Feeding Your Dog a B.A.R.F. Diet

Feeding Your Dogs a B.A.R.F. Diet
By Leah Morse

This will be the third of a series of blogs that I want to share my experience with learning to feed raw diet to my dogs. It is a controversial way of providing nutrition for your dogs. I am not suggesting that anyone follow these guidelines that I have chosen to do for my own dogs. I am just simply sharing the information that I have found and where I found it. I am simply sharing my experiences. I am not a veterinarian; I am also not a health care professional. This theory of feeding raw species appropriate diet can have serious health risks associated with incorrect handling, preparing and feeding. NEVER EVER FEED COOKED BONES! Cooking bones changes the molecular structure, they become brittle and may splinter which would injure or kill your dog! Do not feed bones that are frozen either, as they can and will ruin your pet’s teeth. All bones must be thoroughly thawed before feeding as frozen bones can severely damage teeth. Mixing raw meat with cooked meat can cause digestive problems. If feeding raw diet is your goal read as many books and literature as possible. Find people who are already feeding and have experience to have as mentors. Use your own good judgment, when in doubt, don’t do it. The ideas and opinions in this blog are my own and come from feeding my dogs this way since 2008, unless otherwise credited. I am by no means an expert, just sharing my own acquisition of information and observations from my own dogs. Take any ideas that I present here at your own risk and discretion. I, for one, have found it worth it.

What Ingredients and Where to purchase for feeding Biologically Appropriate Raw Food (B.A.R.F)

The first few weeks of feeding continuous raw diet I did a lot of researching. I went to the local grocery stores and scanned the meat departments of each one. I started to really pay attention to the different cuts of meat, each price, what was available in the mark down area. I bought chicken quarters, hamburger meat, knuckle bones, chicken gizzards, hearts and livers, soup bones. I also purchased canned herring (yes these are not raw but full of omegas and calcium and other beneficial nutrients). I also made my rounds in the produce department. A trip to the local Liborio Markets (www.liborio.com) proved to be a worth the while trip as I found bulk chicken necks and a plethora of very different cuts of meat. I wanted to stick as close to the prey model as possible which meant a variety of bone, meat and innards. Living in a rural area has also proved to be very handy as we have many friends that raise their own meat and have many parts that they don’t care to fix for themselves or their families. I have acquired many beef hearts and livers this way. Likewise with all our hunter friends as I have put the word out that we will take the parts that they won’t eat.

I also love my Costco membership. The savings on both the fresh and the frozen vegetables is wonderful. I prefer the frozen vegetables when I can’t use fresh. I purchased the Normandy mix (cauliflower, broccoli and carrots) frozen peas, frozen green beans, fresh organic spinach and fresh organic carrots. We take the Frozen veggies (thawed frozen veggies seem to be easier for dogs to digest) and put them in a container in the refrigerator to thaw. This way they are ready to chop up or puree and use as we need them. Canned vegetables have salt added and do not have the nutritional value. I also get the fish oil and vitamin C from Costco.

I chose to start with chicken as their bones are relatively soft as chickens are typically fairly young when they are slaughtered. Most of what I feed is chicken due to cost and availability. Chicken Quarters are only about $0.79 a pound fresh. Wings are more than twice as much. The bulk necks were reasonable as they were $1.29 a pound. I try to get organic meat and produce as often as possible but it seems that public demand for meat with less additives and hormones has given us more companies that state that they don’t use additives an hormones. Walmart had their roll back on price for hamburger meat and it went from 2.49 a pound to $1.29 a pound (sadly the price has gone back up to $1.98 or so). We stocked up. I have never been so in tune with the price of meat as I am now, being a former vegetarian. Walmart was also the cheapest source for canned herring as well. As for the supplements I found bee pollen, Kelp powder and alfalfa powder at The Vitamin Cottage for a fairly reasonable price.

Having a large freezer has proven handy. Being able to buy large quantities of meat that is on sale and also frozen veggies and have a place to put them really makes life easier living in a rural area. The nearest grocery store is more than 10 miles from our house. I should mention again that all meat should be thoroughly thawed before feeding. I found out the hard way that frozen bones take their toll on canine teeth. I will not let that happen again.

I kept track of all the ingredients that I had acquired and tracked the cost for a month, carefully logging each meal and the price of all the ingredients. What I found was that it cost only slightly more than the expensive high quality premium kibble that I had been feeding. Again, I got back a fraction of what I fed. There was a substantial reduction in stool.
I must say that being an empty nester helps as I no longer was feeding my children, who have grown to adulthood. Though cooking is not involved, I liked being in the kitchen preparing. All the thought processes of feeding a family of four has really helped with all of my meal planning. To save time, we measure out meat and veggies and freeze individual portions. This way, we could just take out what we need the night before.

Last but not least I have found that you can purchase commercially produced raw foods. There are several really good companies, although it will cost you for the convenience. There are some that will even deliver to your door. These companies have done the searching for top quality ingredients for you, using human grade ingredients.Darwin’s Natural Pet Products (http://www.darwinspet.com ) , K-9 Kraving (http://www.k-9kraving.com/), Freezer space is going to be a necessity, as it is for doing it on our own. I have just discovered that you can order “green tripe” over the internet to be delivered to your door. (Green tripe is more nutritious and has the live enzymes that make this diet so good for your dog.) (http://www.greentripe.com/ )

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Leah Morse is a certified canine trainer and owns Rocky Mountain Classic Canine in Colorado. Leah can be reached through our website at http://www.denverdogworks.com