Barf Advise Please

[Bessy]

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Hello - I'm usually a lurker, not a poster and I love everyone’s Iggy photos. Wander if anyone on here has good knowledge of feeding BARF diets to Iggies... longish post, sorry, and I know not everyone is keen on feeding raw.

Over the past few months I have become more and more interested in feeding my 2 IGs a BARF diet. Its really come from when one of them had a couple of bouts of sickness/ diarrhoea (not food related), and the vets advised feeding cooked chicken for a few days to be easy on the stomach. Got me thinking if chicken is good for a poorly dog, then why aren't I feeding like this all the time. Up until then they had been on James Wellbeloved, and having done some research that was quickly stopped and I moved them on to Orijen which is 70% meat and 30% veg/fruit. I like Orijen, and find it convenient, but would like to do more raw feeding, therefore 3 weeks ago I introduced chicken wings for breakfast. This has been a great success as my Iggies are very funny about breakfast and won't usually eat their Orijen biscuits until about lunchtime, so this has encouraged them to eat in the morning.

So at the moment their diet is: Breakfast: 1 chicken wing each, Dinner: Orijen... and this is where I'm not happy.... we mix it with a commercial tinned meat of which is only 51% meat and the rest rubbish!!, but they don't really like biscuits on their own and will just pick at them so I want to mix it with something. Although, I have noticed since feeding the chicken wings that they have gone off the tinned meat (they obviously know what the real stuff is like now and don't want to be palmed off with factory food !!).

Not sure where to go from here. I am keen to replace the tinned meat with something, but not sure what and in what quantity. I've been doing a lot of research but everything I read is very much geared up to normal sized and larger dogs, not little Iggies, so I don't know what quantities to use, and want to ensure they are receiving a balanced nutritional diet. I guess that’s why I'm holding on to the Orijen, as I know at least they are getting all the right nutrition from that. I have read though that "biscuits" shouldn't be fed with raw mince - so is mixing the Orijen with raw food not an option?

We also keep chickens and I have heard that raw egg is good in their diet too - how should I incorporate these?

I want to keep it as simple as possible as I know my OH would not be happy messing about with lengthy preparations of food, especially as each of our 3 cats all have their own individual diets too (although I might be trying to get them on a BARF diet too after I've tackled the Iggies).

Any advise and suggestions would be really appreciated, as I am struggling to find information suitable to Iggies - and we all know how special they are :wub:

 

[pippywhippet]

Hi, I feed my 3 whippies on part orijen, and part raw.

I feed orijen in the morning and mix SMALL amounts of canned fish, cooked chicken or sometimes Wainwrights tinned dog food- which is 70% real meat with no added rubbish, no animal derivatives :x

In the evening they get raw rabbit, chicken wings, tripe, lamb ribs or minced beef, I would not mix raw with the biscuit in case of tummy upsets- they digest at different rates. As two separate meals it should be fine.

I feed the raw as they do love it, and I like the fact that the bones help keep their teeth looking nice. They refuse to eat raw fish, or offal though- hence still feeding orijen. I like to know that they are eating a balanced diet )

Good luck with the iggies x

 

[Bessy]

Thank you piggywhippet, so I could mix the Orijen with something like tinned tuna ?

 

[pippywhippet]

Hi, yes when I mix it I put literally a dessert spoonful into their biscuit. Canned tuna, mackerel, pilchards etc. Or cooked meat like chicken saved from our dinners. Or one spoon of Wainwrights canned food each.

It gives a bit of variety to the food- I make sure they have at least 8 hrs between the biscuit and raw.

I have been feeding my whips like this for 2 years now- always get comments on how well they look )

 

[Jan Doherty]

Iggies do do well on the Barf diet. I know quite a few owners feed chicken wings.

Pictures of your Iggies would be great :thumbsup:

 

[Bessy]

Do mice count as BARF? Cats must have bought one in last night, of which its head I have just found in the dogs bed !!

Jan:- just for you......

When they are good, they are very very good.......

But when they are bad......gggggggggggggggrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

 

[Jan Doherty]

Oh that is so Italian, little minxs

 

[nina]

My Italian's are fed the same as my whippets. I have all my raw food delivered once a month from Landywoods. No messing about with it, it's all in individual plastic bags. I feed their raw tripe & lamb mix & also their best minced beef. It's so easy just take however many bags you want out of the freezer the night before, let it defrost & it's all ready for them the next day.

I give the ig's 2 chicken wings a day also & they love the meaty lamb rib bones as well as having a go at the marrow bones too. They do also get veg & occassionally tuna or white fish.

I've cut out all the cooked chicken & cooked foods, they have never liked any of the complete diets anyway but since i have had them on the above i have had no upset tummies & they all do well on it.