What age for BARF?

[wee_red]

We will be bringing Watson home 2 weeks on Sat, he will be 9 weeks old. Ideally we'd like to BARF from the start. Our breeder feeds his dogs RAW but not the puppies as he has found that not everyone wants to fed RAW and its tricky for the puppies to go to dry from RAW....I wonder why ;)

So, what's the best way/time to switch him over? Obviously he will have a lot going on with leaving his litter mates and his mum so we don't want to overwhelm him but we are keen to get him going as soon as we can. Any hints for the best way to do it?

TIA

[Dawnspell]

Have you tried asking the breeder to switch him over now before he comes to you ? Less for you to think about

[Hollypops]

I'm with asking the breeder too if they are already doing it for the adults it shouldn't be a problem to do for a pup too.

[ZiiPAngelclaws]

i agree speak to the breeder, Torsten will be switching to BARF on Saturday, when he's been with us a week. i'd have him on it now, but his poo is still a little loose. he'll be 9 weeks on friday

[wee_red]

Will ask the breeder when we phone him on Fri. The puppies are having their eye test done then....
Thanks

[Maty]

Creggan's breeder also feeds raw & weaned the puppies straight on to it, then they switched to kibble as they knew some pups would be fed that once they went home. Creggan wasn't ever so happy on it & as they knew I was going to raw feed they put him back on to it

[jeanjune1+]

Hi, am considering BARF, my little girl, Holly, is 10 years old, I have always tried to feed her a varied diet, but the meat I have provided previously has mostly been cooked! I dont want to do anything that may make her ill, Does anyone have any advice with regard to changing her over to a more raw diet?

Thank you x

[zeta1454]

Hi, am considering BARF, my little girl, Holly, is 10 years old, I have always tried to feed her a varied diet, but the meat I have provided previously has mostly been cooked! I dont want to do anything that may make her ill, Does anyone have any advice with regard to changing her over to a more raw diet?

Thank you x

Welcome to the Forum

We moved our dogs to raw after One of our pups would eat nothing else and we did not have any issues in moving the older mini schnauzers straight from kibble to raw which was really a greater jump than from cooked food to raw. We had previously offered them a raw chicken wing tentatively and were amazed to see them crunch it up no problem. The oldest would have been 12 years old at that time. We moved from raw minced meat and chicken wings to using the Natural Instinct complete raw food when that came out but now feed our dogs Nutriment complete. They do have a ' senior' version with slightly less percentage of meat than the usual adult versions.

http://www.nutriment.co/senior-formula-adult/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

However if you would rather try Holly with something simpler to start with then chicken is generally the best tolerated meat for most dogs. If you don't think she will grab and swallow a chicken wing whole ( as one of our younger schnauzers is liable to) then you could try her with that as a starter. If you would rather not risk the bones initially then any minced raw meat mixed with raw vegetables should be fine. The vegetables are best puréed as they are not easily digested by dogs and some people feed only meat for that reason. I think if you have been home preparing Holly's food then it may just be a question of using the same ingredients but uncooked. The general recommendation for adult dogs is 80% meat to 20% vegetables although 70-75% meat is probably better for an older dog.

If you would feel more confident using a commercially prepared complete meal, I would recommend any one of the ready prepared raw food companies: Natural Instinct, Nutriment, Wolf Tucker or Honeys. These are all well established companies producing good quality raw meals for dogs and I am sure all will be helpful if you contact them regarding Holly. I believe Honeys can make up meals based on your own dog's needs if required

I hope this helps and I am sure other raw feeders will be able to offer their experiences too.