Is raw-feeding/BARF diet for dogs a good idea? Has anyone tried it?
Not sure if this should be GQ or IMHO, so I’m starting in GQ to see if there’s a factual answer.
From your cite:
That’s as close to a factual answer as you’re going to get.
Opinion-wise, I’m suspicious of any fad diets for either humans or animals. The claims for the health benefits of all-natural diets and supplements border on woo-woo, IME.
Corn based dog chow is the fad. My animals have never been healthier than when eating raw.
Veterinarians are influenced by Purina and the like, same as the food pyramid and doctors are influences by large agriculture and pharmaceuticals companies. I’m not saying they’re corrupt, but they are influenced.
Granted, it’s not a panacea, but dogs didn’t evolve to eat corn.
Can you talk more about it? What do you feed them day-to-day? How do they like it? Is it more work for you?
Moderator Action
While only one factual answer has been given so far, the OP is also looking for personal opinions and experiences, which makes this better suited to IMHO. Additional factual cites may still be given in that forum.
Moving thread from General Questions to In My Humble Opinion.
FWIW, the AVMA (American Veterinary Medical Association) has this on their web site. They give links for cites but I didn’t bother to follow them for verification.
From here:
https://www.avma.org/KB/Resources/FAQs/Pages/Raw-Pet-Foods-and-the-AVMA-Policy-FAQ.aspx
This article basically states that the BARF diet has known risks and no proven benefit (much more detailed info in article).
Thanks for the links. I also look forward to reading about the experiences of anyone who has tried it.
My wife did the barf diet for a long time. It was mostly chicken legs, necks, backs and wings. She made them the occasional meal (twice a week or so) with ground up veggies, eggs and things like fish oils to round out their diet with vitamins and minerals and stuff. This, not counting the time put into it, was actually cheaper than buying Purina or Science Diet.
Now she works for a boutique dog shop, and gets steep discounts on the packaged stuff. This isn’t Kibble. We have to freeze it and thaw out patties that look like mushy hamburgers every couple days. It isn’t barf, but it’s more convenient. The stuff in our freezer now is called Natural Variety Instinctual Raw. But there’s other kinds too. I don’t think you can get it at places like Walmart or Petsmart.
It can get pricey if you don’t get it cheap from work, but our big dog recently died so we only have two tiny dogs now, and they don’t eat enough to make the price an issue.
Our dogs had a marked decrease in things like back problems, scratching, open sores, eye juice and oily and dandruffy coats since going on a raw diet. Also, their turds turn white in no time and basically dissolve away before we get to scoop it. I do think the raw bones helped their teeth more than the mushy stuff though.
I can’t say I’ve ever fed BARF, although I avoid corn-based dog foods. I had two Bostons who had constantly itchy skin until I started paying attention to the ingredients and bought them no-corn dog food. Actually, one dog developed IBS, so I had to go to a pricey, limited-ingredient diet.
However, the current dog, an American Bulldog, LOVES her frozen, raw beef soup bones. I give them to her as treats, frozen, so the bone-cicles take her about an hour to gnaw clean. She actually sits in the spot where I feed them to her and whines until I bring her one. (Some days she just has to satisfy herself with an old bone – I’m not her waitress.) It doesn’t seem to be a problem, but I put a towel down on her bone-cicle spot and when she’s through, it goes straight in the wash with bleach.
I don’t do BARF, but I feed my dog homemade food plus a vitamin supplement (or mix with dry) just in case. His digestion has been much better since doing so. No more stinky farts, he’s got solid poops, a nicer coat, etc. My vet said she was fine with it.
We feed Merrick and Innova brand dog foods. It is grain free and highly recommended by veterinarians. It’s not cheap, but we are very happy with the results.
If you’re looking for information about nutrition, besides the AVMA, which has been mentioned, I would recommend checking out the ACVN. Those are veterinary nutritionists who have undergone further specialization beyond veterinary school. You could check if there is one around that could give you some information or may say a BARF recipe they prefer above others.
There is also this recent article published in JAVMA earlier this year concerning the most recent information regarding raw diets.
Lastly, for those who feed “grain-free” diets, I would advise that you keep informed about these developments. Namely, Purina has filed a lawsuit against Blue Buffalo because the latter does not deliver what it promises (fraud).
My dogs get fed raw meat and bones (chicken, pork, sheep), along with veggies (carrots, squash, pumpkin, apples, etc). If they are going to the kennel for boarding we use Freshpet Select to make it easier on the caregivers. I really like their product, but it’s cheaper to do it myself. I have yet to find a kibble-type dog food that doesn’t cause my AmStaff/GSD mix to break out in a skin rash. Neither dog has stinky gas and their poops are less smelly and solid.
We’ve been feeding raw for 3 or 4 years now. Our vet approves and says both dogs are very healthy and their teeth are amazing and never need cleaning.
