BarfWorld: Fresh Frozen Dog Food

More and more consumers are requesting information on calories in the diet because they are concerned about the proper feeding amounts for their breed. The feeding guidelines that we display on all our BARF World Diet packages are strictly a guide or a rule of thumb. There are many variables that need to be considered in order to know what is a proper amount to feed.

Factors that make this guide unreliable are:

• Differences in an individual metabolic rate
• The efficiency of metabolism
• Level of activity
• Environmental temperature
• Environmental humidity
• Age
• Sex
• Breed
• Animal size (small needs more per kg body weight than bigger)
• And most importantly the source of the calories. (Calories from sugar and starch are more fattening than from fat or protein).

Processing plays a big role: overheated ingredients, despite identical caloric calculation, or even a cooked/extruded food is different in metabolizable calories than the same identical ingredients if not cooked, microwaved or heated.

Label claims of caloric content are so useless as to be more harmful than good.

The most important thing to remember in the proper feeding of a diet is the trained eye of the keeper!!!!

Feed the animal the amount that allows your dog to have the body condition you want.

Advice on amounts to feed:

• Dog with no activity- The amount that maintains ideal weight may not be enough to keep the dog feeling full, so begging may ensue. Displace this behavior with chew toys, walks, and other activity. You can also consider feeding the daily ration in more frequent meals (reduces begging).
• Dog with average activity- feed per the feeding guide, adjusted to the amount that maintains ideal weight.
• Dog with high activity- Give the dog as much as the dog will eat without gaining weight. Stool volume will go up.
• Lactation- Free choice- keep in mind that in as early as 3 weeks the puppies may be consuming some of mom’s food.
• Puppy Large and Small- (Keep in mind that often a pet owner does not know how big a dog will be. Obviously, someone who bought a purebred knows the adult size, but they are a minority. Knowing the mother’s size is not a proper indicator either). Puppies should be fed frequent small meals. There is far more danger from overfeeding than under feeding. If bone and stature appear to be increasing properly, a leaner body condition is much preferred to a butterball physique. Dogs are growing for 18 months, with small breeds reaching adult metabolism a little sooner.

BOTTOM LINE RECOMMENDATION – The best source of accurate information is the trained eye of the pet owner!

*Source- Dr. Richard Patton PhD nutritionist.

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This last week has been hectic and full of potential health decision options for me. I am currently dealing with some health issues and it never fails, just about the time you have made up your mind on a direction to take, another option presents itself and you become confused again on the direction to go forward. In my case, it has been the option to take the advice from the conventional, traditional medical experts or resort to the alternative suggestions from several different newsletter publishers that I subscribe to. The point is that each physician has an opinion on how to handle each medical problem. The conventional treatments in many cases are not working. I have had three close friends die recently after undergoing the damaging results of chemotherapy and radiation treatments. False hopes that have proven to be false. Many turn to unconventional approaches and treatment and look for alternative methods to handle the disease. It would be interesting to catalog the results from both approaches and see which one is most effective and has the best results. You can hear stories about the successes and failures from both approaches. There are so many different variables that come into play that it is hard to quantify the results. Every situation is different and there are so many different stages of the disease that it is hard to compare the results.

I was thinking today that my experiences in the selling and manufacturing of the BARF (raw meat) diets has been a journey of the same kind. We have been contrarian advocates in feeding raw meat diets to dogs. We obviously have our opinions on how to properly feed a dog and others present their wisdom as well.

What is the best way to sort out the truth from the fiction?

Is it by observing the results? In this case we win hands down.

Is it by submitting scientific evidence as to the adequacy of the diet? In that case the dry food manufacturers win, they have spent the money to try and produce an adequate feed based on using human by-products and lower grade ingredients.

There is a difference in ingredient quality in the kibble products however, they all have a common difference when comparing to a natural raw meat diet. That difference is the heat processing required to make the kibble diet. The result is a feed that has lost the live enzyme content and is void of the phytonutrients that are present in raw diets. We believe that this difference alone is the single best reason to consider a raw meat diet. It doesn’t take long to see the results of feeding this way.

It’s all about the choices we make in life that allows the comparisons between our decisions. There will always be contrarian views to all of our decisions. It is up to us to try and make the most appropriate choices for ourselves and our pets.

