# Raw diets



## vrocco1 (Feb 25, 2006)

Our doggies eat the Bravo raw food. It's all prepared, and it takes some of the gore out of it. It comes frozen in tubes, and you just cut it up and serve. We mix it with dry food.


----------



## Bailey & Bentley (Feb 25, 2007)

*vrocco1*



vrocco1 said:


> Our doggies eat the Bravo raw food. It's all prepared, and it takes some of the gore out of it. It comes frozen in tubes, and you just cut it up and serve. We mix it with dry food.


I just checked out the Bravo raw food website. I was impressed. Can you tell me roughly how much the food is? I couldn't find any pricing.


----------



## gold4me (Mar 12, 2006)

I feed Nature's Variety raw food. It comes in 8 oz patties and I feed Beau(85 pounds) 2 patties a day and Emmy(65 pounds) a pattie and 1/2 a day. They love it and their coats are BEAUTIFUL.


----------



## Ella's Mom (Feb 25, 2007)

Bailey & Bentley said:


> I just checked out the Bravo raw food website. I was impressed. Can you tell me roughly how much the food is? I couldn't find any pricing.


 
I just priced it today at the pet store I go too, $8.71 a roll. I am also considering using the bravo raw.


----------



## wilki5 (Feb 25, 2007)

We feed Maisie and Benji on the raw food diet. They have, chicken mince, beef mince, and tripe mince (raw), heart, liver, kidney, tripe, beef chunks, chicken carcasses, chicken wings mixed with lots of fruit and vegetables. They also have yogurt with honey, goats milk, cottage cheese, scrambled egg.
Marilyn (Lestorm) taught us all about the BARF diet.
Benji has around 1lb a meal 3 times a day as he is a puppy. Maisie has around half a pound each meal twice a day. 
it works out a lot cheaper than other food for us, and ours love it! (Benji refuses to eat anything else!!)


----------



## vrocco1 (Feb 25, 2006)

Bailey & Bentley said:


> I just checked out the Bravo raw food website. I was impressed. Can you tell me roughly how much the food is? I couldn't find any pricing.


We buy it by the case, and it is about $70.00. It varies by the variety you buy, some flavors come in cases of seven tubes, and some come in a case of fourteen, because the tubes are different sizes. But the price is about the same.

Be prepared for a lot of blood, but the doggies love it.


----------



## moverking (Feb 26, 2007)

Marilyn (Lestorm) is an excellent coach on raw...if you go to CG there's already a great thread (Search BARF) or we might be able to get her to repost here...


----------



## wilki5 (Feb 25, 2007)

*Found this on CG and have copied and pasted from one of Marilyns threads...*

OK I have now put together a list. I know that some of you want to try it so good luck!

Puppy Feeding

Routine is important to a puppy to help him adjust and settle into his new life,
ESPECIALLY when it comes to feeding.

Puppies at 8 weeks old need 4 small meals a day on a regular basis !! :- Breakfast, Lunch, Tea, and Supper. Offer a small amount and monitor if he is eating enough, once he is eating all his meal increase a little to make sure he is getting enough, eventually your aim is to get him on 2 meals a day. As he grows you will probably find the first meal he will stop eating is Lunch, then the one at Supper time, so eventually you will be feeding him at Breakfast and early Evening, approx 6-7 o,clock. 

As your puppy cuts down on the amount of feeds in a day he is having the size of his 2 meals a day he is eating will increase. He will probably be around 4 months old when he only wants 3 meals a day, and by approx. 6 months old he will only want 2 meals a day, BUT you must remember that like children
puppies are individuals and you should treat them as such, the time scales and the number of feeds I have mentioned should be used only as a guideline.

Over feeding a puppy can result in Diarrhoea, because of the strain on the digestive system, up set stomaches through chewing things can cause an attack of diarrhoea , so can cows milk, (goats milk though is fine) plenty of fresh water available at all times is a must!

BUT, at the end of the day YOU will get to know your puppy and all his funny little ways better than anyone else and will be the best judge of his needs. Treat him as another member of the family, because that is truly what he will be. As long as he is happy and growing steadily he will be fine, what you donÂ’t want is an over weight puppy, as this can cause health problems. A puppy, whatever itÂ’s age should be fit and lively, not fat and lethargic. 

Foods Required to fed your dog the BARF diet are:

RAW MEATY BONES:- Chicken wings, necks, backs or Turkey, Duck etc. Lamb Bones, neck & ribs , breast of lamb etc.

RAW MEAT:- Meat off cuts from your butcher, minced beef, lamb chicken or pork. These can be fed on there own or mixed with vegetables.

OFFAL:- Heart , liver, kidney, brains, fresh & raw are a valuable source of nutrients including, high class protein, essential fatty acids, minerals, vitamins and so on a very important food.

VEGETABLES & FRUIT :- (Three times a week) Anything you can lay your hands on, so long as they are washed and put through a food processor. Vegetables play a vital role in the health of dogs, and the importance of using vegetables to ensure your dogs health cannot be stressed enough. The omission of vegetable material from the modern dogs diet is the biggest nutritional error we make, apart from our failure to feed raw meaty bones. The lack of vegetable material of the right kind is one of the greatest contributors to the modern dogs ill health, including the inability to maximise and optimise fertility.

What vegetables and fruit should you be feeding? :- The wider the variety the better each different fruit & vegetable contributes a different set of nutrients. Fruit should preferably well ripened to over ripe, it is an excellent source of simple sugars - the non complex carbohydrates. These supply instant energy as opposed to the slowly released energy from complex carbohydrates. The raw fruit contains health promoting factors usually destroyed by heat. As a source of sugar fruit also contains the element chromium which ensures the sugar is used properly and does not become a cause of sugar diabetes. The fruit also contains healthy fibre.

