I'm not against feeding BARF, but being a working mom, I'm often short of time for preparing meals for my human family, let alone the dogs!

What I have been doing is feeding Solid Gold or equivalent dry kibble for breakfast, then for dinner, cut back the amount of dry kibble, and add an egg, some dried oats, some ground turkey, yogurt, and grated or chopped carrot, zuchinni, apple, spinach, or whatever veggie I have on hand. I don't always do this, but when I have the inclination/time I will. Sometimes I make a large batch and put some away for the next day.

Any comments or suggestions on amounts/types of foods/methods that I should know about? I have read the Pitcairn book, but don't have my own copy. I don't feel ready to switch to a completely BARF diet, but just want to continue what I am doing thus far. Any suggestions/comments?

BTW, I fed the dogs their first raw chicken backs and necks last week. I was nervous about the bones, as I have been thoroughly programmed to NOT feed chicken bones to dogs, but they didn't die, so I guess everything is OK....

The only thing I have heard is that you should not mix kibble with semi-barf. It takes 12-18 hours to digest kibble and only 6 hours for the raw food.
I work too and exercise every day after work and this is what I do. Every sunday I get my 10 pounds of hamburger and put it in a 3 gallon bucket, add the eggs, kelp powder and shredded veggies, I also add molasses (not everyone does that), then I divy it out into freezer bags, make them flat (for easier thawing) and freeze. I also divy up my 30 pounds of turkey necks and feeze them in meal sized portions. Before I go to work every morning, I take out a serving of necks and a serving of hamburger, voila dinner is ready when I get home. So the only extra time you spend is maybe an hour on the weekend preparing the food. After while you will have a routine.
<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Do get a copy of the Billinghurst book; you can get it from Ed. He recommends up to 60% of the diet be raw meaty bones: chicken backs are both inexpensive and quite convenient.

My job doesn't leave me much time, either, so I make up a ground meat mush (hamburger or whatever, some organ meat, veggies, some supplements) in batches every couple of weeks and freeze them in meal-sized servings.

I'll stop mixing the raw food with kibble, then. I wasn't aware of that consideration.

Unfortunately, I don't have enough freezer space to do what you do. I have a small fridge with a small freezer that is usually filled to capacity with frozen veggies and chicken and such for the family. I'd have to get a chest freezer I suppose, which is something I've been considering anyway.

I'll check into the Billinghurst book also, but by "raw meaty bones", what is meant by this? I do give my dogs beef soup bones to chew on regularly, but the ones they can actually eat, like the "knuckle" bones, give them diahrrea. I only give them the femur portion, that is too hard for them to be able to eat, they simply chew at them to get the marrow.

Also, do you use oats in your food?
If so, do you find cooked (oatmeal) or dry to be better?

I think the reason you see the diarhea is due to the mixing of kibble and raw. Dogs who have been feed primarily kibble initally lack the enzymes to digest the raw food. It takes approximately 2 weeks for the system to switch on and produce the enzymes necessary to digest the raw food.
By raw meaty bones they mean the chicken backs, the turkey necks, ox-tails. These bones have quite a bit of meat left on them in proportion to the bones.
Well you know its Christmas soon, ask hubby for nice little chest freezer for X-mas. They aren't too spendy! Good luck!

Lanegirl,
They do not get diarrhea when I mix the kibble and the raw. Their stools are nice and firm. It is when they eat beef soup bones that they get diarrhea. I can tell that's the problem because first they will be blocked up for a day or so, then the chunks of bone start coming out, then the diarrhea begins, and lasts for another day or so. Do you know what I mean about the kind of bone I am talking about? It's the joint part of the bone, at the end, where it is soft enough for the dogs to just crunch it up and eat it. The middle part, where it is round with marrow inside, is too hard for them to chew up, so they only get the marrow from inside. I will check out oxtails, though! Sounds yummy.

A freezer for Christmas, eh? That's an idea, but I was already going to ask for a GPS! Perhaps the freezer would be more useful, though not nearly as fun.....I'll have to think about that one.

Hey we must be surfing the board at the same time <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
They probably don't have enough of the enzymes yet to digest the bones. I know which ones you mean.
I am not sure if you should stop mixing stuff in altogether. I know some people do what you do and seem to do ok. I just read on sites that say you should not due both and I think mainly its due to the diarhea issue? Or maybe it's the digestion issue, maybe someone on here can be more specific as to why not mix the both. But if you see chunks of undigest bone, that would worry me.

GO FOR THE FEEZER! Your dogs will love ya even more <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Looks like it, only I'm supposed to be working! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Anyway, I decided after this last bout of bone related diarhea to not feed them those kind anymore. They did do fine with the chicken back and neck, though.

You know, I don't think it's possible for my dogs to love me more than they do! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> But, the freezer would be a good thing for the entire household. I could stock up on all kinds of goodies at Costco! Typical of Mom to ask for something practical....for once I'd like to ask for something just for ME! Unfortunately, I can't ask for both....

lol.....I am at work too......slow here.
I know what ya mean, but I enjoy getting appliances! i am working on hubby to get a kitchen aid mixer.

Ok.....back to dog relaged stuff. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

If one is going to choose to feed both kibble and raw, they should feed them separately. As mentioned they do take different times to digest etc.

You should also be soaking or cooking the dried oats. Grains are the only item (if you choose to feed them) that needs to be cooked or 'broken' down (by soaking). Other than that you can certainly take what you have been feeding and feed it as a separate meal. As far as grains go...I would leave them out. I don't feed any grains to my dogs and they are much better for it. Your dog is already getting a high percentage of grains in the kibble.

If you are nervous about feeding chicken necks/backs whole to your dog, then you have a couple of options. First one is grinding. This takes time and a good grinder. The other one is to put them in a bag and take a meat pounder to it and crush the bones. It will still come out as 'one ' piece but the bones are crushed to small peices and easier for digestion etc.

The likely reason your dog is having problems with raw bones is that they do not have enough natural enzymes to help them digest them. You might try feeding a bone like this after you feed the meat/veggie mixture. Dogs who have not been eating a raw diet for long will often have the problems you are seeing. It takes time for the body to adjust, produce and 'send out' the necessary enzymes to break down bone into powder. The reason bones turn to powder in the system is that the calcium is 'sucked' out of them. (Same thing happens when you cook them and that is why they become brittle). IF you are not consisently feeding raw natural, your dogs system is somewhat comfused. Some dogs deal better with the 'mixture' than others.

You should not feed large bones (like the knuckle bones ) to a dog on an empty stomach, or you can have problems like you are seeing.