THE BARF DIET

I feed Pixel the BARF diet because I believe it's the healthiest food for him. BARF stands for Biologically Appropriate Raw Food, also Bones And Raw Food.
Dogs of today have the same digestive system as their wild ancestors. It evolved to digest raw food, primarily meat and bones. There is a great deal of controversy surrounding this practice, probably because the large pet food manufacturers stand to lose a lot of money. Up until about 70 years ago, there was no such thing as kibble, dogs were fed raw food and table scraps.

Pixel has been on the BARF diet since he was born (well...able to chew, anyway). His favorite food is chicken wings. He crunches them up as if they were potato chips. He also enjoys the following meats, ground up - bones and all:

turkey
duck
chicken

buffalo
pork
venison

lamb
rabbit
beef

Variety is the key to a good raw food diet. Other gastronomic delights include lamb chops, beef neck bones, marrow bones, chicken necks, beef hearts, liver, chicken giblets, mackeral, salmon, whiting, sardines and green tripe. Green tripe STINKS, you have to really love your dog to feed him/her this, but it's extremely nutritious for dogs and they will kill for it!

Occasionally, he gets treats from the pet store; rawhide chews, moo tubes, fish jerky etc. I stay away from pigs' ears, though, they give him the runs.

Pixel also gets veggies and fruit as a small percentage of his diet. I like to buy organic baby foods and add them to the ground meats. They have no preservatives, no additives, no artificial flavors, no artificial colors and no fillers, just pure fruit or vegetables. A couple of times a week he slurps up a raw egg for breakfast.

An extra special treat that I use to train Pixel are Liver Brownies (I know, it sounds disgusting, but he LOVES them).

This recipe is from my friend, Mary:

1 lb chicken livers
2 tbs honey
1 garlic clove
4 eggs, shells and all
1 ½ cups corn meal

Put all liquids in a food processor and mix well. Add dry ingredients and mix well. Put in greased (pam spray) cake size glass baking dish. Cook at 350 for about 35-40 minutes. Should be firm in the middle. When cooled, cut them into little bite sized pieces.
For variety, add some veggies. Put carrots, broccoli, squash, pumpkin or any type of veggie in with the liquids to liquefy them.
By the way, they don't smell very good while they're cooking, don't say you weren't warned!

If you're thinking about switching your dog to BARF, do some research on it...check out these links: Dr. Billinghurst, BARF World and

Raw Food For Dogs
The Ultimate Reference for Dog Owners

Questions about BARF? Ask! I'll try to answer.