Everything you need to know about the BARF diet for dogs
BARF diets ( Bones and Raw Food ) keep gaining popularity among owners of all types of pets. Its detractors and defenders have much to say about it, and in this article we explain everything about the BARF diet for dogs.
What exactly is the BARF diet for dogs?
More and more blogs and magazines are bent on recommending this mysterious BARF diet for dogs. Traditionally, only hunting or sled dogs followed a diet based on uncooked food until, in 1993, Australian veterinarian Ian Billinghurst proposed to expand the market niche of this diet to the world of pets .
According to Billinghurst, adult dogs would benefit much more from a diet based on the foods that dogs consumed before they were domesticated , that is, raw meat, bones and remains of vegetables. In particular, a BARF diet for dogs usually contains:
- Raw meat from muscles
- Bones, which can be ingested milled
- Internal organs such as livers or kidneys
- Raw eggs
- Vegetables, broccoli, spinach or coriander
- Fruit suitable for canine consumption
- Certain dairy products, such as yogurt
For Billinghurst, traditional feed does not provide the necessary nutrients for these animals, which run the risk of suffering a deterioration in their long-term health if they feed exclusively from him.
Benefits and risks of popular BARF diets for dogs
Proponents of the BARF diet claim spectacular results in the short and long term, including:
- A brighter mantle
- Healthier skin
- Teeth in g Cleaner eneral
- Higher energy levels
- Lower amount of feces
Nonetheless, the report by Dr. Lisa M. Freeman , published in 2001 in the Journal of the American Veterinary Association , is much more cautious about it, and recommends not resorting blindly to these diets based solely on ominous articles on the internet.
For owners who do not want to feed their dogs only with raw food, Freeman recommends a diet based on dishes cooked at home, advised by a certified animal nutritionist. According to Freeman, the long-term results of this diet are far from being beneficial, as its high fat content, responsible for the increase in the brightness of the mantle, eventually leads to coronary problems.
Also keep in mind the risk of bacterial contamination that this type of food suffers, as well as the contagion of Salmonella or E. coli in humans. For dogs with a sensitive or damaged digestive system it is recommended to cook meals at home instead of using raw foods.
The danger of parasites in the BARF diet for dogs
Despite reducing the amount of preservatives that our pets ingest in their day to day, the trend of the BARF diet leaves a door open to an annoying enemy for both humans and animals: parasites.
the magazine Veterinary Record , not only were percentages of Salmonella and E found.