Many times we have had doubts when feeding our dogs raw food, either because of the bacteria that is in it or if it can cause them some kind of harm. Well, a natural diet for dogs, based on raw meat, bones, vegetables, among others, can be much better than processed food. If you want to know more about it, I invite you to continue reading the following article.
Natural Diet For Dogs
Nowadays a large number of dog owners are very interested in the natural diet. So they are choosing to feed their animals natural foods, these are based on raw meat, meaty bones, organs, and even multiple vegetables. This type of diet is known as the BARF diet, or as it is also known in Spanish as ACBA, which means Biologically Appropriate Raw Food. Thanks to this type of diet, dogs become stronger and their health will improve to a very optimal level.
Due to this type of natural diet we can involve our pets in an evolutionary diet. This diet will give you all the benefits necessary for your development and growth, as well as strengthen your health. This diet is based on a wide variety of foods, including raw, from which dishes can be made for the menu of our dogs. If you have doubts about this type of natural diet, we invite you to continue reading and you will be able to learn a little more about the world of this type of diet, how to prepare this type of food, adequate amounts and some examples of them.
Why BARF diet
If we want our pets to achieve their full genetic potential, in terms of their health, longevity, physical condition and even reproduction, their diet must be essential. By this we mean that "they are what they eat", which is why their diet must be of the evolutionary type, which is what our pets' bodies need. A curious and very important fact is that both the dog and the wolf will share 99,8% of their genes and as for the cats, the latter are completely strict carnivores.
Due to this similarity in the genetic sequences between the dog and the wolf, several studies have been carried out where they have shown that, due to the great similarity between them, dogs are not designed to feed on feed. Even in these studies they also showed that dogs, by sharing a large part of their genes with wolves, can have fertile offspring between both species. This does not happen with different species, so they are the exception to the natural rule.
We must understand that the biology of both species is practically the same, so their digestive system is the same. Only that there is a small variation between both species where there is a difference in their tolerance and ability to process starches. For this reason, it is vitally important to know both the anatomy and physiology of our pets, in order to be alert to any food that may cause any harm to them.
The BARF Diet Keeps Disease Away
Whenever we give our pets processed food such as dog food, we are causing harm without knowing about it. Since we are moving our pet away from what is its nature and therefore from what its body demands. This can cause serious damage to your health, so we will be making you sick little by little. We have to bear in mind that a natural diet for dogs is what is indicated for them, since processed foods will deprive them of those nutrients and vitamins that raw food naturally brings.
The excess of carbohydrates, the low quality of proteins, the absence of omega 3 and even the lack of moisture from processed foods, such as feed, will produce a series of harmful effects on the health of your canine. Among these negative effects we find early aging due to stress produced by the organs, obesity, bone loss due to lack of calcium in these types of foods. Chronic dehydration is even linked, since these processed foods do not contain moisture, that is, they are very dry. Kidney problems and chronic diseases that arise in dogs are also associated with this type of food.
All the negative effects are due, as mentioned above, to the fact that the great similarity in genetics between dogs and wolves will make a difference in their diet. It is from here, that is, from its diet, that its health, its physical activity and all the potential that the dog possesses begin to develop.
Fear of Bacteria with the Natural Diet
Many times we refrain from giving our dogs raw food for fear that some bacteria could cause serious damage to their body. But the truth is that this fear has no fundamental or real basis. This is because this type of food is rich in proteins and nutrients necessary for the proper development of the dog, these foods will not cause any negative effects on your body. Dogs are designed to ingest the raw meat and meaty bones of their prey without any ill effects, this has been the case for thousands of years.
How to Integrate my Dog to the Diet
Now that you are interested in the natural diet for dogs, specifically the BARF diet, you should know the best way for your dog and his body to adapt to it. What you should do is gradually incorporate these unprocessed foods into their food menus. You have to add raw foods one by one, making a kind of transition and progressive adaptation. In this way, your pet will be able to adapt much more quickly and easily without any detrimental effect on its health.
With what has been explained to you above, your dog has been eating processed feed, you should know that its intestinal flora is altered, specifically it is weakened. That is why we "repopulate" it and we will do this through the natural diet for dogs and for this we must give it its time so that the objective is fulfilled. Another important fact to keep in mind is that you should not cook food for your dog.
The reason why you should not cook food is that the enzymes and nutrients that are in these fresh foods are destroyed when they are exposed to high temperatures. Enzymes and nutrients is the essential part in this natural dog diet. Since it is what will give your pet everything necessary for its good development, both physical and mental, it will also provide a good immune system, so it will have excellent health. But if it happens that the food lacks these two essential elements in the diet, it will cause negative effects on your body.
Some of these effects is that it causes an overexertion in the organs, mainly in the pancreas, which will produce substances that will help the digestion of food. And the lack of proteins and enzymes will lead to your pet's body producing them itself. The natural diet for dogs meets these requirements, where the foods that make it up are rich in these types of nutrients necessary for the proper development of your dog.
