RAW Dog food

Family, Education, Health and Pets
1
Hello everyone.

We picked up our 12 week puppy in UK a couple of weeks ago and we are travelling back to Switzerland with him next week. The breeder always feeds her dogs raw food and we have kept to that diet. The dry kibble makes him itch. There is a really good selection of raw food in UK and he has been on these 2 foods, which are especially for puppies.

https://www.naturalinstinct.com/

https://forthglade.com/shop-dog/wet-...-dog-food-395g

I live in Weggis so looking for something similar I can pick up either in Luzern, Zug etc or anywhere I can drive to. If it is frozen I can stock up.

He is a German Shepherd and has an umbilical hernia (checked out by the vet and could well heal up by itself) so we try to give him food for sensitive tummies and he eats little and often using a slow bowl.

Grateful for any recommendations (and thanks everyone for their earlier posts on puppy training and recommending the Ruffwear harness.

2
Oh my, he's a cutie!

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I don't feed raw, so please take this as information only, not as recommendations.

Raw diet is usually called BARF in Switzerland - Bones And Raw Food, or Biologisches Artgerechtes Rohes Futter - so use this term as you search for sources.

Two main stream stores offering BARF options are Meiko ( www.meiko.ch ) And Fressnapf ( www.fressnapf.ch ) The third big retailer, Qualipet, might as well, although I don't shop there so can't say.

The Meiko retail store I go to has a larger selection of frozen meat than available on their website, and from a very quick look it seems Fressnapf doesn't sell their frozen meat online, only the supplements, but most Fressnapf outlets have a freezer case, look there.

As you start out, perhaps go to the retail store for the meat/bones rather than online - you need to judge the quality for yourself.

Goldenway, a smaller store, carries a fairly large selection. ( goldenway.ch )

Zooplus, an online-only, also carried a selection of BARF supplements.

If you google BARF Hundefutter you will find many online options - but some are stores I don't recognise, so a healthy dose of due diligence is needed. (This applies to much of Swiss pet-based online shopping...)

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Your best bet for the meat and bones might actually be your local butcher. Quality of ingredients is key to a good food, no matter if you feed BARF, canned, dry, or home cooked. A BARF diet made up of rotten meat defeats the purpose, so make sure your meat source is trustworthy.

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As you start out on a BARF diet, do speak with your vet. Your dog is growing, getting the nutrition right is key. Over/under/incorrect supplementation can have more of an affect on a young pup than it would on an adult dog. If your breeder has a diet spelled out, take that to your vet for evaluation.

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All the best to you and your gorgeous pup!

3
Thank you for the prompt and useful reply. Yes, he is a little cutie (most of the time!)

4
My spaniel had an umbilical hernia, very small, and the vet never mentioned anything about diet. If it is small, nothing to worry about. Get used to feeling it so you can quickly identify any change.

Personally I’d at least go half kibble, as it’s designed by dog nutritionists and has appropriate amount of veg/ruffage. There are some very high quality ones available (eg Origen).

My dog is 100% kibble (alternate fish and meat based) + cooked chicked, mackeral and warmed hotdog to make it a bit more interesting.

Full barf seems like an enourmous amount of work, and a very high risk of giving him the chf57 per kilo bio-chicken breast from the fridge when you mess up on the preparation.

Also, what about holidays?

Anyway, ask at your local Swiss Shepherd or dog club, they will have it covered.

He looks lovely in black!

And I’m envious of Weggis, which I think is probbaly the best location in CH.

He can get in the water at the slip ramp by Hotel Du Lac or towards the far end at the public park.

If you know anywhere else, let me know!

Also, ticks are brutal here, get the protection sorted assp.

5
When we were in Switzerland I used Lucky Pets at Zwillikon ( http://www.luckypets.ch/ ) to buy our frozen raw food. They might be a bit far for you but I just loved the choice they had. The owner and her staff are very knowledgeable but they; when we were visiting; only had limited understanding of English.

I used to buy mainly rabbit but they also had beef, chicken, duck and maybe some others in the freezers. Lots of choice and also a good variety of quality dry kibble if you decide to add that to the diet too. Lots of good dried treats, not just pigs ears.

My trainer, Pascale Groner of “Dog Balance” recommended them. http://www.dog-balance.ch/de/ .

