Hacker News Reader

Comment by sydd | Hacker News Reader

look up BARF food, it's the best for the dog IMO, barely processed. we buy it in deep frozen big packs (essentialy frozen whole meat, not just some meat pasta) 1-2 times a month. The brand is Graf Barf, dunno if it's in the US.

View on HN

Given the topic is an FDA recall of a trendy diet which sounds better (grain free, high meat protein content), are there any studies which look at a BARF diet? I'm a dog owner cnsidering what to feed my pup, and right now I'm leaning towards sticking to Royal Canin based on the information available to us.

While I can’t speak to your question, I spoke to my mom (veterinarian) about this after reading this thread and asked her specifically about BARF. She said that in most patients she’s seen on those diets, their bloodwork has been all over the place. She said it’s because when dogs ate meat in the wild, they were actually indirectly eating an omnivore diet, because their prey had plants and grains in their guts. Additionally, she’s noticed some really nasty and hard to detect parasites which she suspects originates from these types of diets. Of course, this is anecdotal. She recommends a name-brand dog food because they’re all well-tested, and says to not worry about feeding meat to your dogs because they can produce the necessary amino acids themselves.

Consult your veterinarian for dietary advice for your specific animal. You should trust their level-headed advice over emotionally-driven decisions from owners.

It’s refreshing to see a skeptical comment like yours, and I too find it interesting a lot of people reporting jumping ship from one trendy diet to another.

Actually with BARF you should give also some vegetables to your dog. And good BARF food has the same things as you mentioned e.g. cow stomach with greens inside it (dunno it's English name) As for worms..you should always give your dog anti worm pills, he/she is always up to no good, e.g. drinking from puddles. Also buy quality barf food.

The person you are responding to is talking about hard to detect parasites, not just worms. Given that they are hard to detect, I don't think it is reasonable to assume that buying "quality barf food" will solve this issue.

> she’s noticed some really nasty and hard to detect parasites which she suspects originates from these types of diets

I've also seen a friends dog get very sick from raw food, but from bacteria. Required a vet visit for antibiotics.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com