--Article originally published in the Dachshund Club of America Newsletter, December, 2002--
~~Revised & Updated, May 2005~~
©2002-2005, MaryAnne Teal. All rights reserved.

How I Decided to Feed a Natural Diet:

Resources for “Raw”

by MaryAnne Teal


Fourteen years ago I started my first puppy out on a typical puppy kibble and then switched her to a popular, and very colorful, kibble with delightful little bone shapes. She loved it! What did I know...a new puppy owner...about feeding a dog? Surely I could trust the commercials which touted that food as the most popular among dogs--and balanced nutritionally to boot. I couldn’t have been more wrong on that score. Fortunately, a friend pointed out that the dog cared not a bit about the shape of her food...that it was more likely the sugar content that she enjoyed! That was the beginning of a progressive journey towards feeding my dogs a healthier and more appropriate diet which continues for me to this day.

So, the bone shaped kibble was deposited rather unceremoniously in the garbage (where it probably belonged in the first place) and I began feeding a series of “better” quality kibbles to my animals. It was certainly a parade of brands...Iams, Natural Choice, Eagle, Nutro, Innova, and finally Solid Gold. Each one progressively a little more natural and with a little better ingredients and fewer artificial additives than the last. My determination for what was “better” followed an evolution of self-education through studying labels and comparing ingredients--helped along by the publication of Ann Martin’s rather shocking book Food Pets Die For, an expose of the dog food industry. Add to that, the aging of two dogs and the addition of two growing, healthy, conformation/performance dogs, and I began to come to the realization that no two dogs in my home had similar needs when it came to their feeding. At one point I was feeding three different kibbles to four dogs. Every dog was doing fine, though I now believe none were “thriving” on this arrangement.

And then it happened. I was hit with what can only be described as a “triple whammy.” First there was a dog nearly lost to congestive heart failure. Next came one with an odd “immune system problem” which stymied a team of vets--but which turned out to be food intolerances. Add to that my growing awareness of problems common in dachshunds like Epilepsy and Cushing's Disease and my desire to minimize those things in my own dogs and/or to prevent them if at all possible. Finally, and the most devastating, was the discovery that one of the older dogs had cancer--ultimately succumbing to liver failure related to the chemotherapy. It was a tough couple years. I am not one to sit idly by and “treat” my animals without trying to understand what is happening though, so my defense to all of this was to continue studying and trying to understand how the nutrition and feeding of the dogs might possibly help to support their wellness--or at least slow their diseases. No doubt about it, it became an obsession.

And that is when I came to the conclusion that I needed to do something differently, and to the decision that I would feed my dogs raw food. Now, before I say one more word about this, the “lawyer who allows me and a pack of dachshunds to live with him” requires that I remind everyone that this article is not to constitute any sort of “advice” but is only an anecdote about how I have come to change my own feeding practices and as a resource for the various references that helped me to make that decision for myself. It should not be considered to be veterinary advice, and the reader should be cautioned that if they use it as such, it should be with the advice of their own vet and/or at their own risk. In fact, I care not at all if anyone switches to this way of feeding after reading this article. I do care that they begin to pay closer attention to what their dogs are eating, and perhaps find easy ways of improving upon that.




What’s BARF? And why would I want it in my kitchen??

BARF is an acronym which stands for “bones and raw food” or “biologically appropriate raw food,” an approach to feeding domestic carnivores which has been popularized primarily by Australian veterinarian, Ian Billinghurst. It has come to stand for, strictly, the approach which Billinghurst himself espouses, but is a term used interchangeably by most people to mean “raw” or “natural” feeding. Most agree that it is an effort to recreate (at least in part) a canine carnivore’s evolutionary diet of carcasses and some small amount of vegetation. Many writers support this diet, but few agree exactly how it should be implemented which for me was one of the major stumbling blocks to doing it with my own dogs. I also could not come to grips with the idea that I would be feeding bones to the dogs (which we have all been cautioned against) and that I’d be feeding raw meat--replete with E. Coli and Salmonella. I just didn’t know if that was the way to go.


