BARF diet is Paleo for Pets page 3

[Neckhammer]

Yes there are lots of rescues and animal shelters but none of the let us have dogs because we have children and the general policy is no dogs to families with small children under 12 years. So that's why we are 'buying' a dog.

Yeah, we got "denied" for a dog at the shelter. LOL. Sooooo hilarious. Cause my wife was a little too honest and told them about one of our dogs jumping our fence and running away a few years back. We were specifically looking for a dog that could not accomplish this feat. Hey, but good new! Michael Vick was able to adopt one....so all is right in the world

We ended up just taking in a young stray (for free!) a couple weeks later and that was 6 months ago. She's a great dog.

[AlexAgain]

How do you know how much meat to feed your dog? My dog is a 50 pound female Australian Cattle Dog, how much should she get? Also, when switching to raw, are there any digestive problems? I would think that just like a human the dog may need healthy bacteria from yogurt or something.

you should feed 2-3% of their ideal body weight depending on the activity level
a female cattle dog's ideal body weight would be 30-35lbs - so you should feed 1lb or a little less/day

I have my dogs on raw and my 9yr old Golden Retriever is the fittest retriever I have ever seen and outruns most of the young dogs at the park. I feed mostly chicken(bone included) along with organ meats. I supplement with fish oil and tripe. I also give table scraps (since I eat primal). my dogs also have amazing teeth from eating this way. I would highly recommend it.

[Turnstone]

About 2 weeks ago I heard about the BARF diet for dogs and cats on the radio. They talked about the constantly rising numbers of cats and dogs with allergies, and there was a lady who said it might be due to the industrial food with too much grains, sugars and additives. Switching to a BARF diet would fix most problems. I was surprised and pleased to hear that!
I wonder how long it takes for some people that this might be true for humans, too...

[abbyful]

you should feed 2-3% of their ideal body weight depending on the activity level
a female cattle dog's ideal body weight would be 30-35lbs - so you should feed 1lb or a little less/day

I have my dogs on raw and my 9yr old Golden Retriever is the fittest retriever I have ever seen and outruns most of the young dogs at the park. I feed mostly chicken(bone included) along with organ meats. I supplement with fish oil and tripe. I also give table scraps (since I eat primal). my dogs also have amazing teeth from eating this way. I would highly recommend it.

Just a note for any small-dog owners browsing this thread, small dogs usually need a higher percent than bigger dogs. My small dogs (2 papillons and a pomeranian mix) eat about double that, between 4-6% of their body weight depending on the dog.

We feed prey-model raw. It's more species appropriate than BARF, and easier too!

[missblue]

A nice "benefit" of a raw diet is that the poo bombs in the yard are no longer biological hazards you can slip on.
Stools are small & dry and require no serious "management" except nature. I have 4 large dogs in excess of 100 lbs
so this has been great!

My dogs are about 4 years in with raw meat and looking great. They are 11 years old and run like puppies--just a bit
gray in the muzzle, but healthy and happy since the switch with shiny coats and clean white teeth. "The ear itch" some Labradors get from damp ears and that icky yeast stuff that grows there has also nearly disappeared since we quit feeding
dry food.

[healthyphysique]

We have an Airedale terrier that was in health decline at only 3 years old. I switched to a BARF diet 8 months ago, and I am happy to say it changed his life. He is a vibrant, enthusiastic dog. Instead of one that slept away the day and got up with lots of aches and pains.

he gets about 1lb of "meat" a day. some days more, some days he fasts. His staples are chicken quarters, whole fish, marrow bones, sometimes beef.

It costs less to feed him BARF than his "high quality" dog food that was KILLING him