What is BARF | How to Feed Your Dog With Meat

September 08, 2023

Barf is a method of feeding a dog (but you can also feed a cat with barf) that is gaining popularity. What does barf entail and what does a barf menu look like? You will find out in the article.

BARF or natural food for your dog

Barf is a compound of the English expression bones and raw food - we translate into Czech as bones and raw food (meat, vegetables, fruit).

Barfing comes from the need to feed your dog as naturally as possible. Experienced dog walkers who are really interested in dog nutrition know that barfing has many benefits. In the beginning, you may find preparing barf to be more complicated than feeding kibble, but with increasing experience and enthusiasm, your dog will no longer want to feed anything other than meat.

7 reasons to start barfing

You provide the dog with natural food without preservatives and other substances that have no business in the food.
You are in control of everything you put in the dog's bowl.
You simply adjust the feed dose individually according to your dog's needs.
You can individually adjust the composition of the individual doses exactly according to the training phase the dog is in.
When feeding raw bones, the dog cleans its teeth and exercises its chewing muscles by chewing them.
The high digestibility of barf ensures less dog excrement.
You give your dog a varied diet - he gets chicken on Monday, salmon on Tuesday.

Barf: What a dog's diet looks like

What does a dog eat on barf? The basis of the barf menu consists of raw meat, offal and bones together with vegetables and fruits, as well as suitably selected food supplements for dogs .

Barf Meat, Bones and Guts: There's no limit to your imagination

Today, specialized barfing shops offer not only classic chicken but also salmon, but you can also get exotic reindeer meat .

From the entrails, serve heart, kidneys, lungs, liver, but also stomachs - unwashed beef tripe is a welcome treat for every dog (it has a specific smell that you have to get used to).

Serve the bones rather softer and partially covered with meat - chicken or duck necks, wings, skeletons. Only give the dog larger beef bones to nibble on and always keep an eye on him. Never give boiled or baked bones to your dog!

Barf vegetables and fruits: Fresh but also dried

Vegetables and fruits form an integral part of the entire barf menu. What vegetables? You can't go wrong with spinach, cabbage, zucchini, lettuce, carrots, beets , try pumpkin in autumn. From fruits, try apples, strawberries, blueberries, pears. Always grate vegetables and fruits, otherwise they will pass through the dog's tract unchanged. And if you're in a hurry, try our dried vegetables for dogs - Vegáč , which you just pour water over and serve.

Some barfarians also add oatmeal or cooked rice in addition to the above-mentioned ingredients - a dog who is exercising has a high energy expenditure and these ingredients will give him energy.

TIP : Do you do sports with your dog? Then also take a look at our protein for dogs and rehydration drink for dogs . And read the article right away: The nutrition of a canine athlete or a dog under stress needs more than a couch potato.

Barfing and food supplements for dogs

Whether you feed barf or pellets, you will not always manage to prepare a balanced dose of food that covers the nutritional requirements of the dog . And since we are no strangers to dog nutrition, we at Canis Lab focused on food supplements for dogs , which should not be missing from any dog's bowl.