The Dog Bowl Pet Supply and BARF Raw Food Blog

The Dog Bowl has put it's stamp of approval on this leash - we love it & so do our clients!

Made in the U.S.A.

Quality through and through!

Soft grip area on the handle makes it easy & comfortable for the user's hand.

Toughest nylon available - and unlike cotton it does not stretch or shrink!

Perfect for training or just going for a casual walk!

Comes with a key ring - perfect for a quick "grab the leash & go"!

7 colors available

3 lengths available

3 thickness or diameters available

Choose your hardware color - solid brass or black nickel (to match your collar hardware).

Additional "traffic" option for walking in crowded areas allow you to "grab" your dog close in an instant. (Instead of wrapping the leash around and around your hand until your dog is finally close to you.)

This lead is by far one of our favorites! Order one for yourself or it also makes a perfect gift - click here!

• Positive changes occur. As it relates to energy levels, on the BARF diet you’ll notice your dog or cat with an increased stamina.
• Healthy teeth. The BARF diet will improve the condition of teeth and decrease the dog’s dental problems. As for an extra benefit? Fewer visits to the vet.
• Skin will clear up. As your dog or cat continuously eat the healthy BARF diet, skin problems will disappear.
• Ear problems disappear. This particular BARF diet benefit relates to strengthening the immune system.
• That said, your dog or cat will forge a resistance to internal and external parasites as it relates to fleas, worms, and parasites.
• Improved water intake. Since a hallmark of the BARF diet relies on hydration, it’s no surprise the BARF diet will create an oasis of water intake for your dog. Plus, since this diet prevents the formation of crystals and stones in the urine of cats and dogs, what’s not to love about BARF?

We urge you to PLEASE contact a local vet and get professional assistance!

Common questions you should know & ask your vet:

• The pet's parents genetic line should be verified to make sure there are no BIG issues: i.e. hip dysplasia, etc.
• It is a good idea to have your vet on call for you when the litter is due.
• Ask your vet what to do if the pups will not nurse.
• Ask your vet when the first round of shots are due.
• Ask your vet if it is ok to apply Advantage and other flea & tick products.
• When to wein the pups from the mom.
• Bathing products that contain DEA, TEA, SLS, detergent, and/or alcohol can harm your pet's skin - young or old.
• Contact a trainer to consult for specfic behavior issues - and start early! The earlier the bad behavior is changed, the easier it will be to care for the pups in the long run.
  

Have you just switched your dog or cat to the BARF diet?

There are some VERY important things to be aware of:

1. The BARF Diet does NOT contain anything your dog or cat cannot digest - no chemicals, no preservatives, no starches, no grains, no fillers, no coloring, no heat processing. Essentially it is THE healthiest food available for your pet! You probably already know this & it is the reason you switched! So stick with it!
2. So once your dog or cat has a break from toxins and chemicals of processed foods it's body is essentially clean. Help keep it this way! Please DO NOT feed cookies from the vet's office, that bone shaped item that you got with your coffee & bagel this morning, NO table scraps, NO biscuits with grains, NO cooked foods, etc! It might make you feel better to give such a treat, but it makes your pet feel awful and could be to toxic!
3. Remember it is the break from the chemicals (of processed, fake foods for pets) that gives your pet's body the ability to repair & heal itself to be stronger and live well. Our bodies are the best doctors - so before you can get a shot for something or get stitches your body is already starting to try to repair itself - your pet's bodies are no different!
4. Loss of appetite? This happens with us too.... We finally get into eating a healthy diet & then we eat some junk food at a party - yikes! It is expected that your pet may loose some of it's appetite if he/she has eaten something that is processed (which has chemicals and no water) or is not digestible (SUCH AS A STARCH OR GRAIN). Another example of this is when we are not feeling well - we simply don't eat the same volume/amount of food as we do when we feel great. It is our bodies way of using energy to heal, and not so much energy to digest!
5. Dogs and cats can sustain on just about anything (garbage, poo, processed foods, grains & starches which are not digestible - that is why we ended up domesticating them), but to optimize the long term health and vitality feeding SMART choices and digestible foods is the best way to go!
6. Dogs don't have a very good sense of taste, but they do have great noses.... So just like us the greasy foods smell great & seem appealing! As their food provider you will notice your pets, just like little kids will pick the junk & not eat the healthy foods. (They will essentially fill up on the bad foods, feel sick and not eat the better for them items.) Your pets need YOU to make the better decisions & stick with it! They are survivors and if they are hungry they will eat!

