By
Cherilyn Alport ("Chelport" Cavaliers) SA
Sometimes
you will hear a breeder or pet owner say they feed their dog
the BARF diet. This
seems a funny name, but in fact the diet is based on the
old-fashioned principles of feeding dogs something close to a
natural diet. BARF stands for Bones And Raw Foods, and strict BARFers do
not feed their dogs any processed or cooked foods at all. I am by no means an expert in this area, but I have been
feeding my dogs a mainly raw diet for about 10 years, with
occasional supplementation from commercial dry foods.
Most BARFers claim that their dogs rarely are ill
enough to warrant visits to the vet, and I’d like to share
with you some tips for feeding dogs the natural way.
I have included a summary diet sheet but for more
information, I recommend the websites www.barfers.com
and www.drianbillinghurst.com,
or the books Give Your Dog a Bone and Grow Your Pups With
Bones, by Dr Ian Billinghurst.
The
BARF diet aims to mimic as closely as possible what dogs would
eat in the wild – in other words, what they evolved to eat.
The food should be raw, contain high levels of
vegetable matter, and should contain no artificial
preservatives or colours.
The dog’s diet should be based on raw meat, raw meaty
bones (RMBs) and vegetables.
In Australia, we can get the meat from beef, lamb,
kangaroo and chicken. The
first three are best for overweight Cavaliers!
Chicken is especially good for youngsters, as the dog
will gain a lot of calcium from eating the chicken bones.
But beware – some dogs are allergic to the
antibiotics used in battery or barn hens, so organic or
free-range is best. Kangaroo is always “free range”.
Whole fresh fish also add variety, and the dogs love
them! And
remember, RAW meaty bones – never feed cooked bones to your
dog.
Raw
meat and RMBs should constitute about 70% of the diet but
should never be the only food given – this would leave the
dog lacking in many nutrients.
One of the most important things about Raw Meaty Bones,
is that a dog must really work in order to eat them.
Young jaws and teeth will develop well, teeth will stay
clean and the dog must use muscles from throughout it’s
body, in order to pull the meat off the bone.
Great for muscle and bone development!
Vegetables
supply fibre, proteins, anti-oxidants, enzymes, B group
vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids.
Fruit can also be used but not too much.
Vegetables and fruit which are useful include: carrots,
pumpkin (great for “fatties”), cauliflower, spinach,
broccoli, celery, apples, pears, melon (caution: the rind is
toxic) and over-ripe bananas.
Most BARFers crush or vitamize the vegetables, thus
allowing easier access to the nutrients, for the dog’s
digestive system. This
mimics eating the stomach contents of killed prey (sorry!). DO NOT include the potato family (too starchy), or onion
(causes anaemia), and only use the cabbage family in limited
quantities, as it may affect the thyroid.
Some
supplements to the diet are very useful, while others can be
harmful. Useful
supplements include (in small quantities – less than ˝ tsp
per meal): Brewer’s Yeast (watch out for rashes, as some
dogs are allergic), kelp (thyroid function may be affected in
some dogs), offal, flaxseed oil, fish oil, and garlic (repels
fleas and worms). Eggs
are great – one raw egg 3 times a week.
Crack the egg over the meal, and throw in the shell –
the dogs love it! Yoghurt
and honey are also beneficial, particularly in case of
digestive upsets. Avoid anything containing artificial colours, flavours or
preservatives.
Dogs
have little use for grains.
This includes rice, wheat, corn and barley.
Use these as little as possible – many people use
rice as a “filler” to make the meal go further, but it
really has little nutritional value to a dog, as they don’t
need the level of carbohydrates that we need.
Rather than giving your dog a biscuit as a treat, try a
stick of carrot or celery, or a chunk of cheese.
Although strict BARFers feed no commercially processed
(cooked) foods, everyone gets caught out from time to time.
For these situations, I like to keep a few tins of
Supercoat or Nature’s Gift products in the cupboard – they
are the closest to my dog’s natural diet that I can find in
a tin.
I
find my dogs, which are fed on the BARF diet (whether the
strict version or one of the many variations) are very
healthy. So
healthy in fact, that once my vet thought I must be taking my
dogs to another practice, as he hadn’t seen us in a while!
There
are several suppliers who make BARF diet commercially, or who
can provide the crushed vegetables and suitable meats for you
to mix. Their
details can be found in the Yellow Pages, under “Pet Foods
&/or Suppliers”.
To
follow is a summary diet sheet that I give to buyers of my
Cavaliers – this is the “adult dog” version.
It is a rough guide, as I don’t believe in “hard
and fast rules” when suggesting quantities – it is up to
the owner to decide when their dog is getting too fat or is
too thin and adjust the diet accordingly.
The diet can also be adjusted according to seasonal
availability of various vegetables.
Of course, there are always dogs who have dietary
intolerances, in which case I suggest you remove the offending
food and/or consult your vet.
 Your
adult Cavalier needs one meal per day, between 180 and 200
grams TOTAL of a mix of the following:
As
you can see, many of these are foods we eat ourselves (except
the pet grade meats, I hope!), and this makes it quite easy
and relatively cheap to feed the dog. For example, the vegies
can be the scraps from your own meal, vitamized raw.
Your
dog needs to eat raw
bones for several reasons:
Raw
meat is better than cooked because the cooking process
destroys many of the vitamins, and removes the fat.
Cooking also hardens any bones in the meat, making them
indigestible- this can cause very painful (and expensive)
bowel obstructions, so please DO NOT give cooked bones, wings
or necks to your dog.
Cavaliers
can be greedy, but obesity can cause BIG health problems.
A Cavalier is supposed to weigh no more than 9kg, but
this will vary according to the overall build of the dog.
Check with your vet to see if your dog’s weight is OK
for its build.
A
couple of things to avoid
in your dogs diet:
-
cow's
milk
-
any
food containing dyes or preservatives, as these can cause
hyperactivity and some allergic reactions
-
potatoes
(ferment and become toxic in the dog's stomach)
-
onions
(cause anaemia in dogs)
 Clean
fresh water must be available at all times.
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What is a
BARF Diet?
