Dogs, Cats, and RAW FOOD
Ok here's the deal ... when I got Max (my puppy) it was a long process. First locating a good breeder, then waiting for the litter to be born, then visitation while waiting for him to get old enough to leave his mom. During all of this I got to like the breeder very much and was picking her brains about the breed. She has been showing(primarily) and occasionally breeding dogs for over 30 yrs so she must know a thing or three right?
Well, apparently she switched her dogs diet 5 yrs ago to the BARF diet which stands for Biologically Appropriate Raw Food. So my little guy was eating raw food! Of course I had owned a dog and cat in the past and , like most people, was told that high quality kibble was the best thing to feed ... you know.. science diet and the stuff the vets sell. Never give your dogs bones! All that crap.
So I was a bit nervous about raw food but I'm also extremely curious and decided to do as much research as I could. I mean, if so many professionals who show dogs use this diet what's up with that? The short story is that after weeks of research I ended up completely convinced BARF is absolutely the way to go ... so Max is a BARF dog and I'm very comfortable with the whole thing. As a matter of fact I'm more than comfortable.
So now, here I am one day producing home prepared raw diet meals for my dog and feeding kibble to my cat when I think ... gee, if raw is so good for dogs who are omnivores, I wonder why I'm feeding kibble to the cat who is a pure carnivore! OK... more research. Short story .... I just started on the raw food for the cat a week ago.(the diet is slightly different from the dogs with more muscle meat) She loves it. Her energy level has increased noticeably. Her fur has gotten quite lush and she sheds much less. All this in a freakin' week!! Her litter box is very clean because the stools are much smaller and less often (there is very little material in this diet that isn't processed and used by the body apparently), plus there is NO ODOR. Not even odor from the urine. Plus I see that she is starting to firm up and is a bit leaner, (she was getting to be a fat, lazy cat over the past year). Amazing.
Well, apparently she switched her dogs diet 5 yrs ago to the BARF diet which stands for Biologically Appropriate Raw Food. So my little guy was eating raw food! Of course I had owned a dog and cat in the past and , like most people, was told that high quality kibble was the best thing to feed ... you know.. science diet and the stuff the vets sell. Never give your dogs bones! All that crap.
So I was a bit nervous about raw food but I'm also extremely curious and decided to do as much research as I could. I mean, if so many professionals who show dogs use this diet what's up with that? The short story is that after weeks of research I ended up completely convinced BARF is absolutely the way to go ... so Max is a BARF dog and I'm very comfortable with the whole thing. As a matter of fact I'm more than comfortable.
So now, here I am one day producing home prepared raw diet meals for my dog and feeding kibble to my cat when I think ... gee, if raw is so good for dogs who are omnivores, I wonder why I'm feeding kibble to the cat who is a pure carnivore! OK... more research. Short story .... I just started on the raw food for the cat a week ago.(the diet is slightly different from the dogs with more muscle meat) She loves it. Her energy level has increased noticeably. Her fur has gotten quite lush and she sheds much less. All this in a freakin' week!! Her litter box is very clean because the stools are much smaller and less often (there is very little material in this diet that isn't processed and used by the body apparently), plus there is NO ODOR. Not even odor from the urine. Plus I see that she is starting to firm up and is a bit leaner, (she was getting to be a fat, lazy cat over the past year). Amazing.