what do u animal ppl recon to the barf diet?

Answer 1

I have been feeding my cats a raw meat diet for seven years now. The benefits are truly worth the effort. I use organic chicken and turkey and have never had any problem with contamination or illness for any of the cats.

The cat diets are a little trickier than the dog ones as dogs are ommivores and the meat can be cooked. There are many Yahoo groups of raw feeders with cats - naturalCATS, RawPaws, rawKatz, and BARF -Cats. So join one or several to get you started with recipes, support for switching etc.

Answer 2

BARF (Bones and Raw Food diet) when done correctly is a properly balanced diet. I, however, do not recommend it for several reasons. First of course is food safety, salmonella is just one of several food borne illnesses they can get if the meat is not processed and prepared properly. A recent study published in one of the major veterinary journals followed 2 groups of dogs for 4 years, one fed BARF the other a high quality commercial dog food. The BARF group had a 60% higher occurence of salmonella poisoning. Many people just do not know how to prevent, or get careless in their preparations. Second is the quality of meat, this diet based upon feeding the same high grade meats people would eat, not the leftovers from the local butcher as many people do. Third is that you must also supplement other foods as well, like veggies and grains. Contrary to popular belief, dogs are omnivores and do need some in their diet. Fourth is the risk of intestinal obstruction or perforation from feeding bones, too many advocates of this diet say its unlikely to ever cause a problem and thats a lie, Ive seen many pulled out of a dog stomach, intestines or throat. Fourth is the cost and energy put into the diet. If your feeding the ideal BARF diet with prime cuts, it can be quite expensive to feed, and then you still have to make the diet for every meal. Too much work for many peoples life styles. I think its much easier just to purchase a high quality commercial diet that has been research and studied for a long time as to the potential benefits and drawbacks.

But these are just my opinions, you will find hundreds of different ones on this very controversial diet.

Answer 3

Not keen. High risk of your pets picking up pathogens, food poisoning e.coli etc from their food unless you have a very reliable food source.

The meat which usually ends up as animal feed is classed as unfit for human consumption, there is no way I would want meat like this to be eaten raw by my cats or dogs.

Admittedly the barf diet is probably the closest thing to the diet your pet would eat if it were feral but feral animals have a shorter lifespan than their more pampered domesticated cousins, diet may be a factor in this.

We tried it briefly with our dogs but weren't keen & heard stories from other dog show exhibitors whose dogs had picked up nasty infections when they tried barf diets.


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Incidentaly all the people who answered please rephrase the question it is perfectly simple,

What do you animal people reckon to the barf diet? What is so complicated about that?

Why bother answering at all unless you have something useful to say?

Answer 4

I don't understand the question....

recon? Can you clarify this?

The barf diet usually stands for Bones and Raw Food.

Answer 5

I know plenty about the BARF diet for dogs, but not very familiar with it for cats. If you rephrase the question, perhaps I can help.

Answer 6

I'm sure it can work but I would not try it in case it caused health problems for my pets.
I am happier buying good quality pet food.

P.S. Learn to write properly-use good grammar and don't use text message language!

Answer 7

Here`s the reason why good grammar is important: so people can understand what you are trying to communicate.

Answer 8

Would you kindly rephrase the question?

Answer 9

Sorry but I really do not understand your question

Answer 10

sounds awful!