ALL ABOUT RAW DOG FOOD & WHY 'APPROVED' MATTERS
What is Fresh / Raw Dog Food / BARF
It’s called lots of things – fresh dog food, raw dog food or even BARF (Bones and Raw Food or Biologically Appropriate Raw Food). They all mean the same thing to the dog, that is a biologically appropriate meal based on the fact that dogs are carnivores and
Why Feed Raw Dog Food?
Studies show, when left to their own devices and free of human influence, dogs pursue a fresh meat diet. They are carnivores, meat eaters. They normally consume animals like rabbits, rodents, birds, frogs, anything with a face really. And they love a bit of carcass, which they find with their extra big noses. Their teeth, their short, rapid acidic gut and general physiology are all that of a meat eater.
Summerill 1976) and improve behaviour (Mugford 1987).
Raw Dog Food Will Result in Major Benefits…
What Exactly do Raw Diets Contain?
That's all they need. However, you don't just have to just feed one product. You can mix it up. Try all the types, maybe try Nature's Menu, which we also have in store. Life's too short. Add in a tin of sardines, a raw egg, your dinner left overs (including veg, though no onions!), some half-priced meat you found in the supermarket or butchers, a raw meaty bone, whatever! Everything. Go back to the old ways. It's fun, easy, and the more bits you add in the cheaper you can make the mix for yourself. For some recipe ideas please ask me in store! As long as your base is good, it's as easy as feeding the kids, and infinitely more nutritious!
Power Additions
How Much Raw Dog Food Do They Need?
An adult dog on the average fresh meat diet will eat 2.5% - 3% of their body weight per day. So, a 7 kilogram adult Westie will require 175g - 210g of fresh dog food per day (1% of 7kg is 70g multiplied by 2.5 or 3). If the dog is a little heavy or a bit lazy? Then feed them a little less. Well exercised? Then feed them a little more!
Introducing Raw Dog Food
When introducing raw dog food to a dog do it slowly – half a teaspoon one meal, a full teaspoon the next etc. The first time you have calamari you don’t want to see the squid! This serves two purposes. Firstly, it gets them used to it. Secondly, dogs, like cats, can get very fixated on those high-salt crackers. Processed food is addictive, as we all can testify to! While most will jump face first into it, best to sneak it in initially.
Storing Raw Dog Food
Raw dog food is almost always frozen. That's how they preserve it without using all the nasty chemicals. It resides in the freezer. You take a meal from the freezer and defrost it in the fridge in a large lunch box on the bottom shelf. This tub serves a dual purpose as you can add your scraps into it. And yes, you can feed partially defrosted meat to your dog no problem. Lots do!
What About Puppies and Reproducing Bitches?
Fresh food is vital essential for everyone, from pup to seniors, athletes to reproducing Mums, they all need fresh protein, good quality fats and lots of easily absorbed vitamins and minerals. This is what fresh food offers. Pups eat very similarly to adults though their foods should contain a higher fat content. They should begin on raw meat from weaning, which is from around 3 and a half weeks of age!
What about cats?
lamb, fish from frozen or a tin, etc.), 1 part organ meat (liver, heart, kidney, spleen, brains!) and one part meat on the bone (where they can chew the bone or not). That's the ideal and most raw foods for cats are built around this ratio. You can use the Paleo Mixes to get you started and add a little more muscle meat to make it more suitable for cats. They need 2-4% of their body weight per day in this diet. Ask in store for more details.
Is Raw Meat Not Dangerous for Them/Us?
Raw meat can contain baddies. If we eat them they can make us sick. That's why we need to cook it. Dogs, on the other hand, are scavenging carnivores. They are not susceptible to meat pathogens such as Salmonella and E.coli, in the same way that we are. Think of a dog that gets a nice meaty bone, eats half of it, then buries it and digs it up that stinking thing up a week later for a chew. Yet they don't get sick. Their acidic stomachs are adapted to that sort of diet
Studies show that both raw and dry foods contain Salmonella (Strohmeyer et al. 2006) as both contain meat, and dogs fed either diet have been shown to pass Salmonella in their poo. Thus, both dry and raw fed dogs should be regularly cleaned up after. The difference between the two diet is that, to date, there has not been a single incidence of Salmonella poisoning ever recorded from a raw-fed dog or raw dog food product, and there are now millions of us. However, the same cannot be said for dry food. Humans are constantly getting poisoned by dry food (Schottea et al. 2007, Reinberg 2008, Behravesh et al. 2010, Imanishi et al. 2012), usually children under 2yrs of age, likely because dry feeders are more complacent around a product they believe to be "perfectly safe".