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I attended the Dr. Ian Billinghurst "Give your dog a Bone Seminar" and I don't think I'll ever be able to feed a commercially prepared dry food of any kind after listening to his two-day seminar. Just finding out what is actually in them and understanding the destructive chemical changes undergone by heating essential fatty acids, essential amino acids, enzymes, and other vital life-sustaining nutrients in commercially prepared dog food made me feel like I've been slowly poisoning my dogs to death for years. (Sounds extreme and melodramatic, I know, but you should all take a serious read of his books. Also read "Food Pets Die For" by Ann Martin.
Give Your Dog a Bone and Grow Your Pups With Bones by Dr. Ian Billinghurst are distributed by the following
organizations in the USA:
1] Direct Book Service ...
PO Box 2778 Wenatchee WA 98807 - Phone 509-663-9115
2] Four M Enterprises ...
1280 Pacific St Union City Ca 94587 - <orders@4mdogbooks.com>
3] Puppyworks [707] 745-4237 or online at http://www.puppyworks.com
or
http://www.dogandcatbooks.com
Good Raw diet Websites: http://www.willowglen.com/barf.htm
http://www.njboxers.com/index.html
Dr Billinghurst is well-credentialed and well researched in his "BARF" diet (acronym for 'Bones and Raw Foods' or 'Biologically appropriate raw foods diet'). Dr Billinghurst had a background in agricultural husbandry and research before he became a veterinary surgeon in 1976. Prior to that he had attained a degree in agricultural science where nutritional management was emphasized.
There is no way I could easily summarize 2 days worth of seminar information but I will say he dispelled all the myths of the dangers in feeding raw food and carefully outlined how to feed raw safely. There were some common sense precautions he shared. But his message was -You DON'T have to be a nutritional expert. The second day was spent sharing case histories of various diseased dogs and how they were rehabilitated through nutritional correction. I'm converting my own dogs over from my current practice of feeding half kibble/ half raw to the BARF diet entirely.
I will share two very interesting tips.
1. He said grains have little place in a dog's diet. Commercial dog foods are as much as 90% grain-based. In addition to lacking enzymes, essential fatty acids and some essential amino acids, the high artificial calcium, protein and carbohydrate content of commercially prepared dog food often forces unnatural growth, where puppies can get easily fat and bones become more porous and loose density and integrity. High carbohydrate content really taxes the pancreas because the short canine gastrointestinal tract is not designed to digest it. On the other hand, the pre-digested raw grasses and grains that have passed through the ruminant stomachs of cows or sheep or the stomachs of other grazing animals/herbivores is not only relished by dogs, but it can be beneficial from clean herd sources. (Don't ask, read the book.) Instead of grains, he recommends RAW vegetables: Ones rich in carotene (such as carrots and pumpkin) and green leafy vegetables. (Now before you inform me that dogs can't digest this either, you are right, they must be crushed/pureed like applesauce to release the enzymes, which exist in the vegetables themselves and make the nutrients available to the dog, before adding it to the dogs diet.)
2. He said, while he'd never give cooked chicken bones to a dog, the RAW bones in the backs and necks were not brittle and the calcium and cartilage extremely beneficial. (Some of us pay lots of extra money for bottled cartilage extracts). The essential fatty acids and essential amino acids are in excellent, naturally
occurring balance in the chicken pieces (funny- do you think God knew something the food scientists didn't?). He also talked about how to round out the diet with 'healthy food scraps' and that you didn't have to be a rocket scientist to balance out a dog's nutritional requirements.
He admitted as a vet that most veterinary students receive what ever little nutritional information they learn from a single class sponsored by commercial pet food companies who worked hard to convince him that you have to be a nutritional scientist to develop a 'balanced diet'. But he said that his studies showed a strong correlation between the sudden increase of degenerative diseases and the onset of commercial dog feeding in Australia. Prior to that, most dogs at scraps and were healthier.
