What is the BARF diet for kitties?

BARF is an acronym that has several meanings. I believe that originally it stood for “Bones And Raw Foods”. However barfworld.com says it stand for “biologically appropriate raw food”. Either way, in recent times the newest generation of raw feeders are distancing themselves from this term and prefer not to use it as it is such an unpleasant and offensive way to address diet for a feline. When you think of a species appropriate diet you don’t want to think of vomit at the same time. Raw Feeding is a much more pleasant choice of words.

Feeding raw food for the feline consist of feeding a species appropriate diet of raw meat, organs and bones. There are many different ways to achieve this natural diet. The raw feeding spectrum goes from feeding ground meats, bones and organs, to feeding bone in pieces of chicken the to feeding whole prey, such as a mouse. As a raw feeder it is up to you to choose which type of raw food you will be offering your cat.

I personally feed our 14 cats a diet that contains ground whole chicken with bones, hearts, livers, and gizzards. I also buy pre-ground whole rabbit for variety. Due to the sheer number of cats we are feeding, we have to be a bit more economical in what meats we feed so chicken is the base of their diet; however for variety we also offer duck, turkey and mouse occasionally. Someday, when we are not caring for so many, we will be able to offer a much larger variety more often.

There are a huge Varity of resources out there to help you decide what is right for you and your cat. Some good places to start your research into raw feeding are at the following links.

http://www.catinfo.org/
http://www.catnutrition.org/
http://www.rawfedcats.org/
http://www.felinespride.com/
http://www.felinefuture.com/
http://www.felineinstincts.com/index.htm...
http://www.raisingcatsnaturally.com/
http://www.blakkatz.com/index.html
http://www.holisticat.com/
http://goldcoastragdolls.com/MyOwnCatFood.htm
http://www.mypetcarnivore.com/rawfeeding_basics.htm

It’s a raw diet and since I don’t have time to prepare and feed a true raw diet, I have them eating Evo no grain which is, as they say, raw without the raw. THere are many different views on feeding cats, raw, canned or kibble, so make sure you research them all and choose which is right for your kitty and for your lifestyle.

Source Link: 44 years of animal companionship. Currently owned by 3 cats, a parrot and some bugs.