Phyllis: I was scared to death that I wasn't fixing the correct BARF formula for my dogs, after having bought and read every book I read about on the List because I had a couple of dogs that got sick when I fed them raw veggies mixed with chicken or beef. So I gave up on a natural BARF diet and feed Innova and Steve's Real Food (beef). Sometimes they are sold out of the beef and I get chicken. Steve's Real Food is frozen into cubes, like ice cubes, and has raw meat and fresh veggies in it. It has never made any of my dogs sick, so I feel like I'm giving my dogs the best thing I can. I add to it a Welllness supplement (a dry meal) which has everything in it that doesn't come in kibble or canned food. It's something like Missing Link. And I might add that they practically take off my arm when I put their food down for them to eat. They simply love Steve's Real Food. They make beef, chicken and turkey. I feed my dogs maintenance Innova, 1/4 cup in the a.m. and in the p.m. And in the evening is when I give them the raw food. I give them three cubes, frozen. They love it and started eating it without having to add a little each day of the raw food. None of my dogs have had loose stools or any vomiting or anything. I'm as pleased as can be with this. Dorothy Swanson is the one that started adding Steve's Real Food to her dogs' food. I felt bad not to be feeding my dogs some kind of raw meat and raw veggies, and this agreed with her dogs, so I started feeding it to my dogs, too.
When I was trying to feed the BARF diet, I bought all kinds of powders and supplements to put in their food. I also bought a food grinder and went into the BARF diet in a big way. I never felt comfortable about giving the right supplements, especially the amount to be put in their food. I'm sure I never got it right. I had several people's recipes, and my dogs still got sick, so I had to give it up. I don't know if this had anything to do with my losing two litters but I think in the back of my mind I'll always wonder about it. Everything is going just fine now and I'm going to leave well enough alone. My dogs have been healthy and never sick all of their lives until I tried doing the BARF diet. I know there are many, many, many people that feed this successfully and I'm sure their dogs are well off being on it but I just never could get the right thing going. So I'm about as close to it as I'm going to get now and I'm going to leave well enough alone. Like the saying goes, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." My oldest girl, Emily, had to be put down September the 17th. She did not die from her heart. She became paralyzed due to nerves being pinched in her back and couldn't get up off the floor or her bed or anything. She just laid there and peed on herself, etc., etc., and barked and whimpered. It was so sad. Broke my heart to put her down but I had to get her out of her misery. I wanted her to peacefully pass away but that just didn't happen. She was 14 years and 4 months old and would have lasted longer, I'm sure, but I couldn't be so cruel as to let her suffer like that. The vet kept her several days and put her on Prednisone and she could crawl a little bit but as soon as she was taken off of it she was again paralyzed and went back to crying and barking and whimpering. I think she was asking me to do something for her. Her daughter, Robin, is the still alive at age 13 and 2 months and has no heart trouble either. This is my wholecolor line. They all have good hearts and live a long time. Sorry to start talking about Emily. This is the first I've said about it. Jimmie Lee Roberts [EMAIL PROTECTED] Katy, TX Phyllis Lasser wrote: > In a message dated 11/2/01 10:37:59 AM Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] > writes: > > << My question is what do other breeder feel about Royal Canin Puppy Growth? > >> > Obviously, a puppy food..... > Obviously, I am not in favor of it. > The reason I request that they feel a prepared raw diet instead of preparing > their own is that if you don't know what you are doing, you might be better > off feeding the supermarket "crap" than guessing at the ratios. There are 2 > list members that I have personally relied on (though they don't know this) > to give correct information. They are Laura Trunk and Laura Ottinger who > seem to have a better than average understanding about raw diets. I remember > one thread where Laura Trunk was trying to figure out the proper ratios of > banana and had the ratios incorrect and came up with the need for about 10 > bananas per dog per day as necessary (a GREAT exaggeration on my part.) I > also noticed that Laura Ottinger occasionally changes her mind and switches > one thing or another. It was then that I concluded that if these 2 don't > always get it right, I have little confidence in my own ability to come up > with the proper diet, and have absolutely none on the part of my puppy > buyers. I also had a puppy buyer who really tried to follow my recipe of > ground up chicken wings and necks. She travelled about 45 minutes to the > chicken farm I recommended and stuck to the raw diet like a good pupil. It > wasn't until I asked a question about how well her Cuisinart did the job that > she said the chicken store would not put their wings and necks in the grinder > but he did grind chicken cutlets for her and that is what she was using. I > was horrified. She did not see the difference and did not think she had to > tell me that. When I told her she had deprived her dog of any calcium at all > by removing the bone she was totally suprised. For those that stick to > recommended recipes or those that understand that creating a proper diet for > our dogs is an exact science and are talented enough to understand it, I > think it is terrific. As for me, I feed AFS (with added veggies and grains > as well as several supplements that I have reviewed with the company) and > recommend it to my puppy buyers. > Phyllis > > ========================================================= > "Magic Commands": > to stop receiving mail for awhile, click here and send the email: > mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?body=SET%20CKCS-L%20NOMAIL > to start it up gain click here: > mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?body=SET%20CKCS-L%20MAIL > > E-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] for assistance. > Search the Archives... http://apple.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ckcs-l.html > > All e-mail sent through CKCS-L is Copyright 1999 by its original author. ========================================================= "Magic Commands": to stop receiving mail for awhile, click here and send the email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?body=SET%20CKCS-L%20NOMAIL to start it up gain click here: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?body=SET%20CKCS-L%20MAIL E-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] for assistance. 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