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Comparing a dogs digestive ability to a humans is like comparing apples to oranges. Mother nature has given each species an appropriate digestive capacity.

Dogs, mainly eat meat or at least should only eat meat. A dogs stomach acid (hydrochloric acid) is 15 times greater than in humans so that they digest meat in 10 hours, which accommodates their very short intestines.

Humans produce an equal amount throughout the stomach and intestines combined, allowing raw meat and other raw animal products to digest easily and efficiently in our much longer digestive tract within 16 hours. (It is interesting to note that cooked meat takes 24 -36 hours to digest accompanied with putrefaction.)

The lesson here is that the dog has the ability to digest and assimilate raw meat diets much easier than a human. For this reason they are able to handle bacteria and microbes that might injure a human. It is important to realize that microbes and pathogens are everywhere and that they are needed for the process of dealing with decay.

The message is to feed each species appropriately. Thus the BARF DIET which is the most biologically appropriate raw food for dogs.

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This year has been an unusual year for the growth of dandelions and other weeds in our lawn. In fact, our whole town looks like we are suffering from the dandelion flu! It hardly pays to try and correct the problem with pesticides because if your neighbor doesn’t do it then it spreads to your lawn anyway.

Last week I had a door to door salesman stop and explain that he had canvassed the whole neighborhood and had signed up 14 neighbors to take on his pesticide treatment that would control the weeds. Not thinking about my dog, I hastily signed up for the treatment. They came out and sprayed the yard front and back for a minimal charge. The application worked great. The weeds and the dandelions have wilted and disappeared.

Then on Friday I was working with one of our distributors and she mentioned that her house was for sale and she was showing me around the yard and pointed to the large yard that she has to house her four dogs. She mentioned that none of her lawn had pesticide applications in order to protect her animals from these potent toxins. It hit me like a ton of bricks that I had potentially created a toxin situation for my dog Ubie. I knew better than to do this but had forgotten this time to consider her potential exposure to this harmful chemical.

Animals are far more affected by pesticides because of the closer distance to the ground. In addition I tie her up outside and she has to lay on the grass and she becomes even more exposed to the chemicals because of it. I tell this story in order for others to become more considerate than I was, when it comes to chemical exposure to your animals.

We now walk our dog into areas that have not been treated in hopes that she can eliminate this exposure. It is the long term application and exposure to chemicals that lead to serious illnesses later on. No different than with humans as we are exposed to the environmental chemicals every day of our life. The difference, as I pointed out earlier, is that their noses are more sensitive and closer to the ground and it is hard not to be affected to a greater degree. THE SOLUTION, at least for our situation, is to only treat our front yard and leave the back yard free of pesticides. This affords each of us a safer and better program.

Yesterday I read about a new inexpensive way to eliminate warts. The milky substance in the stems of dandelions supposedly will eliminate a wart in 3 or 4 days. It takes continuous application of the substance to get the job done. So maybe this is the benefit we gain from growing the dandelions now in our back yard. I know that I could harvest them all and manufacture an annual production of wart remover if works.

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This is what I was asked yesterday when a breeder called and questioned me as to whether our meat patties were adequate to feed a pregnant bitch. She was concerned because the label indicates that the diet is only 12% protein. It is a legitimate question and an explanation needs to be given.

It all boils down to the amount of moisture in the diet. Most dry feed diets contain approximately 10% moisture whereas a natural raw meat diet contains approximately 70% moisture. In order to make an apples to apples comparison you must first reduce the diet to it’s dry matter basis. Once you have done this you realize that the protein level is in the 35% range based on a dry matter basis. This is the only way to make a fair comparison.

This also explains why a dog that eats a raw meat diet doesn’t need the same amount of water to drink. He/she is getting his/her natural supply of water from the food. This water source is far more utilized than drinking from an external water source.

Another reason the raw diet is beneficial is because of the toxic mineral levels in some of the city water supplies. Many diseases such as hyperthyroidism can be linked to the deficient Iodine levels in the nations drinking water. Long term ingestion of the toxins and deficient minerals has led to many illnesses.

Rest assure that the BARF patties provide adequate levels of nutrition for growth and reproduction purposes. The mom is healthy, has lots of milk, and produces excellent litters.

Be sure to follow the feeding instructions on the package to produce the proper nutrition levels for pregnancy issues.

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Did you know that the United States has been using military working dogs since the Revolutionary War? They were first used as equipment pack animals but throughout the years have offered their services as drug and explosives detectors, messengers, sentries, and scouts. 

During the time of World War II thousands of families in America offered their dogs for enlistment in the US military – the K-9 Corps – once it became known that the armed forces of the United States needed dogs.

Service dogs are used today in Iraq, Afghanistan and in any area of the US military where needed.

The breeds most commonly used are Shepherds and Labradors although Dobermans were also once a preferred breed trained for war.  

A Famous Dog Loses His Medal

One of the most famous military working dogs was Chips, a Shepherd mix from Pleasantville, NY, offered by his family to serve during WWII. Chips was trained to be a sentry dog and was assigned to the 3rd Infantry Division unit  – he served in North Africa, Italy, France and Germany.

Chips was incredibly brave – one can read story after story about his heroic efforts, and his most memorable act of valor occurred one day on a beach in Sicily. 

As he and his handler were crossing the beach, an enemy machine gun crew hidden in a pillbox attacked them. Chips broke free from his handler and dove into the pillbox and attacked the enemy gunmen, forcing them to surrender.  For his military service, Chips was awarded the Silver Star for valor and a Purple Heart for his wounds.  However, both awards were later revoked.

Thankfully, in 1990, Disney made a movie called “Chips the War Dog” which was based on the life of this courageous dog and it enabled the world to recognize him as a hero despite the fact that his two medals had been taken away.


Now you’re probably wondering why they revoked the medals after such a heroic act?

Well, Chips’ bravery and awards had caught the attention of the press and unfortunately also the attention of the Commander of the Order of the Purple Heart.  He complained to President Roosevelt and the War Department that by honoring Chips – a dog – they were demeaning all service men that had also been awarded a Purple Heart.

Chips lost his metals but was given an honorable discharge and returned to his family in New York. 

But the story doesn’t end there…it has an ugly twist.

Not for Chips, but for many of the other military dogs that have since served their country.  

You see, the “Chips” incident and subsequent debates about “dogs” receiving metals led to the decision that dogs did not have the right to be recognized for their bravery and heroic actions – yes it’s really true – and even worse – the military could now refer to these wonderful beings as “equipment”.

If that isn’t bad enough…

When the U.S. pulled out of Vietnam, the serving military dogs that were now classified as “equipment” were simply left behind!  It’s hard to believe, but it’s true.  Over 4,000 service dogs were left in Vietnam.  Many handlers tried their best to bring them back home but the military orders were firm – a big “NO”.  

Only about 200 made it back- and no one really knows what happened to the 4000 that were left there.  Many were euthanized or handed over to the South Vietnamese Army.

Many of these wonderful, loyal, dedicated animals that risked their lives for our country and our service men did not get to come home. 

But there is a great organization today working on behalf of these animals. 


The United States War Dogs Association


In our research we found that the main organization working on behalf of service dogs is the United States War Dogs Association. 

A description of our canine heroes from their website: 

“It has been estimated that these courageous canine heroes saved over 10,000 lives during the conflict in Vietnam”. 
Today all branches of our Armed Forces are utilizing Military Patrol Dogs specializing in Drug and Bomb/Explosive detection. There are approximately 600-700 of these canines in the Middle East in such places as Kuwait, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and Iraq. They are being used to patrol Air Bases, Military Compounds, Ammunition Depots and Military Check Points. They are guarding and protecting our Military Personnel as they were trained to do, with Courage, Loyalty and Honor. “

Personally, we wish they had chosen another name – other than “war dogs” to describe the organization and the animals that serve… In fact, the correct term for these animals is Military Working Dogs and not war dogs.  Many call them the “soldier you don’t know.

Here are some of the activities of the association:



• Service dogs now receive verbal accolades and recognition for their services and there are associations such as the U.S. War Dog Association that in 2006 had a beautiful sculpture of a military dog and handler completed in New Jersey. However, the association had to raise most of the funds for this on its own.
• The U.S. War Dogs Association continues to work on other ways to honor these service animals. For example it petitioned the US Postal Service to have a commemorative stamp for military working dogs.
• This association helps find loving homes for retired military and police dogs and the military does have a retirement program for their canines. 
• Military dogs can now be allowed to retire early and be adopted by their handlers following an injury.
• This organization works tirelessly to send care packages to the military working service dogs and their handlers overseas.



