Howdy,

I have a question for the experts on here. For almost a year now my 18 month APBT has been throwing up on many occasions. It is VERY annoying. When she throws up it is pieces of her food. I feed her dry dog food IE..Iams, Science Diet, Purina One. I have tried a bunch of different kinds. I don't think she is digesting it right or something. Does this make sense to you all? When she throws up it is almost always whole food pieces even after she has slept all night. Would going to BARF solve this year long mystery for me? PLEASE HELP!!!! Also what would a sample days food be for her on a BARF diet? Thank you all for your advice.

Stoner

You might also want to ask this question on rawfeeding Yahoo group. There's something wrong with your dog's digestion. Natural foods often help to heal all kinds of problems. If my dog was doing that I'd be looking for a good holistic nutritionist and/or vet.

Daniel, check your PMs.

I have begun reading my daughter's book by Dr. Martin Goldstein. "The Nature of Animal Healing". He has the shit so scared out of me that I am now convinced that all major label commercial pet foods are manufactured on Three Mile Island and have half lives not shelf lives. The whole elephants with tuberculosis and the LA county study are truly appalling. I can now see why so many are going to an all natural diet ( and why so many more should be doing the same). I know the BARF diet has been discussed once before here and in my ignorance ( more and more occurances of greater and greater magnitude as time goes on)I dismissed reading the topic. If any one could please skim over the significant points and refer me to literature for future learning and reference, I would greatly appreciate it. I got the book for my daughter who aspires to be a holistic vet. I bought it from the Leerburg library and although not finished, I have to say it is a "must read" for those who really care to do the right thing by our magnificent animals. Thanks, Gordo.

The intersting thing is that my dog is throwing up bones quite regularly. but that's natural. Or at least looks natural.

Originally posted by Alex Artemenko:
The intersting thing is that my dog is throwing up bones quite regularly. but that's natural. Or at least looks natural. If your dog is throwing up bones (or anything else, for that matter) regularly then you need to re-evaluate your feeding regimen for this particular dog. Maybe you need to add probiotics or maybe the dog can't handle the particular type of bones you are feeding..........occasional vomiting is one thing, regularly throwing up is not natural.

I would agree, that bringing up bones regularly is not normal. I have been feeding raw for over 8 yrs. and seldom see this.

What kind of bones is your dog throwing up? The dogs body should be able to break down the bones (the whole point in feeding them). It draws the calcium out of them and the rest goes through the system. That is why the stools of dogs on a lot of bones can be like chalk.

You might see this a bit in the beginning with the older dogs when switched over but you don't usually see it when they have been on the diet for awhile or if they started on it as pups.
I would also look at adding something to the food to help your dog digest it better and/or grind the bones to help the body assimulate them better.

As far as Stoners question goes...I am really not sure. I believe that feeding raw definately is one of the best choices for a healthy dog, but it is not a 'miracle' either. Improving the overall health of a dog may certainly help with the issues you are having with your dog, or there may be more going on.

There is actually quite a bit of literature out there on feeding this diet. Many books, email lists, etc. For an overall view of the diet I like Billinghurst latest book called The Barf Diet. I also like Kymythy Schultze's book, Natural Nutrition for Dogs and Cats. There is another 'easy read' called Switching to Raw by Susan Johnson.

The basic diet I feed is raw meat and raw veggies. When I first started out feeding raw , I did feed grains but took these out of the diet 4 yrs. ago and feel the dogs do much better without them. I also started out using a food processor to grind/cut up my veggies. Last year I switched to using a juicer. Thier stools are definately better and smaller with the juiced veggies vs. the food processor. Part of the switching to juiced is due to my dogs ageing. Just trying to make things easier for their bodies to break down the food vs.adding supplements to do it.

I use less amount (1/2 cup-1 cup) when the veggies are juiced and 2 cups when they are just ground up. I tend to use more veggies vs. less. I find this works for my dogs. There is nothing wrong with feeding more veggies as long as you are feeding the right amount of meat.

Variety is the key to this diet. For meat/protien, I use chicken necks/backs (ground); beef 'cuttings' ground with liver, kidney, heart; turkey necks/backs/livers (ground); raw tripe; egg yolks; some fish; and lamb.

I choose to grind (butcher does it for me) most of my meat as it is much easier to mix with the veggie mixture and I have several older dogs that are 'gulpers'...never did learn to chew the whole necks/backs.

I also do add some supplements depending on the dog, its activity level, age etc.