The BARF Diet
This fall, Dr. Mitchell lectured
at the annual American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association
(AHVMA) meeting in September, and at the annual Wisconsin
Veterinary Medical Association meeting in October. She talked about
acupuncture and other complementary therapies that are being used
more and more by many veterinarians. While at the AHVMA meeting,
she also had the opportunity to hear full day lectures by both Dr.
Billinghurst (the "BARF" diet originator) and Dr. Christopher Day,
who developed much of what we know about small animal
homeopathy.
What in the world is a BARF
diet? While many people
think that this stands for "Bones and Raw Food", Australian-born
Dr. Billinghurst says that he intended it to stand for
"Biologically Appropriate Raw Food" – and he was horrified to hear
what "barf" means to Americans! The idea that the BARF diet
consists of "raw meaty bones", as you’ll often hear, is completely
false. His diet is actually quite sensible, and was developed
by careful investigation of the natural food sources and
preferences of healthy dogs and cats. Then, Dr. Billinghurst
duplicated those natural ingredients by using fresh food that can
be easily purchased in the same place many of us already buy pet
food – at the grocery store.
What is in a
BARF diet? The diet is
composed of about 60-65% animal source meat protein (beef, poultry,
fish, or egg; ground-up chicken necks and backs are ideal); 10-15%
organ meat (half should be liver, and the rest can be any other
organ meat); 10% grain (oats, barley, etc); 10% raw pureed
vegetables, and 5% biologically active food such as kefir or active
culture yogurt. This translates pretty well into whole
rabbits, chickens, and other small animals. For cats, which
naturally eat primarily rodents, Dr. B. suggests increasing the
protein to about 75%, reducing the veggies, and reducing or even
eliminating the grains.
What exactly
does "whole animal feeding" mean? That sounds easier than all those
percentages! It means toes
to beak – the whole animal, including fur or feathers, head, and
innards.
EEEWWWWWW! Well,
yes. It is an easy way to feed, but not exactly appealing to
most people. The percentages of protein, grains, and veggies
Dr. Billinghurst developed produce a food that gives you the same
thing. It is far superior to what is found in ALL processed
pet foods – and it’s no harder to prepare than it is to prepare a
basic recipe for yourself from scratch.
So, I could
just buy meat, chicken gizzards and livers, a veggie, add a little
grain, and have a great diet for my pet? You’ve got it! As long as you vary your
ingredients (make it easy on yourself – buy what’s on sale, but
remember that the best meat is coarsely ground chicken necks and
backs) you will have a balanced healthy diet that will make your
pet more vibrant than you ever thought possible.
Does my pet
need to eat this stuff every day? I just bought a 2-ton bag of
brand X dry pet food on sale! No, it’s best to introduce ANY new diet slowly. If you
want to switch your pet over completely, take at least 4 weeks to
make the change. Many people elect to continue to feed dry
pet food, and just replace their yucky canned food with the
Billinghurst diet. (Remember from our last newsletter, when
you buy canned pet food you are paying for 75% water and very
little nutrition).
This sounds
really good for my pet, but I barely have enough time to cook even
for me! So make it easy on
yourself - use one of the prepared mixes that requires adding only
the meat to the diet. We are very impressed with Sojourners
Farm European Mix, a dry mix that requires adding only meat and
water. Nothing could be easier! Some people like
complete frozen or freeze-dried diets, but the nutrition
information presented by vendors at AHVMA was poor and lacked
credibility. They are also very costly compared to the dry
mixes - most of us can easily find better, fresher meat on sale in
our grocery stores.
I really am NOT
comfortable adding raw meat to my pet’s diet! That’s OK.
You can certainly cook the meat you use in the Billinghurst
diet; you’ll just need to process the bones differently.
Handling raw meat DOES require sensible handling precautions, and
contrary to what you may have heard elsewhere, Dr. Billinghurst
recommends that you ONLY feed absolutely fresh meat if you intend
to feed it raw.
