BARF (Bones And Raw Food) On The Road

[Trooper]

So i'm going to be hitting the road in a few months and I was thinking about getting a pit pup before I head out. Figure that they would make a good companion and as it gets older it can be intimidating to anyone who might want to steal our stuff or mess with us. Anyway, I was researching pit diets and they require high protein to be healthy and I was wondering if any of you pet owners ever consistently feed your pooch raw meat on the road (Hitch, Rubber, Rail) and if so how you were able to keep it up? And how did your pup take to the BARF?

 

[andi]

unless you always have access to fresh meat every day, or have a fridge/freezer, i would recommend sticking to kibble. The thing is, once you go raw, you gotta stick with raw. You can't switch back and forth because raw meat and kibble each digest at different rates. kibble takes a lot longer to digest, so it can fuck with their digestive system if you feed them both. its just a lot easier to carry a bag of dry food around. I wouldnt feed my dog a raw diet unless i was either always in a city, where i would always be around grocery stores, or living in a house with a fridge.

 

[Trooper]

unless you always have access to fresh meat every day, or have a fridge/freezer, i would recommend sticking to kibble. The thing is, once you go raw, you gotta stick with raw. You can't switch back and forth because raw meat and kibble each digest at different rates. kibble takes a lot longer to digest, so it can fuck with their digestive system if you feed them both. its just a lot easier to carry a bag of dry food around. I wouldnt feed my dog a raw diet unless i was either always in a city, where i would always be around grocery stores, or living in a house with a fridge.

Ya that seems about right.. maybe there are some cheaper supplements I could look into getting to go along with kibble..

 

[andi]

honestly, just buy high quality food and soak it before you feed it to your pup. Cover the kibble with water and let it sit for a few mins. This will help prevent bloating, which is especially an issue with larger breed dogs, like pitbulls. i feed my 7 month old pup the taste of the wild puppy formula. its grain free and very clean

 

[Trooper]

honestly, just buy high quality food and soak it before you feed it to your pup. Cover the kibble with water and let it sit for a few mins. This will help prevent bloating, which is especially an issue with larger breed dogs, like pitbulls. i feed my 7 month old pup the taste of the wild puppy formula. its grain free and very clean

How much do you usually spend on pooch food?

 

[andi]

around 30 bucks a month approximately. i dumpster a lot of treats and stuff, but i like to stick to the same food for her, so i buy it

 

[Trooper]

around 30 bucks a month approximately. i dumpster a lot of treats and stuff, but i like to stick to the same food for her, so i buy it

thats pretty good thank you for the tips!! and ive never thought of dumpster diving for treats before!!

 

[andi]

no problem! pm me if you've got any other questions. yeahh! big pet stores like Petsmart throw out sooo much stuff

 

[erisACAB]

When I was on foot I was a fan of dehydrated dog food. It was ridiculously light and usually really high protein. The main downside is the cost. It gets expensive for sure, but it makes your pack 100000000 times lighter. Finding it seems to have gotten easier. A few years ago I had to look for pet stores that only carried high quality food, lately I've seen things similar to what i bought at Petco and Petsmart. Now that I'm rubber tramping I just stick to high quality kibble, since I'm not as worried about weight.

 

[Trooper]

When I was on foot I was a fan of dehydrated dog food. It was ridiculously light and usually really high protein. The main downside is the cost. It gets expensive for sure, but it makes your pack 100000000 times lighter. Finding it seems to have gotten easier. A few years ago I had to look for pet stores that only carried high quality food, lately I've seen things similar to what i bought at Petco and Petsmart. Now that I'm rubber tramping I just stick to high quality kibble, since I'm not as worried about weight.

When you say expensive what do you mean?

 

[erisACAB]

When you say expensive what do you mean?

So, looking at Petcos site there's a brand called Spots Farm that sells for around 50.00 bucks for a 8lb bag, but that bag makes 32lbs of fresh food. Compared to other high end dog foods, it's not horribly expensive.

