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Thursday, April 17, 2014
From the desk of Sharda Baker.
Hi and welcome everyone!
This is Sharda with a wonderful newsletter about dog food.
This newsletter is about learning the importance of raw food diet for your dog.
Here we go!
One really important thing to know about BARF (besides what the letters stand for) is to know that if you do choose to feed this diet, DO NOT FEED COOKED BONES.
They will splinter and can cause fatal internal damage to your dog.
And now what does BARF stand for? Seems you can say it stands for a couple of things, but the most often cited explanation is Bones And Raw Food.
The other one floating around on the Internet is Biologically Appropriate Raw Dog Food, which is attributed to Dr. Ian Billinghurst, one of the original Barfers.
Whatever the case, the best way to understand the most popular BARF dog foods is to look at the ingredients themselves. For this we went to the original.
BARF World (home of Dr. Ian Billinghurst) and looked at the ingredients of his fresh frozen patties. You’ll find the ingredients quite interesting and note the ABSENCE of grains.
CHICKEN BARF PATTIES INGREDIENTS
Chicken, Finely Ground Chicken Bones, Chicken Liver, Egg, Cultured Kefir, Broccoli, Celery, Spinach, Carrot, Ground Flax Seed, Bok Choy, Dried Alfalfa Meal, Apple, Pear, Grapefruit, Orange, Dried Kelp Powder, Cod Liver Oil, Garlic, Capsicum, Vitamin E Supplement, Zinc Oxide, Manganous Oxide.
BEEF BARF PATTIES INGREDIENTS
Beef, Finely Ground Beef Bones, Beef Liver, Egg, Cultured Kefir, Broccoli, Celery, Spinach, Carrot, Ground Flax Seed, Bok Choy, Dried Alfalfa Meal, Beef Kidney, Unbleached Beef Tripe, Apple, Pear, Grapefruit, Orange, Dried Kelp Powder, Cod Liver Oil, Garlic, Capsicum, Vitamin E Supplement, Zinc Oxide, Manganous Oxide
LAMB BARF PATTIES INGREDIENTS
Lamb, Finely Ground Lamb Bones, Lamb Liver, Egg, Cultured Kefir, Broccoli, Celery, Spinach, Carrot, Ground Flax Seed, Bok Choy, Dried Alfalfa Meal, Lamb Kidney, Unbleached Lamb Tripe, Apple, Pear, Grapefruit, Orange, Dried Kelp Powder, Cod Liver Oil, Garlic, Capsicum, Vitamin E Supplement, Zinc Oxide, Manganous Oxide.
COMBINATION BARF PATTIES INGREDIENTS
Beef, Lamb, Chicken, Pork, Finely Ground Beef Bones, Beef Liver, Egg, Cultured Kefir, Broccoli, Celery, Spinach, Carrot, Ground Flax Seed, Bok Choy, Dried Alfalfa Meal, Beef Kidney, Unbleached Beef Tripe, Apple, Pear, Grapefruit, Orange, Dried Kelp Powder, Cod Liver Oil, Garlic Capsicum, Vitamin E Supplement, Zinc Oxide, Manganous Oxide.
Bottom line, BARF is about feeding dogs (and cats) properly. That would mean properly according to BARF proponents who say that you need to feed a dog the diet it was evolved to eat, bone and raw foods, NOT grains etc.
You can add supplements, but other than that, Mother Nature’s best is what supposedly works well for our canine companions who evolved from WOLVES.
Wolves and their evolutionary descendants rely on bones as a major part of their diet for things like teeth cleaning, etc.
Trouble is, over time we have taken our dogs away from their roots and started feeding them grains and other things they would not typically eat in the wild.
You won’t find zoo animals being fed an artificial grain-based diet. Pet food companies certainly don’t hold with the BARF theory, and in fact, a good many Veterinarians do not either.
BARF is about feeding a biologically appropriate diet for a dog that is made up of raw dog foods like those eaten by their ancestors.
This would include:
muscle meat, bone, fat, organ meat and vegetable materials and any other foods that mimic what the wild ancestors ate.
BARF isn’t about duplicating what wolves ate in case you are wondering; it is about getting as close as possible to what they ate in other words mimicking their diet. What BARF aims for is to provide our dogs with a diet combined with an environment that maximizes their best health.
What that means to someone who feeds BARF is feeding a biologically appropriate diet rather than a natural diet.
It does seem a little complicated at first, as is anything when you first try something new. However, if you do your research properly and thoroughly, it isn’t hard to do. It is tricky making sure you get the supplement ratios right, but this too passes as you get more familiar with the BARF diet.
The whole philosophy behind BARF is to feed a balanced diet over time not all right at once. This should take some of the pressure off you to “get it right” if you are going to try this diet.
Each dog is different in its needs and preferences, so if you are going to feed this diet, you will need to understand and know what YOUR dog will need.
I hope you learned a lot from today’s dog food newsletter.
I will be back for more!
Warmest regards,
Sharda Baker