Barf Diet..

[ame16]

My main consern with PMR with puppies is the protein intake. I have read a few books about feeding puppies with barf and they all say that the protein intake should be lower than with adults. I feed my pup roughly half meaty bones and half mixtures with half meat and half veggies. He is only 9 weeks old, tomorrow, but has taken to raw amazingly well. I just gave him him a bone yesterday and he was really like a little wild beast.

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Raw is not high in protein. In fact, ounce-for-ounce it contains less protein than most high-end kibble! To understand why, you have to account for the fact that meat is comprised of ~70% water. Without getting into the math behind it, here are some examples of protein levels in different cuts of meat. I took these from a post on the FB Raw Chat group:

http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/

chicken leg, 18.5%
beef top sirloin, 20.68%
beef heart, 17.72%
pork, trimmed retails cuts, 20.21%
pork shoulder, lean and fat, 17.42%
pork heart, 17.27%
turkey leg, 19.54%
turkey, young hen, 20.18%
lamb, Australian, trimmed retail cuts, 17.84%
lamb heart, 16.47%​

Numbers aside, PMR mimics what a dog is DESIGNED to eat. I wouldn't be concerned about elevated protein levels for your puppy - I'd trust nature over dog food companies. Dogs aren't designed to eat fruits in vegetables. In fact, they can't even digest them in their natural state. The only way they get any nutritional value is by a highly pulverized concoction, and even then the health benefits are minimal at best. Put simply, dogs (this includes puppies) are carnivores and will thrive on a meat-only diet.

 

[ame16]

Oh, and I just noticed that you posted a picture of the little guy. He's awesome! I love that look of ecstasy they get when chomping away at a bone. :D

 

[RiiSi]

[MENTION=6453]ame16[/MENTION] I'm not quoting kibble companies, but Dr.Billinghurst "the father of Barf". I do know that raw doesn't have as much protein as kibble does, but still puppies should have it even less. Like in the wild puppies will eat last, when there's not that much meat left. They do not get the meatiest parts of the pray...they will chew of the meat from the bones and eat what is left. Veggies will come from the prays stomach, that is why in barf all veggies must be pureed and preferably freezed before serving. I don't much care for veggies and some "barfers" substitute them with more tripe, fat, throat etc., but less real meat anyway.

 

[ame16]

Wolves do not eat the stomach content of prey unless they are desperate for food. They will rip it apart, empty it, and it the stomach itself.

And while you may be correct about wolf puppies being the last to eat, I would not use this as a reason to feed puppies less protein. The idea of PMR is to feed as closely as possible to what a carnivore would eat under ideal conditions. When a pack is in fertile hunting grounds and prey is plentiful, the pups will indeed consume considerable amounts of meat. The fact that puppies are often times not given this opportunity stems from the cruel realities of nature and not some evolutionary design intending for them to eat less protein.

 

[izstigspunks]

The boys' daycare owner sometimes breeds golden doodles and she would give the puppies ground meat with bone once they're big enough to start on them. I don't think she does anything special or different from regular pmr, but I'll ask her next time I see her.

 

[luis323]

I just started to feed my bully Blue Wilderness Puppy. If that don't go to well, I will be trying the barf diet.