FISH :- Whole raw fish can occasionally be fed, tinned sardines can be fed more often mixed with other foods as they contain some of the omega 3 group and essential fatty acids.

EGGS :- Raw egg yokes including the shell can be mixed with vegetables. Eggs contain high quality protein and lots of nutrients and is a valuable source of natural calcium in the shell.

GOATS MILK :- Is a highly nutritious drink for dogs which is less likely to cause diarrhoea than cows milk, but fresh water should always be available as well.

LIVE YOGURT :- This great to promote a healthy bowel & gut in the dog as live bacteria live happily there and produce more pro-biotics, great to give to a dog if it has been on anti-biotics as it will help replace the good bacteria that has been destroyed.

OILS :- Oils such as olive oil, safflower oil, sesame seed oil and sunflower oil can be added to vegetables and provide nutrients.

HERBS :- Herbs supply much needed anti-oxidants, fresh garlic is especially useful not only as a natural flea repellent but is good for stabilising blood pressure and gives a solid boost to the immune system.

COTTAGE CHEESE :- This is full of highly desirable proteins and amino acids.

TRIPE :- Minced or whole this contains all sorts of everything and is vital to your dogs diet.

VITAMIN SUPPLEMENT :- (Such as SA-37) To ensure a balance of vitamins and minerals are achieved. 

From this list you can mix and match and feed your dog healthily and keep him/her happy. The diet should be made up of 60% raw meaty bones & 40% of a mixture of the rest.

Adult dogs should be fasted now and again so as to give their gut a rest you may even find your dog fasts himself / herself, but never fast a puppy under 12 months of age. Each dog is an individual and should be fed as such, each dog requires varying amounts let the dog tell you, if he / she puts on weight to quickly cut back on amounts fed, if they look to lean increase amounts fed. Puppies can eat the same as adults eat , but in smaller pieces. Chicken wings can be eaten whole.

A TYPICAL DAY IN A PUPPIES DIET COULD BE :- 

Breakfast :- Lightly scrambled eggs (including shells, ) with goats milk (no more than three eggs a week).
Dinner :- Meat trim beef mince mixed with minced tripe (or either one alone) 
Tea :- 2 to 3 chicken wings (jointed for small puppies) 
Supper :- Approx 8 ozs of tripe cut into pieces 

Plus fresh water readily available.
OR

Breakfast :- Minced beef and minced tripe mixed, plus goats milk & honey.
Dinner :- 2 to 3 chicken wings (jointed for small puppies) or offal with vegetable mix.
Tea :- 2 to 3 chicken wings (jointed for small puppies) 
Supper :- Approx 8 ozs of tripe cut into pieces 

OR

Breakfast:- Porridge oats soaked over night in goats milk, honey
Dinner:- 2 to 3 chicken wings
Tea:- Heart, liver or kidney finely chopped and mixed with beef mince and veg/fruit.
Supper:- Oily fish (once a week) sardines, pilchards etc 
Plus fresh water readily available.

A meaty marrowbone or raw lamb ribs, given once a week is great chewing exercise and a great way for puppies to cut their teeth, saves then getting bored and chewing furniture, also helps keep their teeth clean.

Vegetables need to be fed at least once a week but no more than 3 times. Look for a balance of feeding over a period of a week to 3 weeks not every day. If your dog struggles to go to the loo cut back on bones for a meal or 2 and feed a more laxative meal such as liver (offal)

RECIPE FOR VEGGIE MIX :- Green leafy vegetables, spinach, carrots, cauliflower, pumpkin, green beans, apples, oranges, bananas, green, red peppers etc, anything you like except onions these are toxic and avoid potatoes, these are not good for joints (can aggravate arthritis etc). A selection of the above can be used and can also be used to help bowel movements a rule of thumb is veggies grown above ground are stool loosening, and below ground stool firming (so feeding veggies doesnÂ’t have to give your dog the runs providing you keep a balance). Put all fruit and veg in a processor and finely chop up (this brakes up the cellulose so it can be digested) also add egg yokes including the shells into the processor along with one clove of fresh garlic . Once finely chopped put into a large bowl and mix in dried herbs, (fresh herbs will need to be put in the processor) also add a selection of oils to the bowl mix thoroughly it is now ready to be mixed with offal or minced meat, as an optional extra cottage cheese or live yoghurt can be added to the mix. The veggie mix should make up 40% of the meal and the remaining 60% should be made of the meat it is mixed with. The basic veggie mix can also be frozen so you can make as much or as little as you want.


----------



## gold4me (Mar 12, 2006)

I have a question about struvite crystals and prescription diet foods. My sisters dog had this problem and the vet recommended Hills C/D/. Personally I don't like Science Diet foods and am wondering if any has had experience with this and what food did you feed to prevent the crystals from returning.


----------



## gold'nchocolate (May 31, 2005)

Here is an interesting site for anyone interested in raw feeding. I have been looking into it. The thoughts of it made me nervous at first but the more I learn about it the more it makes sense to me.

Jane Anderson's Raw Learning Site


----------



## AquaClaraCanines (Mar 5, 2006)

My dogs eat raw all the time, sometimes with kibble, sometimes without.

Organic only... yum yum! They have great teeth and awesome health.


----------



## Sunshine Goldens (Oct 31, 2005)

gold4me said:


> I feed Nature's Variety raw food. It comes in 8 oz patties and I feed Beau(85 pounds) 2 patties a day and Emmy(65 pounds) a pattie and 1/2 a day. They love it and their coats are BEAUTIFUL.


 
I saw that product. I wondered about how many patties it would take to feed a GR. How many patties come in a package?


----------



## AquaClaraCanines (Mar 5, 2006)

My dogs love that NV too... I use it to train sometimes.


----------

