Anyone feed the "Pre-Made Barf" food?

[dan h]

Hello everyone. I have been absent from this board for a while..... It was an addiction that I had to cut back.... But now I am faced with a dilemma and didn't know anyone better than the people on this board to help me decide. Well, to make a long story short, we have been facing some financial problems and decided to sell our house, cash in on our profits, fix our financial problems, and rent for a while until home prices go down and we can afford to purchase a new house. The dilemmas we are facing are as follow:
1) We feed Max & Sumi Barf. Having our own house, we were able to buy a freezer and purchase the RMB in bulks of 80lbs per month and freeze it. If we move in to a rental, it will most likely be an apartment, which will probably not have enough room to accomodate our freezer.
2) At our house, we have hardwood floors and we feed them by the kitchen and clean right after they are done. If we rent, the chances are that it will come with carpet and......
3) At this point, I'm seriously contemplating switching them back to kibbles. It's something that I really don't want to do but I don't know how I'm going to accomodate their diet in our new living situation.

I'm seriously in need of some new ideas. If anyone here feeds barf and live in apartments, or don't bulk freeze the food, or have even tried one of those premade barf foods, please share your experiences with me. Thank you.

 

[jaimie]

I feed my dogs pre-made Barf, but also give them chicken necks-which are fairly inexpensive depending on where you buy them. I feed them Aunti Jeni's, but like Tanya&jazz was saying if you need to cut costs try put them back on kibble. Just make it a premium kibble to make it easier on them (if that is possible LOL)

 

[lafsalot]

Is it possible to buy less than 80lbs from your wholesaler? We get 40 at 29 cents a pound and have no trouble fitting it into the freezer section of our frig. Is the kitchen at your apartment carpeted? If not, you may want to consider feeding them there. Hope everything works out - Cathy

 

[myrocky]

I was living in an apartment when I started feeding raw and I didn't find it so bad. I had to stuff the freezer with Rocky's food and nothing of mine was in there but what do I really need a freezer for anyway. :p And most kitchens have vinyl flooring, so throw a down a towel, set their bowls on top and let them eat. Clean up is easy. :D

 

[FarleyBoxer]

I just started feeding BARF and live in an apt. So far I haven't been able to buy much in bulk so it hasn't been an issue, space-wise. Perhaps you can make two trips a month instead of one? It's inconvenient I know...

And, we have vinyl flooring in the kitchen but carpet everywhere else, unfortunately. I just have to monitor Farley as he eats to make sure he doesn't cart his meat out of the kitchen.

As for pre-made, I am also going to start buying pre-made veggie patties, as that is the part that is so time-consuming for me.

 

[BooBoo & Riley]

Dan, don't feel bad if you do decide to go back to kibble. As long as you feed them some quality kibble, and it helps you guys get back on your feet financially quicker, then go for it and don't feel bad. You can switch them back to Barf later.

I have an bag of kibble on hand at all times even though I fee Barf, because you never know what life will throw your way sometimes from week to week.
Pre-made is way too expensive IMO.

 

[dan h]

Thanks for the replies. I guess I'll just wait and see what our future apartment looks like and take one step at a time to decide whether I have really gone crazy about my kids or not (all of our friends and family think we are crazy when it comes to Max & Sumi). Maybe I'm just worried about something that might not even be an issue. What I should really be worried about right now is finding an apartment that will allow two boxers. I've been calling around and boxers fall in two categories that are not acceptable by most apartment complexes. One is that they are over 25, 15, or 10 lbs. Two is that for some unexplicable reason, they are in the list of aggressive breeds put together by some idiot who probably knows nothing about dogs. Well I'll save that for another forum........ Thanks again guys.

 

[totallyhip]

:confused:

I am also considering the pre-made BARF. I am assuming that your talking about the products such as Amore' or Urban Carnivore. Luke is currently on Innova kibble. But he seems to have really bad eye goopies and lately developing bad dry skin. I was thinking that maybe I should switch. I know you guys all do your own BARF but was wondering if anyone had any comments on whether I should try Amore or Urban Carnivore.
It just seems so much easier. (i know i am lazy)

 

[Jan]

Dan, I have always lived in an apartment. I guess it all depends on what your priorities are. In one apartment I had, the freezer was in the dining room. :rolleyes: Now my freezer is in the laundry room. It's a 23 cubic foot one, upright one and still doesn't seem to be big enough. I really think the upright ones are much less space efficient, but You don't loose things at the bottom. You can also buy quite small ones that are about 5 cu ft. You would only be able to get a couple of cases in, but it would be better than nothing.

Good luck, it whatever you decide.

 

[cristletips]

My place here in hong kong is teeny. Even my refigerator is not a normal size. I can stuff my freezer with 5, 2lb bags of chicken wings with tips. Those are only about $1.50 each. THe 6th bag i put in the bottom drawer. Then 4 days i do veggie mush and 1 day offal.

Wouldnt it be nice to have a huge freezer. But it just means i have to make trips to the supermarket more frequently.

For the rug part. My floors are all tile apart from my oriental carpet in the living room.And sure enough, thats where she takes her wings. I stopped caring and just clean it with carpet cleaner. Its a dark carpet so no stains show.

I suppose if your new apartment has carpet, you could toss an inexpensive rug on top of that carpet. I bet that's the one they'd eat on...murphy's law. So just make sure the throw rug is cheap!!!