| FOR YOUR DOG Bright WHITE teeth - The crunching & chewing of RMB’s acts like a toothbrush keeping tartar away. Even if you grind the bones, your dog will get some benefits from the enzymes in the raw foods because the enzymes also ‘keep back’ the formation of tartar. All our dogs teeth were starting to go yellow before switching to a raw diet & even though Pagan is the youngest his were the worse with some serious tartar formation on the back teeth. I had been warned about the teeth of Sarplaninacs in general but I surprised at the speed of the tartar build up. Just 2 weeks after starting Barf all my dogs had shiny white teeth, Pagan’s now look like when he was a puppy even my vet was impressed with them Brilliant full & soft coat - The first thing most people notice with a barfed dog is its shiny soft coat. This is because most barfers feed chicken, which is an excellent source of EFA’s (Essential Fatty Acids- Essential means they have to come from the diet because they are not ‘made’ by the body). EFA’s maintain the cell membranes in skin & hair keeping them healthy. Chicken (& also cereals i.e.: dog foods) contain Omega 6 oils but no Omega 3 oils so most barfers supplement with Salmon oil or Flax seed oil, to get a balanced ratio of EFA’s. I always thought my dogs had shiny coats, but nothing like now after only a few months on barf they are all silky smooth. Blue (Newfoundland X) would blow her coat and would then look scruffy until her new coat grew, this time she lost her under coat & the rest is glowing with health. Sarplaninac’s have quite course coats but pagan’s is soft & shiny, even friends & the owner of local health food shop have also started supplementing their dogs diet with Salmon oil after seeing & feeling my dogs coats !!!!! More energy - Maybe it’s the better quality of food with more vitamins & minerals in a more digestible form but one of the comments most often made by new barfers is the about their dogs increased energy. Gem (my german shepherd) is always active but pagan likes to lie around a lot. He is only a young dog but wasn’t very keen on playing now he enjoys a daily run & play with gem. Pagan went through a period of not wanting his new diet & I seriously (although unhappily) contemplated feeding him a commercial food but my partner, who at the beginning was very wary of Barf refused to even think about it saying ‘But he’s got more energy on barf, white teeth etc etc !!!’ Bright eyes - Many dogs have red or runny eyes (which can sometimes be caused by allergies). Runny eyes can stain the fur around the eyes as well as being irritating to our four-legged friends. All of my dogs have bright sparkling eyes but blue should really be a sheepdog because she really has ‘the eye’ Stronger immune System - A dog getting everything it nutritionally needs without all the colorants, conservatives, antioxidants etc will have a stronger immune system to fight illness since its building the body up & not trying to fight a constant stream of nasty chemicals that are being pumped into it day after day. Smaller unsmelly you know whats !!! - Raw real foods contain enzymes that break the food down so more of it is digested. So there is less to come out the other end !!! With dry foods I was always amazed that what went in one end always seem to come out doubled. But if you put a portion of dry food in a bowel of you will see just how much it expands (also a MAJOR cause of bloat). Now on barf cleaning up the garden is so much easier & quicker. Sweet smelling breath -This goes back to the bright white teeth & RMB’s acting as toothbrushes. We all know people who ‘clean their teeth’ have fresher breath as well as less teeth problems in general & dogs are no different. Blue is very sweet & always willing to give me a full face wash (wanted or not) now I have fresh breathed healthy eaters rather than grimy tooth junk food addicts I’m more that happy to have my morning kisses. Clean & healthy ears - Many ear problems are caused by yeast. Most dog foods contain yeast (usually brewers yeast. Some barfers also give it as a supplement if there dog has no yeast problems. If your dog has lots of ear infection try to avoid it & sweet vegetables in your dogs diet. Lean with muscles - Most barf fed dogs are closer to their ideal weight. The overweight dogs lose a few pounds, because they eat slower this means they don’t eat half a bag of food before their digestive system realises it has arrived giving time to start the digestion processes & allowing the maximum amount of food to be used rather than stored as fat or coming out the other end. Muscle tone is also developed by the dog when eating its RMB’s -watch any dog eat a bone see the way it lies rigid using every bone in its body. This is called isometric exercise. Most thin dogs are usually not very big eaters so feeding barf helps to increase their interest in food so that they start eating more of it, they also gain added muscle tone, giving them a much healthier appearance. (very thin dogs who eat normally should be tested for diseases such as cushing – speak to your vet) Pagan could still do with a kilo or two but, my once fatty gem is getting leaner (& healthier) by the day. She now enjoys her races ground the garden & blue that used to be very thin is currently in need of a diet. Since she has gone from refusing to eat her dog food to begging for more barf & of course she only has to give me ‘that’ look & I give in !!!!!! Improved digestion -This is because raw foods contain enzymes that break down the food. When foods ‘go off’ this because of the actions of the enzymes within them. Cooking kills enzymes so dogs get no help when trying to digest their commercially made foods. Many barfers also give ACV (Apple cider Vinegar) which helps digestion (it keeps up the acidity of a dogs stomach) & contains 19 out of the 22 minerals. ENJOYS EVERY MEAL -The biggest joy of barf is watching your dog enjoy its food, no more sorry looks into the unappetising dog bowel with yet the same thing day after day. That few minutes of watching them munch away contentedly really is the cherry on the cake!! Luckily our dogs don’t feed us !!!! While gem eats everything in sight, Pagan & blue have always been fussy eaters. I went through nearly all the major brands trying to find one that they all liked & that I was happy feeding them. Pagan never showed any real interest at meal times, certainly not in dog foods his favourite food has always been a hard stick of French bread. Blue used to break my heart at meal times she would often go for 3 or 4 meals without eating waiting until she was very hungry. We tried adding tasty things such as cooked meat etc but this only made her worse. From the moment I gave her a chicken wing she’s totally changed to a dog who LOVES meal times. Now she dances about watching me prepare the dishes & then races to her eating place ready