If your pet is eating dry food... Unfortunately the answer is yes.

Did you know that dogs and cats CANNOT move their jaw left to right, so essentially they cannot grind. The dry pet food mixes with the saliva and becomes sticky, ultimately sticking in the molars of your pet's mouth. (Do an experiment at home: Mix some dry food with a little water in the palm of your hand. See how sticky and greasy it becomes! After a meal like that there is no way clean teeth are left behind!)

The sticky dry food has shown to collect in the back molars and harbor dangerous bacteria and plaque, which leads to tooth decay, and even more serious long term health issues such as kidney and heart problems.

There is no time like the present! If your puppy or kitten has lost their baby teeth and gotten their permanent teeth - these are for keeps! Dental care is a vital part of your pet's long term health and welfare.

The Dog Bowl now offers two very good products that aid in fighting the decay of pet's teeth.

Leba - click here to read more about Leba III. Leba III is a simple spray! No brushing (which can damage your pet's gums and cause a root canal), no mixing! This couldn't be easier! To apply LEBA simply mist into your pet's mouth. The LEBA mixes with your pet's saliva and kills bacteria and plaque. *The Dog Bowl is now offering FREE SHIPPING for the LEBA III!










Plaque Off - click here to read more about PlaqueOff. Plaque Off is simple too! It comes with a small scoop inside the bottle which allows you simply sprinkle a small amount to your pet's food. It removes the bacteria in your pet's mouth and keeps breath nice & fresh. Our clients have requested we carry this item, they love it & we do to!

Dental care is a very important to your pet's health and welfare. To shop for more wonderful dental products The Dog Bowl offers click here!

Have you noticed how powerful marketing has become? If you don't think it is all around us next time you are in a store pay attention to labels on the boxes and bags.

Just like a magazine cover images of "goodness" are plastered all around produced items to entice you to buy. From adult foods, to kid cereals, even to pet foods the labels are covered with symbols to convince you that that product is wonderful. But do we ever ask what are we REALLY buying?

Even if you are a ingredient label reader there are slick ways to separate ingredients that are no so desirable into 2-5 items so you won't recognize the one you know to look for!

Products now are being sold by popular cartoon character such as Shrek and more... But what does Shrek have to do with that item that is boxed or bagged? Great salesperson though - as the flavor industry is a billion dollar industry and counting!

Let's think about our kids for a moment. How are they being taught to be consumers?

If you have a family (kids and pets) we recommend read a book by Susan Gregory Thomas, who is a professor and investigative journalist. In her latest book, "Buy, Buy Baby," she examined how products are sold to kids AND their parents. Thomas said putting animated characters, like Dora the Explorer and Shrek, on everything from sugary cereals to macaroni and cheese has made it more difficult for parents at the supermarket.

"Well, I think oftentimes ... children are going to be gravitating to the licensed products," she said. "You know, they're gonna want the 'Dora' soup over the organic chicken stew."

And, said Thomas, the problem is evolving. Another difference, she said, is that older symbols like Tony the Tiger were confined to cereal. Modern characters sell everything, and they're also perceived as educational models...

"One of the things that is really difficult for children," said Thomas, "especially under the age of 8, is understanding the difference between advertising and reality. They just don't understand the persuasive tactics."

"They fall for it every time, and they don't understand that they are being led down a garden path in a deliberate way," she said.

So this brings us to one very good questions: Since it seems like marketing is growing a new generation of kids that "believe the labels" is it too late for us? Can we even tell the difference?

Ask yourself why you think that item is "natural"? What does it mean to be "organic"? How is that supposedly good item "able" to sit on a store shelf for a year or longer? Is it real food or just good marketing?

That's a hotly contested question. Many veterinarians are perfectly comfortable with the commercial brands of processed pet foods, despite the unappetizing ingredients.

