We put special emphasis on the food for our dogs. This is the reason for feeding B.A.R. F. (bones and raw food).
Without any doubt food is the main aspect concerning good health – this is also true for human beings, of course.
Producers of commercial animal food and veterinaries get dog owners to believe that the only reasonable and balanced way to feed a dog is to use the variety of dry or wet pet food – thanks to the promotion!

Admittedly, we also were of this opinion for several years – it was so handy and easy – open bag or can, put it into the bowl and rest assured that your beloved pet has everything that is needed; we as amateurs would never be in a position to feed our dogs in a proper and balanced way – no chance. When Bobo was a puppy we fed him with special commercial dog food for puppies as we wanted to make sure that he would get everything he needed for his growth. After that we chose a dog food that was “designed” for him (according to the producer). At first we did not find it strange that, with the age of only 2 years, Bobo had lots of allergies that forced us to put him a t-shirt on in the flat to avoid that he scratched his skin until it was bleeding. We went from vet to vet and from clinic to clinic, they made skin punches, expensive allergy tests, blood tests, we kept a diary to find out about the occurrence of the symptoms, etc., etc. We tried our best with exclusive diets, with self blood therapy, highly expensive commercial dry and wet pet food and many other things, but nothing led to a bettering; Bobo was allergic – nothing uncommon nowadays. This gave us and especially the dog a very hard time although he never complained as he was an absolute dear!

The disaster went on: in 1997, with only 5 years, Bobo had his first slipped disc and in 1998 the second so that he had to undergo a surgery – with success. I thought that no change for the worse would be possible, but in 1999 Bobo had a stomach rotation and this although I had always been very cautious and fed him 3 times a day to keep the quantity of the food at a low level and although I especially took care that he would not play, gamble or run around after a meal. I could easily be doing without the experience to drive to the veterinary clinic with “flashing lights” and a dog looking like he had eaten a case! If it happens to you, remember that you directly drive to a clinic as most of the veterinaries are not in a position to perform such a surgery and with a stomach rotation every single minute is critical!

Bobo made it – thank God, but from then on we were not allowed to feed him with dry food so that we bought expensive wet food in cans and were even more cautious with his diet (although this was hardly possible). We had two further years until fate would have it that in April 2001 we finally lost Bobo! What had looked like another stomach rotation was a twisting of the intestine in reality – I had a great deal to bear. I could not believe it all as I had been so careful and did anything possible – how could this happen? Well, I started to search the internet and found many other dog owners that also had similar bad experiences – I read about numerous allergies, inflammations of pancreas, cancer, growth disturbances, epilepsy, kidney problems, HD, etc. How could this be, taking into consideration that today’s commercial dog food had improved a lot compared to the poor dogs of former times that only received the remains of the meal and in addition to this, veterinary medicine had progressed a lot since then?! Surprising enough, life expectancy of dogs was higher at former times than it is today. Finally, I found the web pages of Swanie Simon (www.barfers.de) and they opened my eyes concerning healthy food for dogs. Never before I had thought of dog food too much – it was made by experts and they should know about a dog’s need. Well, I would really recommend reading the BARFERS pages; you will find a lot of information and facts. Below please find my main reasons that convinced me to feed according to B.A.R.F.:

First of all, dogs are carnivores, i.e. they eat meat – so far so good. Their digestion is therefore designed to optimally digest meat and bones. There is a special reason why the ancestors of our dogs, the wolves, first of all eat the stomach contents of their prey (herbivores), because only due to the fact, that the contents of the stomach is already pre-digested, the wolves are able to use it. Besides this, wolves eat a minor quantity of herbs, grass, berries, fruits and roots. Grains are not on a wolves’ menu and should therefore not be in our dog food!!

1. The biggest part of our commercial dog food is grains (60-90%)!
2. Besides the more than questionable contents, that usually only contains waste products (besides others, e.g. feet, bills, feathers, excrements, urine, waste of grain mills, carcasses of our beloved pets – as animal meal), it is more than clear that no one is able to live on “dead” food. All commercial pet food is ultra-highly heated during the production process and this leads to a destruction of the minerals, enzyme, and amino acid. To equalize this loss, these ingredients will be added later to the commercial pet food, but in this case we mostly talk about chemically produced ingredients that are often under suspicion of being the cause for cancer or allergies. The same is true for the numerous a preservation remedies that are used for pet food to keep it fresh for a long time! Most people would not at all think of eating ready-to-serve meals every day – everyone knows that this is unhealthy, but why do we really want to feed our dogs with those things?
3. What would you think, how is it explainable that generations of breeders try to avoid HD (supposed to be a hereditary defect) in their breed by only choosing HD-free dogs? There may be a hereditary component as well, but food for sure plays an essential role. Remember that today’s commercial pet food roots in the mast food, this is the reason for the fast growing of our puppies – they are simply over-supplied and their poor muscles and joints do not have a chance to grow after the rest of the body.

Enough of this; finally, everyone should form his own opinion and be responsible for it, but at least it cannot be of any damage to listen to the multiple convictions and then to decide for one or the other. We already made up our decision and are convinced of it as we can easily see it is good when we look at our dogs. Thanks to the good food they are healthy and in a good shape and if we compare our dogs to the ones fed with commercial food ours come off well.

