some with 20 plus years feeding raw. There is a lot of good, sensible advice on there.

http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/BritBarf/


I started Fargo on raw at 5 months old and he took to it like a duck to water. The other 3 rescues I have switched over very soon, as in a matter of days, after they arrived with me, and I've not had any trouble switching them over 'cold-turkey'.

Typical menu

Breakfast

Raw minced 'green' Tripe, with some kidney or liver added a few times a week.

I also give any supplements at breakfast time. I alternate between a small amount of fruit and veg that has been blitzed in a blender and frozen in ice cubes, and Keepers Mix and Salmon body oil.


Dinner

I give them 'boney' meals about 4 or 5 times a week and just meat the others. Bones from larger animals must be non-weight bearing bones such as ribs, as they are softer and not so hard and dense as leg bones, which are classed as 'recreational' bones.

A 'boney' meal would either be....

chicken wings
chicken necks
chicken carcass
lamb ribs
pork ribs
rabbit
oxtail

A meat meal could be....

Heart (we class it as offal, but it is in fact muscle meat)
Chunks of scrappy meat....beef/pork/lamb etc
Mince
Pilchards in tomato sauce and egg

Additional things I feed if I get them...

Venison ribs (can be a bit hard)
Goose necks
Chicken feet
Pigs ears (raw)


If the bones, eg ribs, don't have much meat on them then I always feed meat as well, but something like rabbit has a good ratio of meat/bone.


Sometimes they'll have the pilchards for breakfast instead, and I always have a stash of NaturesDiet in the garage in case I forget to defrost something, or if I need to feed something a bit quicker.


Sourcing food

Your local butcher is your friend! From what I hear a lot of butchers are happy to sell scrappy meat/bones/chicken carcasses for very little money....unfortunatly that is not the case in my area and they want to fleece you for all they can! But I would always try your butcher first.

I get my tripe,lamb and beef mince, and whole rabbits delivered from Redcastles in Dundee.

The liver and kidney comes from tescos.

The rest of their stuff I have started getting from a farm which does chicken, pork, beef and lamb, so I get 'doggy' stuff delivered with a human order from them as well.

You can get chicken wings from tescos, but they tend to be small boney ones, so I would feed extra meat alongside them.

There are a few companies that deliver raw stuff...Landywoods, DAF, Back to Nature etc and you can also buy some frozen stuff at Pets at Home, generally the Natures Menu range.

I take a fairly simplistic approach to raw feeding...I don't weigh anything, just adjust if weight needs to be gained or lost. I adjust the amount of bone/offal depending on their poo...hard pale poo means I need to cut back on the bone a bit, if it's too soft then they may have had too much offal....you soon get the hang of it.

BritBarf has good info on the recommened ratios of bone/meat/offal etc.

Veg isn't essential, some people don't feed it at all, but I don't think it hurts to give them a small amount.

Some people feed mixer biscuits, but I don't feed any grains to my lot.

It's not for everyone, and you can certainly do part raw if you don't feel confident enough.

When my lot last went for their jabs, the vet was impressed and said they were in fabulous condition. They don't smell 'doggy' or have bad breath, they rarely fart and have small firm poos, and most importantly.......they really enjoy their meals :044:

Hope this helps, just ask if you have any questions :075:

[Meerkat]

Great

thank you tanya

(will read properly tomorrow and really look into to start my two off)

Thank you sooo much :075:

[Karma]

Just to say that I feed Honey in a very similar fashion...
I don't really bother with veg or supplements anymore, but beyond that the stuff I feed is very similar to what Tanya does!

Honey gets her Boney meals in the mornings, which are the same kind of bones Tanya described... (though Honey didn't get on with Oxtail, it used to wedge on her jaw).
One morning a week she will have Sardines in Tomato Sauce and another morning she will have just meat chunks (so she doesn't get too much bone).
She gets Tripe in her Kong when I go out to work.

In the evenings she gets her meaty meal - either lamb heart, ox heart, minced tripe, mince or liver....

[Kimberley]

Caroline, mine are fed more or less the same, Coco had a dicky tummy for ages, after a few weeks he would turn his nose up at the dried kibble he was on at the time. So I took the bull by the horns and vola, not more squiffiness.

They have bone or chicken wings for breakfast, then a meat meal for tea, liver and turkey hearts I do roast because they doe play havoc with Breeze, plus any veg I cook for myself, there favorite veg is cabbage and sprouts, and before you ask, mine don't seem to get wind.

[MightyMouth]

I am lazy....I get Natural Instinct for Lyla.....:Z

[Kimberley]

I am lazy....I get Natural Instinct for Lyla.....:Z

MM I've just looked at there web page, it look interesting. That would have been suitable to take on holiday.

[Meerkat]

Fern is turning her nose up at her kibble and I know she likes chicken wings and the odd rib but not tried her with much else apart from sardines

mmm I might look into MM's dog food, and in the hols or when I am not working I may progress onto raw food - as at the mo i don't have the time to work it all out, as too much going on here at the mo (hopefully it'll calm down real soon, it's most prob just going back to work and trying to get into a routine)

Thanks tho i am enjoying reading this thread and am learning loads

[Meerkat]

Just looked at the food you feed MM - Do you just use this food and the odd bone or do you use something else too

Wow they will even deliver bones for your dog too as long as ordered with the dog food - as i struggle with getting bones here then this is great news for me

[MightyMouth]

Be warned, it is expensive but for me it is worth it because I don't have to scutter about making stuff. I just let it ever so partially defrost until I can cut it into weights I need and then refreeze it in individual bags. If you see, they also do bags of what they call 'pure chicken' which is just chicken and bone without the oils, veg and herbs. It is much cheaper than the all in food and you can feed it once a week and bones once a week. So, that means you are only feeding the expensive stuff 5 days. Probably still expensive but for me, no more expensive than having to do the round trip to the supermarket and a lot less hassle.

Poor Kali cannot eat it now and I have a small chest freezer full of it. Lyla will be fine for months and months!

[Meerkat]

Ok thanks

gonna look into it all more once I get next week out the way