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  1. #1
    Puppy YellaSadie's Avatar
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    BARF Diet Newbie

    Hello,

    I'm new to the forum. My name is Eben and I have a healthy 3 year-old yellow lab named Sadie. I have been feeding her a high-grade kibble and table scraps since I first brought her home at 9 weeks. In the past 2 months I have been researching raw food diets. I read a litany of articles, testimonials, studies, the pros and cons. I've been reading Dr. Becker's Real Food for Healthy Dogs and Cats and have decided on a BARF diet. I'm not the kind of person who jumps into things. I like to do my homework and prepare as much as possible before I begin. I've reached out to local meat suppliers and picked the brains of two friends who feed their dogs raw diets. Right now I am gathering some of the equipment and storage items I will need. I bought a chest freezer and I have an electric grinder on the way. I'm really excited and a bit nervous beginning this new endeavor.

    It would have been so much easier to continue feeding Sadie kibble. But after all the research I did, weighing the good and bad, I can no longer in good conscience continue feeding her kibble or canned dog food.

    I'm sure I will have many questions for this forum. Any advice would be truly appreciated.

    Thanks.

    -sadie-1-yr-3-months-jpg
    Last edited by YellaSadie; 03-17-2015 at 12:00 PM.

  2. #2
    Senior Dog Berna's Avatar
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    Hi! I've started my dog on raw two years ago and I've seen such spectacular changes on him for the better. He developed a nice muscle tone, he looks healthier, and he is healthier (we do regular yearly bloodwork). He is almost nine and no one can guess his age, he neither looks nor acts like a nine year-old dog.
    Cookie Black Snowflake
    July 12th, 2006. - May 25th, 2023.

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  4. #3
    Senior Dog Snowshoe's Avatar
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    Welcome to the board. We went to BARF slowly over last summer and were full on it by November. We tried it at the urging of our Vet, post serious illness, but unfortunately are now back on kibble (very expensive special kibble) due to a flare up of the illness. But I was so impressed with how Oban looked on BARF. We hope to go back on it.

    I have to ask, why the grinder? I think of a grinder as being used on bone. I did buy a high end blender for the fruits and vegetables but I fed bones whole. My Vet prefers a juicer over the blender. A slow masticating juicer does the best job at preserving nutrients. I tried one, so time consuming and fiddly to assemble, disassemble and clean.

  5. #4
    Puppy YellaSadie's Avatar
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    Berna--I have been reading your posts for the past several weeks. Learned a lot from your comments. I hope I have as much success feeding raw as you have had with Cookie. She looks awesome, btw.

    Snowshoe--I tried using a masticating juicer several years back. It was more like a masochistic juicer--high maintenance and time consuming. But it did break down veggies and fruit very well. I bought a heavy duty grinder for several reasons: I want to be able to blend muscle, organ and bone meats and then store/freeze them in single serving containers. This will (hopefully) speed up feeding time and be less complicated for our dog-sitter while I'm away or traveling. Putting together my own ground meats will also help with portion control and meat ratios (am I over-thinking this?!) A couple hours of prep work will give me a month's supply of raw dog food. It is also cheaper to grind my own meats rather than buying pre-ground mystery meats. I'll be able to grind 20 lbs of chicken necks or chicken quarters in less than 10 minutes. I'm sure I will use it for human consumption as well...burgers, homemade sausage and ground meat dishes (I love to cook, grill and BBQ). I plan on feeding my dog the occasional chicken leg or meaty bones to exercise her jaws and clean her teeth. If for some reason I end up feeding her a prey model diet I can always sell the grinder or keep it for myself.

    Thanks for the warm welcome!
    Last edited by YellaSadie; 03-17-2015 at 11:08 AM.

  6. #5
    House Broken
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    I think that all the research and prep work will serve you well. The one thing we found that we needed and didn't have soon after we started was a small kitchen scale. We followed the charts on how much to feed based on activity level, weight, age etc. Both of our dogs gained weight very quickly. We were feeding too much. We couldn't go by how much they liked it because they loved no absolutely loved it. We are a couple of years in and still weigh their food and weigh them too to make sure their weight isn't creeping up again.

  7. #6
    Puppy YellaSadie's Avatar
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    Shelly--yes, it's easy to overfeed a lab an any diet. I have a digital kitchen scale that I plan to use to portion out Sadie's meals. I've read that most dogs switching from kibble to raw actually lose weight in the beginning--something to do with water retension while on kibble. But I'll be keeping a close watch on her weight.

    Thanks for your comments.

 



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