I don't feed BARF, but I do feed raw. It makes me a little cheesed off when people say "raw", but only know of BARF. Just to clear things up, there is a whole other array to feeding raw than just BARF. For example, I feed Schultze's "The Ultimate Diet". I find that BARF is too artificial, whereas Schultze's diet attempts to reconstruct an actual prey animal with minimal (think 3 tablespoons for a 50 pound dog) of veggies. I highly suggest you buy more books on the topic. Billinghurst's books left me confused and even more apprehensive about starting the raw diet. You'll find that the book is pretty poorly written and with a lot of criticism against the dog food industry. I suggest these books:
Natural Nutrition for Cats and Dogs: The Ultimate Diet by Kymythy Schultze
Cr. Pitcairn's Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats by Richard Pitcairn and Susan Hubble
Raw Meaty Bones by Tom Lonsdale
I can see where you get your confusion because even though all the aforementioned authors differ on what supplements to feed. Pitcairn recommends torula yeast, while Schultze wouldn't dream of feeding it. Pitcairn likes a lot of bulky grains whereas Billinghurst doesn't recommend it. The point of reading all these different diet concepts is to create your own opinion and choose the diet you like best.
Just like the others, I don't need a separate chest freeze for my pups. I buy bulk about bi-weekly and store it in the lower portion of my freezer. It empties very quickly and won't clog up your fridge if you do it right.
Having the bulk of your dog's diet be chicken is perfectly okay. When you consider that most kibble-fed dogs are fed chicken and rice every day of their lives, having a little fresh variety from time to time is fantastic! Schultze usually uses turkey, which is easily accessible if you find the right butcher. I like both and buy whatever cuts and bones are on sale. In fact, you'll notice that in my thread "What does your dog's dinner look like?" that I used a chicken carcass. We generally feed chicken, with a bit of beef, duck, and turkey thrown in. I don't like pork as I find it's more difficult to digest and generally not as nutritious.
Cyber-sibes, I do feed kibble lots of times, but the kibble is Innova EVO. I never feed any other kibble. The phosphorous:calcium should be 1:2. I don't worry about salmonella or E.Coli too much. The same precautions that go for humans go for dogs as well. I just think of it as cooking another meal. I hope that helps!





. Just to clear things up, there is a whole other array to feeding raw than just BARF. For example, I feed Schultze's "The Ultimate Diet". I find that BARF is too artificial, whereas Schultze's diet attempts to reconstruct an actual prey animal with minimal (think 3 tablespoons for a 50 pound dog) of veggies. I highly suggest you buy more books on the topic. Billinghurst's books left me confused and even more apprehensive about starting the raw diet. You'll find that the book is pretty poorly written and with a lot of criticism against the dog food industry. I suggest these books:
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