After all, notes Davis, California veterinarian Quinton Rogers, "If a dog were in the wild, it would happily eat the ENTIRE carcass of its prey, including the feet, brains, and entrails."

But other animal experts and many pet owners believe that the ingredients in commercial pet food can affect an animal's behavior as well as it's health.

Click here to read more about raw food for pets.

• Does the BARF diet return our pets to nature? No. Definitely not. Such a return is not possible and also unnecessary. Instead, the BARF diet mimics the natural or evolutionary diet by using appropriate foods. The natural environment is disastrous. It includes lack of shelter, starvation and attack by potential food, attack by other predators and the complete lack of medical and surgical intervention. This is not what we want for our pets. We want an environment that maximizes health. That includes a Biologically Appropriate Raw Food Diet. A BARF diet.
• Should I cook the patties or minces? Cooking would render the food biologically inappropriate in a fundamental way. Cooked food loses much nutritional value, including enzymes and biologically active essential fatty acids. The latter, being damaged by heat and oxygen, become slow poisons, doing irreparable damage. Cooking causes complexes to form between proteins and starches, between vitamins and trace minerals, and between minerals and minerals. Cooking produces carcinogens and anti-immunogens. Many minerals, essential amino acids and vitamins also become indigestible.
• How much should I feed my adult dog? Adult dogs can be fed between 2-3% of the their body weight. We recommend starting with 1/2 pound of food per 25 lbs of body weight daily and make adjustments according to your dog's age and activity. Remember that a healthy dog is not overweight.
• How much do I feed my puppy? BARF World recommends feeding puppies up to 10 % of their body weight. Therefore, if your pup weighs 10 lbs you should feed 1 lb of food divided between 3 or 4 feedings per day. Growing puppies, especially the large breeds, should be kept lean so adjustments to feeding amounts will have to be monitored closely.
• Do I need to supplement your BARF DIET? Dr. Billinghurst's BARF DIET looks to whole raw foods to supply nutrients. It is our aim - as much as is humanly possible - to source and use evolutionary foods. That is why we insist that a wide variety of foodstuffs make up the components of this diet. We do add some 'land and sea' green food concentrates such as alfalfa leaf and kelp to the diet and recommend the BARFPlus for those that want to provide extra nutriment support and antioxidant protection.
• Can I feed processed foods with the BARF DIET? We do NOT recommend combining a raw food diet with processed foods. The digestive rate for dry processed food is much longer than for raw foods which can cause digestive disturbances. While acknowledging wholesome foods as basic to their own health, many people still believe their pets will be healthiest when fed processed junk food. Not surprisingly, this simply isn't so.
• What about bacteria in raw foods? The presence of bacteria in raw food often worries pet owners and vets. They assume these bacteria will make pets sick. However, dogs, being scavengers, have evolved to eat and thrive on bacteria laden food, requiring them for immune system maturity. Wild dogs eat the gut contents of their prey, and the feces of many different animals. They eat soil, contaminated meat, buried bones, infected meat and so on. These are all a source of microbes and any toxins they might produce. That is why the bacteria in raw meat are of no consequence to ninety-nine plus percent of dogs. This does not mean we recommend bacteria laden food for our pets. What it does mean is that pets that have eaten commercial pet food for most of their life are safe eating raw food from clean sources.
• Are there safe handling procedures for the BARF DIET? Common sense must prevail when handling raw meat! You do this all the time when you prepare a meal for the family. After handling raw meat for your pets, do wash your hands before eating your own food. Sterilize any knives, surfaces or utensils used in the preparation or handling of your pets' food. We recommend using a stainless steel dish which is washed thoroughly with soap and hot water after every meal. Discard any uneaten food and store raw pet food in such a way it does not contaminate human food. After thawing the food, we recommend it is only kept in the refrigerator for 2-3 days. It's that simple!
• How are BARF World's BARF DIETS packaged? In patties of course! Each patty weighs 8 oz and each bag contains 12 patties. We use sturdy, freezer-friendly poly packaging that reduces environmental waste. Packages are date coded to comply with our extensive trace back system which allows complete tracking of all raw materials from sourcing to finished product.
• There are bones in the BARF DIET! It is natural for both dogs and cats to eat bones. Both a dog's body and a cat's body are designed to use bones as its main source of minerals - including calcium and phosphorus. Our pets' bodies have been doing this for millions of years. Your pet will not, cannot, suffer mineral deficiencies, imbalances or excesses, when raw meaty bones make up the bulk of its diet. This applies to all ages, and all breeds, including puppies and kittens. This is because bones are the storehouse of all the minerals your pet requires in perfect balance, and in the perfect form for optimal absorption. The bones in BARF World's products are very finely minced making them very safe to feed to your pets.
• Why so many green leafy vegetables? Domestic pets should be getting their carbohydrate in a similar manner and balance to their wild ancestors. That means feeding fresh, raw (non starchy-low glycemic) vegetables (and some fruit). The green vegetables contain only small amounts of starch and some simple sugars. More importantly they are chock full of enzymes, nutraceuticals, phytochemicals, antioxidants, vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids.
• With no grains or starchy vegetables, where does my dog get it's energy requirements from? When our pets eat dry pet food, most of their energy comes from carbohydrates. That is, from starch, and also, from added sugar. Both sugar and starch are damaging forms of carbohydrate that are biologically inappropriate for pet animals. Together, these two carbohydrates make an enormous contribution to the degenerative diseases in our pets. When pet animals eat their evolutionary diet (the BARF diet) their energy comes principally from protein and fat. Very little from carbohydrate. Deriving their energy principally from fats and proteins is health promoting for our pets. Grains can cause sugar levels to rise and then quickly fall causing highs and lows in insulin levels. Grains contain very few vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals in comparison to vegetables.
• Will BARF World's BARF DIET keep my dog's teeth clean? The results are in and it's obvious that dog's fed a raw diet have much cleaner teeth. The processed or cooked foods eaten by dogs today, are high in two substances; soluble carbohydrates and soluble calcium. These two nutrients attack a dog's mouth at every meal. In addition, processed foods do not contain the naturally occurring enzymes found in raw foods so necessary for clean teeth. Through the use of raw bones and a healthy BARF diet, your dog can have a sparkling smile!
• Can I expect a change in stool volume? Depending on what your dog has presently been eating, stool size ins generally much more compact and odorless than when a dog has been fed processed pet foods. This is because our BARF diet contains no extra or unnecessary fillers or grains (and naturally has moisture). The stool color may vary somewhat depending on which protein source is being fed.

