BARF dog food - My dog wont eat it raw! Does anyone know if it's ok to microwave the food etc?

Question

The lady that i bought the BARF from at the pet deli told me to microwave it a little and slowly mix more raw food each time to 'trick' my dog into eating raw food. ..but i cant seem to put hardly any raw in if i want her to eat it! i know the point of BARF is that it is raw, but im wondering if i cant get her to eat it raw then is it ok to just microwave cook it for her???

Please let me know if you know anything about this as my dog is a Chihuahua and is soo small I dont want to be harming her by feeding her cooked versions of B.A.R.F

THANKS!

[aus]

Answer 1

Microwaving the food is going to kill vital nutrients your dog needs. It can also make the bones brittle, and cooked brittle bones are bad. (Raw bones are fine)

What exactly did you buy?

I'd just go down to the local grocery store and get some chicken wings to start with.

Also check out some of the websites below, and I highly recommend the group "rawdogs" over http://www.livejournal.com especially if you're having troubles. Several experienced BARF feeders over there, I'm sure they've got some tips. My dogs just took to it right away, so I haven't had to deal with a picky BARF fed dog as of yet.

There is another diet option other than dog food. Some people choose to feed a raw diet. This involves feeding the dog raw meaty bones and organ meat. However it is not as simple as throwing a couple chicken bones in a bowl everyday. If you wish to feed this type of diet, do lots and lots of research first. Switching to this diet without knowing what your doing can lead to nutritional problems for your dog. I'll give you some links as a starting point in research if you are interested in this type of diet.

http://www.willowglen.com/barf.htm.........

http://www.bestfrisbeedogs.com/diets.htm...

http://www.rawlearning.com/rawfaq.html.....

http://www.rawfed.com/myths/index.html.....

http://www.rawdogranch.com

What's Really In Pet Food
http://www.api4animals.org/facts?p=359&m...

Answer 2

to get your dog used to the Barf diet start out with the kibble that she likes. Put in a little tiny bit of the raw food and let her eat it. Once she is eatting this well then add a little more raw and a little less kibble. Wait till she eats this without complaint and again decrease the kibble and increase the raw. Also check what kind of Raw you are feeding. Some dogs done like buffallo or chicken or turkey etc. Try different ones to see which he would perfer. My boys eat Chicken and/or turkey and wil occassionally eat beef but not often. My ferrets like turkey but not chicken. If you go to the address below there is a number of good articles there on feeding raw food. Technically you will not harm her by feeding her cooked but you do need to be careful. if your raw food has bones in it and you cook the bones they could splinter and become sharp which wont happen when they are just plain raw. Hope this helps. Keep trying because it really is a wonderful food to have your dog on. It will make them so much more healthy in the long run

Edit: also to the people claiming salmonella is possible with raw food. Although this is true in theory it is also misleading because dogs on kibble also show traces of this. so basically as is quoted on teh Mountaindogfood.com site:
As for the fecal matter regardless of the type of food fed IT ALL IS CONTAMINATED WITH BACTERIA as a natural response in nature. Fecal matter is loaded with nutrients that support bacteria and will always have it regardless of the food that produced it. So don't be misled by those that would say only the raw diets have bacteria in the fecal matter it is a half truth.

Answer 3

Barf Dog Food

Answer 4

you have gotten some very differant answers here.
I personally feed the raw diet and am very satisfied with it and have done for 10 years. I have NO vet issues other than regular shots, wormings and check ups. I have 17 dogs right now that eat this diet.
There are recipes to cook for your dogs on line that are very good, but the problem with cooking the food is it does take out the nutrients.
If your dog does not like the raw, then i suggest going with a all natural dog food.
There are some really good ones out there even though they are a bit higher priced but the dog eats less, poops less and is healthier.
canidae, solid gold, wellness, california natural, dick van pattens formula, and my favorite Innova evo.
My dogs get innova when my kids have to feed my dogs but that is only about once to twice a month. It is all natural and a very good food.
There are some very good all natural dog foods at pet stores and look at the ingrediants with NO CORN, NO beet pulp, NO soy. You want a dog food with the first 5 ingrediants meat and veggies.
good luck

Answer 5

1. Make sure your little sister does not feed him any more people food. 2. Provide his dog food at the regular time, allow a reasonable length of time for him to eat, if he doesn't pick it up and put it away until the next feeding time. 3. Do not feed him anything between his feeding times - not even dog treats until he eats his regular food. Always have water available. 4. Continue until he eats his regular food. Skipping a couple meals will not hurt your dog and when he gets hungry he'll eat what you provide.

