Hello all.

Some of you may have seen me around on here asking for random advice but wonder if you guys could give me some more!?

We have 20 week old DDB pup and a almost 5 year old lab. I would like to feed them on a BARF (eventually) diet but I dont want to dive in and start doing it myself till I am more confident in what I am doing. So as a compromise and having heared DT say nothing but great stuff about it I was tempted to go for Naturediet.

At present the dogs are fed on Arden Grange at the moment. Large breed pup and adult dry foods.

I have performed a very basic calc and worked out when pup is fully grown our dogs will need 2555 packs a year of naturediet and would cost £1141 for the years supply based on the lowest price on berriewoodwholesale.co.uk.

I compared this to the approximate cost of AG = £775 for about 25 bags over the year.

So ND works out £366 more expensive (£30 a month) and there would be a bigger difference if I got the breeder bags of AG.

So really want to ask is it worth that much extra? an extra 50%!?

Cause of the cost difference I was thinking of doing a few days a week of the ND and the rest AG. what are your thoughts on this? I can see the dogs not eating AG and waiting for the ND!!!!!

Also thoughts on giving this type of food to a large breed puppy? I know it has a low protien content so it should help to ensure it grows slowly but just a bit concerned about this.

I think I will at least buy a few packs to try out on the dogs but dont know if I will be buying the 2555 packs just yet.

Cheers

Did you see my post about swapping food?

I think DT said on there that both is ok? I'm sure someone did and there is a link (if you haven't already had it from DT to a great supplier, much cheaper than petstore.

Well i feed my cats a mixture of RAW and arden grange (sometimes burns, depending on whats on offer - they aint fussy lol).

I'm just switching my pup onto naturediet at the moment. Before the switch i was sticking to the breeders meals of 1/4 soake burns mini bites and 2/3 raw beef mince. I managed to get him onto my own butchers recipie mince, but i was still having to soak the biscuits. He refuses dry food altogether.

He's now been on naturediet for a couple of days. He has 2 meals of nature diet a day (about 1/4 pack a meal - but he is teeny) and one small raw meal a day ( mince or a raw chicken wing or neck. I like the fact that he has a balanced diet in the naturediet without the hassle of worrying about it, and he gets the tartar controll with the raw bones.


I am going on holiday in june, and he will be staying with family, being on a "pre packed" food will be much much easier for them to manage.

If you want to feed BARF then its fairly simple from what i can gather. My butchers mince is perfectly balanced for the cats - 6-10lbslbs raw steak mince plus as much of the following that he has: lambs liver, lamb/ox/chicken kidneys, ox/lamb heart, ox/lamb lung, chicken wings, chicken carcas, lamb ribs, oxtail, chicken necks. Occasionally he will add pheasant/duck carcasses and breasts and sometimes some cleaned and prepared tripe. For the cats this is ideal, as they need more taurine and this is higher in the offal meats than the traditional muscle cuts. Dogs and cats also need raw bones in their diets, having them already passed through the industrial mincer reduces the risks of choking or splintering if your nervous. Although both pup and cats enjoy a tasty chicken wing or neck to chew on!


BTW: meant to add, that although the advised meal amount for my pup is 1-1.5 packets a day there is no way he could manage that, even if i fed him all 3 meals on it! with the 1/2 pack a day he doesnt finish it all, so i would expect he would only eat 1/2 pack a day in total. I have read things on champdogs too stating that their dog is fit and healthy but doesnt eat anywhere near the reccomended feeding amount. Feeding is about judging with the eye, if the dog looks too thin - up the amount, too fat, lower the amount.

hth

Mara

Your dogs are the about the same size as mine (ish) - I have two weims, If you are feeding AG at the moment and they are doing well on it I do not see a reason to change it. BUT - I happen to prefer wet, and having had a dog who could not tolerate any dry food whatsoever, that was when I was converted to Nature diet. I use approx 4 packs of nature diet a day costing me approx £650 per year and I have around ten bags af AG a year costing approx £260 - giving a total of just over £900 a year which I don't think is bad
regards
DT

Thanks for the replys.

They are both doing well on the arden grange much better than science plan so I wont rush to change it.

Think I will buy a few packs to try them on it as a treat then go from there.....................

Thanks again.