Barf

Rearing Puppies on BARF

It was very encouraging that so many Afghan owners contacted me after reading the BARF article that I wrote for ‘The Ticket’. Many asked questions with regard to the breeding and rearing of puppies – so I thought a follow up article may be of interest!

The rearing of healthy puppies, that go on to produce healthy puppies is a never-ending cycle. But, you have to start somewhere – so no time like the present! There is a school of thought that it takes 3 generations of naturally reared pups to get back to a state whereby all generations benefit fully from natural rearing. Whether that is true I don’t know, but my dogs have certainly been incredibly healthy regardless of whether I bred them, or bought them and switched them to BARF once home!

You can change a puppy straight onto the raw, meaty bone diet as soon as you get your puppy home! No need for gradual changeovers. Just give the puppy a wing or cut up piece of carcass and he’ll snatch it out of your hand, devour it (probably after ‘killing’ it first) and be back for more, and more, and more . . .!

My philosophy on ‘milk’ is that it doesn’t feature as part of the diet (unless hand-rearing of course). ‘Mother Nature’ ordained the best (and only) milk supply to come from the mother dog! Once weaned off, they have no access to milk in nature! On the BARF diet the bitch will have a plentiful supply of good quality milk for up to 12 weeks. Unlike bitches fed processed dog food – they often dry up when the pups are about 6 weeks old!

Puppies fed BARF have better muscles in their necks, backs and legs from tearing, pulling, ripping and having something to do, other than eating slop! They have stronger jaws, less coming out of the rear end, smell sweeter and are MUCH calmer in temperament!

FEEDING A PREGNANT BITCH

Feed ample (at will) raw, meaty bones – the natural calcium in bone will stave off eclampsia too! Plenty of egg yolks, live yoghurt, veggie pulp, molasses, oils (cold-pressed), dried fruits and offal (kidney or heart)! DO NOT give liver or cod liver oil – Vitamin A during pregnancy can cause abortion and deformities! I feed my bitches as much raw foods as they want, but don’t let them get fat!

FEEDING MUM AND REARING PUPPIES

During the stage that ‘Mum’ is feeding the puppies, I again feed my bitches ad lib! A mixture of the above – about 80% raw, meaty bones, 15% offal (not liver) and the rest a mixture of veggies etc. As much as they want and, unless the litter is very small, the bitch almost certainly won’t get fat during this stage! I don’t start weaning puppies until they are about 4 weeks old – they will thrive on mother’s milk until this age. And the quality of mother’s milk will be of such high quality, that it will be sufficient for growing puppies until 4 weeks of age. If the litter is large, or the puppies start demanding more than milk, then weaning may start a little sooner than 4 weeks! But, make it gradual; the biggest cause of diarrhoea in puppies is overfeeding! The first meal I give the puppies is that of raw, minced carcasses! Larger breed pups will nibble enough off a whole carcass to wean themselves. At the weaning stage I also mash in some veggie pulp from the juicer. Don’t hurry the weaning stage – over feeding too soon is a major cause of diarrhoea! At 4 weeks I feed a dessertspoonful once the first day, then twice the second day, and so on until the 5th week when puppies can cope with raw carcasses. I build up the amounts very gradually. Large breeds with strong jaws can cope with lamb necks/ribs at about 9 weeks of age!

Over the latter part of the weaning stage I gradually introduce the other ingredients that are suitable for a BARF diet. My BARF fed bitches had a milk supply until the puppies were about 12 weeks old! As I never bred a litter unless I intended to keep a puppy, there was always a puppy left to use up mum’s milk until she dried up naturally!

I abhor the practise of weaning puppies early to get the bitch back in the ring more quickly, or to send a bitch borrowed on terms home early! The puppies need mum’s milk for as long as possible – a bitch being dried up too quickly/early is likely to suffer from mastitis, and could die!

Puppies reared on this diet will be very muscular, healthy and calm in temperament!

FINDING OWNERS WHO WILL CONTINUE FEEDING BARF

I have never found this to be a problem! When puppy people saw the condition of my dogs, and how well the pups were doing, they kept to the diet. I include every part of the diet on the diet sheet. In fact, most puppy people also put their other dogs (and cats) onto the diet too!

You are welcome to give copies of this article and my other ‘BARF’ articles to your puppy buyers!