1. Pick a delivery address (1 per bulk order please)


2. Build an order online that makes up a total of 21 BARF frozen food items or more. For example, if you want 11 cases and your neighbor wants 10 you have it made to qualify for a discount!


3. We deliver right to your door AND delivery is free ANYWHERE in the United States! Delivery is FREE -- Yes it really is!!!

Just 21 cases or more per order and you can get an incredible deal on BARF Raw food products for your pets. Click here to see the BARF Pet Food Products The Dog Bowl offers.

Not necessarily. Compare the label of a high-end brand such as Eukanuba or Iams (both are Proctor & Gamble companies) with that of a cheaper one, Alpo or Purina One (both are made by Nestle), and you'll see little difference.

Ingredients in processed pet foods are "like a cake," says Boulder Colorado veterinarian Jean Hofve. "One might have butter cream frosting. But is still has the same basic ingredients."

Still, Menu Foods, which makes pet food sold under more than 90 brands, by dozens of companies, doesn't just slap different labels on cans filled with the same glop. The manufacturer follows formulas supplied to them by clients such as Proctor & Gamble (which owns Iams and Eukanuba to name a few) and Nestle (which owns Purina and Mighty Dog). The high-end brands tend to have fixed formulas, while lower-priced brands often instruct the manufacturer to use whatever meat and other ingredients are the cheapest on the market at the time.

The Dog Bowl would like you the consumer to consider what it would take to take the best ingredients possible and put them in a bag WITH a shelf life.... Preservatives, preservatives, preservatives. Those things are not good for anyone, let alone your precious pet!

