Is a BARF diet safe?

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emumbert1
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Is a BARF diet safe?

Post by emumbert1 »

There are opponents and proponents to the Bones and Raw Food Diet. People swear by it's restorative powers, while others worry about the safety issue of salmonella. I'd like to know where the general vet community comes down on this, if there are any DVM's following this forum.

I've read a number of warnings about salmonella, backed by scientific evidence. However, people who support BARF say it's nonsense...and that dogs have been eating raw meats for thousands of years, and their digestive system is immune to salmonella.

I'd really like to slowly switch over to a BARF diet, but am still very concerned. 999 people could feed their dogs BARF, and I'd be the unlucky schmuck (one in 1,000) that poisoned his dog
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***Melissa***
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Re: Is a BARF diet safe?

Post by ***Melissa*** »

Here is a link to a thread all about the raw food diet. It's long, but there's lots of good info in there:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5321

There's a few people on this forum who feed their dogs raw (including me :D ). As long as you handle the dogs' food the same as your own (hygiene-wise) you shouldn't have problems.

At first I was making the raw diet more complicated than it is - it's really as smiple as raw meaty bones and / or other raw meat (I give chicken, red meat and fish) and veggie mix (blended, mostly consist of green leafy veggies).

Have a read through the thread though, and come back and ask more questions.
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Nettle
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Re: Is a BARF diet safe?

Post by Nettle »

So far as the risks are concerened - and life is a risk - my vet says he treats quite a few cases of salmonella caused by commercial food :shock: but has yet to come across one from BARF fed dogs. That doesn't mean there isn't a risk: I suspect it indicates that BARF feeders are more careful about hygiene.

Sourcing meat from responsible outlets, storing it responsibly and being sensible about hygiene should prevent most trouble. I freely admit to sourcing from the wild and being somewhat cavalier about hygiene, though I do store the meat in a very cold freezer.
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josie1918
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Re: Is a BARF diet safe?

Post by josie1918 »

I think the objection by most of us in the veterinary field here in the U.S. is a number of concerns, yes, salmonella, but as Nettle pointed out you can get that from commercial dog food, although most of the better ones here in the U.S. heat treat it so that e-coli and salmonella are all but gone, e-coli is being found in meat from range fed cattle that is shown to be antimicrobial resistant (Not good news) and then of course there is the chronic wasting disease found ONLY IN NORTH AMERICA that we simply don't know enough about to say what will happen to a dog who was fed lets say contaminated deer after 5 years. Now this being said, a primary concern is for the humans, poor hygeine, which usually happens when people don't understand bacteria and parasites. Small children are probably the greatest concern, none of us really want to be responsible for someones child getting sick and possibly dying. There are issues with immuno comprimised dogs, dogs with certain food allergies for example a dog with an allergy to beef will have a reaction to raw as well as cooked beef, there are also issues with certain animals kidneys not being able to handle the heavy nitrogen load given off by a raw meat diet.(Note: this is not all dogs, only those with kidney damage or early stage CRF)
So, I think if you are ok, with feeding it, no one is getting sick, and your dog is doing well on it, then rock on.
If you have small children in your home, I really can't with a clear concience tell you I think it is a good idea. That is what I think :D
josie1918
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Re: Is a BARF diet safe?

Post by josie1918 »

Oh and the 2 dogs who ate a package of raw hamburger that we had to treat for salmonella said to tell you that dogs are NOT immune to salmonella and it was NO FUN :D

The internet is a wealth of mis information I have read all sorts of crazy "facts" out there, one of the better ones is that Hills science diet, pays for vets to go to school and then gives them a kickback for the sales. OMG do I wish this was true!! You will find "macadamias" on both sides of the fence on this issue, you need to know your dog, what you believe is in his/her best interest and proceed. No two dogs are exactly alike (wow would life be easy if that were true)
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Re: Is a BARF diet safe?

Post by emmabeth »

I feed raw - source the meat as ethically and sensibly as I can, take all sensible food hygiene precautions when handling the meat and cleaning my home..

In nearly 10 years of raw feeding, feeding on average four dogs a day for that time, two meals a day per dog..thats approximately 30'000 meals!!!! no cases of salmonella or ecoli here, in either dogs or humans, and I have a particularly weak immune system for an adult female at present!

