BARF Diet

My Testimonial of BARF Feeding
Example Diet
Preparation of Raw Food
Table of Amounts to Feed by Weights
of Different Size Dogs

Testimonial of BARF Feeding
Hi I am Teri Norton of TKO Boxers. I recently became a raw feeder. Not because I wanted to feed raw, but because it was my only option as my bitch refused to eat kibble, soft food or even frozen Bil Jack. I was at my end of the rope, my handler and friends alike were worried for my 8 month old show pup as she refused to eat. She was nibbling only enough to survive. At 8 months when she should have been gaining weight, she was losing weight. She was showing every rib and hip bone in her body. She was very timid and seemed shy of everyone that came around her. She had no energy and did not act like a puppy should, due to her lack of food. And her coat had no luster and was thinning in some places. Most people would tell me, “she is an animal, she is not dumb, if she is hungry, she will eat. She won’t starve herself”. Well, she must have missed that in the doggy rules 101, because she was starving herself. I was told allow her to eat in 10 minutes, if she does not eat, take it up. I did that…she STILL did not eat. I did not know what to do till my handler Genine DeMaso had suggested I talk to Beth Downey of Amity Hall Boxers who had been feeding all 5 of her Boxers on raw for many years!. She assured me that she would eat this diet. Not only that, she would become a better eater and would be healthier and require less trips to the vet. She started by sending me anything she could regarding the diet. I was scared to death!! I heard so many negative things from people (that never actually fed the diet) that my dog would have worms or parasites or the bones would make her choke..and so on and so forth. I was not prepared for this “change” but wanted to do what I could for my girl that I loved so much. Genine started feeding her the pre-made BARF burgers that I bought and Fed Ex’d overnight to her. It was really hard in the beginning as I had to take coolers up to her (Genine) of pre-made BARF burgers and chicken meals of necks and backs and neither of us knew what we were doing. This was new to Genine and I both and we learned together. But like a trooper, she figured it out and she helped “me” on learning how to feed when my girl came home. Well, in a month – WOW – what a difference!!!! She was right!! My girl ate everything I gave her and enjoyed her necks and backs as if it was the best treat ever!! She gained 6 pounds in a months time!! I also took a sample urine to the vet to test before she went back out with her handler in case she had a UTI that would need to be treated and my vet said that she had the cleanest urine she has ever seen!! And she does not endorse the BARF diet but agrees that my girl really benefited from this diet and was good for her. By the time she went back out with her handler at 10 months her coat was beautiful, her chest was dropping , she was at ideal weight, she had a sparkle in her eye and wanted to play with everyone she met. Everyone was her best friend. This little “bad eater” is a little piggy now and I have to even adjust her food once in a while to keep her from gaining weight. I went from someone that was scared to death of the BARF diet to total believer!! I would not feed anything else now. Even if she did eat kibble now. She is probably one of the healthiest dogs I have ever had and I owe that to the raw diet and my “raw mentors” Beth Downey of Amity Hall Boxers and Jayde Beeching of Emberstouch Boxers. Without their constant help and encouragement, I am not sure I would have been able to go through this and would have given up. A great big thank you to both of them. Now I hope with my girls new attitude and healthier body and mind, she will be able to become an AKC champion of merit as much as she has become in my heart. 

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Example Diet
B.A.R.F.  DIET SAMPLE MENU - Author: Beth Downey of Amity Hall Boxers

Veggies (One meal every other day): 
Veggies must be run through a juicer or food processor to break down the cellulose to be digestible. 

LEAFY: Romaine lettuce, leafy lettuce(no iceberg), cilantro, parsley, turnip greens, spinach, kale, etc.
ABOVE GROUND:  Broccoli, celery, cauliflower, asparagus, tomatoes, etc.
BELOW GROUND:  Squash (mainly yellow and zucchini), sweet potatoes (heat in microwave to soften before adding to juicer or food processor), carrots, etc.

WARNING:  NEVER FEED ONIONS TO DOGS

Fruit (Add to veggie meal or give as treats): 
1 piece of fruit, any kind except grapes

Meat:
Chicken mainly (necks, backs or wings have the best equal meat to bone ratio), hamburger (3 to 4x per week), fish (1 to 2x per week), and organ meat (heart, liver, kidney – 2x per week)

Oatmeal (once a month)
I use quick oatmeal and add hot water and honey.  Banana slices can also be added.

Additives (give with one chicken or hamburger meal per day – okay to skip a day occasionally):
½ teaspoon Sea Kelp 
1 Tablespoon Organic Apple Cider Vinegar (optional)


Supplements (every day) Optional Supplements (daily)
1 Multi-vitamin Saw Palmetto for intact male dogs (dose as per bottle directions) 
1000 mg. Vitamin C  1 Cranberry Pill  (esp. for dogs prone to urinary tract infections)
  1000 mg. Fish Body Oil

SAMPLE MENU
  SUN MON TUES WED THU FRI SAT
A.M Chicken Chicken Chicken Chicken Chicken Chicken Chicken
P.M Organ Meat Veggies mixed with Fish and/or Ground Chicken Veggies mixed with Ground Organ Meat Veggies mixed with Fish and/or Ground Chicken