Click here to read more about the better options than the processed pet food available.

Ask yourself "What is your pet really eating?" The Dog Bowl invites you to "think outside of the bag!"

You may not want to know - click here to read more.

Writes Tracie Hotchner, author of The Dog Bible: Everything Your Dog Wants You to Know:

• "Pet Foods...are full of mysterious and possibly dangerous ingredients."
• "The meat by-products in many top brands include animal parts deemed unfit for human consumption, such as poultry beaks and feet, as well as heads, hooves, spinal columns, and intestines of cattle and horses."
• "Some processors use road kill and animals that were sick before they were slaughtered."

The "cuts and gravy" style foods that were the subject of the original Menu Foods recall - it has expanded to cover several brands of dry food - also include soy meal, sweeteners, artificial coloring, and preservatives that have been associated with cancer in humans.

Cooked food tastes and smells a whole lot better than raw food. This is true for most people and most dogs.

The question is, have we gained anything from our dogs (any nutritional value) by making their food more palatable?

The only time palatablity is useful, is when you are trying to coax a sick dog to commence eating. Apart from that one advantage, not much has been gained. The major problem is that cooked food is addictive. This leads to a number of problems:

• Loss of instinct to choose: Dogs eating a raw, whole food diet, are usually able to use instinct to make suitable choices if presented with a sufficiently wide variety of foods. Modern cooked food abolishes this natural instinct because of it's addictive effects. (Simply dogs simply will not recognize raw food as their correct food choice.)
• The creation of an unbalanced diet: Dogs fed cooked food often train their owner to feed them a narrow range of "favorites". This always leads to an unbalanced diet with health problems being the inevitable consequence.
• Difficulty in changing diets: It can be difficult but NOT IMPOSSIBLE to change the eating habits of older animals raised on cooked food.
• Obesity: Because cooked food tastes so good, over eating and hence obesity is common.
• It helps sell those awful pet foods: Pet food companies, use the addictive qualities of cooked food to help sell their product. Let's face it - people buy food which their dog likes! (Emotionally charged decision & not necessarily "smart shopping" decision.)

Figuring out how much raw (BARF) to feed adult dogs - from "scratch" can be tricky to say the least.

The Dog Bowl hears this question almost every day, so this blog should help those of you out there who haven't called or email us yet - you are not alone!

We will take eight percent of body weight as a starting point for really tiny but active dogs, and work towards about three percent of body weight for really large and active dogs. On that basis, the TOTAL amount to fee DAILY would be as follows for dogs of the following weights:

• 2-11lbs 3oz-12oz daily
• 11-22lbs 12oz-21oz daily
• 22-55lbs 21oz-30oz daily
• 55-110lbs 39oz-70oz daily

This is a rough guide or "starting point" ONLY. Every dog is different. Feed what you need to maintain your dog at a healthy weight. Remember, you can vary the proportion of meat to bone to fat to vegetable to offal in the diet. Juggle all these things around - variety is the key to feeding raw. Do not allow your dog to become overweight or to become unacceptably thin. Do realize that the weight of your dog wants to keep is muscle and the weight your dog wants to loose is fat.

Many older, sedentary dogs will only require 2% of body weight daily. For example, an old inactive dog that weighs 44lbs should be fed just under 1 lb of food daily. This is exactly the same amount of food (at the 8% of body weight daily) you might feed to a young, active 11lb dog.

A massive, nationwide recall of pet food has left cat and dog owners rattled - to say the least!

This bring us to the big question we are ALL asking: How safe is the food we give our pets?

Who's in charge of pet food safety? In theory, the Food and Drug Administration. But the federal agency is also responsible for overseeing the safety of human food and pharmaceuticals, and that's where it devotes the vast majority of its resources. The FDA's pet food division is so short of staff, in fact, that until the recall last month of 60 million cans and pouches of Menu Foods' pet food, no FDA inspector had EVER set foot in the Kansas plant where the contamination was discovered! Most states have feed control officers who periodically test pet food and inspect processing and packaging plants. But as with the FDA, state feed control bureaus are stretched thin. So for all practical purposes, the pet food industry is self-regulated. Yikes!