Good luck with puppy, he looks lovely

P.s. If you register as a client at Lucky pets you will get a rebate once you reach a certain amount. I cannot remember exactly how much you had to spend but it was a nice surprise each time it happened

6
This place also sells BARF food:

https://www.swissbones.ch/de/home

His shop is in Full (Aargau), but you can order online and he also has various pick-up points.

7
Many thanks.

The breeder used to feed him kibble and raw and she gave us a bag of kibble. However, he started to scratch badly even after a bath and the vet said to leave off the kibble to see it that helped as it was a cheaper kibble with grain. Made such a difference. Once I get back to Switzerland will try to find another brand that might suit him better. He travels well on the raw but throws up the minute the car starts moving with the kibble.

As for doggie swimming in Weggis, the best place is to go past the Lido towards Hertenstein and there is a picnic area with parking as well as toilets (in the summer there is even a mobile food van) and a boat ramp for doggies to get in. Always tons of dogs there

8
Thanks for the help everyone. ( I cannot seem to find the "Thank you" button)

9
I believe that now you have 10 posts under your belt the “thank you” button should appear.

The kibble we feed ours is grain free, bio and chicken based. We were relieved to find that “lucky pets” stocked it when we ran out of the supply our breeder gave us. It is by “Defu”, we now get it delivered here in France as it is not available in the stores. There are plenty of other grain free varieties so once pup is stable and no longer itching it might be worth another try. The breeder also advised us to soak the kibble a bit whilst she was a puppy to aid digestion. We feed raw in the morning and dry in the evening but if travelling we give just dry.

10
Good point.

Our breeder only fed Belcando kibble, and the puppy one was called gravy or something, so yes added water and allow to soak for a short while.

She was sponsered by Belcando though.

11
I, too, feed grain-free foods (Terra Canis) as part of the Muttley Crew's diet and am pleased with how they are doing.

However, one should be aware of a controversy brewing over BEG (Boutique, Exotic, Grain-free) diets, and discuss this with your own vet.

Last year the US FDA took the unusual step of issuing a memo highlighting a trend/correlation between what they identified as grain-free diets and an increased incidence of dilated cardiomyopathy, DCM.

Now - it MUST be said that research is in the early stages, and many questions remain. While the memo singled out grain-free diets, the emphasis seemed to be not that grain itself was healthy/needed but rather that some vegetables and/or potatoes used to provide carbohydrates in lieu of grains might - emphasis on 'might' - be linked to the trends vets are starting to report. At first there was thought to be a link to blocking production of taurine, but even that is now being questioned.

I'm bringing this up not as an anti-grain-free post, afterall I have decided to keep on feeding the grain-free brand along with a product containing grain (Magnusson) and a bit of home cooked, as I have always done... for now. However, I am trying to stay abreast of new developments in this controversy and keeping an open mind. Most importantly, I am keeping the discussion going with my vets. And I would encourage all dog owners to do so, too.

12
We are only feeding grain free kibble as that is what we started with from the breeder and our girls like it. It would not have occurred to me otherwise to do so, I am more of “a little bit of everything in a balanced diet type” of person, for the dogs as well as us.

They do get some grain in their training treats and veg too, courgettes and beans mainly which I cook and use to bulk out there meals. They accuse me of trying to starve them otherwise An equivalent of 50gms of kibble a day looks so mean and is gone in a flash, but it is the amount that keeps them at their best weight.

My advice is to buy the best quality food you can afford, research the foods you are considering to find out what they actually consist of, research your breed of dog and what they thrive on best and listen to your vet and your gut feeling. Oh, and ask here any questions you have, MC will usually have a comprehensive and helpful answer. You should write a book MC, I am sure we would all buy a copy 😀

13

Ooooh, I hear ya.

The Muttley Crew have been rough collies and American shelties; I'm used to feeding for their sizes. Robin Goodfellow is my first tiddly little'un, tipping the scales at 6kg. His entire daily portion is barely enough to make it through a training class. Good thing he's a fairly quick study so I can switch to variable rewards early in the exercise.

As a sheltie he is, of course, a paid-up member of the HooverHound club so I have to be vigilant about over feeding, steeling myself against the pleading eyes and threats to sprout opposable thumbs so he can call Tierschutz.

Thank doG for zucchini.