RAW/BARF feeders.....?

[Brittanymorgan1986]

I chose the raw path for my dog and would love to talk about it!

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

We don’t use this feeding method here totally but we do feed raw meat. Depends what has been available to shoot. It is totally fresh what does get fed, be it rabbit, pigeon or deer. Never had an issue with it with our dogs & the other half has looked at a total raw diet for them especially when the full shooting gets under way & they are in full work. Also a big fan of feeding vegetables to them too.

Yes, my Z is a veggie lover...she lives to beg carrots off me at worm feeding time, zucchini pieces at fish feeding time and pretty much any veggie at people feeding time, lol.....so addingvthem to her feeds is easy

 

[Brittanymorgan1986]

I started feeding raw a few years ago when I was very very busy with work. It got to be so time consuming i didnt have time to meal prep for myself let alone my dog so I went back to dry kibble. But now that my dog is having health problem I started him back on raw. After looking at the price of grainfree kibble and compared it to the price of raw there really isn't much difference if you buy raw meat on sale now I do hunt deer and I saved some hearts from last season. This year I will be saving other organs and asking my fellow hunter friends to do the same. I think as long as I inspect the wild game meat and freeze it for a while it should be pretty safe. I also do some squirrel hunting i An area that has way too many and will be looking Into feeding those as well.He has always gotten a mix of kibble brands and leftovers from dinners. And raw scraps. So his stomach is pretty much adapted to change with food. He has not had any issues switching to straight raw bc of his mixed diet. And in the past he did great on it. He went through a faze of rank smelling bc his body I'm guessing pushed all the junk out that was in his system from the kibble. After a month he stopped smelling at all. His breath didnt even smell. His teeth were whiter then ever. And his coat was so shiny. Now that I'm raising rabbits some of the organs and meat from those will be included as well. But I'm not a veterinarian and I dont know the perfect combination of food for dogs so I will be adjusting his diet as I learn and how he acts.

 

[Brittanymorgan1986]

Oh and I did pick up a daily vitamin for dogs to add just incase there is something missing.

 

[Labradors]

I've been raw feeding since Y2K and my dogs have always done well on it. I would never go back to kibble.

It can be difficult to source raw food and it's getting harder and harder to find the variety that is essential. I also find it very time-consuming to prep the meals. I have a gulper who I would not trust with any smallish raw bones .

On the up side, I know that my dogs are eating the best diet possible. I know exactly what they are eating, and it shows in their great health.

Both my dogs get an organic raw egg with their breakfast every day. Imagine that!

I would recommend buying one of the many books on the subject and/or joining a raw feeding list/forum. K9Nutrition (at Yahoo) used to be one of the better ones. Some are full of nasty people who will jump on anyone who mentions the words k*bble. Learning about the diet helps to ensure that it is understood about variety as well as bone-to-meat ratio. Some people think they can just feed chicken every day and that simply is not true and would be detrimental to the health of the animals.

It's very important to have a freezer or two so that we can take advantage of sales, as well as buying things by the case.​

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

Stainless is the way to go with raw, I like bowls with the rubber on the bottom so they don't slide on the floor. No scratches or cracks to harbor bacteria in the bowls.

What made you decide to go raw?

All stainless here too including water bowls. Love them and they are so easy to keep clean! Only have one without rubber on the bottom which is a puppy dish that we got so we could drop it on the floor to make a loud noise in preparation for them going out with the gun. It worked a treat with both spaniels.

Yes, my Z is a veggie lover...she lives to beg carrots off me at worm feeding time, zucchini pieces at fish feeding time and pretty much any veggie at people feeding time, lol.....so addingvthem to her feeds is easy

Sounds like our house! Lambs lettuce, water cress & rocket are the new favourites here as I got myself a tortoise so they want his food now too! Always have a bag carrots here for treats rather than giving the processed treats that are full of additives. If we grow veggies it’s in pots now that can be placed up high to stop them digging up & eating them.

It's very important to have a freezer or two so that we can take advantage of sales, as well as buying things by the case.

We freeze too if there is a glut. It gets portioned into bags according to each dog size and small bags for the cat & ferrets. Putting into portions makes it so much easier.

 

[igorsMistress]

All stainless here too including water bowls. Love them and they are so easy to keep clean! Only have one without rubber on the bottom which is a puppy dish that we got so we could drop it on the floor to make a loud noise in preparation for them going out with the gun. It worked a treat with both spaniels.



Sounds like our house! Lambs lettuce, water cress & rocket are the new favourites here as I got myself a tortoise so they want his food now too! Always have a bag carrots here for treats rather than giving the processed treats that are full of additives. If we grow veggies it’s in pots now that can be placed up high to stop them digging up & eating them.



We freeze too if there is a glut. It gets portioned into bags according to each dog size and small bags for the cat & ferrets. Putting into portions makes it so much easier.

Water bowls are stainless here as well

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Stainless is the way to go with raw, I like bowls with the rubber on the bottom so they don't slide on the floor. No scratches or cracks to harbor bacteria in the bowls.

What made you decide to go raw?

Ah yes....fortunately what I use already ("whisker relief" style for my kitty boys).....

Combination of tjings.....first I always strive to offer my animals the most natural/ appropriate keeping possible.... preferring a nonkibble diet for my cats (and dog), knowing exactly what is going into what I feed, being more cost effective overall than the feeds I currently use while offering better overall results, etc

 

[Castlemaid]

I've been feeding raw for years! I first got introduced to the concept of raw by friends at my dog training club. It seemed intuitively the right way to go. I was nervous to go all raw at first, but what convinced me to make the switch to 100% raw was the health improvements in my Rottweiler mix once I got her off kibble. She was a shelter rescue, and by the time she was 18 months old, she had tartar so bad, I was considering bringing her in for teeth cleaning - but a WEEK on raw, and her teeth cleaned up beautifully! I was so impressed! None of my dogs on raw ever needed a cleaning.

Another impressive improvement was that 100% raw feeding got her spay incontinence under control. She developed spay incontinence shortly after being spayed, and medications were not helping. I decided I would just live with it, and went out and bought a carpet cleaner.

But once I switched to 100% raw, her leaking stopped. She went from several leaking incidents a day, to maybe, one a month! I experimented with feeding her grain-free, canned quality food, or home-cooked, to see if it made a difference. Well, it did. It only took a day off raw for her leaking to start up again - as long as she stayed on raw, she was fine.

I also raised a working line German Shepherd on raw. The breeder he came from also fed raw, and weaned the pups straight onto raw. He was a sweetie that loved my cats and people, and I also did protection sports with him. Many of the bite-work trainers who knew him said he was one of the strongest dogs they have ever worked with - so having been on raw all his life didn't hurt his development in any way. He was never sick a day of his life until he passed at age nine from hemangiosarcoma.

 

[igorsMistress]

Our dogs love watermelon and apples, green beans and carrots. Zucchini is tolerated but not a favorite.

I dehydrate beef liver and chicken breast and store in the freezer as snacks, those are both popular.

Raw beef or bison is ok, but no raw chicken or turkey ...the puppies don't like them I have to cook them first. Our dogs refuse to eat rabbit period.