I do use a commercially prepared barf diet. I use Nature's Menu. The family that developed this food, are friends of mine. I know its premium, well made food. They do ship their product, in frozen packages.

I feed a combination of raw and bagged Canidae.

Here is a link that might be useful: Nature's Menu

I mostly do prey-model. Well, I used to do prey-model, until the house remodel took over my life and I have no kitchen. No kitchen means no really adequate cleanup facilities, so for now I am back feeding Evo. My rawfood freezer is heaving with goodies for the labbie once I have hot running water and, oh, say ... countertops ?

But I digress.

I prefer not to feed grains, vegetables or fruits as a significant component of his diet. Along with many others, I have found that he has a tendency to get ear issues if he has too much carbohydrate, so we steer clear of those in any quantity. I am not obsessive about it though, I admit to giving him the occasional pizza crust :-)

I save high-quality kibble for training treats, jolly-ball treats, and traveling (my boy doesn't eat very well when we travel, kibble is easier to manage for both of us). I sometimes feed Primal grinds (which are all meat/bones/organs, no vegetables/fruits), but I generally prefer whole foods that give his teeth a good workout. My boy is a lean 55lbs, so in a typical day he would get about 1lb and a couple ounces of food. Sometimes I'll roughly quarter a chicken and hand that over. Turkey thighs, lamb necks, pork necks etc. If the poop gets too hard, I feed more meat and organs. Occasionally I give him a really challenging chewing workout like a slab of beef ribs. It takes him about two hours to polish the bones and suck out the marrow. And then he is tired and has lovely clean teeth. What's not to like ?

I weigh his food every day, not to adjust so much as to monitor. Some days he gets more food (if the chunk I thawed was big), so I know that the next day he should probably have a smaller piece. He gets salmon oil every day but no other supplements. Occasionally he gets raw eggs (with shell) and canned sardines.

I belong to a rawfood cooperative, and can make bulk purchases once per month. This helps bring the cost down, but costs are highly dependent on the part of the country you live in. Where I am (Northern California), $1/lb is excellent (and mostly chicken), and I try to average out at around $1.50/lb, not always successfully. I figure he goes through about 40lb/month and purchase accordingly. It helps that I can dedicate a freezer to this.

He has been rawfed since about a year of age, for two years now. It's really not difficult to manage. At dinnertime, I lay out a towel, and he knows that he can only have his food on the towel (we did a little training on this in the beginning). I keep an eye on him while he eats, and I will honestly confess that sometimes I have been worried about choking, but he moderates himself pretty well. He has done well on this food, he is very fit and healthy, we compete in multiple venues and often receive compliments on his coat, condition and fitness.

Good luck with your transition !

Meghane - I've been sold on the idea of the BARF diet for a while now.... my only concern with the BARFing was/is how how/what would I supplement to ensure he's getting total nutrition? I guess I've just assumed it would be a ton of trial/error/blood panels. What's your take on that?

Natural Balance has a full line of BARF food

I've been feeding raw for a long time, and at first I was very meticulous about what I fed and in what proportions. Now I pretty much just wing it. (no pun intended!) 60 - 70% of the time they get chicken necks, the rest of the time they get a ground beef/organ meat/veggie mix and once a week they get canned Mackeral. They get a raw egg once or twice a week.

They also get left overs, milk bones, and whatever they manage to scavenge on their walks. (they love rabbit poop. seriously.) And I share my french fries - their favorite ;)

I buy my chicken necks from a wholesaler - 40# for $10.00. I wait until ground beef goes on sale and stock up. For the meat mix, I buy fresh veggies or frozen if they're having a good sale. I also save all of my veggie trimmings. Some raw feeders get the leftover veggie pulp from their local juice bar (they give it out for free), but I don't feel like there's much nutrition left will all the juice squeezed out.

I don't feed beef bones or pork bones, because Maggie is a 'gulper', and I'm concerned she'll choke on the larger bones. I will feed lamb neck bones, but they're not as easy to find around here.

Ok I'm a little slow.....what does BARF stand for?

Jerri eats a kibble/canned meal once a day and a meal of Nature's Variety- frozen raw- once a day.

Lisa

Bones And Raw Food or Biologically Appropriate Raw Food.

Thank you all for the ideas so far.

Foosacub- when given WHOLE raw food, supplements are not necessary. When regular dog foods are processed, especially the ones without by-products (which are just the parts of the animal that humans don't eat like lungs, liver, bone, heart, kidneys, intestines, stomach, etc.) they lose some nutrients, so have to be added back in later in processing. For example, the bones contain calcium, phosphorus, glycosaminoglycan (one of which is glucosamine), collagen, and magnesium. Brain contains taurine, an essential amino acid for cats that must be added to both dog and cat food. Taurine is required for vision and heart health. Liver contains a lot of iron, vitamins A and D, and zinc.

So when manufacturers make it seem like having by-products in dog and cat food is a bad idea, remember that is only a marketing ploy, there is no scientific basis for excluding by-products in the diet, and in fact by-product organs provide essential nutrients to the dog and cat. That is why wild wolves, dogs, and cats don't require supplements, and why I am not concerned with it if I can find a raw diet that includes whole animals and not just muscle meat. Feeding just muscle meat and bones will cause deficiencies if not supplemented.

I've been feeding my dogs a raw diet for the past 3 years with great success. We do the prey model that was mentioned earlier, or as some call it franken-prey - meaning that it's not whole animals but rather various parts from different ones. This may include beef heart, chicken feet, fish head, pork shoulder, etc.

