This one is controversial. The BARF diet has become more popular in recent years despite the fact that there are several possible issues or concerns with its use.
One of the common arguments used to promote it is that its a more "natural" diet. Although this may be true, there is one very important rebuttal to this. A wild canine (ex Wolf) has a lifespan on average of 3 to 5 years. We ...hope to get 14 to 15 years of life out of one of our pets. How is this possible? Well, with improved healthcare, nutrition and avoidance of predators it is very possible.
One of the common arguments used to promote it is that its a more "natural" diet. Although this may be true, there is one very important rebuttal to this. A wild canine (ex Wolf) has a lifespan on average of 3 to 5 years. We ...hope to get 14 to 15 years of life out of one of our pets. How is this possible? Well, with improved healthcare, nutrition and avoidance of predators it is very possible.
Here are some of the concerns Veterinarians have with this particular diet:
1) Feeding bones of any type and whether raw or not have a great potential to break teeth and/or cause gastrointestinal obstruction. In the wild, a broken tooth is pretty much a death sentence. Fortunately, for pets we have solutions but the best solution is to avoid a broken tooth in the first place.
2) The feeding of raw meat has the potential to give YOU or your dog Salmonella, E-coli or any number of potentially harmful bacteria or parasites (ex toxoplasmosis). It is NOT TRUE that dogs are immune to these organisms. As stated previously, the dog's gastrointestinal system is very similar to our own.
3) Scientific investigation and analysis of some of these diets has shown that many (if not most) are nutritionally imbalanced. The major players in the pet food industry spend millions and millions of dollars in research and development and quality control to produce balanced diets. It is difficult to emulate that by feeding a homemade recipe.
4) Feeding a BARF diet can be expensive and can take considerable work/effort on the part of the owner to do well.
5) In my 35 years of experience in this field, I must say that I have not been impressed by the "benefits" of feeding a BARF diet. If one is to go to all of the effort and expense they should expect to see the benefits. To be very honest, I just have not seen the results in the patients that come to me. In fact, some of the more ill patients that I have seen have been on BARF diets. One of the dogs that came to us for years being fed the BARF diet since a puppy developed one of the worst skin problems I have ever seen. My belief is that the dog had a nutritional deficiency but despite our best efforts to try to convince the owner to try a different diet, they refused and the pet ultimately declined and passed away.
1) Feeding bones of any type and whether raw or not have a great potential to break teeth and/or cause gastrointestinal obstruction. In the wild, a broken tooth is pretty much a death sentence. Fortunately, for pets we have solutions but the best solution is to avoid a broken tooth in the first place.
2) The feeding of raw meat has the potential to give YOU or your dog Salmonella, E-coli or any number of potentially harmful bacteria or parasites (ex toxoplasmosis). It is NOT TRUE that dogs are immune to these organisms. As stated previously, the dog's gastrointestinal system is very similar to our own.
3) Scientific investigation and analysis of some of these diets has shown that many (if not most) are nutritionally imbalanced. The major players in the pet food industry spend millions and millions of dollars in research and development and quality control to produce balanced diets. It is difficult to emulate that by feeding a homemade recipe.
4) Feeding a BARF diet can be expensive and can take considerable work/effort on the part of the owner to do well.
5) In my 35 years of experience in this field, I must say that I have not been impressed by the "benefits" of feeding a BARF diet. If one is to go to all of the effort and expense they should expect to see the benefits. To be very honest, I just have not seen the results in the patients that come to me. In fact, some of the more ill patients that I have seen have been on BARF diets. One of the dogs that came to us for years being fed the BARF diet since a puppy developed one of the worst skin problems I have ever seen. My belief is that the dog had a nutritional deficiency but despite our best efforts to try to convince the owner to try a different diet, they refused and the pet ultimately declined and passed away.
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