Who here has tried the BARF diet?

[diamondlil]

The most common reason for worm infestation is dogs sniffing around where other dogs have pooped or from ingesting fleas, the intermediate host, ringworm is a fungal skin infection transmitted through contact. Freezing the meat then thawing before feeding it to the animals takes care of any potential parasite load.
One of the most interesting things I read about the RMB diet was how the author was hounded by the Australian veterinary authorities when he insisted that the prepared feed manufacturers (who sponsor vet training) were endangering animals' health, and that appropriately fed animals would not suffer many of the illnesses such as tooth decay and tartar, diabetes and obesity, hence reducing vet visits dramatically

 

[Dreqqus]

It seems to be a very divided issue, with no real 'middle of the road' argument. People seem to be either vehemently for, or against it, and if you fall in either camp than your usually not willing to listen to the other side's arguments(no one on this board, just the argument in general.) I'm going to go ahead and try to start my cats on a diet consisting of turkey/chicken/fish with a very small amount of plant matter, as both of them are gaga for cauliflower and broccoli.(I don't know weird cats). I am starting this Friday, and I will try to do regular updates with it. Wish me luck.

 

[Dreqqus]

Sorry for the double post.

Concerning vets being in bed with pet food companies. We haven't done the actual unit on pet nutrition yet, but I do know that our 'guest lecturer' is a Purina rep.

 

[desertanimal]

I have an ex who tried that diet, now that I recall, because dry dog food is so expensive in Alaska, and she said that her vet was mightily impressed at the dogs' condition after she started it.

 

[Cflaguy]

By AAFCO standards...

Wild dogs aren't rough and rangy because they eat byproducts. They're rough and rangy because they exercise constantly and they often go days without eating and sometimes without drinking.

And you might also be forgetting that most domestic dogs don't just receive inner nourishment. We pamper them outwardly as well--with soft beds, protein-enriched shampoo, brushing, petting, and the indulgent laziness that promotes fat retention and thus makes skin and coats smooth and silky.

Please don't blame poor health on byproducts. People eat horrid things too...pork rinds, haggis, chitterlings, liver and onions, fois gras, pickled pig feet/snouts, blood sausage, cracklin's, testicles (mountain oysters, anyone? ), rotten duck eggs, "inhabited" (read: maggot-filled) cheeses, menudo...shall I go on? :grin01: uke01:

The fact that an animal product is not trimmed and aged to the perfection that Western sensibilities dictate does not make it foul.

Byproducts are feet, heads, internal organs, feathers and anything they may hold. Poultry byproducts are byproducts from a chicken or turkey depending on what the truck brings that day. Meat byproducts are whatever is handy that day. This will greatly change the digestability of the food and poor skin and hygiene in pets.
"Please don't blame poor health on byproducts. People eat horrid things too..." And our nation is chock full of healthy people.
I challenge anyone to feed Ole Roy for 6 months and see what that ground yellow corn (not digestable BTW) and meat byproducts does to a dogs skin and coat. Then feed him a premium food w/o byproducts and see what happens. Sure your dog will live, with dry skin and coat, but will live longer on a premium.

 

[Cflaguy]

I just saw this....

Sorry for the double post.

Concerning vets being in bed with pet food companies. We haven't done the actual unit on pet nutrition yet, but I do know that our 'guest lecturer' is a Purina rep.

Hill's the company who makes Science Diet will offer to pay tuition for certain people and/or twenty percent of everything they sell.
Purina probably does the same with feed stores and some vets.
Nutro was Nutro and never did this but; now they were bought by Mars (who does Pedigree) and this may change.

 

[texastailfeathers]

I challenge anyone to feed Ole Roy for 6 months and see what that ground yellow corn (not digestable BTW) and meat byproducts does to a dogs skin and coat. Then feed him a premium food w/o byproducts and see what happens. Sure your dog will live, with dry skin and coat, but will live longer on a premium.

Well now, that is a bit extreme. I certainly don't remember advocating Ol Roy.

The problem with nutrition trials (and any kind of trial in which the test subject is a living creature) is that there is no true constant. Tests are easily manipulated, which is why neither side has a problem proving their point.

That said...do remember that I said I feed my dog(s) Diamond Naturals. It isn't a premium by pricing standards (<$.50/lb) but it also doesn't contain by-products or corn.

Just because I don't think by-products or corn are evil or that by-product feeders are animal abusers doesn't mean that's what my dogs eat.

 

[Cflaguy]

I challange ANYONE....

not Texastailfeathers.
Sure Science Diet can tell you why soybean hulls and chicken liver digest are needed for your animal.
Purina can tell why "real meat" is better than meal. Of course they don't tell you about the cooking process and what happens to real meat.
If people want to feed foods with crap in them sure it is their business. You said don't blame byproducts for poor health. I'm saying premiums will make your pet healthier.
We are responsible for our dogs and cats even more than our corn snakes. Not asking anyone in particular here, but what would the reaction be if someone here were feeding mice that came from a breeder who fed her mice Ole Roy?

 

[tom e]

Parasites(ringworm, roundworm, tapeworm, etc) don't typically kill an animal...they live off of it. Completely different from a viral infection obtained from a food source(botulism, salmonella, e. coli, etc.), which attacks and kills the host body.

Dog's suffer from many different types of parasitical infection obtained from a variety of "tainted" food sources, the most common being raw meats and vegetables. These infections also vary in degree of severity. Regardless of the severity, it needs to be addressed. A raw meat, vegetable, and bone diet can, and does, cause digestive parasites in domesticated mammals.

I don't have specific links that state this at my fingertips, but I sell enough worm medications, and talk to enough owners of infected animals to know that it happens...frequently. I don't think it is a terrible leap in logic to assume that feeding raw meats, veggies, and bones to your animal as the staple of their diet would cause a dramatic increase in such cases.

I'm positive, even without "evidence" to support me, that the un-healthy diets of wild dogs is at least partly responsible for a much shorter lifespan, and a much less healthy overall being. There are LOTS of things that wild dogs do that will kill your Fluffy...

The theory on this diet is (not something I can confirm- just being devils advocate here.) that when dogs eat carbs like grain (in most kibble) they will keep the food in the gut longer- something unnatural for a (mostly) carnivorous animal. When a dog eats raw meat and bones it things bacterial contamination is of very little consequence, as they are adapted to eating carrion or kills that have been sitting and/or saved. Yes, dogs aren't the animal they once were, but only in very recent history have we been that concerned with what we feed them. I wouldn't think the meat they were given in the very recent past is much different than sitting carrion though, when you consider people until the industrial revolution were trying much harder to simply feed themselves. The fact that we are even this concerned (and having this conversation) would have probably had people laughing at us a hundred years ago.

Supposedly, this diet works against bacterial infections, even while letting (possibly) more bacteria pass through the system.