Animal Cruelty and feeding BARF to dogs

[Eva]

Hi all! I'm not sure how many of you have your dogs or other pets on the BARF (Biologically Appropriate Raw Food) diet... but I have a bit of a conundrum here. I have read about how horribly abused so many animals are the meat being sold in the supermarket.

I adore my dog, though, so he is on the BARF diet. I don't agree with forcing him to be vegan just because that's the way I want to eat. He's just not meant to be a vegetarian.

My best solution has been to buy only organic meat for him so that he is eating animals that roamed in normal conditions and ate organic normal feed and got no hormones. That's better than the cheapie sale meat that surely would be the worst of the worst to give him (well maybe about the same as the canned dog food!)... but...

Can anyone think of a better solution? What sort of meat do you BARFers give your pooch? I would really appreciate any feedback. :)

[Anastasia Alston]

Hi all! I'm not sure how many of you have your dogs or other pets on the BARF (Biologically Appropriate Raw Food) diet... but I have a bit of a conundrum here. I have read about how horribly abused so many animals are the meat being sold in the supermarket.

I adore my dog, though, so he is on the BARF diet. I don't agree with forcing him to be vegan just because that's the way I want to eat. He's just not meant to be a vegetarian.

My best solution has been to buy only organic meat for him so that he is eating animals that roamed in normal conditions and ate organic normal feed and got no hormones. That's better than the cheapie sale meat that surely would be the worst of the worst to give him (well maybe about the same as the canned dog food!)... but...

Can anyone think of a better solution? What sort of meat do you BARFers give your pooch? I would really appreciate any feedback. :)

I agree that dogs, given their druthers & their biological makeup, would certainly NOT choose vegetarianism of any kind. We make choices of all kinds for them & they adapt as best they can. Some are squeamish about handling dead animal parts & don't buy it no matter what & take their dogs veg or vegan; I've fed my dogs vegetarian & cooked food both in the past & though the dogs were healthier than eating commercial stuff, they didn't have the vitality they have the BARF diet. Needless to say neither cooked nor veg was particularly EASY, either!

I feed my dogs whatever I can find that's on sale. I've tried a few times hooking up with hunters & have looked for meat processing places & haven't yet had much luck in that department. I'm not giving up, though! <lol> As for feeding organic, it would be nice, but I don't lose any sleep over the fact that my dogs get non-organic meat. They're still eating far & away above what's in any can regardless of who made it or how organic they claim the ingredients to be.

I disagree, however that organic means the animals lived a normal life & were happy until shipped away to be slaughtered; they may have, but then again they may not have - no guarantees either way. For sure there are far fewer or no antibios & the farmers/ranchers don't use hormones & of necessity have to either keep fewer animals or use more land to raise them, upping the chances that the animals were much more content than their conventionally raised counterparts. These are all definitely good things to do & encourage, but sometimes I think the prices for organic meat is WAAAAAAAAY overpriced for what you get! I have raised chickens, dairy goats & even a sheep or 2 & honestly it isn't all that expensive that you have to charge crazy prices for the meat or dairy. Even for the so-called soup bones I've seen some really STUPID prices! Maybe if I can find a slaughter house, butcher or meat processing plant that does organically raised animals the prices will be much better than the grocery or hf stores. Until then, it's non-organic for my pups! BTW, my family & I don’t always eat organic, either for pretty much the same reasons, even though the plant foods are considerably cheaper than the animal products (as they should be).

- Stasi, Pea Pod (Morab), Rosie Cotton & Binnabik (the Pibble Posse)

[Eva]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts... I'm concerned (but not overly!) about the hormones etc. in the meat... but I guess I'm more concerned about supporting the meat industry and its cruelty. The best solution I could think of was organic. It's obviously not really a great solution... and you're so right. I have no guarantee that the animals really did have an okay life.