Answer 6

Smart dog. Despite the numerous thumbs-down I will get to the contrary, BARF is neither healthy nor safe (I have a degree from MSU and a license that says I know more on the subject than those giving me thumbs-down). You can get salmonella from your dog even if your dog doesnt act sick, dogs can become carriers of salmonella when fed BARF, and 75% of the BARF foods tested recently were contaminated with salmonella and other things.

There are plenty of homemade COOKED diets you can try, with homemade or BARF you need to worry about supplements, something that has already been taken care of for you when you feed prepackaged. If you want to go holistic/whole food, check out a brand called Wellness, they make a 95% meat canned dog food line that's a great and SAFE alternative to barf.

And FYI: you do not get "food enzymes" to aid digestion with BARF, contrary to popular belief. Digestive enzymes come from the liver and pancreas, not the muscle tissue of dead animals. And the changes to nutrition during cooking are minimal unless you boil it and dump the water down the drain, because the water leeches out nutrients. Cooking by other methods does NOT remove nutrients.

Also bones can cause GI irritation and can puncture the intestine, regardless of raw or cooked.

One other point: You say she's a small chihuahua. It's not unusual for a tiny dog to need 200 calories or less per DAY, that's like one granola bar's worth of calories. A bite or two could be a full meal for her, and especially if you feed treats, it can seem like she's not eating, so owners try to tempt them to eat more. But they usually don't need it. You should be able to feel her ribs, they should feel like the bones on the back of your hand with fingers outstretched. If you can't feel them at all or really need to search for them, she's overweight. If the ribs feel like your knuckles when you make a fist, she's too thin.

Yes, packaged dog food can have salmonella contamination too, but it is not found in ALL brands of dry, and it IS found in ALL brands of BARF, in much higher levels. Dogs becoming carriers of salmonella and infecting humans is FACT, not fiction. If you want, I can post the article from Veterinary Clinician's Brief magazine for you, or the notes from the seminar I went to this weekend.

Answer 7

It technically is not BARF if it is cooked (even just a little bit). But, it is much safer for the dog to cook the food first. I wouldn't think that cooking it would do much damage, but I really am not positive.

I personally do not like or recommend BARF diets for dogs. I have seen two dogs die from e-coil that they got from raw meat, and one die from a chicken bone that got stuck in its intestines. If you are going to buy BARF for you dog and absolutely will not feed it dry food I would at least freeze the food first. It will only damage a little of the nutrition, but it will kill a lot of the bad stuff in the meat.

Answer 8

It is just like cooking any other food..it won't hurt her.

If your dog won't eat raw..just feed her table food. It is much better than most of the dog foods out there anyway.

I am surprised she won't eat raw...but why force her?
(by the way..I feed raw..so I am not against it by any means.)

Perhaps it is just the brand of raw food you are feeding? ther are alot of them out there nowdays. Or you can do your own.

My dogs have never eaten the BARF way of eating raw..only other ways. However, when I have purchased some raw dogfoods...they didn't like them all. (my dog hated Aunt Jenni's rabbit formula..surprising since he seemed to want to eat one)!

But he loved her other flavors. You can do raw diets yourself it you want. Try the PHD one. (perfect health diet)....Yahoo it..

My favorite was AMore, out of canada, but they stopped selling it her after 9/11...said it was too expensive with the new fees.

And I don't recommend any bones the dogs can chew and digest,raw or not. Dogs can die from this. Just becaseu dogs do something in nature, doesn't mean it is healthy or they don't die from it.

Also...your dog is not going to get salmonella from eating raw food...unless you let it get to room temperature...before feeding your dog.

Since you take it straight from the fridge , put it down, and your dog gobbles it up...no salmonella possible.

I your dog doesn't eat it right away, however...that changes things. If they don't...pick it up right away.

good luck

Answer 9

You should not cook or microwave ANY raw meat with bones. The bones can become brittle, break and your dog could choke on them. Pouring boiling water or steaming the raw meats lightly would be far more preferrable than microwaving them. Some dogs need a little encouragement when starting on a new diet. Keep in mind, dogs won't starve themselves, so its possible your dog isn't that hungry or is full. Many people recommand doing a cleansing diet for their dogs when switching to raw, which consists of liquids for a 24-48 hour period before starting them on the meat. Do a google search on cleansing for dogs and see if anything sounds like it would help your dog.

Answer 10

Have you tried Eating for Energy (120 raw food diet recipes) system? Proceed to this url : http://www.StayEatingRaw.com/Support . Possibly this could immediately explain anybody!