Most of the pet owners just buy a sack of dog food for their dogs and it may be quite unconventional to advise that it’s much better for your companion to eat raw food. But many health advocates advise to use BARF which means Biologically Appropriate Raw Food, or Bones and Raw Food. This interesting diet is getting a lot of attention and a lot of veterinarians are so passionate about advocating this diet to pet owners. They will vouch to BARF diet as healthy rather than dog food. Eating natural is the idea behind here. It is believed that naturally, dog would eat BARF diet if they are put under their natural surroundings.
In analogy, we can say that many believe dog food is like a fast food, our dogs will not get much nutrients coming from this. On the other hand, BARF is like the balanced diet in humans which will definitely make your dog fit and healthy. There are some reports from dog owners that their dogs exhibited a decrease in skin problems like allergies, decreased problems on weight gain and a significant decrease in anal glands after they feed their dogs with BARF. One of the pros of BARF diet compared to commercial dog food is its lack of preservatives. Dogs also love the taste of natural food. It significantly improves the muscle mass and overall performance of your dog. Advocates of BARF said it’s more costly to maintain dog food than BARF diet. Preparation time is the most obvious disadvantage of this diet. Convenience is always the advantage of dog food however, if you really dig deeper, your dog will benefit a lot in the long run and would be thankful to you if you provide them food which is good for their health.
However, you still need to consult a veterinarian if you’ve decided to switch him over to BARF diet. Further examination should be done first before modifying his diet.
Slowly progressing to a different diet should be the key. Gradually change his diet to BARF from his former diet to ensure that your dog won’t experience any possible problems in his digestive tract when introducing something new to it. To start off with this diet, enforcing this diet twice a day is a good rule of thumb. There’s also a difference in the composition of each meal. Raw meat and bones such as turkey or chicken legs, thighs, wings, or necks, pork riblets, lamb chops, and other similar meats and cuts should compose the first part of the meal. A mushed raw meat, fresh vegetables and organs you got when purchasing the meat should compose the second meal.
Recreational bones or those bones which are difficult to chew, cottage cheese, eggs with the shells, yogurt, fruit and fish are good food to add in this diet. This will depend in every dog so do some research first. Health advocates of BARF would advise you to keep his diet grain-free since they believe that the digestive tract of dogs cannot adapt well to whole grain foods. Most noted cases of allergies in pups are caused by consuming whole grain foods.
In addition, you should also seek the advice of your vet about dog supplements since advocates of BARF are against it. Any modifications to his diet should be verified first as good for them before implementation.
One of the most frightening reasons why not everyone switch to BARF is because of their fear that their dog would get choked by bones. Interestingly, this is actually a very rare case because most of the time, dogs are actually getting choked by cooked bones.
Before you make a decision to switch to BARF diet , it’s always a good thing to do some research first and to talk to a trusted veterinarian. It’s much better if you also ask some pet owners who have been implementing this diet for the longest time. Improvement in your dog’s overall well-being might be achieved by this diet so you might want to take this into good consideration.