 

[Trooper]

So, looking at Petcos site there's a brand called Spots Farm that sells for around 50.00 bucks for a 8lb bag, but that bag makes 32lbs of fresh food. Compared to other high end dog foods, it's not horribly expensive.

Ya thats really not to bad. that could last for what? a month maybe longer?

 

[erisACAB]

Ya thats really not to bad. that could last for what? a month maybe longer?

You'd have to look at the feeding guidelines on the packaging, it's been a few years since I've been on foot and buying food like that. It was pretty worth it to me, it's so much lighter. But you do have to keep in mind you always have enough water for you, your dog, and to prepare your dogs food. Obviously in cities and towns it's not hard but I've gotten off some trains in some fucked off places where finding water was a bit of a bitch.

Smaller pet stores usually give away samples too. So maybe go to a nice one and get a few samples and see what your dog likes and whats in your price range. When I was on foot and would go into one of those places asking for samples they'd almost always hook it up with a bunch.

One last thing, if you don't already have a friend with pups, consider getting a dog from a shelter. You can usually get younger dogs that you can still train to be good road dogs.

 

[Trooper]

You'd have to look at the feeding guidelines on the packaging, it's been a few years since I've been on foot and buying food like that. It was pretty worth it to me, it's so much lighter. But you do have to keep in mind you always have enough water for you, your dog, and to prepare your dogs food. Obviously in cities and towns it's not hard but I've gotten off some trains in some fucked off places where finding water was a bit of a bitch.

Smaller pet stores usually give away samples too. So maybe go to a nice one and get a few samples and see what your dog likes and whats in your price range. When I was on foot and would go into one of those places asking for samples they'd almost always hook it up with a bunch.

One last thing, if you don't already have a friend with pups, consider getting a dog from a shelter. You can usually get younger dogs that you can still train to be good road dogs.

I will! thanks for all the tips!

 

[Deleted member 19100]

I have a 7 year old lab x pitbull mix, and I'll be rubber tramping with her for the first time. I adopted her at 2.5 years old from the pound and had been fed the cheapest kibble on the planet up until that point. I normally feed her mid range kibble (Blue Buffalo) and plan on doing so while I travel. If I were on foot, I'd buy the freeze dried kibble that @erisACAB recommended to save weight.

An interesting thing I noted about her is that she aged very quickly. After the age of 3, her energy level dropped and is now a couch potato (currently on the couch and snoring haha). I think pibbles are just bred that way. They also get cold VERY easily. Despite -30'C temps here over the winter, she's developed almost no undercoat. Something to think about.

 

[Trooper]

I have a 7 year old lab x pitbull mix, and I'll be rubber tramping with her for the first time. I adopted her at 2.5 years old from the pound and had been fed the cheapest kibble on the planet up until that point. I normally feed her mid range kibble (Blue Buffalo) and plan on doing so while I travel. If I were on foot, I'd buy the freeze dried kibble that @erisACAB recommended to save weight.

An interesting thing I noted about her is that she aged very quickly. After the age of 3, her energy level dropped and is now a couch potato (currently on the couch and snoring haha). I think pibbles are just bred that way. They also get cold VERY easily. Despite -30'C temps here over the winter, she's developed almost no undercoat. Something to think about.

Thats good info to know... and she is adorable!

 

[bjorkedfork]

My dog gets the Wholehearted Grain Free All Life Stages dry kibble and wet food. Usually mix two different flavors of the Kibble together. He gets two cups of Kibble and one Can of the wet and I usually throw in a couple of raw eggs in there as well.

 

[Spazz]

My dog gets Stella & Chewy's frozen when I have access to a freezer and dehydrated when I don't. It's very expensive so I couldn't do it if she was pitbull sized.

I don't eat meat so I'm kind of clueless about how to handle raw meat from the grocery store, but I'm going to learn.

 

[SneakyWeasel]

I feed my dog Actrium brand kibble from WalMart. It's actually a pretty high quality dog food, plenty of protein & fat, and won't break the bank. It also doesn't contain ground yellow corn. My dog also eats my leftovers & cleans the dishes. I purposely buy pork with the bone(s) still in and she gets the bone.