Imagine preparing dinner for your child: a nice big plate of Kiddie Kibble, specially formulated to provide all the nutrients she needs, they're crunchy so they're good for her teeth, they come in five flavours and are so easy to prepare - you just scoop them out of the bag!

Of course not!!  You would find the idea abhorrent if it weren't more than a little ridiculous.
Why not?  Well, it's not natural, it's not what her digestive system was designed to cope with.....

It's not BIOLOGICALLY APPROPRIATE.

In feeding our dogs we need to go back to basics and apply just a little common sense and think about what they were designed to eat.
We have been feeding a raw, natural diet for years now (commonly known as BARF).  It has varied and evolved a little over time but has always been raw and always been natural.   The basic principle is:  70-80% raw meaty bones with the balance pureed fruit and vegetables and a little offal. 

The most important thing to bear in mind is that it is not hard to do so don't make it any more difficult for yourself than you need to.  There is a fair amount of flexibility in a natural diet so you can afford to be relaxed in your feeding program.   There is no need for intricate weighing and measuring and careful portion control - just look at the condition of your dogs and learn to judge their weight and activity level and feed a little more or less accordingly. 

We understand it can be daunting to start out on BARF after years of feeding processed foods.  People often feel a need to have the reassurance of measurement as a way to check and monitor until they are more comfortable with a flexible natural diet so we have included here a copy of our own dog's 'menu'.
But please remember it's important to experiment for yourself with quantities, proportions, supplements and even ingredients.  What works well for our dogs may not be the ideal balance for yours, you may even find that some of the ingredients that are cheap and easily obtainable for us are almost impossible for you to buy.

Batangabee ACD's Diet

We divide a one week period into 7 meals though we also fast our dogs once in a while.  At present these 7 meals are distributed as follows;

5 meals - Raw meaty bones
1 meals - Pureed vegie mixture
1 meal - Offal

Raw Meaty Bones Meal

Chicken carcasses, Chicken necks, Turkey carcasses, Turkey necks, Lamb flaps, Lamb shanks, Lamb necks, Lamb vertebrae, Beef vertebrae, Calfs hoofs, Pigs trotters, Pigs necks, Venison shanks, Venison necks, Kangaroo, Crocodile, Bunyip.. etc
(ok maybe not the last couple but seriously, pretty much anything goes
- if you can get it and it's affordable - go for it!)

Notes about the Raw Meaty Bone Meal:

• Bones must always be raw:  not smoked, not boiled, not dried - RAW
• We try to vary the diet over the various different kinds of bones though we emphasise chicken parts.
• We feed beef shin bones occasionally but mainly for recreational chewing - they keep the dogs busy for hours!
• Being on the coast we also occasionally feed a raw fish - whole, including the head.

Pureed Vegie Meal

About 70% of the vegie mixture comprises whatever fresh vegetables are available: Lettuce, Broccoli, Spinach, Carrots, Pumpkin, Celery,  Apples, Bananas, Oranges, Pears, Tomatoes, Grapes, Berries, Freshly sprouted alfalfa or barley, a clove of Garlic.
The rest consists of minced Offal (kidney, liver, brains..), Eggs and Natural Yoghurt. 

Notes about the Pureed Vegie Meal:

• We add any supplements we're using to the vegie meal.  At present we add Kelp, Vitamin C, Vitamin B, Cod liver oil, Linseed oil, Apple Cider Vinegar and Vitamin E.  All are added at the time of mixing except the Vitamin E which we add just before feeding.
• Sometimes we add other things that we might have on hand such as dried fruit or nuts
• We make a big batch of vegie mixture periodically and freeze it in plastic containers that hold enough for one meal for each dog.
• Although we feed a separate offal meal we still add some offal to the vegie mixture to help make it more palatable

Offal Meal

Liver, kidney, brains are the usual choices for offal. We try to vary the contents of the offal meal regularly.

 

~ Be relaxed, experiment and have fun! ~