Frequently Asked Questions
What is B.A.R.F.?
Chihuahua, Pomeranian, Golden retriever, Bulldog, Greyhound, and all dog breeds there is in this world, even though they might look very different, all of them evolves from the same ancestor, the grey wolf. Their DNA are almost identical. This mean they have very similar digestive system and dietary needed. Wolf and dog are carnivores, and they should be eating what they’re design to eat in natural environment. Wolf thrive on it prey, and occasionally some fruits and vegetables. They usually eat the whole prey including meat, bone, organs, and what’s left in their prey’s stomach. Biologically Appropriate Raw Food or B.A.R.F. is a method of feeding your dog as if they were living in nature.
Why raw food?
Raw food is an important part of B.A.R.F. as dog and cat eat their food raw in nature. Raw food is not over processed and is the best way to preserved all beneficial nutrients, bacteria, and enzymes in natural form. These are crucial for dog and cat to stay healthy.
Benefits from our food?
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Better tone muscle & joints
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Better skin & coat
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Stronger and cleaner teeth and oral health
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Reduce the odor from both their body and mouth
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Improve digestive system
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Help with skin allergies
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Stool size will be much smaller and less odor
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Enhance their immune system
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Promote overall health, and thus live longer
How to start feeding raw food?
We recommended to start with BONE&RAW’s STARTER FORMULA. This formula doesn’t contain offal, fruit, or vegetable, and is designed to ensure the smoothest transition possible. Moreover, it is best to stick with one type of meat for a few weeks, as kibble and raw diet are very different, and dog’s digestive system need some time to adjust to the new diet. If your dog has positive response to raw diet, then it is safe to switch to BONE&RAW other formulas. This can be notice by dog’s stool, if it’s small, firm, and has no offensive odor, then your dog is good. Whereas, soft or loose stool mean your dog is still not ready to move on to other formula.
Raw food and kibble are very different, and so do how dog digestive system handle them. It is a good idea to fast your dog for a day before starting the raw diet, to give their digestive system a break and prepare them for a change in their food.
Tips: Yogurt can be added on top of BONE&RAW food, to enrich the probiotic which enhance dog’s digestive system.
How much should I feed my pet?
We recommended feeding ratio between to with 2% - 4% of body weight ratio per day. You can start at 2.5% then adjust the ratio if your pet’s looking too overweight or too skinny. Since each individual eat differently than one another, depending on their age, activity, health, breed, and metabolism, it is best to frequently monitor your pet’s weight to find optimal amount of food your dog needed.
Note: If you normally feed your pet twice a day, split daily amount by half for each meal. If dog do not finish the food in 5 minutes, put the food back in the refrigerator and use it for the next meal.
How to feed?
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Defrost
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Portion
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Serve
How to defrost the food?
There are a few way you can do it:
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Put the food into refrigerator for 5 - 6 hours, or overnight. (Recommended)
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Put the food into a zip lock bag (make sure it’s sealed and water cannot get inside), submerge in water. This will make defrosting much quicker. However, the water should not be hot as it can potentially cook the food and can be harmful to your pet.
Note: Some dog or cat like to eat the food as it’s partially frozen as they get to chew the food, while some like it completely melted.
How long can you keep BONE AND RAW food?
Our products can be kept in freezer for 6 months, and 3 days in refrigerator. Our product should be keep frozen, until you going to feed your pet. In addition, BONE AND RAW’s products are fresh food and do not contain any preservatives, so it should be kept similarly to human food.
What to expect when switching to raw diet?
Switching from highly process dry food to all natural raw food is a big change. It takes some time for their body to adjust. In the first week, common symptoms includes diarrhea, vomiting, and some might not have any of these symptoms at all. These symptoms often occur especially with pet that has been feeding with kibble for a long time. In addition, during this transition period, pet parent can help by providing enough exercise, water and fresh air to them.
Pet also detoxify when switching from kibble. In rare case dog can have short term side effects, such as, excess ears wax, excess shedding, skin rashes, and soft stool. These symptoms will go away in a few weeks, then you will see the benefit of raw diet.
Can kibble and raw food be feeding together?
Kibble and raw food digest differently, and can cause negative outcome when feed together in the same meal. As kibble need more time to digest than raw food, microbes from raw diet might be staying too long in digestive system and can be harmful to your pet. This doesn’t mean you can no longer feed kibble, but it is best to feed kibble on different day as raw food.
Can puppy or kitten eat raw food?
Yes, they can. After 4 - 6 weeks, you can start introducing raw diet to them. Be sure to use separated bowl, as it can stimulate competitive eating among them. Moreover, this can lead to over or under eating and cause negative outcome to the puppies or kittens.
Can dogs and cats eat bones?
Of course, they can, but only if it IS NOT COOKED! Raw Bone is soft, easy to digest and is safe for dog and cat, while cooked bone can turn sharp, hard, and can be very dangerous to your pet. YOU SHOULD NEVER FEED YOUR PET COOKED BONE. In addition, we recommended you to give bone to your pet occasionally, as there are several benefits. Chewing bone can help with dental health, it clean their teeth, scrape away tartar, and reduce bad breath. Chewing bone relieve the urge to chew especially puppies! It also a good exercise physically and mentally, and it can keep your pet occupy for several hours.
Be caution of the size and the hardness of the bone. The size of the bone should be reasonable with the size of your pet. The hardness of the bone should not be too hard as it can damage the teeth.
Does feeding raw diet give my dog or cat Parasites, and Bacteria?
Dog and Cat naturally eat raw food, their digestive and immune system can handle raw food safely. BONE AND RAW also tooks another step to reduce the risk, using method suggests by US Food and Drug Administration or FDA, all our products are frozen and store at certain temperature and period before entering the shelf to eliminate parasites. Moreover, all our products use human grade ingredients, the chance of getting parasites and bacteria contamination is minimal.
On the other hand, human are more likely to get sick from these contamination, make sure to handle raw food carefully, and always wash your hand, dog bowl, and clean any surface that has contacted with raw food.
Why pet drink less water?
It is totally normal, as raw food have much more moisture than kibble. It’s all natural, and also better for digestive system.
Why the size of poop is smaller and poop less?
Because most of the food is being digested, absorbed, and utilized. Not only less amount and quantity, it has no offensive odor.
Will raw diet make my pet more aggressive?
There is no prove on how it is related. Being aggressive is more related to breed, training and socializing.
What if my pet refuses to eat raw food?
These are quite common in the beginning, especially to pet that has been feeding with kibble or human food for a long time. There are several things you can do:
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Try our bone broth, top it on the food!
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Serve the food as partially frozen, as many like to chew the food.
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Serve it as completely defrosted.
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Try different type of meat.
Safety Come First
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Cleanliness is the most important key, both for you and your pet. Make sure to wash all the bowl, any surface that has contact with raw food, and you hand.
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Use stainless steel bowl as other material can trap germs over time.
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Keep the raw meat away from children.
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Keep the raw meat separate from other food.
For more information about how to handle raw food: http://www.fda.gov/Food/ResourcesForYou/Consumers/ucm255180.htm