Overcoming the Hurdles

So, what changed my mind? Simple, careful study. First, this type of diet is not new. Dogs have been eating this way for tens of thousands of years. They have a digestive system which is different than a human digestive system--so we cannot (once again) anthropomorphize our pets and feed them the same way we do ourselves. Actually, that is exactly what we have done by feeding them kibble, which was developed much in the same way as the TV dinner! Kibble was the result of a need for a market for the waste products of other industry: 4-D meats (“4-D” refers to animals which are dead, dying, diseased or disabled, commonly sold and rendered for pet food) unfit for human consumption, grain waste, beet pulp from the sugar industry, yeast and rice from brewing to name a few. None of this waste is suitable for canine consumption any more than human consumption, but it could be cooked and extruded into a product made palatable by spraying with recycled fat (left from the restaurant industry). It became a sort of “fast food” for dogs. It is a convenience product not unlike that burger meal that you “could” eat every day...but heaven help your overall state of wellness if you did!

First and foremost, I found that one of my girls has an extreme intolerance to both wheat and corn...grains very commonly found in many dog foods. Just start reading the labels to find out how common. This was the principle reason that I started looking to change my feeding practices. A very good resource for comparing ingredient labels are the Dog Food Comparison Charts (see web references) which list nearly any dog food that you could possibly want to study. When it was discovered that wheat and corn were to be avoided, it was a fairly simple task to look through the lists until I found foods which didn’t contain these items (though this resulted in a very short list of available kibbles). I should note here that these two grains are at the top of a list of approximately ten allergens which are common in both canines and people. Most interesting is that in reading information on canine epilepsy, thyroid problems, cancer, and other disorders such as Cushing's and Addison's Disease, grains are also implicated in all of these areas. Add in the potential for Bloat (another dachshund disorder) where research is yet again implicating grain as a possible cause, and I began to question grain based (kibbled) diets at all.

Canines do not process complex carbohydrates (grain) like humans do. “Carbo loading” results in the buildup of lactic acid in a dog. They can tolerate some grain, but not the larger amounts found in most commercial kibbles. The grain found in dog food is often that rejected for human consumption due to mold or other problems. In addition, canine saliva does not contain amylase--an enzyme necessary for the digestion of carbohydrates. This places an additional burden on the pancreas to produce enzymes. Unable to keep up with demand, the pancreas becomes inflamed, producing excess cortisol and leading to other disorders such as Cushing’s, allergies, and “leaky gut syndrome.” Cushing’s dogs and dogs with thyroid disorder are overly sensitive to cortisol and may be prone to seizures. Epileptic dogs are frequently moderated successfully by removing grain from the diet. It began to appear as a cyclic picture, with many of the disorders common to dachshunds related directly to the feeding of grain.

Dogs don’t use Hibachis

So, why not cook the food? Why raw? Well, laziness for one. I don’t cook for myself every day--and am eating a Hot Pocket as I write this article--so I couldn’t see myself doing that for my dogs either. When food is cooked, much of the nutritional benefit of vitamins, enzymes and amino acids is lost. Fresh foods contain intact enzymes and are less irritating to the dog’s intestinal tract. There is much less stress on liver and kidney function. There is much less waste (fecal matter) since the food is much more bioavailable to the dog. It is the way a dog is “designed” to eat.  I knew that the direction I was heading was raw...I just had to get past some of the other hurdles. All I knew at this point was that the kibble had to go.


Bacteria and Bones

Next in my mind was the idea of contaminated meat. There is no doubt about it, dogs can get sick from Salmonella and E Coli, but not usually if they are healthy with reasonably sound immune systems. First, the digestive system of a dog is much more acidic and quite a fair amount shorter than a human’s, so the risk is much lower. Also, let’s face it...I’m going to be indelicate here...dogs lick butts. There. I’ve said it. And I had a “poop” eater in my house too...Eeeew! Yuck! And yet somehow, they were rarely sick--at least not from eating something unsavory. Cooked food is not natural for dogs. Their organs were designed to process raw food...and raw food will make the animal healthier. A certain amount of exposure to simple bacteria actually helps an animal (or a person, for that matter) become more resistant to minor immune system challenges. A good number of the “super bacteria” that are becoming more prevalent are due to the fact that we are so busy protecting ourselves and our dogs from “normal” bacteria, that we are no longer able to fight even minor challenges with our now weakened immune systems. Some writers do encourage utilizing a noncommercial source of meat since most of the pathogens are actually introduced by way of the commercial raising, butchering, and processing of the product. Others suggest lightly cooking or rinsing the meat with dilute bleach or grape seed extract to at least kill any surface contamination. That is something that is certainly up to the individual. I have decided, since there is no clear evidence that “washing” meat is effective in removing anything but surface contamination, to trust my human grade meat source (the grocery store) and to continue to practice safe meat handling as I would for my own two-legged family.