Improve your dog's life
Many times we wonder why we should feed our pets with this natural diet for dogs and the truth is that this type of diet is surrounded by great benefits for your dog. Among these contributions provided by this natural diet for dogs, we can find an increase in both energy and vitality, a surprising increase in their physical structure, they develop their muscle mass. In addition, its benefits will also contribute to the disappearance of dental problems and oral cleaning, help with the disappearance of dermatological problems and those annoying infections that occur in the ears.
Besides, they also improve and sometimes play an important role in the disappearance of arthritis and those joint problems. These foods will provide you with greater hydration, which is not the case when you eat processed food, such as feed. These types of processed foods lack the moisture required to help the dog process the food. Besides, raw and fresh foods will allow you to develop resistance to internal and external parasites, they are not in danger of developing diabetes or any type of reproductive problems.
There are now many testimonials from pet owners and trainers confirming that dogs started on the natural dog diet have improved in behavior and conduct. If you still have doubts about this diet, continue reading this article so that you can understand the most basic concepts so that in this way you begin to enter this world and thus be able to make the perfect BARF diet for your dog. You will be able to develop an adequate diet, in a complete and balanced way, which you can gradually introduce into your pet's diet.
You must remember that your pet is feeding on commercial or processed foods such as feed and therefore it is not used to this type of natural diet. If you still have many doubts about how to prepare a suitable menu for your dog, there are commercial brands on the market that are responsible for selling 100% food. These types of commercial brands offer the public frozen foods, which are raw and natural, in various presentations, but with balanced mixtures to meet the demands given by your dog's body.
A well-known commercial brand for having these foods belonging to the natural diet for dogs is Natuka. This brand has its ecological origin in all the ingredients that make up its frozen foods, so its components come from animal as well as vegetable origin. In addition, it is also known for its wide variety of artisan menus, where you can easily see the pieces of food that make it up.
This leads the dog to chew its food much more, which will allow the dog's body to secrete even more endorphins. Meaning in this way that your mood will improve, because endorphins are the hormones responsible for happiness. In addition, it will allow animals to adapt much faster to this evolutionary diet, which also helps with oral hygiene. After so many doubts from dog owners, as to whether it is true that this natural diet for dogs has many more nutrients than processed food, a study was carried out showing that this type of organic meat will contain many more acids fats, vitamins and antioxidants.
The physiology of animals is not affected by processed food
Another fact that you should keep in mind is that your pet's body will not suffer any change due to the fact that it has spent decades consuming processed foods. Processed food, such as dog food, is an almost recent invention and before this type of food, our animals have been feeding on raw meat that comes from their prey. It has been this way for thousands of years and animals have not been affected by eating raw food.
With the knowledge and information that will be provided in this article, you will be able to create great recipes suitable for the proper development of your dog. In addition, you will learn about good hygienic handling of food. You must bear in mind that you should not fear for the well-being of your dog, so do not hesitate to feed your dog the BARF diet. Many times pet owners choose to feed their dogs with processed food, such as feed, since it is much more comfortable and faster when feeding them. In this case, only your dog's food bowl should be filled, which is the opposite of the natural diet for dogs, which will require a little more attention.
But you should know that no matter how good quality this type of processed food is, it will never be the right one for your body. Since, as explained before, it lacks moisture and most of its nutrients have been processed, therefore, this food should not be the basis of our pets' diet. Pet owners who have opted for the natural diet for dogs have clearly observed the benefits that it gives to the dog's body, not only physically, but also in its body. So do not hesitate to make this important decision and in a short time you will be able to observe its results.
Why Raw Foods
Another very common mistake among pet owners is that they tend to cook raw food, especially meat, since they fear that certain pathogens that inhabit it can cause harm to their dogs. The truth is that these fears have no real foundation, since our pets are designed to perfectly deal with the possible microorganisms that can inhabit raw meat. In addition, they have a series of elements that contain highly antibacterial properties, such as saliva and gastric juices.
These elements will eliminate these pathogenic microorganisms quickly, just like with the foods that destroy them. If you think about it, the only animal that cooks its food is man, since we do not have the advantages that other animals have. If you still have doubts about the natural diet for dogs, just think that if this type of raw food were so harmful to animals, especially our dogs, wouldn't they have become extinct some time ago? You must remember that these animals have been eating their prey raw for thousands of years without any problem and are still alive today.
Raw meat is rich in vitamins, enzymes and antioxidants, but if it comes into contact with high temperatures when it is cooked, all these nutrients will be destroyed. It is important to keep in mind that the higher the temperature and the longer the cooking time, the protein value of the food will be lower than expected. Apart from that, when cooking it, the digestive enzymes of the meat are eliminated, which means that pets need to use much more resources and energy to digest it.
In exchange, the raw meat that is unprocessed will contain its digestive enzymes intact, which allows the dog to focus all the metabolic elements of its body on the detoxification of food. It also helps strengthen your immune system and even develops resistance to various diseases.
Ingredients and Quantities
When we talk about percentages and ingredients that are going to make up the natural diet for dogs, specifically the BARF diet, they are going to be prescribed by the brand of the evolutionary diet. Or they can also be calculated by what they, both dogs and cats, have eaten in the wild. This is of vital importance to meet the nutritional requirements of the organisms of these animals and therefore the menu must be as similar as possible.
