Exploring A Raw Food Diet For Dogs

People who are concerned about the health of
their canine friends will want to pay particular
attention to the types of food they give their
dogs. Just as consumers may prefer to avoid
eating too many processed foods, pet owners are
also interested in providing meals that are as
fresh and natural as possible for their dogs.
Many people are proponents of the raw food
lifestyle, and you may be curious about looking
into a raw food diet for dogs.

Concerns about recalls of canned and dry
packaged pet foods may also prompt pet owners to
avoid feeding processed foods to their dogs. If
you find that your family is thriving on a diet
consisting mainly or even entirely of raw fruits
and vegetables, you might want to include your
dog in your lifestyle. However, even if you are
avoiding meat yourself, you must provide raw
meat to your dog. Dogs will not survive as
vegetarians.

Veterinarian Ian Billinghurst introduced the
idea of the "BARF" or "Bones and Raw Food" diet,
which subsequently was renamed as the
"Biologically Appropriate Raw Food" diet for
dogs. It involves feeding bones, raw meat and
some fruit and vegetables. The idea of a raw
food diet for dogs is that it mimics more
closely the eating patterns followed by dogs
before humans domesticated them. Some owners put
their dog on this type of a diet when their pet
becomes ill, such as having chronic allergies.
Owners of sick dogs then might wonder whether a
healthy dog would also benefit from eating
uncooked foods all the time, and not just to
cure an illness.

Your dog may thoroughly enjoy it when you feed
fresh raw meat, such as beef that you grind with
raw bones into a hamburger patty. Raw meat will
contain vital enzymes and amino acids that
otherwise would be lost when cooked. One
drawback to a feeding your dog uncooked,
unprocessed foods is the cost. Processed food
for dogs, whether dry kibble or wet canned foods
will typically be cheaper than any fresh
unprocessed meat that you prepare yourself.

Make sure to take your dog to the vet before you
try switching over to a new feeding pattern. Your
vet may want to run some tests to make sure your
canine companion is in good shape for eating raw
food. For example, a dog with a compromised
immune system may be more vulnerable to food
borne illnesses, such as raw meat that is
contaminated with bacteria like E. coli or
Salmonella. You must also remember to carefully
wash your hands and all preparation surfaces
when making such foods for your dog, to make
sure you keep potential bacteria out of your
family's food.

----------------------------------------------------
Victoria Vohn, aka My Granny Geek,
http://mygrannygeek.com , has been researching
potential purchases online since the early days
of the internet. She has owned and operated an
IT company for the past 20 years and has
developed extensive expertise in internet
research. Now she is sharing that research with
you. Visit her website featuring raw food diets
for dogs at http://rawfooddietfordogs.co

EasyPublish this article: http://submityourarticle.com/articles/easypublish.php?art_id=264209

>