BARF

BARF is an acronym for Biologically Appropriate Raw Food and also stands for Bones And Raw Food. It is an evolutionary & natural diet based upon the principles of how and what a dog would eat in the wild. Commercial foods are full of cheap fillers such as wheat and other cereals.

The BARF diet is made up of

• RMB (raw meaty bones)
• veg
• fruit
• offal
• suppliments.

The most important thing is to get fresh, quality ingredients from a good source. This doesn't mean expensive. Great deals can be found through your local butcher, supermarket or farm shop. Although it may sound like a lot of hard work, its quite simple once you get into a routine.. A great investment was 'our bible' Ian Billinghursts 'The Barf Diet: For cats and Dogs' and I would recommend anyone considering going on this diet to read it. Research is a MUST before starting this diet, although I will say many people now feed slightly less bone than Ian Billinghurst reccomends.

In 2005 we started feeding raw. We've used several companies over the years and now use Lincs Pets who I can highly recommend - they have a friendly & reliable service and always deliver at the time they announce.

Usually a dog will require 2-3% of their body weight, although this depends on a number of factors such as metabolic rate and activity level. The best way to judge is by 'The Rib Test'. When you run your fingers over your dogs ribs you should be able to feel the ribs but they should have some covering over them. If you can't feel the ribs then the dog is too fat, or if the ribs are really bony and have little/no covering then the dog is too thin.

The RMB part of the diet is fed whole and should generally consist of around 60% of the dogs diet. This is meat *AND* bone, not just bone. Ideally you want at least 50% of the RMB to be meat, if not more. The bones are great for the dogs teeth and jaws. Their stomachs are quite capable of digesting bone matter - you'll notice a change in their faeces when you feed the BARF diet. When first switching over you may notice some bone matter in their stools - thats perfectly normal. As their stomach adjusts to the diet the stomach acids will break down the bone and they'll have solid greyish poos instead. The poos hardly smell, there'll be far less of them and they're also so muh easier to scoop too!

Around 40% of the diet should consist of veggies, fruit, offal and suppliments. This doesnt have to be given in the same quantities each day. For example, if we have some RMBs that need using up then we might feed more RMBs for a couple days and then feed mainly veg & offal patties for the next couple days. Generally we try and keep things 'averaged out' over a two week period.

The fruit and veg part of the diet would come from eating the contents of the stomach and gut of their prey. It would therefore already be partially digested. A dogs stomach can't digest cellulose, the cell walls of plant matter is made of cellulose. Therefore to enable a dog to get the nutrients the fruit and veg needs to be crushed - either by putting it in a food processor or juicer.

Suppliments are really down to the individual. Many people have the tendancy to over suppliment. With the patties we add garlic, eggs, holkamix (if not adding veg/fruit that day) and salmon oil. We also use a product called Yumove which is joint suppliment.

How we feed

Some people use meal plans where their dogs meals are planned for every day. I'll admit I started off like that but over time have become much more relaxed. Now it depends on what needs using up & whats to hand, although I do still try and keep it evened out over a two week period.

Generally I'll feed a RMB meal in the morning and then a patty in the evening.

The main bulk of the RMB part of the diet that we feed consists of chicken backs, beef/lamb bones and lamb breast. Although we do feed a variety of other RMBS, chicken has better levels of essential fatty acids compared to other RMBs. We dont feed chicken wings anymore because both Mishka and Diesel had the tendancy to swallow them whole, plus they have quite a lot of bone in them. If we do feed RMBs with less than 60% meat then we feed ground meat in addition.

For the patties buy the different minces from Lincs Pets. I either add my own (food processed) fruit & veg or add Holkamix. I'll also add offal, raw egg and for the dogs that don't eat fish whole (Mishka) I'll add their fish too. The others get their fish whole.

In addition to the above they also get recreational bones a couple times a week such as beef knuckles and mince filled hoovers. They also love to chew on Stag Bars which are a great healthy natural dog chew. They might seem expensive but they last for hours