The most important thing is to feed the key elements: meat, bone, and organs. I follow the general guideline of 70-80% meat, 10-20% bone, and about 10% organs. Of course I don't calculate it that precisely, I just eyeball and monitor my dogs stools. I don't feed veggies, but if you feel you must, keep it small. There are a number of veggies that shouldn't be fed also, such as those with a lot of sugar or nightshades for dogs with joint/arthritis problems. Care also must be taken with the typical BARF supplements - for example the iodine in kelp can interfere with thyroid function. My dogs just get meat/bone/organs as well as a fish oil supplement for their skin & coat (unless they get fish that day). They do get some biscuits and commercial treats though, but very little.

The other very important thing is to feed a variety - just chicken is NOT a good raw diet! (unless your dog has some very severe allergies) Different meats vary in their nutritional profiles and by feeding many of them over time you will make sure your dog has all the things s/he needs. I say dog, but it also applies to cats and ferrets, which I personally don't have so I can't share my experience on. On a regular basis my dogs get chicken, turkey, pork, beef, lamb, and a couple of different kinds of fish. They don't get all of these every day or even every week, but they do get a variety over the long term.

We have seen great results from feeding raw, including nice clean teeth (one of my dogs has bad teeth and this has avoided the annual dentals that are typical in the breed). Also, my sensitive tummy dog now has solid stools, which was very rare before! People not familiar with raw think it's weird that raw is easier to digest, but it's really true. And knowing my dogs aren't affected by all those food recalls has been just priceless.

In my opinion ground raw diets aren't worth much. They don't have the carbs but many have veggies and some even add supplements. If your dog has any food sensitivities they can be difficult to figure out with this type of food. Also, they tend to be too high in bone (which is the cheaper ingredient) and can cause constipation. Your pet won't get any dental cleaning benefits like they would if they had to chew their food. And finally there is the price - I get most of my food from grocery stores and ethnic markets for an average $1/lb; the premade foods are much, much higher than that.

My favourite raw feeding resource is the Yahoo group called "rawfeeding" (linking to Yahoo groups is not allowed here so you'll have to do a search for it). Plus here are some other good links:
http://www.rawfed.com/
http://www.rawfeddogs.net/
http://www.rawlearning.com/
http://www.geocities.com/havens_home/feedraw.htm

I guess that's sort of the condensed version of our story (although it did get kind of long). If you have any questions, I'd be glad to help!

I've been feeding raw for almost 6 years. Like Weed, in the beginning I was more meticulous and worried over it. But now that I'm and old-hand (LOL) at it, I'm relaxed about it.

Something to remember is that, just like people nutrition, don't worry about getting perfectly-balanced nutrition in every meal - as long as it averages out for the week or so.

I feed mainly meaty bones, with a little leftover veggies - whatever we are eating that day, both cooked and raw, and depending on what he likes of course.

Chicken legs and wings are the bulk of what I feed. In addition, I cut the bones out of t-bone steaks and pork chops, use ground beef, eggs, organ meats, seasonal items like turkey necks, and whatever I find on sale that's appropriate.

The pre-packaged raw patties I've seen are horribly expensive, and they don't include the important whole bones. These are important for using the teeth, gums and neck muscles (and sometimes the whole body) in keeping the dog healthy. They also slow down eating, encouraging better digestion.

When switching dogs to raw, make sure to supervise the bone eating. When my dog was a pup, I had to teach him how to eat the bones. He would try to swallow as much as he could, and then gag and throw up the bone. I would hold one end and make him shear off a piece at a time. He taught himself too, of course - from the gagging, LOL.

He learned to break the bones into pieces with his jaws, and shear the skin by chewing with his back "scissor" teeth. I really need to film him eating a chicken leg, then post it on the web as a learning tool!

Older dogs just introduced to this may not have the jaw and teeth strength to eat whole bones. And some small dogs just have small jaws and tiny teeth. If that's the case, use chicken necks and small game like quails, small rabbits, etc. if you can find a source (usually in a hunting area). Some people smash chicken and beef bones with a mallet for such situations - but that's a messy thing to do every day.

Good luck with this meghane - I know you've been thinking about this awhile - just jump in - we'll help you. Feel free to email me as well.

Yes, the prepared patties that we use don't have bones in them, so we do supplement with the occasional raw bone.

But as far as gulping, patties that we feed are tissue and organ meats that have to be "torn" by the dogs teeth. The dog's can't just gulp them down without doing some chewing and tearing. They are not the consistency of canned food.

But we don't feed totally raw. We feed bagged Canidae for the morning meal. The raw patties are the evening meal. Bones are treats usually given to them when we are outside.

Meghane, I'm all for barf and all for high quality Kibble, but to be honest I am not for mixing the two...why you ask...LOL because of creating an SIBO type condition. Now this is not written in stone but there is alot of thoughts on this due to the high amount of dogs that eat both barf and kibble that have gotten Sibo.The thought is Raw digests fast enough in a dogs shorter than humans digestive tract in proper timing before certain bacterias can take place. Kibble digests at a much slower rate and in some cases blocks in the normal digestive process of a raw diet.

With that said I really like the Honest Kitchens supplement mix for raw feeders. It's great way to start if one is nervous about starting barf. Once your comfortable with doing so you can stick with it or go without it and go totally barf. It is expensive however, but I know a lot of people that are quite pleased with it.
Good luck with whatever plan you choose