BARF Diet
We initially started out feeding our dogs the BARF diet in 2000, with our Bullmastiff, Rosie, following concerns we’d had with some of the health problems we’d seen in our dogs up to that time. We came to the conclusion, after talking to a number of breeders and other “doggy” folks, that much of it was due to feeding commercial foods, and thus started looking for a better way to feed my dogs. Before we got Rosie, we read a lot of books, and did a fair bit of research on the internet, until we were happy to start the diet. After a couple of years of feeding Rosie this way, Andrew eventually became the folder moderator for the Bull_and_Mastiff BARF forum, which he did for a couple of years. we’re not sure, but think it has now closed…
Hopefully the following information helps explain what the BARF diet is. It may sound fairly complicated, but is actually really simple, and easy. We find that, these days, it only takes an hour or so per week preparing food (on the weekends) for our five dogs, and the only other inconvenience is to make sure we put food out to thaw for the dogs’ dinner each day….
If you have never heard of BARF before – it stands for Bones and Raw Food (or Biologically Appropriate Raw Food), and became trendy about twenty years ago. It was mostly pushed by a number of vets around the world who expressed concerns over the health problems they saw in many pet dogs and cats who had only ever been fed on cheap commercial pet foods. Anyway, now that we’ve been feeding a BARF diet to our dogs for nearly 15 years, we couldn’t be happier… Our Mastiffs have all thrived on it, and even though Rosie died a few years ago at the age of eight, she had very good health her whole life.
A lot of the full-on BARF folks can get pretty zealous and will not give their dogs any commercial food at all – dried or otherwise. I don’t get too stressed about it myself, as long as the majority of the diet is natural food, then I think that’s good enough. Our dogs occasionally get a handful or so of dried food – but only once every blue moon (or if we have run out of raw food for some reason – usually due to poor planning). There are some decent quality dry foods available that you don’t need to spend a fortune on if you (like me) are a bit cynical about the expensive dog foods that are often sold out of vet clinics.
When we first started feeding BARF to Rosie, we were worried that we were doing the wrong thing, and that she’d end up crippled, or sick or who knows what. However, once we’d been doing so for a short while, we realised how good it was and all our fears were allayed. The best books we have read are the Ian Billinghurst ones – “Give Your Dog A Bone” and “Raise Your Pups On Bones”. Good info and easy to follow, practical advice and teaching. We have read a few other books on the subject, but some were a bit overly technical. There is also plenty of on-line resources available on the subject too.
The raw meaty bones (RMB) should make up the bulk of the diet. In fact, on a couple of occasions Andrew has gone away for a week or so and there have only been chicken frames (carcasses) left in the freezer. Consequently, that’s all the dogs were fed while he was away, and they thrived on it. We do, however, try to feed them fruit and veg on a regular basis – although not as much now as we used to. They probably get about 90 percent RMBs with the fruit and veg given on a fairly ad hoc basis – once every two or three days mixed in with the Mince.
As far as the RMB goes – we get mostly chicken carcasses (obtained from Steggles or Hunter Valley Game – because they are fresh). This is what is left of the chook after the leg and breast fillets are removed. They also get chicken backs, legs, wings, necks or chicken pet mince (basically minced up carcasses). I know a lot of people say don’t give chicken bones to your dog – that is correct – for cooked bones! Cooked bones of all kinds are difficult to digest, very brittle and splinter easily, whereas raw bones are soft, easily digested and full of goodness. For variety, the dogs also get Kangaroo tails, brisket bones, turkey necks, lamb flaps, ‘roo mince, offal and other pet mince. They are only fed bones that they will eat in one sitting. for this reason we have stopped feeding them the big marrow bones pieces….not because they are unhealthy, but because they will not eat them all in one go, and may leave a bone lying around, and then a fight may ensue over whose bone it is…Obviously this is not a problem for folks with only one dog!
Because it is readily available and cheap, we tend to base the veggie mix around carrots, spinach, pumpkin and apples – and basically whatever veggies are in the fridge at the time that needs to be used up. All of this stuff is processed together (using either a blender or a juicer) into a big vegetable “mush”. Sometimes, we’ll add in bananas (not in the blender – they’ll clog it up), oranges, grapes, or other fruit. We also stir in other stuff like eggs, yoghurt, brewers yeast, kelp powder. Yakkult and garlic to the veg slop. We’ll normally add some cold pressed flaxseed oil to the veggie mix when we feed the dogs. Usually we make up a big batch, and store it in the freezer in small (about 1 or 2 cup) Tupperware or plastic containers. If the pups are fed fruit and veg from a young age, they will love it – so much so that our guys regularly pinch fruit from the numerous fruit trees in our garden. In fact, once we caught Molly climbing our small plum tree almost like a cat…she had one rear foot still touching the ground and everything else was up in the tree to get that elusive plum – and until then we had been blaming the birds and possums for stealing our fruit!!
