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--Article originally published in the Dachshund Club of
America Newsletter, December, 2002--
~~Revised & Updated, May 2005~~
©2002-2005, MaryAnne Teal. All
rights reserved.
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:
• The
BARF Diet by Ian Billinghurst (2001): Billinghurst’s third book, but most
easy
to read and absorb. A good summary of the elements of the diet and the
pitfalls, as well as his “how to” of making ground meat “patties”
• Give
Your Dog a Bone , Ian Billinghurst (1993): the
first book; the book on raw
feeding
• Raw
Meaty Bones (Promote Health) , Tom Lonsdale (2001): not so much a “how
to”
but a “why you should” book about raw feeding.
• Switching
To Raw, Sue Johnson (2001): this one is the easiest “how to” books
on
a raw diet, laid out in an easily understandable format.
• K9
Nutrition e-mail list group at Yahoo Groups: Moderated by a canine
nutritionist, this list is not exclusively a list for raw
feeders (which can get
somewhat “militant”), but is definitely a group of people
who care about feeding
their
dogs better.
**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 |