His rationales just made TOTAL sense and gave me a lot of hope for better vitality for my Wolfhounds. There were MANY testimonials from those that were present at the Seminar I attended. Some of the miracle dog stories were there to see 'in the fur'. An eleven-yr. old Landseer Newfoundland was leaping around catching Frisbees like a pup. A 10 yr. Irish Setter- scheduled to be euthanized went, in six months, from exhibiting severe allergy, arthritis, and autoimmune disease (with stiffness, arthritic lameness, bald and oozing skin etc.)- to growing back a luxurious coat, exhibiting clean, clear eyes and no longer lame.
Dr. B. said before the advent of commercial nutrition, he lived back during a period when dogs were neither wormed nor vaccinated. They ate rabbits, placentas at calving time, raw bones and table scraps. They became pregnant with no problems, and gave birth to large litters. They were healthy with a minimum of fuss. When he started vet school he was taught to encourage his clients to feed commercially-prepared, grain-based dog food. He fed it to his own dogs and for the first time his dogs started experiencing skin problems, smelly mouths and feces, anal sac problems, dental problems etc. These were the same problems that his clients, whom he'd advised to feed the commercial food, were experiencing. When he finally began questioning his clients, a consistent pattern emerged. Those dogs that were experiencing early degenerative disorders were on the commercial food. He didn't get to see too many of the healthy ones but when one came in for stitches or bone setting, or he went out to the farms to pull a calf or check a cow, he'd see healthy dogs that he discovered were still being fed the old way. He started doing feeding trials and the results were always the same. The raw diet, with lots of raw, meaty bones, vegetables, a little fruit and healthy scraps, was keeping dogs healthy and the processed and cooked foods were not. The book is the results of over ten years of research and clinical comparison. I'm in!
Update: 2001: My Irish Wolfhound bitch lived to be 11 yrs. old on this diet. This longevity is something of a rarity in this breed. She aged in very good health and was active until the day God called her home.
With any dog, Start gradually- add the pureed veggies FIRST to whatever your dog eats currently.
HEALTHY FOOD FOR YOUR DOGS (c) Ian Billinghurst
Note: Feed totally RAW
We devised this when one of our own dogs would not eat vegetables.
The meals are based entirely on raw food consisting of raw and finely crushed (pureed like applesauce) fruits & vegetables e.g. 1 lb. vegetables/ such as carrots, pumpkin, squash, celery, spinach, asparagus, broccoli, apples, banana, pear etc.
One fourth of the mixture consists of: lean ground beef, chicken, lamb, fish
To which we add such things as: Yogurt - Cultured plain; or Cottage cheese; eggs - raw, with crushed shells, preferably from range-fed chickens; olive and flaxseed oil - (2 or 3 tablespoons each). Liver - raw - say a quarter of a calf's liver; garlic - 2 or 3 crushed cloves (natural wormer); kelp powder - up to 4 teaspoons; B vitamins - a teaspoon of B Complex. PLUS OTHER HEALTHY FOOD SCRAPS
E.g. SMALL amounts of cooked veggies, oatmeal or rice, etc are OK
Any surplus not fed on the day should be formed into serving sized portions, frozen and thawed out as required. I generally make enough to last about a week.
This is fed at approx. 2% of the dog's body weight, adjusted + or - depending on activity level etc. (So for example, a 75 lb. dog would eat about 3/4 to 1- 1/2 lb. of this meal)
* FEED RAW MEATY BONES IN THE MORNING (This can be marrow bones, chicken backs, necks etc. but must be fed RAW...) Amount is 1-2% of dog's body weight depending on activity level. Occasionally (about once a
week ) I will substitute canned mackerel/fish or raw organ meat such as beef heart or calves liver.
*THE FROZEN MIXTURE CAN BE THAWED AND FED AT THE EVENING MEAL
* Add 1 Tsp. to 2 Tbsp. -depending on the approximate size of your dog of FLAX OIL EVERY DAY -VERY HEALTHY!
My mix varies with what I have on hand. I mix enough for about a week and freeze portions. Dr. Billinghurst emphasized that they do not have to have the exact same thing every day but that the ingredients can be 'averaged out' over the month in each batch of BARF.
Here's to healthier dogs.
Mary Mazzeri
Harvest Irish Wolfhounds since 1984
Home-bred Ch/FCH UDT's OA's
Carpentersville, IL
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