# At what age can you start B.A.R.F?



## omegastar (Dec 28, 2011)

My baby is 4 months and I am thinking of feeding her raw 3 days a week. 

I am not sure if she's too young to start swallowing and digesting bone. I am terrified that she's gonna get punctured and have to have surgery. Thanks in advance.


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## mycobraracr (Dec 4, 2011)

omegastar said:


> My baby is 4 months and I am thinking of feeding her raw 3 days a week.
> 
> I am not sure if she's too young to start swallowing and digesting bone. I am terrified that she's gonna get punctured and have to have surgery. Thanks in advance.


She is not too young. May I ask why only three days a week? Before you start raw check out all the sticky's on this forum and www.rawdogranch.com . If you still have questions just ask.


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## omegastar (Dec 28, 2011)

I was just going to start with 3 days a week to see how he handles the change. Thanks for answering.


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## Courtney (Feb 12, 2010)

There are alot of people who feed raw w/ a rotation of kibble (not the two mixed together).

My boy was eating raw chicken w/ bones at 12 weeks. Just keep an eye on him, some dogs are slow chewers, some gulpers, it depends.


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## jprice103 (Feb 16, 2011)

I have been giving my 12 week old some raw chicken wings and chicken necks and he's been fine. Just stick with smaller items to start. Giving him a chicken leg would probably be too much this early. Also, pork necks are good, but make sure you only give the ones with the very thin bones, some of the pork neck bones are just too big/hard for them. 

Last night I gave him a chicken neck and a wing. He seriously swallowed the neck WHOLE! Scared the crap out of me!!! He was fine though. Next time, I will definitley be cutting it into smaller pieces!! 

Also, if you are only doing a few days a week, make sure you start with one source for that whole week, and slowly add other sources.


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## jprice103 (Feb 16, 2011)

mycobraracr said:


> She is not too young. May I ask why only three days a week? Before you start raw check out all the sticky's on this forum and www.rawdogranch.com . If you still have questions just ask.


www.rawdogranch.com is a great site for info, however, the puppy sections for "What to feed", "How much to feed", are still under construction...and have been for quite a while. So for puppy info, you may have to look at other sources for info.


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## Angela (Mar 22, 2011)

We started our GSD puppy on prey model raw at 3 months basically right after we brought her home. We started with home ground raw meaty bones, that we normally feed to our other dogs whole ( I figured this was a close as I could get to the normal food for weanlings which is regurgitated). Then moved her to chunks and finally whole pieces as she grew. She is now just over a year and doing great.


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## lhczth (Apr 5, 2000)

Your puppy is not too young. My pups are weaned onto raw and any pups I have bought over the years were switched to raw immediately when they arrived. 

I have never fed raw and kibble at the same time so hopefully someone with that experience can chip in and help.


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## elisabeth_00117 (May 17, 2009)

My pups were switched to raw the moment they came home. They were also given raw at the breeders but not exclusively.
Essentially I would like to see them weaned right to raw.


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## Wolfgeist (Dec 4, 2010)

Hunter was eating raw the day he came home at 8 weeks old, but began with only raw ground beef for the first few days.


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## omegastar (Dec 28, 2011)

Thank you all for commenting


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## Freestep (May 1, 2011)

Many breeders wean their pups on raw. IMO it's never too early to start; if your pup has been eating kibble, you can change her over gradually, but it's a good idea not to mix raw and kibble together in the same meal. If you are feeding three times a day, I'd simply make one meal a raw meal. Hamburger, chicken necks or wings, chicken hearts/gizzards, small amounts of liver, are all excellent. At this age you could also give her a meaty beef bone, it will keep her out of trouble for quite a while.


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## GSDAlphaMom (Jul 20, 2010)

I feed raw in the morning and kibble in the evening and have had no issues.
Someone mentioned pork bones which I don't feed. I met someone just this weekend at the Ft Worth show that lost her dane due to a pork bone puncturing something internally (sorry I don't know full details).


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## Vaks (Dec 30, 2011)

6 of the 12 puppies of my litter are passed BARF at 6.5 weeks. No problem, no diarrhea, no vomiting.

Hélène


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## Sunflowers (Feb 17, 2012)

See my thread. 
http://www.germanshepherds.com/foru...8743-video-my-8-week-old-funny-raw-story.html


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