Then there were the bones... This was perhaps the toughest hurdle I faced. I just couldn’t see myself feeding the dachshunds bones. In actual fact, a dog is capable of eating whole carcasses--digesting most of the animal, and eliminating the fibrous fur and feathers. Digested bone passes through as small pieces, for the most part, with relative ease by most dogs. None of my dogs have difficulty with bone, though I do stick with smaller, non-weight bearing bones for their feeding. Many raw feeders actually feed ground bone, or supplement with crushed eggshell as the calcium source rather than risk a potential problem with whole bones.

I would be lying if I said there were no problems with feeding bones. Some dogs have difficulty digesting them, although enzymes and probiotics help. Larger “recreational” or “dinosaur” bones can break teeth (I don’t use them). Some dogs have difficulty passing a harder “bone” stool--usually mediated by adding fiber or more meat to the diet.  Owners occasionally foul the works by mixing kibble with bones. The digestion times for both is dramatically different and this can and does cause problems. Feeding bone is certainly something that I considered for a long time before deciding to do it.

I eased my transition to feeding raw,  by this time, by using a mixture of raw meat with their premium kibble but no bone (dried crushed eggshell sufficed). The diet I used was designed by a canine nutritionist. It was easy--and the dogs loved the whole food additions in their meals. It didn’t take me long to ditch the kibble altogether, since the portion was so small, and to begin feeding raw food in earnest. I still wanted to feed bone though, as I had read Ian Billinghurst’s second book by this time (Grow Your Pups With Bones), and found his arguments in favor of a bone based diet compelling.

Billinghurst feels that most commercial diets for dogs are providing calcium supplementation that is way over what they should be having and in an unnatural way. This in turn is responsible for the many skeletal disorders we are seeing in dogs (especially the larger breeds). His opinion is that if dogs are fed the way they would eat in the wild (that is, bones and raw meat) they would not have the number of problems with hip dysplasia, OCD, etc. that seem to be currently epidemic in many breeds. Look too at the Belfield studies on Vitamin C and Hip Dysplasia, and you will find another instance of dietary mediation of this condition. Since natural feeding is so flexible (you can control how much of certain natural vitamins and minerals your animal receives) you can be sure that they are receiving extra naturally occurring vitamins (especially C, from the added vegetable matter) and other nutrients and enzymes that they might not be getting from highly processed kibble.




To Grind, or Not to Grind...

I have to admit, I tried grinding the bones...and nearly burned out an expensive mixer in the process. (That would not have gone over well with “the lawyer that lets me keep dachshunds and who bought the mixer.”) Oh sure, I could buy a commercial grinder, but I found instead a book called Raw Meaty Bones (Promote Health) by Tom Lonsdale, another Aussie vet, which convinced me I didn’t have to. Lonsdale espouses essentially the same sort of diet as Billinghurst, except that his is one that is a bit more basic. Lonsdale feels that the dog needs whole carcasses--or for the average dog owner, larger meaty bones or off cuts that the dog can rip and tear as they eat. Lonsdale feels that it is not just the bone that is essential to proper diet and eating behavior, but also the idea that the dog is cleansing his teeth and gums by ripping and tearing food like a true carnivore. He maintains that most, if not all, of our current problems in domestic carnivores (he includes cats and ferrets) are being caused by poor dental hygiene, caused in very large part by feeding an inappropriate kibbled diet. Lonsdale describes the bacteria which eats away at a dog’s gums, eventually getting into the dog’s system, destroying collagen as it goes. Take away this inflammation, he believes, and you take a big step to solving many of the immune and autoimmune problems that we have in our pets today. He does not believe, as Billinghurst does, that simply the enzymes in the raw food are enough to promote canine dental health, so he does not advocate ground food. Nor does he believe that the practice of yearly dental cleanings is promoting sufficient dental health, since the dentals are forcing the disease further into the gum, and not really removing the problem. He also feels that there is no place for restorative dentistry in the canine, and believes that we should be pulling (rather than repairing) diseased or damaged teeth if we want to have a positive impact on overall canine wellness.

