Ah now that's interesting, Rueben. I did not know that dogs allergic to a food in its cooked or processed form may well be able to tolerate it raw. Thanx for that titbit of info!

interesting reading... if i feed raw do i have to put veg with her diet? or is raw meat enough? i can remember having a conversation with my vet about barf and she kind of gave me the look that said i am a bad mum!! i just want the best for ruby, currently she is on science plan and natures harvest... so hard making a decision to change

No many people feed no vegetables BUT raw meat is insufficient as it is low in calcium and high in phosphorus so a calcium source must be fed, usually bones so eg chicken wings/thighs/legs which provide both meat and bone, so calcium and phosphorus

I personally do the whole raw pureed veg thing, but I know many people who do not and have perfectly healthy dogs. I always recommend the pureed veg as I believe at the very worst you are wasting your time and money, and the facts behind feeding pureed veg make sense to me, so I do it.

I now do the pureed veg - at the start I didn't, although I had no complaints about my dog's fitness and health on raw food.

My sister - who has been raw feeding her dogs for over 12 years, has always done the veg thing, so I tried it and it actually made a difference to Merlin's 'output' (much firmer and easy to pick up). Plus at the time I started he needed to gain fitness and lose a pound or two, and bulking out his meals with pureed veg was a good way to begin.

It has side benefits - I buy dog-veg now and that means I have much more veg available for me to eat too! I have taken my list of suitable veg from Kymythy Schultze's guide and include a little bit of as much variety as I can, which mixes veg from above ground and below ground plus herbs.

Some dogs do fine on no-veg; others do even better with-veg.

I swopped across to raw about 3 months ago - I think I must have tried every commercial kibble under the sun but could never find something that suited my three BCs.

I buy most of their raw from rawtogo and the maintstay of their diet is their minces of varying meats as they come in the ratio of 80/10/10 - they get a boney meal about twice a week, chicken carcusses, duck necks or something similar.

I feed the odd bit of veg if we have it left over.

Not had a pup yet since feeding raw but my next one will be fed raw from when I bring it home - the breeder I am looking at hopefully will assist on getting pup used to mince etc whilst still with the litter.

my vets arent anti-raw but not exactly for it either but never mind. I dont have to put up with lectures.

The dogs went cold turkey by the way - they had always had chicken wings in their diet so it seemed the best way to go as clearly the kibble was no good.

Hi guys

I feed my dog raw dog mince from the butchers and she absolutely loves it. At the minute she on kibble for breaks and raw for tea as she's only 8 months old. She doesn't get excited at all for break but for tea she jumps around the kitchen.

The only thing I wonder is at 12 months is one meal of raw enough? I'm not sure if I should still give her a little kibble in the morning?

My two are nearly eight months old and they are only on raw, they have two meals a day.

why feed raw
I feed RAW because it is a lot healthier than the rubbish they put into wet foods (please research this, it is terrible) and kibble just does not seem natural. I love nothing more than finding new things to try my dog on. She enjoys her meals now, and I enjoy giving them to her.

what to buy
I started off with mince from Tescos. Lamb mince. I always have some mince in stock! I also always have frozen veg (which I defrost and mush) and a veg mix that is fresh veg blended basically.
I always ensure to have:
> mince
> chicken wings
> tripe (I ususally get blocks from p@h)
> bones
> heart
> liver
> tins of tuna, sardines and pilchards.

where to buy from
Butchers:
> Offal, such as heart, liver and kidneys
> Bones, which are free! As well as chicken carcusses
> Mince, the butcher makes a nice chicken mince and adds carcusses to add bone

Pet shop:
> Frozen tripe in blocks

Supermarket:
> Chickens/ chicken wings / chicken pieces
> White fish portions (frozen)
> Tins of fish (tuna, sardines, pilchards)
> Fresh meat/ fish in the reduced to clear section
> Fresh veg for blending

Street Market:
> Fresh veg for blending


how much to feed and how often
I feed two meals a day. Meals often vary in size.... I dont weigh. You know if your dog needs more or less, either in their behaviour or in their body condition and weight.

how to introduce your dog to raw
I started with mince and frozen veg before adding new meats every few weeks.

what age to start feeding raw (if puppy)
Jinty was on complete RAW by 4 months. I would have done it as soon as she came home if I understood more about RAW at the time (I refused to start feeding her RAW until I had read into it.

Pssst - Heart is a muscle - not classed as Offal!