All that being said, I am not a dog food snob. I think dogs have lived very happy lives eating Dog Chow and some dogs are not getting what they need from eating raw. I think you have to do what works best for your dogs and your family. Sometimes that takes trying lots of different things until you find something that works.
I’ve fed raw to multiple dogs (my own and fosters) since 1999. I know many people who do. My previous vet, and my current vet, are fine with it.
However I am not woo about it, and concede that dogs eating Dog Chow or other mainsteam brands are likely to be as long-lived as dogs eating grain-free or boutique kibble (which I think is more of a fad than raw, actually), raw, home-cooked or any other “non mainstream” diet.
I do it because: no farting, zero digestive issues, small non-stinky poops, excellent teeth and coat and overall condition, and they love it. And it makes more sense to me than feeding them mass-produced pellets - if one were to assemble all the ingredients listed for just about any brand of kibble individually and put them together as an ideal canine diet, well that sounds pretty crazy to me! My dogs eat just about any part of any dead animal (turkey bones and most wild-caught animals I am not a fan of) along with sensible leftovers and non-woo kibble on occasion.
It’s more expensive (for the food - but then, IME, fewer costly health/dental issues) and takes up more freezer space (I tend to have large dogs) and is a bit more of a hassle overall. But I’m just used to feeding this way, it works for me and other people I know, and the idea of feeding nothing but dry pellets to my dogs is, at this point, an utterly bizarre and weird notion.
As an aside - I started feeding raw in 1999 because I’ve been a Rottweiler person since 1985, and they are a breed beset by cancer and more specifically bone cancer. I was talking with several serious Rottweiler show/work people at the time in a quest for a worthy puppy, and about that time there was a Colorado State study just published with the finding that a grain-free, raw diet may inhibit cancer, so Rottweiler people were on this like white on rice. Since then I’ve had several Rottweilers since puppy to death and have yet to have one reach the age of 10, so (I have not kept up with current studies) - four gone to cancer. So I don’t know that diet is the answer IRT cancer. But certainly my dogs over the last 15 years have been very active and healthy and without chronic conditions right up to whenever they passed.
I made dogfood for almost three years for my doggie. Not raw, though. It was not that hard to do, it was probably the same in cost to kibble. I took the recipe in to the vet and he said it was fine. It was all human grade food. I had to do a batch about every ten days. His feeding amount was 2 cups per day. I bought enough two cup gladware containers and would make a batch and freeze it. We would pull a fresh one out to thaw at bed time and it would be ready for his morning feeding. I usually used chicken, but sometimes ground beef. When turkey was on sale I would stock up on the 12 lb ones. N
We’ve fed BARF to our dogs for years. Raw meat mixed with raw veg and fruit daily plus raw meaty bones 3 or 4 times a week. Never had any problem and all our dogs stayed healthy meaning fewer vet visits.
As an aside the ex Mrs Codgerone is a dog groomer and sees many dogs with bad skin conditions. If asked for advice she will suggest introducing some fruit and veg into the dog’s diet. Many of her customers have said that it helped.
Purely anecdotal I know but food for thought. 
My beautiful Dalmatian lived for 17 active and healthy years, and I attribute that to a lifetime of raw foods. (And my witty company.)
Other than spaying, her vet bills were exclusively thanks to accident or misadventure - never an ailment - and no arthritis; and she had fleas and worms fewer than half-a-dozen times in her life.
Each recuperation after two major surgeries was a third of the expected time. No dental, gum or digestion issues, no room-clearing farts, no hazmat turds, a stunningly soft coat (allovereverything) and I for one applaud any diet that maintains optimum health like that.
My current three dogs are a six-year old JRT mix, a black Lab (five) and a four-year-old Rottweiler. Had each since puppies. Besides spay/neuter, annual heartworm checks and general wellness check-ups and required vaccinations, the only reasons I’ve had to take any to the vet are:
Black Lab: Two years ago on a camping trip by a lake, he came home with a nasty case of spreading moist dermatitis from spending too much time in goopy lake water. Had to be sedated, fur shaved and horrible crusty rash medicated.
Rottweiler has not needed any vet visits beyond the standard ones listed above. He is allergic to fleas, but the dogs get Sentinel which takes care of fleas and heartworms, so as long as I dose them every month, he’s fine.
JRT mix got a nasty skin tear running in a field where there was some overgrown barbed wire. Required an ER vet visit and stitches.
She also sprained her leg somehow last year, took her to the vet to make sure there was no break. A few days on NSAIDS and she was fine.
And this is the funny one - last summer my refrigerator died, so I bought a bag of kibble and they ate nothing but that for about a week. When eating the dry-pellet-only diet as compared to raw/moist, dogs will drink a ton more water. I guess the JRT didn’t drink enough water and she had to go to the vet because she got constipated and stopped-up. The vet had to dig pebbles of poop from her rear end and she was prescribed a stool softener.
So I can truthfully say that the only time in six years that I’ve had to take a dog to the vet for something other than an accident is because she ate kibble (well, and granted, didn’t drink enough water to compensate.)