Raw food feeding is currently the fastest growing sector of the pet food industry. There has never been a better time to include a raw range of pet foods in your brands portfolio, or to develop your own unique raw food range.
Since they evolved from the wild, dogs have been eating a diet of raw food. They have a unique gastrointestinal system that’s specifically designed to break down prey meat and bones with occasional wild plant matter.
But it wasn’t until 1993, after years of clinical experience and research, that an Australian vet named Dr Ian Billinghurst began advocating returning to a more natural, raw food diet for dogs. He called his feeding suggestions the BARF diet, an acronym that stands for Bones and Raw Food, or Biologically Appropriate Raw Food.
Billinghurst suggested that dogs would thrive on a diet based on fresh, real food, just as they would eat in the wild. Processed foods, he contended, were harmful to a dog’s health.
Today, hundreds more veterinary professionals understand and promote this logical, biologically sound way to feed our dogs.
What is a raw food diet?
A raw dog food diet typically consists of:
Muscle meat, often still on the bone
Bones, either whole or ground
Organ meats such as livers and kidneys
Plants like green leafy vegetables or herbs
Blueberries, Banana and other suitable fruits
Benefits of a raw food diet?
Eating raw food is well known to provide your dogs with a long list of benefits, these include:
Shinier coats
Healthier skin
Cleaner teeth
Stable energy levels
Smaller, firmer stools
Reduced risk of allergies and inflammation