I had the opportunity to talk with Dr. Lonsdale recently, and asked him specifically about the idea that since spinal construction is largely collagen, and he feels that collagen is destroyed through improper diet leading to periodontal problems, would he think that our rates of intervertebral disc disease (IVDD) would decrease if more dachshunds were fed a natural diet? His answer was an unequivocal “yes.” Since he believes that the whole problem is part of a “system” failure, we most certainly can impact IVDD by reducing the destruction of the collagen which is so vital in spinal construction. At any rate, it is an interesting premise, and though I’m not quite prepared to give my dogs whole carcasses (since “the lawyer who lets me live with dachshunds” has only so much tolerance and patience) it has given me a totally different outlook to feeding bone to the dogs. I feel strongly that every dachshund breeder/owner should read his book, regardless of whether they ever intend to feed raw food or not.


So what’s the right way to do this???

There’s a saying that if you put a group of dog trainers in a room they will each find a different way of accomplishing the same thing. They each have the “right” way to train a dog. Well, I think the same could be said of raw feeders. When I started looking at the possibility of changing to a home prepared diet, there were so many choices: cooked, raw, ground bone, whole bone, no bone...knowing which one was right for me and my dogs was very difficult. If you really want to do this, it is essential that you read and understand some of the basics--not just in what the diet contains, but also its philosophy, and (it goes without saying) some of the pitfalls as well. I would strongly recommend the following books and resources, more or less in this order:

**See the resource list for other books and web resources that you might find informative.




“How To” In a Nutshell

My dogs’ diet is relatively simple. Every other day they receive some sort of raw meaty bone (twice a day) as their meal...usually chicken wings or backs, which are easiest for me to get and keep in a very small freezer. (“The lawyer who has noticed the dachshunds look healthier” is buying me a new freezer--he says for dog food, but I know it’s really so there will be room for ice cream in the freezer again!) Along with the raw meaty bones each dog gets a dollop of yogurt for the probiotic (beneficial bacteria) benefit, and the one dog who seems to have a more delicate digestion receives an enzyme tablet. I do not generally give any supplements with bone meals. Each day the dog receives 2-3% of their target weight in food...so for my dogs, approximately 3-4 ounces of food per meal. Approximately 50-60% of the dog’s diet is raw meaty bones. This amount is easily adjusted if a dog is not feeling well, needs to reduce a bit, or is looking a little thin. Each meal is individual to the dog. (Please note that special cases such as puppies or pregnant and nursing bitches are outside the scope of this article.)

On alternate days, the dogs receive one of three meals: muscle meat, fish and vegetables, or organ meat. On these days, I include any supplements (usually Salmon Oil, Vitamin C, and Glucosamine--little else, since the nutrition is coming primarily from natural sources), an egg in the morning meal, and the yogurt or powdered probiotics. “Muscle meat” is really any meat I can get economically--usually ground turkey, but I have managed some lamb recently for a reasonable price. Fish and veggies consists of some sort of canned fish--usually mackerel, salmon, or sardines packed in water. I do use canned fish, even though it is “cooked,” primarily for ease of storage. (You can feed raw fish, though my dogs have not been fond of it, and you should not feed raw pacific salmon due to the possibility of a type of fluke present in that sort of raw fish.) The vegetable portion consists of a couple tablespoons of pulped seasonal vegetables, usually including broccoli, zucchini, and some sort of leafy vegetable (All veggies for dogs must be pulped or cooked since dogs don’t digest vegetable matter unless the cell walls are broken down for them. Green leafy vegetables are best, with only raw potatoes and onions as ones to avoid). Vegetables in the diet make up a very small amount of the diet, and substitute for some of the fiber that dogs might normally be getting when consuming whole carcasses. Many raw feeders feel that the amount of vegetable matter that a dog might consume naturally is so miniscule that they don’t even feed it. Organ meat is fed on the third alternate day, consisting of any organ meat I can get--usually chicken gizzards, hearts, and livers.

