Every once in a while I stumble across an idea that makes people look at me like I’ve completely lost my mind.
Feeding my dogs a BARF diet was one of those moments.
Now before you call Animal Control, BARF stands for Biologically Appropriate Raw Food. It’s basically feeding dogs a diet made from real, whole foods instead of processed kibble. The first time I heard about it, I thought it sounded a little crazy too.
A few years ago I hired a holistic pet chef (for those of you who need a translation, that’s a woman I hired to come to my house and teach me how to feed my dogs a species-appropriate diet using real, human-grade food instead of commercial dog food). She explained the ingredients, the portions and how to build balanced meals, and by the time she left I was hooked.
So I have a very close friend from childhood. She’s the Statler to my Waldorf for you Muppet fans. Friends NEVER embarrass friends, so I’m not going to mention her by name. She came to me in confidence with questions about dog food and I promised I wouldn’t use her name.
So Allison and I get together a few days a week, and when we can’t, we’ll usually spend an hour on the phone. It usually goes something like this: I tell her about some new eco-friendly experiment I’m trying, and she puts me on speakerphone so I can listen to her crushing Styrofoam containers and aluminum cans into the garbage while every light and television in her house is on.
She’s got a soft spot for my husband, and I’m pretty sure she’s his secret steak connection.
“Ellen,” she’d say, “if God didn’t intend for us to eat animals, they wouldn’t taste so good.”
Totally making fun of me.
Oh, I’m no shrinking violet either. I give it right back and threaten to dump her garbage bags onto her front lawn, rescue every recyclable, and speed off into the night before she notices.
Two good buddies doing what good buddies do.
So when I proudly announced, “I’m never buying dog food again. I’m making all of the dogs’ meals from now on. We’re going BARF up in this mutha!” she laughed so hard I thought she was going to drop the phone.
Then she stopped.
“Oh…you’re serious?”
Very.
She thought I’d completely lost my mind. Honestly, I understood why. A few years earlier I probably would have laughed right along with her.
Then one day there were stories all over the news about commercial dog food recalls and ingredient concerns, and my phone rang.
“Okay, El…tell me about your Holy Pet Chef thing.”
At first I thought she was making some kind of Batman joke.
“Holy Pet Chef, Batman!”
Then I realized it was her turn to be serious.
I tried to be supportive. I laughed. A lot.
Point: Ellen.
Once I got that out of my system, I walked her through everything I’d learned. The ingredients I use. The quantities. Where I buy things. I even loaned her the book my pet chef recommended so she could read it herself and decide if it was something she wanted to try.
A few weeks later my Facebook feed started filling up with pictures of her dogs happily eating homemade meals.
I have to admit, that felt pretty good.
One of the things I love most about making my dogs’ food is how little goes to waste. The leafy tops from celery, carrot peelings, apples that have gotten a little too soft for my daughters, bananas that suddenly became “too brown”…instead of ending up in the trash, a lot of it ends up in the dogs’ bowls.
My dogs are basically furry little composters with tails.
Preparing their meals doesn’t take nearly as long as people imagine. Most days it takes me about five minutes to throw everything together, and I love knowing exactly what’s going into their food.
For our dogs, a typical meal might be raw meat, an egg, carrots, celery, leafy greens, fruit and a little plain yogurt. It isn’t fancy. It’s just real food.
Is this the only right way to feed a dog?
Of course not.
Every dog is different, and every family has to decide what’s right for them. If you’re thinking about making major changes to your pet’s diet, talk with your veterinarian or a qualified pet nutrition professional first.
For us, this has been one of the best changes we’ve ever made. The dogs love it, we waste less food, and I know exactly what they’re eating.
Sometimes the ideas people laugh at today become the very ones they’re asking you about tomorrow.