I guess that's really why I'm asking you guys. I just don't know how to have the best of both worlds... happy dog and not supporting cruelty. And seriously, on the "normal" dog diet, my dog had crazy fleas that wouldn't go away no matter where we lived, he was obviously itchy, he had this awful eye gook, he had major tooth decay and he was grump! He's more like a puppy on BARF and less like a fat 7-year old bear. Even his teeth stay clean!!!

And he weighs less than 30 pounds, so it actually only comes out to about $8 a week to feed him organic (not including the green smoothies and whathaveyou that he mooches off of me!).

And yeah... we eat some stuff organic... but I'm on a budget even if it's not a tiny one. I really just can't afford to buy all organic unless I make other really big sacrifices or start working another job (and I've already got two!)...

Super cool, by the way, that you've raised all of those animals before! I would loooove to have the land or the situation to do something like that! :)

--Eva and Boli Bricoli aka Happy Dog. :)

[Anastasia Alston]

I wish I could feed my dogs for $8/wk! Both my dogs weigh 45 & 61 lbs. & my husband's dog weighs about 25#. Sure we could feed hubby's dog organic without breaking the bank, but not all 3 of them! Hubby finally just gave in & quit arguing about the dogs' diet when I first took them raw, but if I started pushing for organic, I'm pretty positive the arguing would start again & I'm not so sure I'd win for quite awhile.

I totally understand about not wanting to support conventional farming, esp. meat animal rearing! It's pretty atrocious stuff they do to the critters. Unfortunately, through all kinds of subsidies & gov't handouts to keep them afloat, the conventional meat is much more affordable than organic. I keep looking for other sources of food for my dogs though. I haven't yet admitted defeat! <lol>

- Stasi, Pea Pod (Morab), Rosie Cotton & Binnabik (the Pibble Posse)

[Eva]

OMG!!! That's a lot of weight!!! It would cost something crazy like $300 a month to feed them organic. I think it's cool that you're feeding them raw anyways.

I think I'm going to check around locally to see if I can get anything from here. The only thing is that this is a seasonal place, and it's DEAD right now!! And I'm on an island, so I can't exactly just drive an extra few miles.

Unless I find something local or hear a better idea, I guess this is the best thing I can do for now. :)

-Eva and Boli Bricoli aka the dog that is snoring loudly as usual now that it's after 8pm.

[meow]

Eva, I'm struggling with the same moral issues as I transition my 3 cats to a raw diet. I've been buying strictly organic, free-range, hormone-free meat for them, which is easier for me to do since I have 3 cats that weigh 10, 11 and 14 pounds as opposed to 3 St. Bernards that weigh 90 pounds each or something like that! I do this for their health as well as for my own convictions that animals shouldn't be treated the way they are on factory/conventional farms. I still do think there has to be a "better way" though and am skeptical of the "free range" label and if it really is what it claims to be. I am all for my cats eating all the raw meat they want and need- that's what they're made to do! But if they were wildcats, they'd be hunting and killing animals that had lived out their natural lives. What they're getting now, even if it is organic and free range, are animals that have been born with the sole purpose of being slaughtered, and as such, have dealt with enormous stress, possible mistreatment and didn't get to live peacefully or happily. I'll be honest, as a vegan and animal rights activist, this DOES get to me. In fact, I would gladly skimp on my own food if I found a brand of organic/hormone free meat that was as humane and cruelty-free as possible, even if it was more expensive. I think that it's bad for our pets to be eating animals that were stressed and abused- I believe that energy is recycled and I don't want my cats to end up with bad energy in their bodies. I'm actively searching for an alternative.

I do, however, think that the meat we're feeding our pets on their raw diets comes from animals that were treated more humanely than those that eventually end up in commercial pet food. So it is probably a step up in that regard.

It's funny how once you take the blinders off and actually open your eyes to the faults in the world, you kind of open a Pandora's Box where nothing is every good enough or right enough. We just have to make our best effort to live peacefully with the Earth and its inhabitants every day. I think being conscious of issues like the treatment of animals raised for slaughter is better than pretending they don't exist at all.