What food do you feed your dog?

[binnes]

I was just curious as to the types of food that people feed their dogs. For some time now, I have been looking into the BARF diet and have read several books on the subject including the book by Dr Ian Billingshurst 'Give your dog a bone'. Whilst the theory behind it seems to be logical and easy (ish) to understand, it's implementing it which seems to be the sticky point.

So, really, I was wondering, in general what people feed theirs and if there are any who feed Barf on here if they could pass on any tips.

[demac-artist]

Hi

I feed my dog on Omega which is biscuits with the odd tin every now and then to mix up the flavour he has been on this for the last couple of years now and he isn't overweight or have any stomach issues which he had when we first got him this agrees with him totally

Einstein 4yrs Border Collie family pet
Deanne

[Stefan]

BARF is great if you have the time and the resources. Nothing beats it.
Failing that I recommend Burn's Pet Nutrition. Been feeding my dogs on it for many years and they are great on it. Have also recommended it to clients and have seen dogs health and behaviour improve on it.

[Sarah]

I would love to feed BARF but at the moment it is not possible.

My greyhounds are fed Burgess Supadog Greyhound and Lurcher, with Butchers tripe mixed in for a bit of flavour.

[craigsin1993]

i feed my little jack russell the ceser pouches shes get 3 aday x

[linda.borgie]

I am a contract shepherd and I feed the cheapest dog food I can find, normally Wagg or Dr John and it is hilly rough ground I work and my dogs are always looking healthy and fit as is my jack russel who gets the same.
Ian

[KEEP_ON_TRUCKIN]

Ours get Kildrummie Crunch and scraps - but I have to say in the shop we can get most dog food and the most popular without a shadow of a doubt is Burns Pet Nutrition - wet and dry -that's what I mostly keep in shop now - rest just deliver to order as we are having to take weekly orders from Burns now sometimes twice a week to satisfy demand - most people seem to believe in the wholesomeness of it and once they try it tend not to look back!

[Dadie]

Burns chicken and rice.

[Leanne]

Ours get Kildrummie Crunch and scraps

We do too. It's got the meaty biscuits, veggie biscuits, charcoal biscuits and even has dried chicken in it. It's one of the few dried food that don't send my dogs loopy.

We try to BARF as much as possible but with 4 dogs now it's difficult. We usually manage one or two days...

One thing to remember is that BARF speeds up the digestive system and dried food slows it down - the two shouldn't be fed on the same day or you risk stomach upsets.

A BARF diet is great but it is important to remember that dogs, unlike cats, do need some cereals and veggies - BARF does not stand for 'bones and raw food' like some quote, it stands for 'biological appropriate raw food' and includes veggies and cereals in it

We are going to be back on full BARF soon when we get Matilda the pig 'done' - all of her is going to be used. Right down to her bristly hair being offered to anyone who wants to make natural paint brushes.

[dragonfly]

3 large dogs means lots of poo's so we feed Burns, no added cereals that are just bulk so less comes out other end. know a few owners down south who feed barf, but wouldn't be for me, too much bother, I just want to scoop and pour into a bowl

[essex boy]

When I owned a pet shop and paid trade prices I feed my terrier James Wellbeloved dry food which is great but rather pricey! Really good for dogs with bad skin or coats. But now I give my 2 terriers and a rather overweight lurcher Omega Tasty

[crustyroll]

totally raw fed with table scraps, ie, left over crusts, veggies etc but the amount is very small. Best decision I ever made to change over to BARF and it isn't difficult to get supplies as there are a group of us in Caithness that order from Fife Animal Feeds and split the cost of delivery. Also the local butchers are excellent in supplying some of the raw food you'd need to feed to cover all aspects of a BARF diet.

There's even less waste on a BARF diet than on Burns.

[porshiepoo]

I seriously considered the BARF diet and had I still been living in Boston I definitely would have made the change over. However up here I just couldn't find the resources to supply 5 big dogs all they would need at a price half manageable. There are many places that do the meats etc but none deliver anywhere near to here. The solution being to share delivery costs but at the time I didn't know of anyone else interested.

As for complete food, I've tried most - or rather the dogs have - Royal canin, Pedigree (normal stuff from shops plus the professional), Science Plan & Arden Grange among others. Now though they are on Wagg complete and have as many scraps as we can give them plus raw bones from the Butchers when we can get hold of them.
I have to say that they are as fit and healthy on cheap wagg as they ever were on those expensive foods.
One food that I would like to get hold of up here though is called Autarky. It's not particularly expensive but I found it to be one of the best foods I'd fed them. Sadly can't get it up here though.

[mumof2]

my dogs will eat anything that is given to them, just now they are eating the big bags of complete biscuits from lidl and no complaints. both dogs are fit and healthy and absolutely fine eating anything, no stomach or health probs.

