Butch pet food "meat rolls"

Last night I saw on the news that they have “yue ping” for doggies: crunchy pastry outside, shaped like a bone, juicy meat inside.

Silly plugs aside, I have been trying without much success to switch the cats and dog to a BARF diet. In the meantime, I am feeding them what I think might act as a placebo: Butch “meat rolls”.

Is anybody else using this? Seems quite palatable and healthier, no complaints so far.

http://www.butch.co.nz/pages/butch_custom.cfm?&goto=productrange&proddisplay=detail&prodcode=BU2

Hi Icon,

I don’t feed Butch but I see it in the supermarkets all the time here and it seems quite a popular choice. I’m not sure about the quality - I’m sure it’s not bad - and as it has to be refrigerated, it probably has fewer preservatives, etc, than the usual canned/dry stuff. It’s not considered “premium dog food”, though - although a lot of that is marketing hype, of course.

If your dog has been used to dry food only and you’re trying to slowly acclimatise them to more raw, wet stuff then I suppose Butch is a good half-way house, although if you only feed Butch and nothing else, you would be missing out on important teeth cleaning benefits. I would suggest that you feed raw meaty bones as well for the dogs to gnaw on, to clean their teeth and prevent periodontitis and other problems. Dogs only fed on soft food tend to develop tooth and gum problems. Getting them used to gnawing “recreational” raw bones regularly will also help to switch them over to complete raw (BARF). Try brisket (rib) bones if you can find them or tougher leg bones (probably have to be from pigs in Taiwan, as I suppose you won’t have much lamb) - or beef cannon bones, if you can get them, although beware - if your dog is small, they may be overwhelmed by a big bone. Also, the big cannon/marrow bones have been known to crack teeth sometimes, although I’ve never had a problem (but then I have a HUGE dog! :slight_smile:) These “recreational” bones are not soft enough to be chewed up and swallowed (the ultimate aim) but still get the dog used to chewing on raw bones and help pave the way…

By the way, I have successfully swapped both my dog and cat to the raw diet so I’d be very happy to help with any queries you may have. The dog was easy but the cat was a a nightmare - although she came through with perseverance. You just have to be more stubborn than the cat! :slight_smile: Also, helps if you can find something she really likes and mix it in a bit with the raw meat to start with - and start with mince or meat cut into very small pieces, as cats who have not been raised on raw diets tend to have very weak jaws and need time to build up the jaw muscles and get used to chewing and tearing meat off the chunks and handling larger pieces. Lemon now eats: chunks of beef, lamb on the bone, chicken necks (the foundation of the diet), rabbit shoulder, whole fish (pilchard) - plus once weekly offal (chicken liver) and sheep heart.

Honey eats chicken carcasses (chicken backs) as her main thing, interspersed with days when she gets lamb brisket, pork bones or beef brisket bones - plus offal once a week (sheep/pork/ox kidney, sheep liver, sheep heart) and fish (5 whole pilchards) once a week. We also give her veg 3 times a week and a raw egg once or twice a week (shell and all!) - we’re lucky in that all NZ livestock is grass-fed and so we don’t have to worry about Omega-3’s, etc…the quality of the meat is very high. She does also get a mixture that contains green-lipped mussel extract, kelp, honey, apple cider vinegar, etc. for joints and others.

You might already know this but the website: rawessentials.co.nz - full of good info. If you have any specific questions, you can email/PM them to me and I’d be very happy to forward them onto her for you, if you like?

H’sin-'Yi

Hey H’sin-Yi, thanks for your reply.

The cats and dog are still on Butch meat and tuna/chicken treats phase. I leave kibble for them lo munch while I’m goen to work. They walos get teeth cleaning treats and occassional brushing. I recently bought a liquid you are supposed to put in the water and helps them to keep the teeth cleaner.

Doggie is an oldie with bad teeth, but I buy him fake bones made of dried meat, and that he takes with gusto.

My cats are used to chewing and tearing my socks. they also have this thing for luggage, but that is not related to their diet -I hope.

I recently bought a recipe book: Whoel Health for happy cats. As soon as the doggie crisis is over, I am into it. Thanks for offering to help. I’ll be back for advice.