Natural Diet

david1976

Well-Known Member
Recently I have been supplementing my dogs regular biscuits with tripe, kidneys, heart and liver and the dogs as you would expect love it (although the wife does not appreciate the after effects of the tripe:D)

I am contemplating over a period of time changing them over to a natural diet of meat, bones and offal supplemented with vegetables, fish oil etc and wondered if anyone can recommend a book / web page to read on the subject from personal experience and so I can ensure I dont miss anything essential out and can read about possible issues etc

Cheers

David
 
A great read is 'Work Wonders: Feed Your Dog Raw Meaty Bones', by Tom Lonsdale. ISBN 0-9757174-0-5. It's a great a book on natural diets, but actually contradicts the BARF philosophy. The main gist of it is that 'raw meaty bones' are the best natural diet because it not only provides the essential nutrients found naturally, the bones themselves keep the dogs teeth clean.

It's well worth a look.
 
*sigh*

Times have moved on. The best diet for your dog is a decent quality commercial dog food. Just because that what dogs ate 'in the wild' doesn't mean it's the best thing to feed them. People used to live in caves and die by the age of 30 - you want to go back to the wild state?

If you insist on feeding your dog by this method make sure you worm it very regularly (If I was feeding my dog raw meat I would worm it monthly).
 
So cavemen purely died at a young age because of their diet; or due to external environmental factors such as predators, other humans etc etc?

Why do we not feed lions, tigers, wolves etc in zoos on a commercial diet if times have moved on? Surely they would be better off on commercial stuff?
 
Hi as an Ex supplier of complete food I am surprised by Apache's comments.
Complete food can contain bulkers such as ash,wheat products,by products of human food production and excess salt.none of which benefit a dog.I feed my dogs a mixture of raw meat,which are lungs,hearts,butchers bits,tripe,pigs trotters and bones,this is bulked by cooked veg,carrots cabbage etc and a handful of biscuit.As the meat that is available today is ex human food chain my dogs do not need worming more often than if they were fed dry food.Worms are normally picked up by the delightful habit of eating fox and rabbit droppings.having said that every dog working or otherwise should be wormed at least every three months.
My oldest dog died at 15 years old not bad for a working cocker.
www.muntjactrading.co.uk
 
dog food

Over the years I've tried various methods of feeding to a kennel of competitive sleddogs. We bred scandinavian pointers with alaskan huskies to produce an extremely capable working dog, with a specific purpose. At its height I was managing a kennel in Norway in excess of 100 dogs, I had 40 of my own in UK. These dogs achieved world and european championship gold medals, they were fed on the very best food we could get our hands on. We went through all the top brands, which are developed by scientists with a much greater understanding of dog nutrition than I have. That said, some worked better than others. We normally supplimented with raw, red meat, vit C and B and Calcium.
I have now retrained some of these dogs to work on deer. Some more successfully than others. Working dogs still with the same nutritional principles. I am using CSJ food now (no way connected to that company ) and can catagorically say its the best food I've fed. Its UK produced and its meat content varies to suit you dogs needs. I prefer fish based feeds. I'm also confident that this food is not bulked out in any way. It is as natural a diet as I can find in a commercial dry dog food, highly recommended.
 
Thanks for the responses, I will read the info recommended and make my decision.

Apache - Does that mean I will live longer and more healthier if I stop preparing meals myself and instead buy ready meals from Iceland (the shop not the country)?:D
 
david - feed your dog whatever you fancy and despite apache's sighing and condescension I am confident you will not notice a measurable shortening in your dogs life expectancy.

I have had experience of feeding hunting dogs from africa to the arctic circle, sled dogs and pack hounds and none significantly out perform the other.

The trouble is some people gain a little of the "current" knowledge and to be frank, get a little "dogmatic". Better advise that would be of more use would be, dont over feed whatever you choose.
 
Apache, as most BARF is by product from the human foodchain (all meat not fit for human consumption is dyed purple) what is the additional risk of worm burden? I thought the primary vector for toxacara infection was consumption of faeces, taenia infection of domestic livestock has been fairly well eradicated, I suppose there is the slim risk of a cyst in pork flesh, but even this is very rare now.

Your not trying to set the hares running amongst the BARF feeders are you?
 
I don't think Apache was trying to be condecending but mearly pointing out that the premium/top quality dog food has been formulated based on years of studies and reseach by scientists and other such academics. Do you honestly beleive that to go back to basics is what is best? Can you give the correct balance of nutrition/minerals/vitimans etc that a formulated dog food can provide?

Also in the later years of a dogs life there are other things to consider with refrence to diet that can promote your dogs well being, to keep the dog on a such a basic diet may deprive the dog of the benefits it could enjoy? I'm just speculating/stirring.

I personnelly feed my dog mainly on commercial dog food but she gets plently of raw/boiled meat to suppliment this such as kidneys, a little liver, the scraggly bits of a caracass and the bones from the haunches which as mentioned help keep her teeth pearly white.. :D
 
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Apache, as most BARF is by product from the human foodchain (all meat not fit for human consumption is dyed purple) what is the additional risk of worm burden? I thought the primary vector for toxacara infection was consumption of faeces, taenia infection of domestic livestock has been fairly well eradicated, I suppose there is the slim risk of a cyst in pork flesh, but even this is very rare now.

Your not trying to set the hares running amongst the BARF feeders are you?

Firstly as this is a community of shooting men I would assume a large proportion of the dogs diet would be rabbit. I'm sure you have seen tapeworm cysts in rabbits - they are very common!

There is significant risk from eating any meat uncooked. Tapeworm are a lot more common than you seem to think - from a Farmers Guardian article:

Commenting on the situation in Wales, Mark Needham, of HCC, says that over a 12-month period four major Welsh abattoirs found 'some form of parasitic disease' in 500,000 of 3.3 million lambs (15 per cent).

Sheep industry must eradicate tapeworm | News | Farmers Guardian

I'd say 15% was quite a large percentage - certainly enough to worry about and keep the dog regularly wormed.

To be fair you should be worming your dog a minimum of 4 times a year as a responsible owner anyway.
 
I am not sure that rabbit would form part of the current trend in BARF feeding, it appears mostly to be chicken, turkey and meaty beef bones and tripe, purchased in bulk and often minced and frozen (the poultry that is).

From your first post you personally are not a fan and if that is based on the sheep tape worm issue which appeared to be secondary to you, thinking of it as stone age primarily, then the as a net contributor to the BARF feed currently available, sheep meat again barely raises the parasite risk to dogs.

In short, again I say BARF is a perfectly suitable alternative feeding method without any significant additional risk, I also agree regular worming is responsible and effectively negates the perceived risk you raise. I would want to see empirical evidence that BARF raises parasite burden in dogs before I consider it a factor to warn potential users.
 
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