by Heather Hamel

Created on: April 05, 2010

This diet is sometimes referred to as the BARF diet - Biological Appropriate Raw Food. The name kind of says it, doesn’t it? While some people are avid fans of the BARF diet, it is not for everyone (or every cat or dog). 

Any diet you have your pets on should be researched fully. There are advantages to the BARF diet, but to some people the disadvantages outweigh them. It can be costly and time consuming, and if the owner does not get the proper balance of proteins and other nutrients, it is the pet that suffers. If any bacteria or parasites get into the raw meat sources, everyone will suffer: diarrhea, vomiting, and then it gets really unpleasant. 

The meaty raw food diet is rich in essential amino acids such as taurine, which gets cooked out of fish and meats, its only sources. If you decide to place your pets on a raw food diet, this should not be the main reason, because a bag of high quality organic pet food will have the taurine supplemented back in, and will have everything your pet needs in the proper balance. 

Some people have their pets on a mostly vegetable and soy version of a raw food diet. This saves money on the meat, and eliminates the raw meat safety issues, but then your pet is deficient in taurine, which is present in only meat, fish, dairy, and eggs, so you would need to supplement. Some nutrients do not get released from the vegetables unless they are cooked slightly. Cooking is also needed for good digestion of several vegetables. You would end up supplementing for both protein and vegetables. 

Some people have started this diet in response to the low quality of many commercially processed foods available to our pets. The objection to these pet foods is easy to understand. There was the mass poisoning a couple of years ago, and pet owners discovered that most commercial food was substandard. There are some organic, excellent quality pet foods that are worth trying, you just have to look around, and read labels. 

You can’t skimp on safety if you decide to feed the BARF diet. Just like when you make sushi, there are necessary precautions. The FDA recommends freezing at -32 F for 15 hours, or -5 F for a week. This is to kill the parasites that could be present. This will kill most parasites, but the Trichinella species of bacteria in the wild is resistant to freezing. Even though we see wolves and coyotes eating raw meat, how do we know that they don’t have their gastro intestinal upsets too? 

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