There is a table that will indicate the percentages used in the classic BARF diet and this is the following; 60% of meaty bones, 15% of vegetables and vegetables, these must be completely crushed, 10% to 15% of viscera and organs and finally 5% of fruits. As for the other remaining percentage, you can complete it with some foods such as alfalfa, kelp, fish oil, natural yogurt, among other foods that allow you to complete 100% of the natural diet for dogs.
How much raw food should I give my dog?
It is not at all easy to create an exact table for the amounts necessary and required for the BARF diet that you should feed your pet. The measurements of the food can vary and this is due to various factors such as the size, breed, species, age, and daily activity of each of the dogs. Another important factor that will contribute to the amounts of food is the weight, in which the dog is, since this diet can be directed with the objective that the dog gain muscle mass.
A general measure for the total of natural foods that your dog requires daily can vary between 1,5% and 10%. But as already mentioned it is only a general measurement, it is a very wide range. For this reason, it is necessary to design and adjust this menu for our friend, without forgetting the factors that we have already mentioned before, so they must be taken into account when preparing their food. As a general rule, much more food should be given to younger dogs, to much smaller breeds or to those dogs that are underweight.
Dogs that have a lot of physical activity should also be given more food, since their body requires much more nutrients and puppies should also be given more food. An example of what we are explaining to you is that if a small dog of approximately 2 kg, which is young and has a high level of physical activity, could need up to 8% of its total daily weight from the BARF diet, this would be as one 160 gr. In the case of an adult dog that weighs about 45 kg, but has very little physical activity, it will only need 1,5% of its total weight daily, about 675 gr.
Dr. Ian Billinghurst's chart
This table that we are talking about below is a tentative table proposed by Dr. Ian Billinghurst in his book “The BARF Diet”. Where it establishes a range of daily meals which will vary between 8 and 2% of the total weight of the dog. It is quite the opposite when we talk about cats, which are going to need to eat even more food than dogs. In the case of young cats in full development stage and with high physical activity, they could require up to 10% of their total weight in BARF diet daily, divided into 5 to 6 feedings. This table is a great guide for those pet owners who want to start in this world of the natural diet for dogs.
Raw Meaty Bones
The main ingredient in the natural diet for dogs will make the meaty bones, these are the ones that will meet most of the needs required by the dog. This ingredient is rich in water, fatty proteins, energy, vitamins, minerals, enzymes and antioxidants, which are the nutrients necessary for the proper development of the dog. However, it would also be ideal to give him meaty bones and lean meats of organic origin, since the latter have a high index of nutritional value.
As for the contamination that these can have, it is null, since they are free of toxins or free of chemical substances. Keep in mind that any meat that has a reliable origin, even if it is not organic, will have excellent nutritional results. Quite the opposite of that nutritional value provided by processed foods such as feed and those commercial foods that are below what is required daily by the animal's body. The protein that comes from the meaty bones contains a great nutritional value that is superior in terms of biological value to those processed foods or those commercial foods.
This type of protein that is in these meaty bones is not damaged by the high temperatures of cooking and therefore retains all its amino acids. Denatured protein sources and those that are of very low quality will lead to various development problems in the medium term, such as growth problems, anemia, muscle loss and weakness. They will also lead to joint difficulties, and weaken the immune system, so dogs are prone to constantly getting sick.
In order to identify these problems that arise due to the absence of proteins and nutrients, we only have to take the pet to the veterinarian and the problem can be diagnosed. We must know that the meaty bones will complete this balanced natural diet, since it will cover the metabolic needs of dogs. These minerals will make both phosphorus and calcium, which will make up the main components of these meaty bones. In addition, they will have other minerals such as zinc, magnesium, iodine, iron, among others.
Besides, these bones are very rich in fat, so they will have a high protein value, which is why it is so important in the natural diet for dogs. However, even though the guideline table and the measurements of the percentage of this type of natural diet state that meaty bones are going to make up 60%, if the dog is overweight it is advisable not to give it this percentage. So the amount of meaty bones in your diet should be decreased. But if the opposite happens, that is, if the dog is constantly physically active or is very thin, it should be given a little more than recommended.
Bones are very rich in fat, which is essential in your animal's diet. However, although the average number of fleshy bones is 60%, if the dog is overweight, it would be advisable to reduce the amount of bone and vice versa if the dog is highly active or skinny.
Supplements in the Diet
As explained above, the other percentage that remains free in this type of natural diet for dogs can be supplemented with other supplements that will help make the diet suitable and perfect for your pet. To further refine this natural diet, you can add alfalfa, cod liver, eggs, fish oil, green gut, among other additional nutrients. These are going to be foods rich in nutrients that will favor the Natural diet in a positive way. So you should not hesitate when incorporating these supplements since they will not contain any chemicals that can cause any damage to your dog's body.
If you want your pet to have a healthy life, to develop fully and to have an excellent immune system, we recommend that you start giving it this type of natural dog diet. You will be able to observe improvements in their quality of life in a short time, and this type of diet will be the healthiest and most suitable for them, so don't hesitate and start feeding your dog organic food.
If you were interested in this topic about the Natural Diet for Dogs, I invite you to also continue reading the following articles: