Many people these days also feed a raw diet to their dogs. There are a few names for this style of feeding; B.A.R.F. (Biologically Appropriate Raw Food or Bones And Raw Food), or "raw feeding" are among some. People who feed this way believe that the ideal diet for your dog is a natural diet based on raw meats with bone, offal, a small amount of plant matter and supplements. Everything *must* be raw. Uncooked bones can be chewed up and digested by your dog, however *cooked* bones are dangerous and can splinter. Never give your dog *cooked* bones. Raw feeders believe that meats with bone, offal, vegetables and fruit offer the purest form of essential vitamins, minerals, amino acids and enzymes ensuring optimum nutrition for your companion. Some people believe that these foods are more valuable nutritionally when fed raw. If you would like to learn more about this diet, there is a wealth of information available on the internet. Join a raw feeding email group. There, you will meet many people in various stages of raw feeding, from people gathering information to make the big step, to people who have been raw feeding for over 20 years! A good list is the yahoo group "Raw Dog Canada" at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RawDogCanada/ . Or you can visit http://www.boxerworld.com (a boxer lover messageboard)and read some threads in the "B.A.R.F" forum to get an idea of how people raw feed. If you'd like a good book on the topic, you should get "Raw Meaty Bones Promote Health" by Dr. Tom Lonsdale.
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