| Q |
How much should
I feed my dogs? |
 |
There
is no hard and fast rule – as with any food, if they are gaining too much
weight reduce the amount, if they losing weight increase the amount! I
feed my Afghan hounds about 8 wings a day, or 2 to 3 carcasses! Just half
a wing a day is enough for my neutered Pomeranian! Dogs will utilise their
raw food much better, therefore most gain weight rather than lose it! |
|
|
| Q |
My dogs won't
eat their vegetables! |
|
Start
off with about a tablespoonful of pulp made up of sweeter veggies such
as carrot, cucumber and celery, include some apple and tomatoes too. You
can mix it with some raw offal, and even put the lot into a processor and
make a ‘raw’ soup. I find that my dogs will eat their veggies with relish
when they really want the nutrients, and slow down with eating them when
they feel they don’t really need them! A couple of small veggie meals a
week is better than none at all. Dogs need their vegetables for a long,
healthy life! Green leafy vegetables are very important, but being bitter
tasting and rather strong smelling, I only use about a fifth green veg
in the whole mixture. Mixing veggies with honey and live yoghurt often
encourages them to eat them too! |
|
|
| Q |
What about the
safety of feeding raw meat – we have children? |
|
You
can feed your dogs outside, or in their crates or beds. Just take the same
precautions you would when handling raw meat for yourselves. Wash your
hands after handling any raw foods! |
|
|
| Q |
Won’t my dogs
get Salmonella? |
|
The
answer is generally ‘no’! Dogs have bacteria in their guts that can cope
with things that would kill us! I’m sure we wouldn’t be very well if we
ate a pile of horse dung, or worse! Dogs can devour rotting meat, vomit,
excreta etc. and remain perfectly healthy! Do not feed rotting fruit –
this could give your dogs botulism! And once they are eating the BARF,
they have much healthier gut flora than when eating processed food! |
|
|
| Q |
My dogs skin
condition appears to have got worse over the first few weeks of eating
BARF? |
|
Most
conditions may get worse, before they get better as once eating this diet
the body goes through a detoxification stage. Within a month or two, the
condition will become less marked than before, and will probably disappear
altogether! |
|
|
| Q |
My dogs appear
to be constipated? |
|
Your
dogs will be passing smaller motions, as they will utilise their food better.
Constipation is often accompanied by what looks like diarrhoea as liquid
faeces is forced out with the hard motion – small, hard, white stools on
‘raw, meat bone days’, are perfectly normal, and this is not constipation! |
