New to BARF, few questions.

[G79]

Just ordered my first lot of minces from DAf, but have a few things I'm still not sure about and would like to be certain before I start changing their diet. I'd appreciate a little advice if anyone is willing?

Roughly how much do I feed each day? Is it 2% of the dogs body weight? One of my dogs is 19kg, the other 17kg.

How much tripe do they need weekly? I ordered bags of the beef and tripe mince, how often would I need to feed them this?

Liver. My eldest dog seems to have a very bad reaction to liver, whenever he's had it in the past it's ended up being brought back up twenty minutes later. He's had liver flavour treats, tiny small cubes (literally tiny) of dried liver (which I've made myself), and I've tried tiny small cubes of raw liver, all of which he's brought back up. So is liver essential as I don't fancy constantly moping up his dinner shortly after he's eaten, or will he be okay without it?

Bones. Roughly how much bone will I have to add to their diet? Are chicken wings okay for medium sized dogs? Would adding one to one of their daily meals be enough? Or will they need more? They do have raw meaty bones (or marrowbones, whichever the butcher has in) at least twice a week, but they're more for cleaning teeth aren't they?

Lastly, I know when you have dogs on kibble and you swap it to a new kibble it's recommended to swap gradually. I assume it's the same when changing to raw? They've had a part raw diet since I've had them, I've mixed free flow mince into their kibble, so raw is not totally new to them. Plus they often have chicken thighs, ham shanks, ribs etc.

Sorry for the long post, just want to be sure I'm doing everything right. Any and all advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

G

Edit: Defrosted a few bags of the mince last night to mix in instead of the free flow today and I'm a little worried about the amount of blood in the mince, there seems to be a huge amount, is this normal?

[karen]

Hi G79, don't worry over the blood it's all good, it shows it's fresh. I would swap them straight over as they are used to raw. You need to feed roughly 1lb of meat daily, to each dog, thats 1 of DAF's bags. The beef and tripe mix can be fed every day but you need to had variety, also any leftover veg from your meals. Just a few tablespoonful each. Chicken wings are fine for medium dogs. 1 each daily is fine. don't worry over the liver just now. You can add a raw egg with shell to 1 of their meals a few time a week. DAF have bone in their minced meat so you don't have to had extra.. Hope this helps a little. Any other questions don't essetate to ask. Karen
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(GSD-LOVER)

[G79]

Thanks Karen.

I did swap them straight over and had no problems at all. They have 1lb a day split into two meals, I add tripe a few times a week and give them raw meaty bones to help with the teeth.

They're doing really well, it's also helped to sort out Baileys dandruff problem.

Only thing bothering me is the liver, is egg okay to use in the long run?

Got them some menuka honey too, so will start adding that once a week too. I also add salmon oil once a day.

I know I'm probably just being an over worried mum, just want to be sure they're getting everything they need.

[karen]

Everything your doing is fine G79, don't worry about the liver for now. Eggs are fine to use long term, they add to the calcium. Karen
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(GSD-LOVER)