$.59 a pound Don't I wish! Sometimes leaving in the frozen north sucks!
Thanks for clearing that up Ed, that makes a lot more sense.

I can spell today <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />
"living" I meant.
Ed, is there a way to turn on the editing fuction for users to edit their own posts?

Dave, according to Dr. Billinghurst's book, he recommends that you not store the pulverized vegetables as it becomes oxidised and loses much of it's nutritional value.
I add plain yogurt and or cottage cheese to my vegetable mix. Yoghurt is high in calcium, protein, vit A & B. My older dog was initially reluctant to change to BARF however the yoghurt and cottage cheese must have appealed to her pallete <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> Try it.

I am also raising a puppy on the BARF and am thrilled with the results. So far he seems to be growing at a steady (not excessive) rate and looks very physically balanced.
Unlike the puppies I have have seen on a commercial diet that seem to have these uneven growth spurts. My vet has been thrilled with his growth process as well.

As far as the pork, I feed it some without any concern. However, the bulk of the bones are from chicken and turkey, lamb when I can get it. I too add alfalfa powder and kelp to my veggie mix. Although, I must say the post office was highly suspicious of the package containing the alfalfa powder that I ordered from Ed! They opened the box, guess it smelled like an illegal substance!

We are going to change the settings on the board so people can edit their own posts - I thought that it was not fair that I was the only one who could change my spelling errors. (and God knows I have enough of them)

It may not be done for a day or so., <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Nancy, do you feed pork bones--I mean, for the dog to chew up and swallow? I can get pork tails pretty cheaply, and they look like they'd be fun for Oka, but I'm a little worried about the consistency of the bones--they seem harder and more splintery than chicken bones.

I ordered Billinghurst's book from Ed and will be re-adjusting my dog diet plan accordingly, although I myself doubt that frozen veggies will oxidize very much in one or two weeks. (I work 12-hour days at the end of an hour commute, so I don't have a lot of time and pre-preparation is key for me.) In the meantime, mixing in some beef heart and/or liver to the over-veggied food does the trick--Oka snarfed it right up.

Interestingly enough, out here ostrich liver is the cheapest liver product; evidently there's no demand for it. There's a big ostrich farm less than an hour away. I'm going to try making some pate with it as well as feeding it to Oka.

My trainer recommends against feeding dairy to adult dogs because it's been his experience that they don't handle the calcium well in that form. I figure Oka will get enough from the bones I feed him, anyway.

In my experience the amount of veggies in the diet is not as important as the amount of meat/bone. My dogs get 1-2 cups of veggies a day. However, thier meal is approx. 1/4 - 1/3 veggies and 2/3 -3/4 meat/bone. I give more veggie for more fibre and the possibility of more vitamins, and quite frankly for more of a 'meal' for them. For older arthritic dogs it is better to increase the veggies and decrease the meat somewhat.

Dave, Yes, I feed pork bones mostly ribs and chops. I tried the feet but they didn't go over too well, haven't tried tails.
I live in the Florida Keys so am some what limited in choices for bones. In fact, I have to special order chicken necks, forget ostrich or rabbit, I'm lucky to get lamb on occassion. Careful on the volume of liver you feed, Billinghurst covers it in Ch.9 of Give Your Dog A Bone. He also covers the benefits of certain dairy products in Ch. 13
Of course if your dog's stomach is sensitive to dairy it wouldn't have much benefit. Mine seem to thrive on it.
Once you read the book you'll find a "recipe" that works for you and your dogs.

Thanks, Nancy. I'll give the pork tails a try.

Shandar, I'll try that proportion next time; sounds about right from Oka reaction to the over-veggied meat.

I'm looking forward to getting the Billingshurst book. I just wish there were a referral service to help me find a BARF-friendly (not to mention vaccine-sensible) vet in my area (Santa Cruz county, CA).

Hi, wanted to comment on feeding of raw pork to dogs. Let me first say that I don't believe that raw, home-formulated diets are a good nutritional choice, particularly for growing dogs. If anyone wishes to discuss why I don't like them, I'd be happy to do so.

First, Trichinosis and Samonella are very different concerns. Trichina are parasitic worms, Samolnella a bacteria. Dogs do not contain "enzymes" which will prevent a trichina infection, there are however extremely resistant, when compared to humans, against what we typically consider pathogenic food-borne bacteria (i.e. E. coli, Samolnella, etc.).
Trichina is spread to pigs from the soil, however since most pigs in this country are raised in a confinement setting they are not exposed to soil. Most pork produced in the US will be trichina free, but the US does import a tremendous amount of pork.
Pork is an exceptional meat source for may vitamins, especially some of the B vitamins. It can also be an excellent source of fat soluble vitamins (A, E, etc.) depending on what the pigs were fed.
The risk of trichina in dogs is real. It is important to remeber that although dogs have historically eaten a variety of raw animal products in the wild, they also had a much higher pre-maturity mortality rate and a lower life expectancy.

Thanks for the clarification on the pork. That does make sense.
Now, as far as nutritionally complete. I am not sure if you have really researched what goes into kibble and what chemicals are used to "preserve" this junk, but those of us whose dogs had severe allergies that the vet's could not cure and had to drag our poor animals in to get ears flushed every few months, take prednisone etc. this diet has been a god-sent for many. My dogs teeth will never need another cleaning from the vet, her ears are for the first time clear of yeast and my male GSD is actually finally eating. We do add supplements, and people like Kymythy Schultz have fed their dogs like this for decades.
Both my dogs also developed Zinc deficiencies while on kibble, so how complete is kibble? I suppose you can counter with just as many points and it just comes down to a personal choice. Dog food has not been around forever, and as far as living longer, there are several breeds (Great Dane for one) whose life-span has actually decreased since the use of kibble became mainstay! Even my vet said they are seeing an epidemic of allergies in dogs which they now attribute to kibble.

Thanks for the clarification on the pork though!