for her REAL food !!!! THE BENEFITS OF BARF FOR YOU You KNOW what they’re eating -You make the decisions about what your dogs eat, you know the quantity & the quality of all the ingredients. You know what’s added & what’s missing. The opposite is true when you feed commercial foods. With more & more health scares its good to know that all the ingredients I give my dogs are ‘fit for human consumption. I’ve always wondered when reading tin dog food labels why there is only 4% (or whatever) of beef in a tin of beef chunks. It makes YOU wonder about the rest ??? You know why they’re eating it -You learn so much about nutrition for your dog, for yourself & for your family, You know all the foods that are high in Vitamin E or low in sodium. You start to look critically at food labels & advertising claims. And you begin to make informed choices based on knowledge. Well none of that can be bad can it ?? There are times I would have loved to have gone back to the old days & the easy automatic pilot way of doing things but my dogs would probably all go on hunger strike. You know what they say Ignorance is bliss !!! Adaptability -You can adapt the food to the dog & not the dog to the food at any stage in its life. Extra vitamin C for a dog in times of stress. Extra oils for dry coats or skin. More foods containing Vitamin B’s when loosing their coats etc. Because you know WHAT is fed you can safely change it without the risk of creating a deficiency or over supplementing, instead of making guesses based on dog food labels. Happy, healthy pets - Just re-read ‘enjoys every meal’ Most dogs LOVE barf, Give any dog a bone & they’re usually very happy !!! We all know that mental attitude affects our physical well being. When we’re happy we are usually healthy as well. This also true for dogs & I don’t know about you but when my dogs are happy I am too !!! Less vet bills - Since a change to a raw diet usually increases the health of your dog, all those common aliments such as skin problems, ear infections etc usually either disappear totally or occur much less often with less severity making all those trips to the vet unnecessary. My vet loves Pagan & his receptionist knows its me on the other end of the phone as soon as I say hello, Pagan used to have lots of ear infections & skin problems. But now he hasn’t had an ear infection in over a year & although he still does have some skin problems ( very dry skin & very slow healing), his skin & hair have improved with barf more than with anything else. THE DISADVANTAGES OF BARF Preparation time - Its true it takes time a lot more time to buy the food, prepare it & then clear everything up than when you were just pouring out a bowl of dry food. But as you get used to your new routine you find that it takes half the time it used to & I think 99% of barfers feel that the extra time is very well spent. Cost - Some people think its more expensive on barf, other say its less expensive than commercial foods, this depends on How many dogs you have & their sizes, what kind of commercial foods you fed (& hence their price), where you live & where you buy your doggie supplies, It gets very expensive if everything comes from the local supermarket or if you will only buy organic meat & veg from the health food store. Most people try to get things from farmers markets or buy in bulk from meat processing plants, wholesalers & abattoirs etc. Supplements can cost as much as the ‘actual foods’ so buying in large quantities that will last for a while is a good idea. Of course most of people try to supply all of the vitamins & minerals required within the foods just supplementing occasionally in times of stress etc. The most expensive item I buy is the salmon oil. It actually costs me more than all my chicken for 3 large dogs - both lasting about 2 weeks. I wouldn’t dream of stopping buying it though because it helps pagans & the others coats hugely, my vet even said I could double the quantity I give to him !!!! Worry -Yes you do worry a lot at the beginning, its hard to break down years of being told ‘You can’t feed your dog BUT we can every time you turn on the TV or open a magazine to see yet another dog food specially formulated to just for your dogs needs. No wonder we get inferiority complexes and then you wonder are you doing it right? Is your dog getting all his vitamins & minerals? Are you giving him too much? Can you feed that? & always the worry about bones Etc, etc, There is also peer pressure to deal with, its hard to stop blindly following others & think for yourself but your dogs health is worth the effort isn’t it ??? This is why its very important to do all your research BEFORE you begin. If you like the idea of the diet but do worry about the bones you can always grind them !!! There are hundreds of sites full of information, list of books to read & plenty of email lists if you have any problems or unanswered questions & believe me you will !!! Of course these are disadvantages to you because I really can’t think of any for dogs but if you can EMAIL ME !!! Since writing this article over a year ago a new dog has joined our family. Tiggy is a 9½ year old Chihuahua. I was a little worried about whether she would adapt to our 3 large dogs (…& how they would react to her ). I didn’t want to leave her on industrial dog food but I was also a little apprehensive about what to feed her. She arrived with a bag of proplan & a few tins of dog food, so I decided to keep to give her normal diet for a few days. She had a few missing teeth & the others were covered with tartar, the worst thing was her breath, it was best to be on the other side of the room when she opened her mouth !!! I wasn’t sure she would get a taste for raw foods at 8½ years old & with her teeth she was probably going to have some problems with the bones but we decided to give her some to try anyway. I needn’t have worried she doesn’t have much trouble with the bones even if she does leave some of them. She just loves raw meat and now refuses to eat any sort of industrial dog food. If she thinks it’s dog food for dinner (because the food is in her bowl) she will run & hide under the bed & refuses to come out !! but if its an Rmb she will come running down the hall & into her room eager to grab her dinner out of my hands !!! Of all 4 of our dogs I‘ve seen the biggest improvements with Tiggy. Her teeth are much better, in fact most of them are bright white with no sign of plaque. I no longer gag when she opens her mouth since her bad breath is now a thing of the past & She looks absolutely beautiful with a soft & shining coat when she arrived it was quite rough & full of dandruff. She also enjoys running & playing in the garden with the others, people are always amazed when they find out her age as they always assume she’s just a puppy !!!! |
| THE BENEFITS OF BARF |
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