This year, in honor of Memorial Day (also known as “Decoration Day”) and for Chips and all the other unrecognized canine heroes, BARF World will make a charitable donation to the United States War Dogs Association. 

We decided to do this in lieu of another discount coupon to you and we hope you agree.  Let’s be clear – while we don’t support war, we believe in the humane work that this organization does for these animals and their handlers and the necessity to recognize their heroism.

If you’re interested in learning more about their activities, please visit Operation Military Care K-9 at: http://uswardogs.org/id40.html



Happy Memorial Day!

From all of the BARF World team, 

Lily, Rob, Amber, Christopher and Jose.



P.S.  What do you think? Should dogs, in fact any animal, be allowed to receive a medal and recognition of the highest honor for their service and valor?



P.P.S. We are looking into writing an updated book about “Heroic Dogs” and their acts of bravery. Would you like to participate?  If you happen to know of exceptionally heroic dogs, whether it is a service dog or your own pet, we would love to hear your stories.

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The fundamental philosophy of natural medicine is that the body has the ability to heal itself from within if given the opportunity.

Many diseases are named and treated ineffectively or misdiagnosed. Most diseases are the result of an imbalance in the biological terrain. It is a systematic approach to utilize holistic medicine along with conventional medicine to find the ideal solution. Optimum health can only be achieved when all forms of medicine are considered, and used for an effective treatment.

Disease prevention is just as important as treatment, so when we suggest a raw food diet, various herbs, supplements, and exercise we are initiating a prevention treatment. We have learned over time that dogs have an unusual ability to heal without drug or herbal intervention. In fact, it is estimated that 70 to 80% of all diseases are able to be healed without drug or herbal intervention.

There is no question about the miraculous healing qualities that nature has provided. There is a lot left to learn about the healing qualities of our pets so that it can be applied to the human healing process. Many times we treat an animal for a condition that should have merely been left alone. It is called symptomatic treatment when we tend to diagnose and treat conditions based on the symptoms rather than addressing the core issue. Unless an animal is suffering or its life is in danger, the symptoms should be left alone so that the natural repair process can proceed.

It is reported that at least 90% of all diseases seen in humans and their pets are avoidable. It just makes more sense to try and avoid the disease than to treat it after the fact.

We can decide to avoid the disease by ingesting and feeding our pets a quality natural raw food diet. Eliminate processed foods from their diets as much as possible, and use god’s gifts from nature (natural supplements). This seems like an easy resolve to eliminate the health problems that plague our nation for ourselves and our pets.

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 We have all heard stories about people that have overcome unsurmountable levels of obstacles to accomplish a dream or to find the finish line.  I am so proud of my two partners in the dog food business that prior to reaching social security age have ventured beyond the expected and have reached for a goal.  They announced to all the employees, friends and family that they planned a trip to scale Mount Everest and hike up to the base camp at 18,000 foot elevation.  Originally it was Ed that had this dream and mountainous aspiration but when Lily announced that she would accompany him that made the trip even more fascinating. You see, neither one of my partners are hikers, climbers, or camping enthusiasts. They are hard working and always looking for new challenges type individuals.  They have studied all the merits and followed the suggestions of mentors like Anthony Robbins and Jim Rohn.  They have attended numerous seminars trying to learn from the best.  As a part of this training they have learned to grasp for the stars and push themselves past normal limits.  The hike to the base camp of Everest was the dream and reality that any goal can be achieved if you believe that you can do it.  Congratulations to Ed and Lily for an outstanding accomplishment and a lifelong goal achieved.  With partners like this, our company can do and accomplish any goal put in front of us.

Lily and Ed at Everest Base Camp

 They have inspired all of us at BARF World to set our standards high and establish out of the box, reality thinking to achieve our goals. 

 When I started to write this blog I stumbled across a video that was posted on the internet.  I would recommend that anyone that has any feelings of self doubt or feeling sorry for themselves in general, please go to the following website for one of the most inspiring videos I have ever seen.  It takes 12 minutes out of your schedule to watch an incredible feat that surpasses or at least matches the best ones I have seen.  It is a must see video for anyone that is trying to survive a unachieveable hurdle.  
Click here to see \"Walk On\"

 After watching the video, see if you feel the same way about an adversity that you face.  You will find that there are no limits when it comes to believing that you can do it.  Today is a new day at BARF World.  We must all face the challenge of accomplishment of each days perceived unattainable goals for the day.  THUMBS UP! The finish line is in sight!

