While you will hear it referred to by many different names, it is often called a ‘BARF’ diet, which is an acronym for “Bones And Raw Food” or “Bone and Raw Flesh” and some prefer “Biologically Appropriate Raw Food”. Recently have seen just "ARF" for "Appropriate Raw Food”, obviously someone didn't like the sound of, or connotations, of the word BARF ... :O) ... No matter what you call it a raw food diet is made up of natural raw foods that haven’t been cooked or had any chemical preservatives added to the food.

The idea being to more closely follow the type of diet that your dog or cat would eat if living in the wild. Like his or her ancestors and modern cousins it is felt that today’s dogs and cats diet should be based on mostly meats, along with bones, small amounts of offal, vegetables, fruit and natural mineral & vitamin supplements.

Remember that this type of diet may not appeal to everyone, there are after all as many different ways to feed cats and dogs as there are people doing it. There is no one diet for feeding dogs and cats that is perfect for feeding each and every individual. They are in fact individuals and some of them for various reasons of health history and genetics have very specific nutritional needs. We humans, have however been feeding our domesticated companions home-prepared meals for about 4,000 years for cats and over 10,000 years for dogs. In contrast, commercial pets foods have only been around for less than 100 years now. Not that we haven't learned a thing or two about nutrition over the last 100 years, but the point is that dogs and cats have done very well for a very long time eating a variety of foods that weren't prepared or preserved chemically for a longer shelf life.

Check out our Reading & Viewing list for some suggestions on books and articles written by vets, animal nutritionists and other knowledgeable folk about feeding a raw food diet and other thoughts on the nutritional needs of our pets. Many of these resources have suggested meal plans and recipes for preparing a raw pet food diet at home. We ourselves do not follow a regimented meal plan, but follow a more general guideline to feed a variety of meats, both white and red meats, along with some vegetables, some kelp, some fruit, some dairy, some oils like Safflower and Cod Liver oil.

If you choose to prepare a raw food diet for the pet you love, our goal at Aidan's Naturals is to help support you, by being your source for many of the natural & nutritious ingredients you will need. We are starting small, but like the variety in the diet, are hoping to grow and be able to offer you an even wider selection of conveniently packaged ingredients. Check out our Food Products page for a idea of the sorts of things we currently offer.