i have 5 dogs and would like to put them on raw but im scared.Iwas thinking of trying the company natural intinct as they do it all for tou however it will be very expensive.The only thing im worried about are giving them the bones as they are a flat faced breed.Do i have to give them to them or could i possibly blend them.
help much appreciated

You certainly don't have to give bones, the main benefits from doing so are teeth cleaning and enjoyment for the dog. As long as they are getting bone in some form, be it whole or minced, they will be fine.

Get some good books, Natural Nutrition for Dogs and Cats - The Ultimate Diet by Kymythy Schultze is a very good, easy to understand book.

Join the Yahoo group BritBarf where you will find a lot of useful information and can ask as many questions as you like.

IMO Natural Instinct will cost a fortune and can be "homemade" at a fraction of the cost.

I have a similar dilemma as I'm nervous of feeding my papillon chicken wings(my other bigger dogs have them with no problems) and also feed Orijen as well as raw,so it would be good to find a complete raw mix for her.Thats why I liked Food4dogs minces as they actually told you how much bone and offal they have in them(10% of each) so I could chop and change between that and the Orijen knowing that the calcium/phosphorus levels were ok.None of the other raw suppliers actually tell you how much bone is in their products.At the moment her raw meals consist of raw beef or tripe mince from Prize Choice(which doesn't contain any bone) plus the See Spot Live Longer mixes(which I have to get from the States-again quite expensive).I'm thinking of trying Natural Instinct but it is expensive(but apparently very good quality).I think there's a market for raw mixes for newbie or part time raw feeders like me who don't like too much hassle!

I have two dogs both on entirley raw one is a 7lb toy breed and the other a gsd. Thinking of your little pap and bones do try giving a wing to her. my chi loves her wings and will happily chew through a bit of carcass or a drumstick as well. You could give the wing a bit of abash to break it up a bit  but being such a little one she is unlikely to beable to gulp it down in one.
I dont feed barf but choose raw meaty bones . If you google that you will find some useful info  of the differences and I find it soo easy jsut take a couple of days food out of the freezer in advance and defrost and off you go. You can get raw mixes for barfers from pat home if you are still ussure. I will also pm you with a good website to read  Also the book the dogs dinner by anne ridyard is good

Furriefriends-sounds like I need to be a bit more confident and not such a wimp about giving bones to my pap! I'll try bashing it up for her I think.I was a nervous wreck the first time I gave my other dogs chicken wings as well.Oneof my dogs does have a completely raw diet as she doesn't seem to tolerate cooked meat at all,thats not such a problem now I've got her meals sorted mince most days with liver/kidney for 3 meals a week,chicken wings 3 meals a week plus the extras such as salmon oil and pulped veg that all the dogs get.
Its the other dogs that have part Orijen/part raw-thats a bit harder-so I would be very interested in the raw mixes from Pat Home.

My Paps all get Nature Diet as most of them don't actually like raw meat. I don't give them chicken wings but they do get raw meaty bones, lamb rib bones are perfect. They can strip off the meat and then chew the bones for a few days before they need binning. I recently gave one of my pups his first raw meaty bone at 9 weeks of age and he loved it.

I'll try the lamb rib bones as well,Marianne,thanks.

The ready prepared meats works out a lot more expensive. We order our meat from DAF (Durham Animal Feed) and they mince the bone in with the meat. Its good quality and lots of variety from the usual chicken, lamb, beef to pheasant, venison, duck etc
I have tried the Pets at Home stuff in the past and its poor quality slop to be honest.

Thank you.Still confused ive applied to the britbarf and am waiting for them to accept me.Do you put veg and liver,hearts in every feed .
Dont really no which company to try , also i have a dog who has suffered with bladder stone the stone has now gone but have been told to keep her on hills c/d,not sure i should change her diet any advice

> Do you put veg and liver,hearts in every feed

I don't.  I do, however, try to balance the quantities of meat, bone and offal over the week.
Many people will say vegetables are unnecessary in a dogs diet but if your dogs enjoy them, they'll do no harm.  To get the full nutritional value veg should be pulped or lightly steamed.  I blitz bits and pieces in the food processor and freeze in small amounts.  I'll often sling some veg in with a meal containing liver.  One of my boys isn't a liver fan and I find some garlicky carrot helps disguise the flavour!

> Dont really no which company to try

It may depend where you are, who will deliver, and what amount of freezer storage you have.  I use TPMS and would highly recommend them for good meat products, helpful delivery and good prices. 

Sorry I don't know about your diet for bladder stones although you may be able to ask the question on BritBarf - approval shouldn't take more than a couple of days

Does anyone no of supplier of meats in Essex.

Berriewoods are based in Essex

albion

>>Do you put veg and liver,hearts in every feed<<

I don't either. A good book to read is 'A Dogs Dinner' by Ann Ridyard if you can get a copy.
Like already mentioned, some dont give veg and some do. If given, they should be pureed as well.
You can vary the diet with fish, cheese, eggs, fruit etc everyone does it differently

The Dog Food Co are based in Suffolk, not a million miles away (http://www.thedogfoodcompany.co.uk/).

At the moment I'm using Albion and am very happy with their products and service (http://www.albionmeatproducts.co.uk/).

Thank you i like the albion website.So just to clarify i can buy the chicken or lamb from them which contains ground bone part boil some veg blitz it then put with the meat.Then every couple of days say give them a chicken wing.Once a weel give them offal .does that sound right

You don't need to par boil the veg, you can just put in a food processor and blitz it raw (potato you'd need to cook fully). I do feed offal all in one go, once a week, my dogs can cope with that, but it may be better to add a small amount each day to begin with. Offal can have explosive/runny consequences for those dogs not used to it! You could always blitz up a load of veg along with the offal and freeze it in small portions. Mine get lamb ribs rather than chicken wings, 3-4 times a week, so you should be fine.

ive just put in an order from landywoods for chicken and veg mix and lamb and veg.The lady said they contain bone so do you all think this will be fine to give on its own.

You still need to feed offal as well and for a varied diet I would say you would need to feed other meats and tripe, fish, eggs etc. I would think that other than that it would be OK to feed them on their own, I'm no expert, but how much bone is in the mixes?

Not sure how much bone is inthe mix the lady said it was enough to fgeed on its own.Shall i feed a raw egg , offal , and fish once a week.Do you suggest giving them bones on top of food

Feeding bone of some sort is a good idea for cleaning teeth. Everyone feeds slightly differently, but if you use the Landywoods chicken/veg and lamb/veg as a basic diet, you can then add extras as and when. Each week can be different - you are aiming to get a balanced diet over a period of time, not necessarily daily.