One important concept to remember is that you are providing a balanced diet over time, very similar to the way we eat ourselves. We don’t eat exactly the same items each day, and we derive different nutrients from a variety of foods. This is how this diet is designed to work too--with a variety of meat and vegetable sources providing varied nutrients to our dogs. It is how a dog would eat in the wild as well, opportunistically feeding on what was available. In addition, items found to be allergens for an individual dog are easily eliminated, and intolerances avoided.

Cost, by the way, is not a great deal more than premium kibble, and since my vet bills are already falling, I feel that I will eventually recoup the initial differences. Once the new freezer is in place, I will be able to buy less expensive cuts of meat and bones in bulk, driving the cost down yet again.

Now, that said, there is a different way of doing this in every single book. I have tried to summarize what each author does in their particular version of the diet, so you can see that it is far from “carved in stone” as to how this approach is carried out (see chart below).


Diet
Meat
Grain
Fast Day
Supplements
Other
Billinghurst
various; whole or ground bone
yes, cooked
no, only before switching diet
as needed; recommends digestive enzymes & probiotics
moving to less varied “patty” approach; has developed commercial product
Lonsdale
various; whole bone only -- recommends carcasses
no
no
no, except for specific need
does not believe vegetables are a necessary part of the diet; allows for table scraps
Schultze
various; primarily ground muscle meat; chicken necks, backs; turkey necks; believes some raw bone essential
no
yes, one day per week for normal healthy adults
yes, recommends kelp, alfalfa, cod liver oil, EFA’s, Vitamin C

McKay
various; ground--no whole bone
no (old version of diet did)
no, only permits voluntary fast by animal
yes!!  specifically demands her brand of multi vitamin and calcium supplement
sells both commercial diet and supplement
Volhard
muscle meat (only recreational bone--use bone meal for calcium source); alternative grain meal for breakfast
yes
yes, 1/2 day fast 1X/wk
yes, many
belief that diet can be adjusted according to needs of dog using kinesiology to determine needs; markets commercial “mix in” diet
Pitcairn
primarily raw ground muscle meat; recommends recreational bones for dental health
yes
no
yes, yeast, bone meal, kelp
provides set “recipes” for various needs
Johnson
various; whole or ground bone
no
no
yes, as needed; similar to Schultze
rotates elements of the diet daily




Comparison of Various Raw Food Diets


Commercial diets ranging from dehydrated to frozen, ground meat and bone, meat and vegetable patties (which are a blend of all of my various days with percentages of each element included in each patty) are available too (though fairly expensive). It works for me to prepare meat and veggies into ziploc bags that include enough food for a day’s meals for all 3 dogs. I do this about once a month. Then it is a simple matter to remove a package the night before so that it is defrosted for the morning feeding.


Noticeable Benefits

Here are some of the benefits I have noticed since my dogs have been on this diet:

So, I am pleased with the outcome so far and intend to continue feeding this way for the foreseeable future. I believe my dogs’ ultimate health and well-being depend on it. There is a wealth of good information available in print and on the internet that can help if you want to investigate this way of feeding--whether it is only your intention to begin adding whole, uncooked foods to your dogs’ diet, or to switch “whole hog” (pun intended) to a bone and raw food diet. I hope that some of you have found this helpful, and might consider looking a little more closely at your dogs’ food. They are what they eat!





Resources


Books

(Most Books are available through Dogwise.)
A portion of the proceeds of books purchased through the links below
will be donated to the Dachshund Club of America Health Trust
or other organization or research study devoted to dachshund health issues


Raw and Homecooked Feeding

Billinghurst, Ian. The BARF Diet: Raw Feeding for Dogs and Cats Using Evolutionary Principles, NSW, Australia: Ian Billinghurst, 2001.

Billinghurst, Ian. Give Your Dog A Bone, NSW, Australia: Ian Billinghurst, 1993.

Billinghurst, Ian. Grow Your Pups With Bones, NSW, Australia: Ian Billinghurst, 1998.

Johnson, Susan K. Switching to Raw: A Fresh Food Diet For Dogs That Makes Sense, Lavon, TX: Birchrun Basics, 2001

Lonsdale, Tom. Raw Meaty Bones: Promote Health, NSW, Australia: Rivetco P/L, 2001.

McKay, Pat. Reigning Cats and Dogs: Good Nutrition, Happy Healthy Animals, Pasadena, CA: Oscar Publications, 1999.

