Question:
I was just reading a great website on this diet. The breeders I plan to adopt from uses this diet for their American Staffies and swear by it. Although I am not keen on feeding raw meat (it is just gross) it has many great benefits and is better than feeding kibble.
Anyone else have thoughts or insight on the BARF diet?


Answer:
I was doing research on BARF awhile back because I wanted to put the cats on it. IMHO, I found WAY too much conflicting information and that made me too uncomfortable to feed the diet. I know that many people have had great success with the diet but I prefer to stay with feed that has been formulated for my pet.


Answer:
I had a St. Bernard that was raised on this diet many years ago. She was VERY healthy, minimum vet bills, and lived to a ripe old age. Not sure if the diet had anything to do with it or not though, just thought I would mention it


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I researched it a few years ago, thinking I might switch Moxie T. Dawg. There is a lot of conflicting information. I decided to try buying pre-mixed and frozen raw meat, adding fresh veggies every feeding. When I got it, I chickened out! I realized I couldn't bring myself to feed my dog this food, and I didn't trust myself to clean thuroughly after every feeding (I'm a real slob).
A few months later, I worked with a vet who specialized in dog nutrition. He said he had seen a huge increase of dogs with basic nutritional deficiencies that haven't been see in ages, since the advent of commercial dog foods. He highly recommended against feeing a BARF diet, unless I was willing to spend a lot of time and effort in research, shopping, and preparation.
-GC


Answer:
I have considered doing BARF for a while now, but like some have pointed out, there is so much to know, it can be quite daunting. I am hoping to find someone near me that feeds this diet so that I can visually see & learn this method. If you have the help of the breeder I would definatly go for it.


Answer:
http://www.holistic-hounds.com/
personally, i know dogs are not made to eat grains...however, a lot of times what an animal is made to eat isn't always the best for them..for example, look at koalas...they eat nothing but eucalyptus leaves, and have very poor nutrition because of it, barely having the energy to handle mating season!...right or wrong, that is the way nature made it.
i think that BARF is an excellent way to go for dogs, if supplemented with a good vegetable side dish...since dogs are more scavengers and eat more plant matter than other carnivores...they are still true carnivores, though, and that meat is important, and many (most) of the commercial dog foods just don't give what they need, and give a lot of extra stuff that causes all kinds of problems...
i have heard far more horror stories based on commercial kibble vs horror stories about BARF based dog diets...


Answer:
All three of my dogs and also my sisters dog have been on the BARF diet for over a year now. It's more work than kibble, but you get used to it. It my opinion it is VERY much worth the extra effort.
My oldest dog Lucy is a picky eater and we had a very hard time finding a kibble that she would eat. Finding one specially formulated for seniors was even harder. She lost a lot of weight and her arthritis pains were getting increasingly worse. Springtime came and she stopped losing weight. She still wasn't eating her dog food though. I couldn't figure it out until one night when I opened the back door to find her with bird feet sticking out of her mouth. We have a lot of quail around here, especially in the spring.
I had heard of the BARF diet, but never really researched it. Lucy decided that that is the diet for her though, so I started researching A LOT and then finally made the switch. Not only have I not had to beg Lucy to eat at least part of her food (she loves the meat but getting her to eat veggies can be tricky), but I've also seen a number of other good results.
All four dogs (my three and my sister's one) have almost no odor. Lucy used to smell terrible, especially her breath. Even their poop has little odor. They shed less and poop less. Lucy hardly ever has arthritis issues anymore. The younger dogs (all are now 3 and a half years old) are even more active (not so good for me because they need to be entertained more ).
By age 1, Matty (one of my young dogs) had a syst on her right hip. At age two, she developed another syst but this time it was on her salivary gland. She had to have surgery... when they put her under, there was so much saliva build up in her throat that they had to find the smallest tube they had to put down her throat so that she could breathe.....they said the tube that fit was the size that they use for small dogs like Chihuahuas....she's a 75 lb lab mix. Six months later, we switched to BARF. She hasn't had any new systs since and I think that is at least in part due to her diet.
I'll never feed kibble again. I'd like to switch our cat over to BARF too, but cats are a little more complicated in their diet needs and I'm kind of afraid that I'll mess up. Dogs are pretty easy once you know the basics.
Here's what my dogs get (it varies some with the seasons....they eat about double in the winter/cold months). (Note: This is just a general overview.)
Chicken Leg Quarters everyday unless I substitute another RMB (raw meaty bone)
Substitutes: Turkey, Beef Ribs, whatever else I find that isn't pork, is on sale,
Offal (organ meats) at least twice a week. More if it's available. I feed chicken gizzards, hearts, and liver, beef heart and liver, and whatever else I can find.
Whole raw eggs about three times a week, usually for breakfast.
Veggie slop - in the winter I feed this pretty much everyday. In the summer, only a once or twice a week. It consists of whatever veggies are on sale (or are usually inexpensive) thrown into a blender. I get as wide of a variety as I can (carrots, kale, romaine lettuce, broccoli, cualiflower, spinach, tomatoes, green beans, peas, apples, watermelon, etc....no corn, cabbage, or onions). I add drippings from whatever we have for dinner to Lucy's to disguise the flavor so she'll eat it.
Yogurt - I give about a half a cup of yogurt for breakfast when available.
Leftovers - We rarely throw away any food. My dogs do get some grains when we give them our leftovers. Sometimes they just get to clean the plates, other times I mix the leftovers in with their veggie slop. They also get leftovers from one of our neighbors...they bring it to the door and if something they can have I give it too them.
There's more too, I just can't think of it at the moment. Each dog is different and requires a different amount of food. For example, 75 lb Matty is active and requires the same amount (sometimes more) than 100 lb Bear. VERY active 45 lbs Tips eats the same amount as 65 lb Lucy.
When I first started, I was really worried about making sure they got the right proportions of RMB, Offal, and Veggies and I measured everything. It was very time consuming and since then I've relaxed a little. As long as you give a variety and are fairly close on the proportions, everything goes well. Research A LOT and talk to other people. Ask a lot of questions. It's not a diet for everyone...even some dogs don't really like it (mainly because they're used to eating dog food).
Wow that's a long post....I'll stop now.


Answer:
How's the research going, Denise?