The Natural Road

Diet

It is strange how sometimes after years of practicing one routine you decided that perhaps the ‘old ways’ were the best. That is what happened to me.

After several years of feeding my dogs dried food I began to have serious doubts about their diet. It used to be a constant struggle to persuade the dogs to eat their food. Every evening I would scoop up the correct quantity of kibbles or pellets or whatever else came out of the paper sack and call the dogs in for supper. Every evening they would come into the kitchen, sniff the contents of their bowls and walk away in disgust. Only when they were so hungry they simply had to eat something would they return to their bowls and eat without enthusiasm.

Something had to be done. Remembering back to the kind of ‘natural diet’ my mother fed her dogs in the fifties, sixties and seventies I changed their diets. Immediately the dogs began to eat with enthusiasm. Within days their coats gleamed, there eyes were bright, and they positively bounced with vitality.

Two years later I took another step forward and changed their diet to the BARF diet. I can honestly say the dogs look fantastic. They love the raw diet they get every day and get impatient for their evening meal from 5.00 p.m. onwards. Now while I am preparing their evening meal they sit in a semi-circle watching me prepare it. When the bowls go on to the floor no coaxing is needed to get them to eat. They fling themselves at the bows and devour the contents with relish. When the last morsel has been licked up they sit again, watching and waiting for the raw chicken wing they know is still to come.

Because I am so convinced that this diet is the right diet for my dogs I have adapted it when weaning the puppies. New owners are presented with a diet sheet that includes not only standard suggestions like scrambled eggs and minced beef but also home-made vegetable soup, grated apple, mashed banana.

If you are interested in the BARF diet an excellent introductory book is ‘Grow Your Pups with Bones’ by Ian Billinghurst – ISBN 0 9585925 0 0

If, like I did, you feel the step from dried food to BARF diet is too large to take all at once you might like to consider the diet I gave my dogs when I abandoned the dried food. This is:

Breakfast

A few homemade wholemeal rusks and 2 ozs of raw minced beef sprinkled with SA37 NB : It is important to freeze the mince for at least 24 hours before use.

Supper

A good helping of vegetables. These can be raw or left-overs from a meal. I grate raw carrots, shred brussel sprouts, cabbage, string runner beans, etc. Then I mix n 4 ozs of cooked chicken together with a ladleful of chicken stock. (I boil up a couple of chickens at a time. When they are cocked I retain the stock. If you do this it is most important to remember to bring the stock to the boil every day in order to kill any germs).

The chicken can be replaced or mixed with beef, offal and tripe to add variety. My dogs love fresh fish and tinned sardines as well as the occasional egg. Always retain the trimmings from the meat when making a stew as you can add them to their meal as well.

I kept my dogs on this diet for two years before changing it to the BARF diet and they thrived. Once a week I give my dogs a fresh marrowbone.

Health

I am fortunate. I have a choice of veterinary practices I can use in my home town. However, this has not stopped me considering alternative treatments and using them when necessary. My first experience with alternative remedies was when my old dog, Nama, became so riddled with arthritis she could hardly stand when she woke up let alone walk outside. I was loaned a bio-flow magnet. Within two days she was walking out of her bed with no sign of any pain. She lived for another two years and all that time she seemed to be free of the symptoms of arthritis. I was so impressed I bought myself a bio-flow magnet and wear it at night.

Exercise

My cockers expect and get a long, invigorating walk every day. I am fortunate. My home is in a tiny hamlet in Wiltshire. When I walk out of the drive I am immediately walking across common land. In front of me likes miles of open countryside over which we tramp with great enjoyment.

However, when one of my puppies required extra exercise long distance walking would not have been advisable for young and tender bones. Again I am lucky. Less than ten miles from my home is a dogs swimming pool. So once a week we would visit the pool where the puppy would have a ten minute swim. Even when she no longer needed it I continued taking her swimming because being a true cocker she enjoyed it so much.