Pitcairn, Richard H. DVM & Pitcairn, Susan H. Dr. Pitcairn’s complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats. Rodale, 1982.

Schultze, Kymythy R. Natural Nutrition for Dogs and Cats: The Ultimate Diet. Carlsbad, CA: Hay House, 1998.

Volhard, Wendy & Brown, Kerry, DVM. Holistic Guide for a Healthy Dog, 2nd Edition, Foster City, CA: Howell Book House, 2000.

Other Related Health Topics

Ackerman, Lowell, DVM. Canine Nutrition: What Every Owner, Breeder, and Trainer Should Know

Goldstein, Martin, DVM. The Nature of Animal Healing. New York: Ballentine, 1999.

Lazarus, Pat. Keep Your Pet Healthy the Natural Way. New York: Fawcett, 1999.

Levin, Caroline D. RN. Dogs, Diet, and Disease: An Owner’s guide to Diabetes Mellitus, Pancreatitis, Cushing’s Disease, & More. Oregon City, OR: Lantern Publications, 2001.

Martin, Ann N. Foods Pets Die For: Shocking Facts About Pet Food, Troutdale, OR: New Sage Press, 1997.

Messonnier, Shawn, DVM. The Allergy Solution for Dogs. Roseville, CA: Prima Publishing, 2000.

Plechner, Alfred J., DVM & Zucker, Martin. Pet Allergies: Remedies for an Epidemic. Inglewood, CA: Dr. Goodpet Laboratories, 1986.



Websites/Online Articles

(The following links will open in a new browser window)

http://www.barfworld.com
   Ian Billinghurst’s BARFworld site

http://www.rawmeatybones.com
  Tom Lonsdale’s site; many articles

http://home.earthlink.net/~affenbar/
  Ultimate Diet (Kymythy Schultze’s) web page

http://www.volhard.com
  Volhard Nutrition and Training website

http://www.switchingtoraw.com
  Susan Johnson’s Switching To Raw site; good collection of links

http://www.b-naturals.com
  Canine nutritionist Lew Olsen’s site; Newsletters on nutrition & Health; Transitional (kibble to raw) diet on the recipes page; Link to K9_Nutrition list

http://www.homestead.com/VonHapsburg
  VonHapsburg Great Danes, BC, Canada. Feeding raw food for 8 years; 3 generations; Great Danes; articles and links

    http://www.homestead.com/VonHapsburg/petfood.html
          “Pet Food--Our Pets Are Dying for It” by Sandra Brigola

http://www.api4animals.org/doc.asp?ID=79&print=y
  “What’s Really In Pet Food”

http://www.caberfeidh.com
  Caber Feidh Scottish Deerhounds; naturally reared since 1986; Excellent articles on raw feeding and holistic health care

    http://forum.doghobbyist.com/bonesraw/messages/2.html
        “Why Most Vets Don’t Like Raw Diets” - unpublished article by Christie Keith

http://www.auntjeni.com
  Commercial raw food; natural feeding articles by Jenifer Boniface

http://www.drpitcairn.com
  Dr. Richard Pitcairn’s site; articles on Nutrition, including Calcium Supplementation and Raw Meat Diets

http://www.patmckay.com
  Nutritionist Pat McKay’s site; Articles; Commercial raw product

    http://www.patmckay.com/COOK&BONE.html
           “COOK and BONE are four-letter words”

    http://www.patmckay.com/Article_2.html
        “The Poisons in Pet Food” by John Anderson

    http://www.patmckay.com/Article_3.html
        “To Feed of Not to Feed....Grains” by Russell Swift, DVM

http://www.belfield.com/article9.html
  “Changing the Concept of Canine Hip Dysplasia” by Wendell Belfield

http://www.belfield.com/article13.htm
  “Arthritis and Related Joint Diseases of the Canine” by Wendell Belfield

http://www.dogaware.com/dogfeeding.html
  Mary Straus’s wonderful site on feeding not only raw food, but high quality kibble, commercial raw product, and information on feeding and supplements for special conditions; links to many, many raw feeding sites

http://www.doberdogs.com/
  Dog  Food Comparison Charts

http://www.rawlearning.com/
  Listing of BARF Email lists (including K9_Nutrition)
http://www.rawlearning.com/rawlists.html
[Downloadable .pdf]

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