There are risks with everything, to my mind the risks of raw feeding are far outweighed by the benefits to the dog.

It is up to you to come to a conclusion YOU are happy with though.
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MPbandmom
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Re: Is a BARF diet safe?

Post by MPbandmom »

I am currently considering switching to this diet as well and am also concerned about disease factors as well as the overdose of organ meat. I finally found the article on the BARF diet and was reading about the raw eggs and thinking massive egg recall in the US. I do currently make dehydrated hamburger jerky training treats for the dogs, and the instructions for that said to dry the meat on low so as to keep it raw. Not sure if that exactly qualifies as raw, but so far, the dogs seem to love it and haven't seemed to have any problems with it. Then I also purchase dehydrated beef liver training treats which the dogs love, but which I am now wondering if I should greatly limit their intake of it. I have also purchased duck jerkey treats which advise serving in very limited quantities.

I also worry about how/where to serve the raw. Outside seems like the best place, but we don't have any poarch or sheltered area that the dogs could go to to eat in say a downpour. This would put them eating in the house, and most of the house is carpeted and at least one dog is likely to carry her food off somewhere although I could potentially put up a child gate on the kitchen and remove the rug.

Is dehydrated equivalent to raw? How/where is the best way/place to feed this diet?
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josie1918
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Re: Is a BARF diet safe?

Post by josie1918 »

I think there is a "how to" thread on feeding raw on this very site. try the search bar, the folks that feed raw on here, know what they are doing, and have been feeding raw for a long time now, I would absolutely trust the information they give to be much more accurate than some of the (*^&%$# you will find on the internet.
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***Melissa***
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Re: Is a BARF diet safe?

Post by ***Melissa*** »

MPbandmom wrote:...also concerned about disease factors as well as the overdose of organ meat.
I don't really know about the disease factors, but organ meat - I feed offal only once or twice a week as they can OD on it.
MPbandmom wrote: I also worry about how/where to serve the raw. Outside seems like the best place, but we don't have any poarch or sheltered area that the dogs could go to to eat in say a downpour. This would put them eating in the house, and most of the house is carpeted and at least one dog is likely to carry her food off somewhere although I could potentially put up a child gate on the kitchen and remove the rug.
My two won't eat on the floor :roll: I guess the tiles are too cold. And the raw meaty bones can leave nasty marks on carpets. So what I did was buy two (one for each) small, cheap rugs and those are now their "eating rugs". I just pick the rugs up when they're done and I can even wash them in the washing machine when they are really dirty. They do sometimes try to eat somewhere else, but I try to redirect them to their rugs. I only recently started doing this, so it's still a hit & miss sometimes, but I'm sure they will eventually get the idea that eating = on their rugs.
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Leigha
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Re: Is a BARF diet safe?

Post by Leigha »

I fed Bruiser all of his outside. The weenies thankfully would eat on the wood floor so I didn't have to deal with it. Whenever I feed them an egg as a treat they get it in turns outside in the yard. I'm not keen on cleaning eggs yuck.
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Noobs
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Re: Is a BARF diet safe?

Post by Noobs »

Eggs are so hard to pick up off the floor! :evil: I put Murph's in his bowl.
Leigha
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Re: Is a BARF diet safe?

Post by Leigha »

mine take them out of the bowl and run and hide, kole's the worst!!
Celia
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Re: Is a BARF diet safe?

Post by Celia »

I am switching to BARF diet in hope of get rid of my dog's yeast infection - I have heard a lot of succes stories, so I'm hopefull.

Actually my dog has been on partly barf diet for a few weeks now. On Thursday we'll receive our first only barf delivery and I'm looking forward to it! Luckily here's this little company that delivers raw food, meet, bones and vegetables pre-made (milled with all nutrion specifics calculated correctly) so I can just defrost them. At first I'm starting with chicken-vegetable mix that should be stomach friendly and good for starting barf diet. My dog will also get some bones and Dorwest Herbs' Easy Green which is supposed to be good supplement for dog's on barf diet.
Let's see how it goes. :)
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Noobs
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Re: Is a BARF diet safe?

Post by Noobs »

Leigha wrote:mine take them out of the bowl and run and hide, kole's the worst!!
Oh I crack the egg first and then leave a little shell behind in case he wants it. Then there's no way he can take the egg somewhere else and leave yucks all over my hardwood floor! :lol:
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