BARF diet also known as biologically appropriate raw food, bones and raw food and born again raw food is a diet program for felines. The foundation of this diet is base on the belief that bones and raw food are the closest form of food cat cats eat in the wild, and should be best for feline health.
Supporters of the BARF diet claim that cats would be healthier feeding a raw diet. Suggesting that cats feeding on commercial food would be detrimental to their health as proven in many studies done across the country because the cooking process destroy many essential nutrients that cats would require.
While those that were in favor of the cook diet argue on the fact that raw food can carry bacteria that causes food borne diseases and that alone far more outweigh the benefits that a raw diet could bring along. Critics also say that raw bone shards can break teeth and perforate the intestinal tract. With all said, both sides still has problems coming out with concrete evidences to proof their claims.
An example of such research was done by Lisa Freeman, DVM, and Kathryn Michel, DVM, publish in the journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, March 2001. It was done by evaluating five dog food diets, 3 homemade and 2 commercial. Studies show that raw diets lacked phosphorus and potassium and had high levels of zinc, and all these elements, added together are a big concern when feeding puppies. In addition to that, one homemade diet shows presence of E. coli 0157:H7, a well known cancer causing bacteria to humans.
On the other hand, the Pottenger Cat Studies, conducted between 1932 and 1942, found that cats that were feed a raw food diet which consist of raw meat, bones, raw milk and cod-liver oil, outlived and out-reproduced their peers that were fed a cooked diet. And surprising, the study also found that cats that were fed a cooked diet had problems to reproduce after several generations. And this condition improves only when they change the diet back to the raw diet.
There are also critics of the Pottenger study, and they cite the fact that no one knows for certain what aspect of the raw food diet actually affected the health of the animals, whether it was raw meat, raw milk or cod-liver oil. They also note that the study has yet to be reproduced to determine scientific merit.
Even Ann Martin, the author who took on the commercial pet food industry, calling them to task for the unhealthy ingredients used in pet food, does not support the raw food diet. In a Better Nutrition article, June 2005, she notes the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had found that a high percentage of raw meat contains at least one form of bacteria. She quotes a veterinarian who explains that certainly it was normal in the wild for wolves to eat raw meat, but it was also normal for wolves to occasionally die of salmonella poisoning.
She describes a study in the Journal of the American Animal Health Hospital Association that showed that two cats became sickened by salmonella in raw food that led to their deaths and that the bacterial cultures of the cats and the meat were identical.
Although there are many examples of cats living a healthier and longer life on a raw diet, there are no clear evident to proof the benefits of the raw diet, and how much, if any bacteria, can be destroyed by the cat's stomach acids. If you are considering changing your cat's diet, it is recommended to talk to your veterinarian first.
| Moses Wright is the webmaster of Feline Cat Diet. More helpful information on Commercial Cat Food and Special Medical Cat Diet can be found on his website. You are welcome to reprint this article if the content and live link are keep intact. |
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