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Preparation of Raw Food

This is a sample sheet on how I prepare my raw food. There is a formulation that I use to feed her by (noted a couple paragraphs below) that I got from one of the BARF websites. Billinghurst recommends 60% RMBs (Raw Meat & Bones) and 40% veggies, etc... however; 60% to 75% can be RMBs. Your combination should include veggies, ground meat (e.g. lean beef, chicken or turkey), bones, eggs and supplements.  You can also include organs (also known as offal, to include liver, heart, kidney, green tripe, etc...). I usually feed organ meat on it’s own once or twice a week so I make sure that she is getting the nutrients from the organs that she needs. When I mix my RMB/veggie mixture,  I do not exactly weigh out 60 to 40 percent ratio’s. I simply “eye” what looks like 60 to 40 percent as it would  be almost impossible to actually weigh out the exact 40 to 60 amounts since I do so much at one time. The most important thing is to make sure that your ground includes meat AND bone. 
If you are just starting BARF, remember to start slow by adding new food items every few days or even weeks, until your dog gets used to the new food (especially the richer foods like liver).  This is only a guide to help get you started.  If your dog is on the skinnier side, up the food (RMBs) and reduce the veggies....if your dog is on the heavier side, reduce the RMBs and up the veggies.  To know if your dog is 'just right,' rub the back of your hand.....his/her ribs should feel the same.  If you can't feel his/her ribs, then reduce the daily food intake.
Multiply your dogs weight by 16 to get the number of ounces he/she weighs.
Multiply that by .02, which gives you 2 % of the body weight.
Multiply that by .6 to give you the weight of RMB you should feed. 
That is chicken necks, wings, backs etc.
Go back to the 2% of his body weight again and multiply that number by .4 to get the weight in ounces of vegetable patty mix you should feed.
The Formula is as follows:
Here's the example formula I used to calculate the daily food intake when I started:
70 Lbs x 16 = 1120 ounces
1120 x .02 = 22.4 ounces of food per day
22.4 x .6 = 13.44 ounces of RMB -----60% RMB
22.4 x .4 = 8.96 ounces of Veg. Patty mix.-----40% Veg. Patty mix.
 

Remember: this formula is for a 70 pound dog. This is only a place to start. Use your own calculations using your dogs weight in place of the 70 pound example to come up with your daily feeding amount - adjust everything up or down, depending on your dogs condition or use the table at the bottom of this page for pre-calculated values.  This table is for days that call for veggie patty only.   On days in which you would use organ meats, just divide the total daily ounce figure in half, feeding 1/2 the amount in the alternate kind.
To make my Raw Burgers I go to my butcher every other week to a month and I order 10 pounds ground chicken necks and backs (if you can’t find a butcher to do this, you will need to use a meat grinder). Remember: your ground MUST include meat AND bone!! Then I add 5 pounds of lean hamburger. I then add fruits and vegetables by running them through a juicer (I use more veggies than fruit) NEVER use grapes or onions as these are toxic to dogs!! Use the pulp AND the juice that was extracted. Lastly I add about 12 eggs with shells. Make sure to smash the egg shells really good between your fingers so they are small pieces. Mix RMB and veggie slop together. Then I weigh out my food according to the total ounces I got from the formula above divided by two since the formula is for a whole daily allowance (I usually give a little more here and there depending on my dogs needs) and put each serving in a freezer bag and freeze them. My dog gets 18 oz of food a day so my bags are filled with 9oz of the RMB/veggie mixture since BARF should be fed in 2 meals per day. This normally makes a month supply..maybe a couple days short of a month. Then all you need to do is take out one bag per day. I usually feed one RMB/veggie meal a day and one meal of Chicken necks or backs. Once or twice a week sub a chicken neck/back meal for organ meat (See BARF sample menu). Dogs do not require veggies every day, so if want your meat mixture to stretch a little longer, you can feed the RMB/veggie mixture every other day instead of every day. If your dog looks a little heavy, add more veggies. If your dog needs to gain a little weight, add a little more RMB’s. I feed the other BARF meals using the same formula above but remembering to ½ the  total ounces of food per day as the formula is for a daily allowance.
Another easy way to do the veggies if you don’t want to do so much at one time is whenever you have extra veggies laying around..juice them and pour the pulp and juice in muffin pans, freeze them, pop them out and store in a freezer bag. That way you can just do the meat and bone mixture and pop in a veggie ball to thaw with the meat/bone mixture and mix it together after thawing and feed it that way. This way you pull out what you need depending on your dogs needs. Always remember to feed daily supplements (see BARF sample menu) as these are vital for their over all health.
A really good site to use is http://www.njboxers.com/faqs.htm . It helped me a lot through some questions that I had through this process. I also got a lot of help from Beth Downey of Amity Hall Boxers and Jayde Beeching of Emberstouch Boxers.


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Table of Amounts to Feed by Weights
of Different Size Dogs
Based on 2 % for adult dogs-regular activity
Dog's Weight 5 pound dog 10 pound dog 20 pound dog 30 pound dog 40 pound dog
Dog's weight in ounces 80 160 320 480 640
2% of dog's weight in ounces=Total of RMB and Veggies per day 1.6 3.2 6.4 9.6 12.8
Ounces of RMB to feed per day .96 1.92 3.84 5.76 7.68
Ounces of Veggie patty mix to feed per day .64 1.28 2.56 3.84 5.12

Dog's Weight 50 pound dog 60 pound dog 70 pound dog 80 pound dog 90 pound dog
Dog's weight in ounces 800 960 1120 1280 1440
2% of dog's weight in ounces=Total of RMB and Veggies per day 16 19.2 22.4 25.6 28.8
Ounces of RMB to feed
per day
.96 11.52 13.44 15.36 17.28
Ounces of Veggie patty mix to feed per day 6.4 7.68 8.96 10.24 11.52

Dog's Weight 100 pound dog 110 pound dog 120 pound dog 130 pound dog 140 pound dog
Dog's weight in ounces 1600 1760 1920 2080 2240
2% of dog's weight in ounces=Total of RMB and Veggies per day 32 35.2 38.4 41.6 44.8
Ounces of RMB to feed per day 19.2 21.12 23.04 24.96 26.88
Ounces of Veggie patty mix to feed per day 12.8 14.08 15.36 16.64 17.92

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Teri & Andy Underhill
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