How to Feed a Dog the "Bones and Raw Food" Diet

Lovingly called the BARF diet by its adherents, the bones and raw food diet craze might not be so crazy after all. Commercially prepared dog foods add non-nutrient “fillers” and meat by-products from animals who died questionably at the slaughterhouse. The BARF diet provides a pooch with fresh raw food and its advocates claim it produces healthier dogs with longer, happier lives.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Look in the meat counter at your local grocery for packages of chicken necks, organ meat and other inexpensive meats. If you don’t see them, ask the butcher, they regularly sell fresh meat parts unmarketable for human consumption.

2. Feed your dog on a ratio of 60 percent raw meat and bones (RMBs) and 40 percent raw vegetables, as recommended by BARF diet founder, Dr. Ian Billinghurst.

3. Combine carrots, lettuce, zucchini, yellow squash, celery, green beans, turnips and parsnips with offal (organ meats) for a super-healthy food that supplements your dog’s RMBs each day.

4. Grind or chop vegetables into small chunks, making them easier to digest. Your dog may enjoy a whole carrot as an afternoon treat, especially if you slather it with a raw egg first. Be creative when starting the BARF diet.

5. Use spinach, turnip greens, kale or broccoli on a limited basis, if at all. While these are all nutritious, some dogs may develop indigestion when consuming these in a large quantity.

6. Supplement your dog’s BARF diet with some filler-free vitamins. Add a teaspoon of flaxseed or olive oil for a health coat and mix a teaspoon of nutritional yeast into your dog’s food bowl a couple of times a week to help build his immune system.

Tips & Warnings

• Give your dog a little bit of pure canned pumpkin if he becomes constipated when starting the bones and raw food diet.
• Try blending the vegetables in a blender and pouring the liquid over your dog's RMBs if he won't eat them otherwise.