Raw Food Diet, or 'BARF'

valerie · Post by **valerie** » Thu Feb 02, 2006 1:32 pm

Here's a link to an earlier thread:

http://www.forumgarden.com/forums/showt ... light=barf

I've never done it. I think it is a huge commitment in time, work, freezer

space. And as far as I know, the jury is still out on a lot of aspects of

the diet, such as tooth wear, and parasites. There are people who swear

by it as the most natural way for your pet to eat.

Keep researching.

:-6

LilacDragon · Post by **LilacDragon** » Thu Feb 02, 2006 1:36 pm

I fed my rottweiler girl raw for about a year. It was a great help in controlling her weight, she had a fabulous coat and a ton of energy. Val is right though, it takes a lot of time, space and research. Not to mention that your tub looks like the scene of a particularly hideous crime when you thaw out a case of beef hearts!

BabyRider · Post by **BabyRider** » Thu Feb 02, 2006 6:22 pm

Coffee, out of curiosity, why do you want to change your dogs diet if she's doing well on the kibble she's on now?

BabyRider · Post by **BabyRider** » Thu Feb 02, 2006 7:23 pm

I have only read a little about it, and don't know anyone personally who uses it, but it seems to me that changing your dog's perfectly good diet is more a "trendy" thing to do than a health issue. Frankly, with the good commercial dog food available I have no idea why someone would go to the lengths and trouble that this diet requires. Strikes me as a fad, and one that won't last long.

The last vet clinic I worked in, (I was a tech for several years) neither doctor there would advocate this diet.

Like Val said, keep researching. You may teach us all something new!!

valerie · Post by **valerie** » Thu Feb 02, 2006 8:17 pm

You know, California Natural is good stuff.

If you want to get really close to BARF, without all the mess and work,

you can try Innova Evo.

Something I forgot to mention, too, is you have to have a fairly strong

stomach to feed BARF. It involves a lot of bloody mess. Some even go

so far as to get road kill, or have hunters bring them parts of their

kills they don't want or won't eat.

valerie · Post by **valerie** » Thu Feb 02, 2006 8:24 pm

Coffe, came across this and thought it might be helpful:

http://www.secondchanceranch.org/traini ... index.html

More if I track it down...

valerie · Post by **valerie** » Thu Feb 02, 2006 8:48 pm

To be fair, here is a "pro" BARF site:

http://www.rawdogranch.com/

valerie · Post by **valerie** » Thu Feb 02, 2006 8:51 pm

Sorry, here is one especially interesting for you personally (Coffee):

http://www.njboxers.com/

LilacDragon · Post by **LilacDragon** » Thu Feb 02, 2006 9:34 pm

I quit feeding raw because my DH threw a royal fit about the raw chicken in the fridge.

Well, that and the blood covering the bathtub when I thawed that last case of beefhearts.

I know several people that feed raw. They shop around for bargains, spend a weekend a month cooking and freezing things to add to the raw meat, and most have an extra freezer just for "dogfood".

valerie · Post by **valerie** » Thu Feb 02, 2006 10:13 pm

The "feel them but not see them" for the ribs is a pretty classic guideline,

but greyhounds are a little different story and can in fact look thinner to

people and be more difficult to put weight on, I seriously doubt it has

much to do with raw fed.

Well, at the very least this has been an interesting "exercise" for us, and I

commend you for doing the work up front. There's a lot who wouldn't

on many things concerning their dogs!!

Take care

abortretryfail · Post by **abortretryfail** » Thu Jun 08, 2006 4:31 pm

There are plenty of reasons to feed your pet something other than junk food for dogs. I am a nutrition educator for humans and support the biologically appropriate raw food idealogically. For people who don't want to go through the effort to make their own, but have a little money to spend, there's also Prairie Brand or Nature's Variety frozen raw food. It's nutritionally balanced and an okay comprimise, IMO.