In light of dog food recalls that hit the news every now and then, dog owners should consider alternative ways of feeding their pets other than commercial dog food.
The extra time required in order to make dog food is usually a deterrent for most people.
However, this is just a small inconvenience compared to the many benefits one's pets could get.
To begin with, BARF stands for Bones and Raw Food.
This dog diet is based on the raw food movement's philosophy that raw food has all the nutrients and vitamins that often get lost during the cooking process.
Included in this diet are meats, bones, fruits and vegetables.
Obviously, BARF does not have the preservatives and additives found in commercial pet food.
More importantly though, a BARF diet does not contain grains.
Grains are basically used as filler in commercial dog food.
What most people don't realize is that grains do not contain any nutritional value for dogs.
In fact, a dog's body finds it difficult to process grains since this is not what a dog would normally eat in nature.
Thus, it is not surprising that the grains in commercial dog food are also the main cause of food allergies in dogs after the preservatives.
Those who have tried this dog diet enthusiastically attest that natural food improves their pet's overall health.
There are fewer health problems, the dog's coat is shinier, and it has more energy.
For those who have really no time to prepare this natural dog food, there are actually pre-made BARF foods available for sale.
Just make sure that it is from an accredited BARF diet food distributor.
There are also a lot of resources online for ideas on the different kinds of natural foods good for one's particular pet and and how to prepare them.