HI,
I have been increasingly interested in the BARF diet for a time now, especially as our new pup is a veritable dustbin for anything but dogfood! - and i am having a hard time keeping any weight on him. However, my 3 year old girl will not touch raw meat (except finely minced steak!) and has always turned her nose up at fruit and veg - whreas the pup with eat anything, especially keen on apple cores and banana!
My problem is, thst although cleo has done really well on complete since she was a pup, i dont want to be feeding them 2 different things, as this seems to make the whole exercise slightly pointless... So does anyone have any tips on how i can introduce cleo to the barf diet without her turning her nose up at it completely - is here a half half thing that can be done? though again i'd rather not cook meat for her and not for the pup...
Any help and advice on this greatly appreciated, thanks!

For example - how do i get her to eat chicken necks and wings and things, as she is really fussy if she doesn't know immediately what something is...

My picky one will eat anything after I eat or pretend to eat it. Just a thought :D :D :D :D :D :D
:cool:

cheers sara,
have tried this with cleo and unless i actually eat it - like tuna or corned beef - she will have none of it - and i'm not eating raw chicken!!!! :D She loves meat, but only if it has been cooked abit, but will now eat bacon rind and very small bits of chicken uncooked
. its just the whole getting her to eat bones and skin and all...

Try telling her it is nice, it is her dinner and if she doesn't eat it she won't get anything else

The only thing I gave in on was my male with garlic as he would not eat his meat/veg mix if it contained ground garlic but will eat it if chopped - don't blame him a I can't stand the stuff. If the dog's don't eat their meals (very rare these days) it gets taken away until the next meal time and so on. If I think the are ill they go to the vet, if not they will eat it when they are hungry - and it can take days for dogs to get really hungry.

Christine

My 8mth old saluki is very fussy eater and has been since i got him, i have tried everything that is on the market, he now has chicken wings at breakfast time with a bit of mixer, and a complete at night, and i seem to be getting the weight on him, he loves his chicken wings, i dont know if it is right to half and half, but it sure works for me, or if he doesnt get his wings i give him tripe, and he adore both of these

kelly

Hi Christine,

I tried that too, but for some reason she just looked at me blankly - cant imagine why

so i just chuck it down for her then? what about things like chicken wings? just give them to her and hope she knows what to do with them! can i grind/mince her meat - or is that cheating?

right that shut me up then! - just went to the butcher to pick up some half wings and then gave them to the dogs - where they both proptly dropped them and looked at me - so i cut a small peice of meat off each and gave it them - and wallop, one crunch and they were gone! I think veggies will be easy peasy now :D

Hi Cleopatra

Dogs never cease to surprise their owners, one way to ensure they will or won't do something is to confidently say "my dog never/always does that" and you can be sure, if you are in public they will promptly do the opposite to what you were expecting

Don't count on vegetables being that easy unless they like them already Mixing them with meat/liver (not for pregnant bitches) /heart/tripe etc generally gets them eating it though

Good luck
Christine

Hi all

I agree with Christine

I guess I've been pretty lucky as all mine took to the BARF diet straight away, veggies and all.
I did have a problem when I moved house. My youngest Mal refused to eat and I got worried went to other Mal owners (who were barfing and had more experience than me at the time) for advice and they told me I was problably making things harder for myself and basically I wasn't a restaurant for them (it hurt a bit but it was true). They suggested just putting her dinner down give her a time limit say 15 -20 mins then take away whatever was left. I didn't like to do it as she was still growing but decided to give it a go out of desperation and she did eat with in a day or so and has continued to do well.

As to veggies and fruit (I mix the two in together) once I've process mine down I used to add a little fish or minced green tripe. Tripe smells disgusting but they do love it.

I wish you every success Barfing. It was the best thing I ever did for my lot.
Ruth

Once thay have eaten it for a few days then they know it is their food. My oldest dog nearly a year didn't go onto BARF or Raw till 6 months so she was fussy to start with but she quickly learned after she heard her tummy grumble. My youngest 6 months has been on it sive beginning and there is no stopping him.

I get bags of chicken carcasses form my butcher at 10p lb can get better nor cheaper than that.

I cut it up just slightly and the 2 dogs and the cat get tucked into a big bowl.

Pam

Don't know how big your dogs are as this can be an expensive way but I weaned my bitch onto BARF gradually by using Naturediet as she can be picky and can have digestive problems. It is trial and error. My pup came to me underweight after being fed on complete and I switched him over quickly to BARF and he loves it. Putting on weight and eats anything including fruit and veg. My girl, I only got a 18 months so she has been slightly more difficult but only in the fact that she prefers poultry and lamb to tripe and fish which she tends to vomit back up - much to the delight of my pup who then gets seconds!! Sorry! Plus she is not keen on fruit but loves veg. But they both look great and love their meal times!