Occasionally we have managed to source the fruit and veg mash from a couple of local juice shops – we use their “mulch” which they give me for nothing. This is then blended up with some spinach and we then add in the other stuff (garlic, oil etc). Doing it that way is significantly better than mashing it up ourselves – and we can get a wider variety of fruit too.
One thing often recommended is raw liver, or other offal. We only feed offal that has been cleared for feeding to humans (as there are no parasites in this offal). We also only feed it slightly cooked – as none of our dogs will eat it raw (go figure). Normally we have a BBQ once or twice a week at home, so Andrew just throws some liver on for the dogs and give them tid-bits as he’s cooking our food – they really love it. As he quite likes lambs fry, but no-one else in the household does, he pinches a couple of small bits for himself too! The dogs also get any healthy table scraps – but NOT Onions!!
As far as amount to feed goes, most books recommend about 2 percent of bodyweight per day for adult dogs and around 4 to 5 percent for growing pups. This is to be used as a starting point only. For example Molly weighs about 65kg and gets about 500g (1 lb) per day total as she’s now an old girl and doesn’t need anywhere near as much food as when she was younger.Even so, she can sometimes start to get a bit tubby, so she will go on a diet yet again! Penny, on the other hand, weighs about 75kg and gets about 1kg (2 lbs) per day which is just enough to maintain her body weight!}. When she was feeding her litter of 14 pups she was getting about 3 kg per day- and still losing weight! Bear and Lucy are both growing pups and get about 1.5 kg per day – enough to allow them to grow, but not so much that they get overweight. From this point, we then check their condition – if they are looking a bit tubby, (or if the pups seem to be growing too fast) we feed them a little less for a few days, and if they are looking a bit thin, they get a little more for a few days. To check their condition – if we can feel their ribs, but not see them, through their coat – then they are about right for an adult dog. It’s obviously not an exact science and will vary from dog to dog. In fact. we like to keep the growing pups a bit leaner than the adults, to keep their weight right while they are growing, and so they don’t grow too fast – so we like to be able to see a good “tuck up” on the pups, and also just be able to make out their last rib or two.
We personally don’t believe that there is an absolute “right” way to feed our dogs, or a perfect formula that you need to follow. Some BARF advocates feed our dogs slightly differently to others, for example some feed veggies every day, others only once a week or so, others not at all. Some give vitamin supplements, and some don’t, some feed dried food , some never let processed food touch their dogs lips. We think that, realistically, each owner finds the best way to feed their own dogs, and sometimes it takes a bit of “experimenting” to find the way/amount to feed them that suits both you and your dogs.
Lastly, if you do wish to change your pup’s diet, please do it slowly – over a few days. This way you will avoid the puppy getting sick/diarrhoea etc… Once again, probably the single most important factor in Mastiff health is to keep them lean – both whilst they are growing, and then again as adults. A fat Mastiff is an unhealthy Mastiff. Some of them really love their tucker, so it can be hard, but you need to be firm – it is better to have a dog that is slightly skinny than an overweight dog, as this can lead to all sorts of problems. Obviously, we’re not talking about starving your pup – but they should not be fed too much! Also, don’t forget to include any table scraps or treats in the weight of food fed each day. If you are going to feed your pup the really big bones like cattle leg bones, then don’t include that weight, unless the dog is actually consuming the whole bone…often-times they will eat any meat, cartilage and marrow, but leave the hard bone behind…these big bones (dinosaur bones as our children used to call them) are great for chewing exercise, keeping the teeth clean and keeping them happy, but not particularly great for nutrition.
Hopefully this doesn’t sound too complicated, because it isn’t. The most difficult thing we find is remembering to take the next day’s food out of the freezer to thaw LOL.
Lastly – DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES:
- Feed your Mastiff puppy calcium supplementation. Don’t listen to your vet or friend who recommends this. Just don’t do it – for any reason. Seriously, this is one of the worst things you can do for a giant breed dog, unless you want to produce skeletal disease in your pup.
- Feed cooked bones of any kind to your pup. Cooked bones cannot be digested properly by dogs. They may splinter and get stuck in either the throat, stomach or bowel. Raw bones should be fine – and for Mastiffs, the more the merrier!
- Feed onions or chocolate – both are poisonous to your dog…the worst type of chocolate is dark cooking chocolate – as it has a higher amount of cocoa in it. Please don’t listen to folks who will tell you its just an old-wives tale, or that their dog ate a whole block of chocolate and was fine – they may be lucky and have a dog that doesn’t react to chocolate – so congratulations to them. Frankly, it’s not worth the risk that you may have a dog that has the opposite reaction and dies from eating that Easter egg you left lying around! Besides, there are plenty of dog treats that they much prefer to chocolate – so if you want to spoil your pup – give it some dried liver….yummy!!