BarfingNotHorking

BARFING NOT HORKING

Sailor here.

Mom has changed my diet. She used to feed me kibble. Before that, I used to get chicken wings but that was before I came to live with Mom. Now I get BARF. This actually stands for either Bones And Raw Food or Biologically Appropriate Raw Food. Take you pick, it means Raw Food. I love it!

Mom decided to start me cold turkey neck one night and that was what I got to eat. I also get chicken necks and backs and wings. I like the backs the best; they have all sorts of gut thingies hanging off them and make a mess on the floor. And for breakfast I get meat and veggie glop. Zoe doesn’t barf yet, so when she stays with me, Mom feeds her kibble in the dining room so she won’t be jealous. Not only is she not jealous but she is oblivious and is thrilled to lick the floor when I am done with my bones.

Here's the BARF web ring site to cut and paste:

http://nav.webring.yahoo.com/hub?ring=barf&list

And here's a FAQ page written by Jane Johnson ( janej@tpg.com.au):
http://www.bluegrace.com/barf.html

Mom started off reading Dr. Ian Billinghurst's book, Give Your Dog A Bone and things progressed from there. There's always a lively discussion at the park about feeding this way; I think it's kind of controversial....Mom sometimes does controversial things just to be controversial but she says this is not one of them. She believes in this diet and so should I. I do! I do!

Mom’s son, Chris, calls it the RALF diet and that makes everyone laugh. What is RALF? Raw And Lively Food? Whatever it’s called, it makes me happy and energetic and my coat is shiny and silky and my teeth sparkle. Mom says we have to work on my breath, though. What’s wrong with my breath?

Here is a sample of my BARF diet:

Breakfast: Veggie glop. Here's the recipe:
                                50% ground meat of the week (1 lb.) and
                            40-45% ground veggies (both above and below the ground variety) (2 cups)
                              5-10% chicken livers, hearts, gizzards ground up (2-4 oz.) , plus:
                                    1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
                                    2-3 cloves garlic
                                       1 Tbsp. kelp (ground)
                                    1/2 cup yogurt
                                       3 eggs with shells
                                       a small handful of parsley (for my breath)

Mom mixes this up and freezes it in small plastic tubs. It's about a week's worth of glop. When she feeds me, she also gives me salmon or cold fish oil capsules (2-3 per day) and 400 IU Vitamin E in my breakfast. She says that the fish oil is for Omega 3 fatty acids and are VERY important. I don't know what the Vitamin E is for, but I like to pop the capsule between my back teeth.

Supper: Raw Meaty Bones ( chicken necks, backs, wings; turkey necks for the most part)

To figure out how much to feed me, Mom had to do some math. This truly boggled MY mind:
My weight, 65 lbs. X 16 = 1040 ounces, how much I weigh
2% of 1040 = 20.8 ounces of food per day (the guidelines say 2-3%; puppies are a lot more)
60-80% of the daily ounces should be RMBs (raw meaty bones, my favorite)
40-20% of the daily ounces should be veggie glop (see above)

Rounded off, I get about a pound of RMBs a day and 4 oz. of veggie glop. Mom varies this amount and feeds me as wide a variety of everything as she can to balance the diet over time. I have to fast one day every week or so, and I hate this. Actually, I only half fast because I throw up if my tummy gets too empty. Mom's always feeling my ribs to see if I am getting fat. Tee hee, tickle tickle, I am NOT fat!

Mom thought it was going to be a lot of work, but no. She has fun with this. She splatters the walls and sometimes does scary things with cleavers and further splatters the walls. For the veggie glop, she throws everything into her mixing machine, turns it on, makes a great deal of noise, and then scoops the stuff into small plastic containers to store. If I'm really really good and not too underpaw, she'll give me a taste right then and there. Next month she's promised me some organic emu necks. How esoteric can you be?

Mom is still determined to get HissSpit to BARF, too, but HissSpit took one sniff and gagged. Have you ever seen a cat gag? It's rather comical. This may become a battle of immense proportions fought over a time period so long that my kitty will not know what hit her. Mom can be very devious. I hope HissSpit converts to BARF before she's dead, though.

And Zoe is next.

Sailor even more gorgeous than before