What is BARF

BARF stands for Bones And Raw Food or Biologically Appropriate Raw Food, depending on which books you read. The basic principle is to feed a diet that the animals have evolved to eat, or to put it another way AS NATURE INTENDED.

Some people disagree with BARF, but the more information you gain the more it makes sense. It is advisable to do your own research in order to make up your own mind. People do not eat processed foods everyday of their lives. Why should our pets?

For thousands of years, dogs roamed the ancient world. They made their homes on the Savannahs of Africa, the plains of India and the forests of Europe, Asia and the Americas. Packs of dogs swirled through every type of terrain in every climate. They ate what they could wherever they could. Their food came from three sources: prey, scavenged and grazed items. Prey would be mainly herbivores, for example rabbits, deer, sheep or antelope. Scavenged food was food which dogs, acting as nature’s cleaners, devoured from the scraps left over from the meals of big, messy carnivores such as lions, bears and pumas. Grazed food included apples, berries and other wild fruits and nuts in season, and formed a small but significant part of a dog’s diet, especially during summer. Coprophagia (eating of faeces) offered dogs even greater nutritional scope.

Dogs hunted in packs. They devoured their prey completely: nothing would remain of the carcase. The soft organs, or viscera, were the first things to be eaten, followed by the gut contents, which, in herbivores, would be full of chewed and partially digested vegetable matter. Cereals were also present, but only as a small proportion. Then the muscle (meat) would be eaten. The bones, skin and hair comprised the final course, being nature’s way of cleaning the teeth after a large meal.

Man has been feeding dogs for about forty thousand years. The canines helped with the hunt and man rewarded them with some of the leftovers, which the dogs were only too happy to consume. Life was easier for both species under this arrangement: man got a useful hunting companion; the dogs got a pack mate who fed them a broad-ranging diet without them having to do too much work.

A BARF feeding diet is as close to nature as we can get with the right mix your pets will live a happier healthy life. We hope this information helps you on your way.

We have listed answers to some questions that you may ask, but if you are interested in finding out more about feeding BARF here are some books & sites that you might find helpful. . .  

•  "Give Your Dog a Bone" - by Dr Ian Billinghurst
•  "Grow Your Pups with Bones" - by Dr Ian Billinghurst
•  "Raw Meaty Bones" - by Tom Lonsdale
•  "Hostilic Guide for a Healthy Dog - by Wendy Volhard & Kerry Brown