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switching food

3K views 35 replies 10 participants last post by  DeKneez 
have ordered the meat with bone and veg that helen uses for Dylan ... its being delivered tomorrow
Oh let me know how you get on with Natural Instinct as I shall probably switch when I get to the end of the Origen bag. I was talking to my friend who runs kennels today and she said there was a noticeable difference in any dogs coming in who are fed raw, they have 'nicer' poos, the dogs didn't smell etc.. Helen or Karen, if you give raw chicken wing as a meal would you give 1 or 2 wings?
 
Would be interested to know what the texture of Natural Instinct is like. Is it like minced meat with bone ground down so much you don't see it or is it more like chunks of meat with small pieces of bone they have to chew on?
 
It varies - usually when I have to go out for a while and leave him. Maybe 3 a week on average. I get it from the local butcher, so whatever they have - beef, lamb or pork. I don't count it as a meal but I have had to cut down his food lately as he put on weight. He's just gone down a half kilo though, so now he's fine.
More questions about bones...

So I plucked up the courage to go in a 'real' butcher shop - being veggie and also buying all my meat from supermarkets quite an alien place - and asked if they had any bones for Flo. He produced a tray of quite large, frozen bones so I've just taken the too smallest which I would say are both too big to give her in one 'sitting'. Help! Now what do I do? Do I defrost a bone (he said 2 hours to defrost) then let her have it a while then take it away and keep it in the fridge. Can I give it to her frozen?

They were a bargain by the way compared to the sterilised, hollowed out, yuck filled bones you get in Pets at Home just 90p for 2 large marrow bones (look like the knuckle bit). I'm sure I could get them cheaper elsewhere but they are a really 'posh' butcher next door to a Waitrose and I just dashed in on the spur of the moment.

Have switched on Flo's small chest freezer and just about to order Natural Instinct.

How's that for a veggie mum :D

Persuaded by all of Dylansmum's info and encouragement to take the BARF route but also a chat with my friend, who runs a kennel swung it. Now she runs a kennel she says she is a 'poo expert'. She says she has 4 BARF fed gundogs in who are odourless, in perfect condition and who have very small, non smelly 'nice' poos.
 
The bones sound fine. Dylan loves the really big marrow bones. You can give them frozen or defrosted - they don't seem to mind and I never remember to defrost them :(
Don't worry about the size as there is probably very little meat on them, they just use them for amusement and teeth cleaning. Dylan even manages to carry the huge ones around the house - hilarious! I leave them around for days as they don't seem to go off - once the meat is all gone they just dry out. Dylan has them lying around all over the house and when he's bored he just starts working on one - sometimes he'll gnaw away all afternoon. If there is a lot of meat on them then just miss out a meal.
Just one word of warning - Dylan has a horrible habit of walking around with a bone in his mouth whining endlessly. No idea why he does it - just seems to be a thing of his. He might do that for an hour before he actually shuts up and munches on it - really annoying. So if Flo does that, dont worry.
Hope the Natural Instinct goes well x
You'll get so bored with all these BARF and bone questions soon but it's all so new to me and I imagined I'd only ever give Flo kibble and nylabones :):):) but they actually eat all the bone in the end? When I gave Flo the bone out of a leg of lamb a few weeks back she ate the lot within an hour meat, marrow and bone.
 
I have now ordered the Natural Instinct and it will arrive Tuesday.
Ohhh that's good, so we will both be switching at the same time. I have a small chest freezer to keep Flos food in now. I have started to give Flo one chicken wing as a meal and worried about 'raw chicken juice' all over the place indoors so just chuck a frozen wing in the garden and she is happy to stay outside to gnaw away.
 
Now I am, panicking! Izzy has just had this tummy bug (which is more or less sorted now), I fed her boiled chicken and rice with some natural yogurt for a week - what would you do if they were eating Barf? Helen I know you are not an expert, but you are our expert - has Wilf had any tummy bugs? xx
Jukee Doodles also feed raw (chicken carcasses) to their girls so would be interesting to know what they would feed one of their girls if they had an upset stomach. Julia/Stephen could you let us know what you do about upset stomachs as well please as Cara and I embark on our BARF 'adventure'?
 
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