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We are asked all the time whether or not our raw meat diet (the BARF DIET) is suitable for cats. The answer is absolutely, YES! Our diets have been fed exclusively to the nations exotic zoo cats for decades.

Dogs are much easier to feed then cats, primarily because palatability is much less of an issue with dogs than it is with cats. Dogs are carnivores also but the difference is that they can consume more vegetable matter per body weight than cats. So, an easy conversion can be made on the dog diet to conform to the cats additional protein requirement. I suggest that to convert the BARF diet formulation to an acceptable cat formulation requires an additional protein supplementation.

If you have an 8 ounce BARF patty then you need to merely add an additional 2 ounce source of the same protein. If you are feeding chicken patties then supplement with an additional 2 ounces of chicken wings. Bingo, you have the ideal cat diet. If you are feeding our beef or combo diet you can add the wings, chicken necks or ground beef to the patties and Bingo, you have the required formula for cats. The addition of the extra protein source will dilute the veggie level making it ideal in composition.

It is necessary to caution you also about the resistance you might get when making the conversion. The dry kibble cat diets have extensive flavoring agents applied to the dry kibble. The cats get used to this taste and they are sometimes hard to make the conversion to a diet that is more appropriate for this species. Cats can be very finicky, so experimenting with the palatability is a must for cats. Sometimes we have to do various tricks to make them switch. The cat guardian is many times challenged in making this change over. Cats relate to the texture of food more so than dogs. So be prepared to try different techniques in order to be successful in the conversion.

It is sometimes necessary to slightly heat the diet to induce them to the new formula. Try not to overheat the diet to start with because you will destroy the live enzymes in the food. Each day reduce the heating time until you have them eating it raw. Powdered garlic sometimes works to entice them to eat the raw food. Mixing it with some canned product may also introduce them to the product.

We are happy to consult with anyone who has questions on the appropriateness of feeding the BARF diet to cats.

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Yesterday I realized to what extent some people will go to in trying to convert their dog to a new diet. We schedule 15 minute interviews with customers that are having problems with conversion to a raw diet or they are having major issues with certain health conditions.

I had a call last night with a customer that really wants to engage her two dogs into an improved feeding program and is convinced that the BARF philosophy best suits the need for her dogs. She has a “Yorkie-poo” that has decided to go on a hunger strike rather than to eat the raw diet.” Chewie decided that after vomiting up her previous meal, she didn’t want to experience that again and has resisted all attempts to eat it again. She also has resisted other foods so it makes the feeding time a little more difficult. So she decided to go on a hunger strike instead of eating.

I was called to offer some hints on what it would take to get her to eat the food. She had called the office and talked with our food specialist who suggested several tips such as using powdered garlic and heating the food slightly to offer a difference in temperature and texture. Then she bought yogurt to add some probiotics to the intestinal track. That didn’t work either so I was called in to offer a few other tricks. I mentioned to the customer that she was getting advice from the bottom of my bag of tricks.

Usually, the garlic and the slight heating of the patty does the trick and they gobble it right up but this time it didn’t work. What to do now? Quit trying and go back to dry kibble? NO WAY, was her response. The kibble was what had caused the health issues she was dealing with and returning to that feed was not going to happen. She tried canned food to see if Chewie would eat a wet variety. That was not working either.

So in desperation, she agreed to try one more suggestion. I suggested that she purchase a jar of chicken baby food from the grocery store and add a raw egg to the blend. Add a very small portion of the raw chicken patty to the initial feeding. If this was accepted then add a little more raw meat each day until she finally is eating the raw diet. Hopefully the last suggestion in my bag of feeding tricks works and she will be able to enjoy the benefits of the raw food advantage.

Her other dog has accepted the raw food patties and does the pet patty dance before each meal is served. It is rewarding to have customers that are so convinced about the future success on our diets that they are willing to expend that much effort to make them eat what is best for them.

Thanks to Gail for being so diligent and thanks to all our other customers that follow our path for better nutrition.

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