[_Ju_]

A BARF diet is great but it is important to remember that dogs, unlike cats, do need some cereals and veggies - BARF does not stand for 'bones and raw food' like some quote, it stands for 'biological appropriate raw food' and includes veggies and cereals in it

Leanne, neither dogs or cats can digest raw cereals and can use very little of any vegetables they eat. They do not have a long enough intestinal tract to do so. At most, from processed/cooked cereals and vegetables they can use the sugar that has come from the breakdown of the starches in them. So cereals ( rice, oats, barley, rye, wheat) and vegetables (with few exceptions) are basically undigestable to dogs ( and cats), especially if raw.

Alot of people use BARF diets as an excuse to feed their dogs things like chewable bone. Chewable bone ( basically any bird, rabbit or sheep bones, most Pork bones, especially factory farmed pork, where pigs are killed at a young age, and the finer bones in cattle such as ribs, sternum, shoulder plate, etc) can kill a dog. It can kill a 50kg Serra de Estrela dog (Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C3%A3...rra_da_Estrela ) it can kill a cocker spaniel, it can kill a dog who is constantly fed this kind of diet and it can kill a dog who is never fed this diet, but got into the garbage once. And when these dogs turn up at the vets crying to have their dogs saved, they always say that they have always fed their dogs this way and nothing ever happened before. I don't like BARF diets, because too many short cuts are taken with them. It is very easy to source chicken trim waste ( oh- they never put in the splintering long bones, only the keel, back bones and wing tips [which also splinter, by the way]) and because too often BARF feeders know absolute truths like feeding raw cereal to dogs or that bones do no harm and yet this is not backed up by evidence. Too often people who feed BARF diets will only believe what they see in their own dogs, and if they have never had a negative experience, then that is proof of perfection.

Another reason I am not keen on BARF is because it introduces raw animal protein into a family environment. Yes, dogs saliva is anti-bacterial, but will it kill the stuff that gets caught on his fur, around his mouth? Will my child then go play with said dog, who has perhaps just eaten green tripe. The gut is where e-coli lives and green tripe has a very basic washing done to it. It is a risk that I would not take.

BARF-dieters, I spoke in general and not about any one specifically. I am telling you what MY experience of BARF and similair diets has been, when they are not properly done.

[sids]

I am seriously disinterested in the politics of BARF or whatever.

I've been feeding the dog on Burns dry stuff. You can heap it up and he never overeats. Maybe it doesn't taste very good!

[crustyroll]

3 large dogs means lots of poo's so we feed Burns, no added cereals that are just bulk so less comes out other end.

With BARF there's even less poo but I know it's not for everyone and at the start it can seem very off putting and a lot of work. The amount of folk that feed BARF now and never think about it as it's easy peesy once you get your head round it.

[crustyroll]

However up here I just couldn't find the resources to supply 5 big dogs all they would need at a price half manageable. There are many places that do the meats etc but none deliver anywhere near to here. The solution being to share delivery costs but at the time I didn't know of anyone else interested.

There are a group of us now that order every 1 to 2 months from Fife Animal Feeds and he comes up on a Sunday to my house. I accept the delivery and everyone then comes to me to pick their food up. It works quite well and as more people come on board the cheaper the cost of the delivery charge as its spread over however many have ordered that month. If you're interested I can send you details?

[crustyroll]

Alot of people use BARF diets as an excuse to feed their dogs things like chewable bone.

If you do more research on BARF you will find that without feeding bones the dogs are not getting the correct diet or ratio of vitamins and minerals. Animals in the wild do not eat just the meat and leave the bones. They instinctively know which bones to eat and which to leave. I would never feed a BARF diet without bone and my dogs get all types of bone to eat. You must also remember smaller bones are not stripped of their flesh, they crunch the meat and the bone together so by the time the meat has digested the bone has already softened and gets passed through usually with no problems. There are risk with everything, and a lot of dogs have died from bloat which does tend to happen more in dry feed dogs. There should also be no shortcuts taken with BARF, why would you do that?

Raw animal protein already exists in your household, it's just sealed and packaged from the supermarket. A dog that has just eaten usually goes off and grooms itself and then has a sleep, so a child shouldn't really be bothering it anyway. Tripe is so stinky I don't think anyone would want to go near the dog for a good few hours..lol.

[_Ju_]

If you do more research on BARF you will find that without feeding bones the dogs are not getting the correct diet or ratio of vitamins and minerals.

If any research needs to be done, it should be done into the miraculous vitamin containing bones that BARF have discovered. (Clue: bones have no vitamin content. Meat is a poor vitamin source, limited to vit B's and vit K, and even then these are most significant in Liver and not meat per se) And yes, bones do contain minerals: mostly calcium and phosphate. The ratio in the bone is approximately 2:1 (Calcium:Phosphate). This is not the necessary dietary ratio for dogs, which should be approximately 1:1. So if the diet is bone rich ( as I have often seen in BARF diets, where it is so bone rich that the the feaces are impacted), then the dietary ratio of calcium/phosphate is wrong. So, in my opinion, the BARF "facts" you are quoting are wrong, so how reliable is the rest of it?