Advantages of raw feeding are:
· No or only a little tartar
· Less quantity of excrements
· Good sinews and ligaments
· Better muscles
· Fewer growth problems
· Fewer parasites
· Drastically reduced risk of stomach rotation

Raw-feeding is no witchcraft and less complicated to realize than one would first think. At first, people tend to doubt whether the poor dog really gets what is needed – food should be well balanced, as we all know, but I can assure you that this “phenomenon” will sort itself out after a short while. You will see it in your dog that he feels fine and “balanced food” is not a question of one single meal but a question of weeks! Of course, you have to inform yourself about the food needs of your dog (as mentioned before, I recommend the B.A.R.F.E.R.S. pages as they answer most of your open questions) and if you are still not sure you can go to the pages of the Healthy-Dog-Forum (see link list – gesundehunde.com), where other raw feeders will be glad to help you with all your questions and concerns. A change in the food is essential for achieving a balanced diet (true also for human beings!). Below please find a list of ingredients that we use for our dog food:

Meat/Bones
Beef: muscle meat, heart, rumen, omasum, liver, spleen, kidney, gullet, larynx, bones (we prefer the “soft bones” like breastbone or calf rib).

Sheep: see table under beef, but no stomach.

Chicken: We prefer necks, backs and wings but also whole chicken.

Turkey: As mentioned under chicken – whole turkey would be a little too much.

Fish: Whole fishes

Eggs: Whole eggs with shell, raw

In general, offal should only be given to the dog once or twice a week, e.g. 200-300 g liver is sufficient for a dog weighing 30 kg. Also rumen and omasum should only be given 1-2 times a week.

Very important: Never cook bones or defrost them in the microwave as they are likely to splinter. Raw bones do not splinter! We avoid feeding big long bones – they are really not necessary.

Do not feed pork as it could bear the Aujezky disease (or pseudo rage), at best you could feed cooked pork but we completely do without it.

Salads and Vegetables: Everything that is green – carrots, courgettes, broccoli, sprouts, different salads, etc. Please avoid raw potatoes, avocados or onions!

Fruits: Bananas, peaches, apples, oranges, grapes, kiwis – whatever is available.

Nuts: Our dogs especially like hazelnuts.

It is most important to either puree or rasp (as keen as possible) the raw vegetables. Another way would be to shortly stew and then puree the vegetables. This is necessary as otherwise the dog will be unable to use the valuable ingredients as dogs cannot break down cellulose and vegetable cell wands consist of cellulose.

Dairies: Cottage cheese, yoghurt, curd, fresh goat milk.

Oils: Fish-, thistle-, olive-, linseed-, borage oil – give it by turns a few times a week. Cod-liver oil can also be given (1-2 spoons) 1-2 times a week, especially during winter.

Herbs and Other
Supplements: You can add them, but you do not necessarily need to. You will find a good choice in the BARFERS shop in a good quality and at reasonable prices!

In addition, it is very important to know the calcium-/phosphorus relation of the single food (have again a look at the BARFERS pages!), as the dog food should have a calcium-/phosphorus relation of 1:1 – 1.2:1

I am sure, now you think that dog food is a science and where do I get the meat?! It is not as bad as that I can assure you. We, together with some befriended dog owners, for example order our meat in a slaughterhouse, usually around 200 kg meat that we divide under each other (we all have in average about 3 dogs). Then we meet to cut the food up into pieces (of course, not these tiny little goulash pieces – our dogs are equipped with teeth!), put the right portions into a freezing bag and freeze them. After having overcome the shyness of raw meat it is even a little funny and not as bad as thought! In the meantime I also know vegetarians, who feed their dogs according to BARF and they have also overcome their disgust! For those people still finding it too extravagant, there are numerous shops where you can find raw dog food already cut and put into portions and often enough these shops also deliver the food to your home address – it’s as easy as that (you will also find the addresses of these shops on the BARF pages listed by country and postal code). Mostly once a week I then prepare the fruits and vegetables, put them into portions and freeze it so that I just need to take it out whenever I need it – you do not need to make enormous quantities!
As a rule of thumb, a healthy and fully grown dog (puppies, pregnant or lactating bitches, ill dogs and seniors have a different need), fed 2 times a day and a day of fasting a week (which is not mandatory!) should get:
4 pure meat/bones meals
4 meat/bones meals + vegetables
4 meals with dairies plus vegetables and/or meat/fish.
Who really wants to and whose dog is not suffering from allergies, arthrosis or cancer, could also add some grains to the dairy meals, but never together with meat meals! The reason is that the duration of stay in the digestive tract is different with grains and meat. If you intend to feed grains, take care that it is whole foods flakes or coarse meal that was soaked overnight.
When are have become used to this way of feeding you will also find it easy. Okay, surely I have to admit that it is even easier to open a tin or a bag, you even do not see what you feed (meaning the single components), but this bears advantages and disadvantages as we know now! I would assume (and wish!) that every potential dog owner should know that our little house wolves are mainly carnivores and what else they need. Moreover, I should think that we all wish that our dogs share our life for a long, long time (as long as possible!) and that they do not lack anything – do you think that it is not asking too much to inform yourself about the needs of your dog and to calculate about 1 hour per week (for 3 dogs) to prepare the food?! I do not think so! Should we really have puppies in the future, I would only sell them to people who would be willing to feed them with BARF – we would help them, for sure!
Also vaccinations are a main subject concerning the good health of our dogs! After having informed ourselves about the advantages and disadvantages of vaccinations, our conviction is that a basic vaccination and a yearly vaccination against rabies should be sufficient. The basic vaccination should be given as late as possible as the puppies still have maternal antibodies from their mother – the reason why puppies usually have to be vaccinated 2 or 3 times to reach a basic immunization. At the age of only 8 weeks such a vaccination is senseless because of the antibodies the puppies still have. We would recommend vaccinating the puppies not before the 12th week and the rabies vaccination not before the tooth change (i.e. not before the age of 6 months!) as this could lead to persisting tooth damages. If you are interested in this subject, you will also find a lot of information on the so often named BARFERS pages!