The chances are your dog's teeth and mouth stinks because of his diet. The more putrid waste in the system, the bigger the stink. It works the same way with people - those with bad breath and body odour tend to have waste back flushing into the system (sounds horrid I know). I know several BARF dogs, and none of them smell. None of them even have their teeth cleaned or ever have dental problems. I get comments all the time how great my dogs teeth are.

There are 2 schools of thought and you'll have to make a decision on how to approach this.

School 1: You slowly wean your dog from commercial food to raw foods. You introduce bit at a time, you mix some raw with commercial, you substitute the occasional meal ... this way, a dog will get used to the taste and texture. This may also slow down/stop potential detox symptoms that will cause the owner anxiety.

School 2: You go all the way and remove all the old commercial/junk foods and introduce BARF in its totality. This is kind of like a human going from eating at Mcdonalds and Kentucky fried chicken into doing a fresh juices, vege broth, organic foods.

My preference would be school 2 because school 1 will not remove the toxity. It will not remove what creates dis-ease. the 1st step to removal of dis-ease to remove everything that toxifies the system.

However, school 2 may be really tough for the dog and owner. Tough for the dog, because he is very likely to experience detox symtoms. Commercial foods are laden with chemicals, sugar, artificial sweetners/flavourings/colours and Mono-Sodium-Glutamat (Natrium Glutamat) etc. They are all very addictive.

School 2 is going cold turkey. Your dog may suffer from cravings and funny bowel movements/upset tummies. He may seem to get worse. Can you cope with that? This is what you need to bear in mind. Can you cope with seeing your dog, who is already sick, go through more sickness. If you are tough and have the deep congruence within yourself that this IS the best and only way forward, then I would go for this. But remember, once you make that decision, you are better off sticking with it and seeing it through. No caving in when your dog makes those big sad eyes when he sees you nibbling a chocolate cookie and you then you feeling sorry ... It will take a few weeks to settle, and then the detox will stop and you will hopefully have a dog in recovery. (I say hopefully since diet is not 100% - there may be environmental and genetic issues etc.)

Also, bear in mind your dog may be so annoyed at his commercial junk being removed (like taking ciggies away from a smoker), that he may refuse to eat for a couple of days. I personally would not worry about that, dogs in the wild do not eat every day - they stuff and they fast. And it may be good for your dog to fast a couple of days to remove the toxins out of his system and get him really hungry - then it will be easier for him to take up the new diet.

Of course I am assuming your dog won't like Barf to start with, but that is not always the case! Some dogs are so delighted by the good stuff that they make the transition very easily - I guess I am just painting the darkest picture so you are forewarned.

I know several dog owners who say their dogs eat other dogs poo. There just may be something good in there, better than their commercial dog foods! I doubt this is meant to happen!

Yes, always offer the best quality kelp and ACV. Are you US or UK? If you're in the UK, I'd be happy to send you some kelp until you can find some good stuff. The Norwegian kelp is the best, because the water is clean there. ACV - Braggs is very good. You don't need to give much, or it will overwhelm.

This is the way I do the veggies. I stick a little water or chicken broth/stock in a liquidiser, then add a combination of fresh, seasonal veggies - (carrots, courgette (zucchini), celery, cabbage, brocolli etc .. ) I add a large pinch of kelp, a quarter to half teaspoon of ACV, a small pinch of unrefined Sea Salt - I then whizz this until it's a mushy mess! Not too thick or runny - kind of like gloopy. To that, I mash in a little offal (raw tripe/liver etc.) and then add some chicken wings on top. Sometimes I will add a little extra virgin coconut, olive or salmon oil.

Bear in mind the offal only needs to be around 10% of total food.

It'll take a little while for you to get the portions right. My dog is around 18/20lbs and he has 2 meals a day normally (sometimes he will fast himself for a day or choose only 1 meal).. but on a general day, he gets his mushy veg with offal plus 1/1.5 large chicken wings and then meal 2 will either be 2 large chicken wings or a quarter of a rabbit.

As to fruit, mine isn't so keen, Sometimes he'll take a little slice of apple or pear (never offer the core, the pips and leaves are poisonous) Some like fruit more than others.

If you stick to around 60% raw meaty bones (chicken wings are perfect in terms of % of meat, skin and bone)10% offal and 30% fruit/veg, you'll be doing great! You may have to play around with this a little, as like humans, all dogs are sightly different.

On feeding Barf - don't be concerned if your dog seems to drink less water. Raw food is naturally high in water content (think how a raw chicken wing looks when it's cooked) and commercial foods are drier and laden with refined salt, chemicals and Sugar which makes dogs thirsty.

Something else I just thought of. Your dog probably isn't used to chewing and crunching his food, so don't cut up the chicken wings into small pieces or he may choke. Give him large pieces that he has to gnash through himself.

Phew! I think I've covered everything!!

I'm no expert, this is how I have understood Barf from my own research. I would definately read up on what some of the other posters here recommend in terms of supplements or procedures in relation to cancer. However, if you can correct the diet ASAP, you will have no new toxic waste to deal with. Cancer is ultimately the lymphatic system unable to deal with the amount of toxicity. Eliminate the toxicity, so a body can start to self-heal.

If I think of anything else, I'll let you know. But again, feel free to ask questions!

All the best
Maya

Hi Ozone Bubble,

Maya has a great blog, so keep on reading. Here is another good link where you can download an e-book called "Work Wonders" from
http://www.rawmeatybones.com
about raw diets.

Not to say that this is the only way to switch, but I switched to raw food literally overnight and never went back. Each dog will react differently, but yes, you most likely will encounter loose stools and this may last awhile, so don't panic. (It wasn't fun for me as I have long coated dogs, but oh well....) Commercial fed dogs' digestive tracts need to adapt to handling the raw foods and to be able to really digest them. Just hang in there and it settles down. I started with chicken and after they got used to that, then I added other meats, some fish, organ meats, livers, hearts, kidneys, etc. and a few veggies and fruits according to what they like. The also love pigs feet (trotters) and they run around in the yard with a big leg hanging out of their mouth....and the neighbors freak. It's hilarious. LOL!

Also, something that I noticed was they slept a lot more in the beginning. It is like a person going on the Atkins diet almost, so there will be a change in their metabolism at first. Otherwise you will be astonished at the great changes and benefits and the list is long.

Congratulations for coming to the "RAW" side of life!

Those are my two cents! Maya is the expert, so listen to her great wisdom.

Critterkids