Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 12:15 pm Post subject: BARF experts - HELP!!
Hello all
I've been researching BARF all week and decided that this is the way I would prefer to feed Jess, who is now 5 and half months and 16kg. I'm still a bit confused about some aspects of it but have found a supplier (Landywoods) and am ready to get stuck in
Landywoods don't deliver til next Tuesday so I thought I'd pop to our village Saturday market and pick up some meat to ease Jess in over the weekend. Bu tthe butcher has just scared the life out of me - saying under no circumstances to give dogs chicken bones (I bought wings and half a carcass) as he had a customer who did once and the bone pierced the dogs lung and killed it
I understand that he felt duty bound to tell me this but it has thrown me into a panic and now I don't know what to do. Have i misunderstood all this time and you actually have to extract the bones before giving wings to the dog? Surely not? Also, I know dogs shouldn't eat pork - is it ok for them to eats pigs liver?
I'd be grateful to hear from any confirmed BARFers (I know there are some out there!) who could offer me some advice and reassurance ..... ?
The butcher may have thought you were going to cook the chicken and feed it to Jess, cooked bones of any kind are a definate no no but raw is fine.
Wings, thighs etc all have a certain amount of meat on them and this covers the bone on its way through the digestive system, so much less likely to do any damage.
My pair have been on BARF since CJ was 4 months old (he`ll be 5 in May) and neither have had any problems at all with it
I`ve never given mine pork products, they love lambs heart and occassionally liver, I don`t give much of it as it tends to go straight through them and Cindy especially can`t hang on if she needs to go
Hi, not a barf expert by any means, but definitely an enthusiast!
Don't panic about the chicken...under no circumstances feed cooked bones but raw they are fine. Muzz has a whole chicken back (carcass) every morning which my butcher gives me for free. There is plenty of meat on wings, thighs and backs which helps ease the bones down anyway.
I don't feed pork, not for any particular reason though, but practically everything else. I tend to look on a Barf diet a bit like a human one really. If you cover all the bases over a period of time, eg vitamins, minerals, protein carbs etc you will end up with a balanced diet.
Thanks all for your replies, feeling better about it today so going to start her on chicken wings tonight, we have our first session with a gundog trainer today so she'll probably be starving later!!
I have heard in the past that pork products are bad for dogs as they contain an enzyme which is dangerous to them .... or something like that, I can't remember. It could just be an old wives tale !!
When I was once on holiday, with Indie, in a dog friendly guest house, there was a chap there with a lovely old red setter bitch. He fed his dogs cooked chicken portions, on the bone, and I couldn't persuade him that it was the other way round entirely, he should be feeding raw. In fact he tried to persuade me I was doing it the wrong way round and that it was raw bones that were dangerous
No matter what you do someone has heard of a horror story, I've heard of dogs dying because they've eaten too much complete food which then expands in their gut, whether or not its true I have no idea.
I'm not an expert but have never had any problems with BARF, they generally chew anything up pretty small before swallowing, and if they tend to wolf it down a bit quick without chewing properly it gets regurgitated straight away.
The only reason not to feed pork is that it can carry more internal parasites, which fed in raw form are obviously passed on to your dog. If you know of a reputable pork supplier who keeps his stock free of internal parasites then that's a bonus.
Edited to add, minced beef can carry a bacteria which is dangerous to dogs as well, but is destroyed by freezing, so always freeze minced beef before feeding.
Thanks Joanne, think you're right, there's a horror story about everything isn't there!
Well Jess had her first chicken wing today after training and handled it like a pro! I thought she might play with it (she tends to fling things around!) but she chowed straight down on it and it was gone inside 5 mins! Think she's going to like this BARF malarkey
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