Frequently Asked Questions about Dr B’s BARF Products

To Aid your Understanding of Dr. B’s Genuine Aussie R.A.W. ™ Products, and to help you maximise their benefits for your cat or your dog, Dr. Billinghurst has provided the answers to a number of important question that pet owners (and pet professionals) ask about Dr. B’s products.

Question One

Which ‘Flavour’ from Dr. B’s range of BARF Patties or Rolls, would best suit my Dog or Cat?

This is perhaps the most commonly asked question.

For a healthy dog or cat, all flavours are just fine, indeed, mixing and alternating the various ‘flavours’ is a perfectly acceptable (and recommended!) option, providing as it does for a wide variety of protein sources – one of the basic principles of Evolutionary Nutrition. In fact, Dr. B’s BARF for dogs is so nutritious and versatile that it may be fed with complete confidence to the feline member of the family (and it is quite OK to feed Dr. B’s BARF for cats – to dogs – as well!).

Please note that if you feed the canine version of modern industrial dog foods to cats, it will end in nutritional disaster for our cats – which illustrates graphically, the very poor quality of modern industrial – grain based – dog foods – and the exceedingly high Quality of Dr. B’s BARF Proucts!

Although all flavours are generally suitable for most dogs and cats (whether labelled as being for dogs or cats), there are certain situations where it may prove advantageous to feed one flavour in preference to another. To help you understand this, Dr. Billinghurst suggests you check BARF Varieties.

Question Two
Why Doesn’t Dr. B produce ‘Life-stage Foods’

Dr. B’s Genuine Aussie R.A.W. ™ BARF Products, which are raw, whole foods produced strictly according to the Principles of Evolutionary Nutrition, are suitable for and may be used with confidence for All Life Stages, including Pregnancy, Lactation, Growth, Middle and Old-age.

This contrasts with fake industrial foods for companion animals, where, because of the poor quality and unsuitable (undesirable!) nature of the materials used to produce these products, it becomes necessary to produce better quality foods that are specific for pregnancy, lactation, weaning, growth, and old age. These are stages that absolutely demand an improvement to the generally poor quality of industrial foods.

However, don’t be fooled, these ‘improved’ industrial life-stage foods cannot outperform real, raw, whole foods; foods that have been formulated according to the principles of Evolutionary Nutrition! In other words, even the so-called better quality processed foods cannot match the quality of DR. B’s BARF Patties and Rolls.

The bottom line is that because Dr. B’s BARF conforms to the principles of Evolutionary Nutrition; the necessity to produce a different product for each life-stage becomes largely unnecessary.

Note: There are three possible exceptions to this rule or principle. Firstly, Dr. B’s BARF Products occasionally require a simple modification to suit the needs of some Rapidly Growing Large Breed Dogs, usually this means addition of more vegetable material. Secondly, Lactating Females can require the addition of extra raw meaty bones such as chicken wings and necks and thirdly, Older Dogs and Cats with bowel or other health problems often require the addition of extra vegetable material and quite often specific nutritional supplements. (For further information, see ‘Modifying Dr. B’s BARF for certain life stages and Diseases’.)

Question Three
Why aren’t Dr. B’s BARF Patties made as Single or Pure Protein Foods?

This question, relates once again to a basic principle of Evolutionary Nutrition. Both dogs and cats have evolved under conditions of eating food from a wide variety of protein sources; more often than not, this will occur within a very short period of time. To fully comply with this particular principle, Dr. B’s basic line of products (Dr. B’s Patties and Rolls) contains a mix of proteins from different sources.

As a general rule, it is only under the specific requirements of an animal with protein allergies, that a single protein source becomes appropriate and/or necessary. (See Protein allergies)

Question Four
Why are Dr B’s Products Frozen?


Freezing is the most cost effective way of preserving raw whole food without compromising on quality and without the addition of preservatives. While freezing will not kill bacteria, viruses or prions, careful and proper sourcing and handling of the raw materials that are used to make Dr. B’s products ensures a healthy product in this regard. On the other hand freezing will kill protozoa (such as Toxoplasmosis) and multicellular parasites (such as the Hydatid tapeworm).
Freezing is also appropriate – at least for dogs, from an Evolutionary viewpoint. We know that the dog is a descendant of the wolf and research carried out by the Canadian Mounties during the 1950’s confirmed that wolves in the depths of winter depended upon frozen prey for their survival. We also know that many dogs prefer their patties in the frozen state, particularly during summer; however, if a dog prefers the patties frozen all year round, this is not a problem – better frozen than not at all – the alternative, artificial industrial food should not be contemplated!


Question Five
Can I feed Dr. B’s BARF Patties to dogs or cats with a health problem?


Most definitely! In fact, what so many owners continually write, email, phone and tell us, is that most health problems are markedly reduced and many health problems actually disappear altogether following the removal of modern fake industrial foods from their pets’ lives and the adoption of Dr. B’s Genuine Aussie R.A.W. BARF programme of Nutrition.
With some diseases such as kidney failure or Pancreatitis, a simple modification to the basic formula (such as the addition of extra crushed raw low GI vegetable material) will turn what is already a super healing food into what might now be described as a brilliantly fantastic super healing food! . (For further information, see ‘Modifying Dr. B’s BARF for certain life stages and Diseases’.)


Question Six
Why are Dr. B’s BARF Products based on Chicken Bones?


There are numerous reasons for this, and the following are five of the most important. Firstly, by using chicken bones, we are turning a wasted resource into a valuable food for companion animals. This is good for our planet. Secondly, being derived from young healthy birds, they are toxin free and relatively soft, which is exactly how we want our Raw Meaty Bones to be! Thirdly, chicken bones contain a particularly high proportion of bone marrow – which is rich in both blood forming nutrients and vital essential fatty acids. The fourth point is that chicken bones – in common with all raw bones are a balanced and biologically appropriate source of the bone forming minerals calcium and phosphorous. This is vital to the construction (the skeletal system in particular), of young dogs and cats, including most particularly our large breed dogs. Fifthly, chicken bones from young chickens are an excellent source of cartilage; cartilage plays a vital role in developing and maintaining joint health and as a continuing part of the diet of our companion animals, it has the power to prevent the growth of cancerous tissue.
We love those chicken bones!

Question Seven
Are BARF Patties the only way to produce Evolutionary Nutrition for our Cats and Dogs on a Commercial scale?

While there are at least three potential approaches we might take when producing an Evolutionary Programme of Nutrition, it is only the BARF approach that is a genuinely practical possibility when attempting to produce Evolutionary Nutrition in a convenient form on a commercial scale.

One alternative to the BARF approach, is to feed our cats and dogs with whole raw carcasses of small mammals and birds etc.

This approach to an Evolutionary Programme of Nutrition for companion animals has a certain idealistic legitimacy and although practiced by a small (and vocal!) minority of raw feeders and sounding great in theory, has never been successfully implemented on a commercial scale. This is partly because sourcing sufficient product presents enormous difficulties, but mostly because this approach, which involves killing and feeding young whole birds (e.g. day old chickens) or young whole mammals such as rodents or Guinea pigs to our cats and dogs is, for most pet owners totally unacceptable – in fact hideously repugnant.

The second alternative to the BARF approach involves feeding individual food items. For example, we might produce a weekly menu for a dog involving some form of raw meaty bone each day, some form of vegetable mixture each alternate day, a weekly offal meal and other daily supplements such as yoghurt, various herbs, oils, kelp etc.

This approach to commercialising Evolutionary Nutrition has been attempted on a number of occasions but has never succeeded on a large scale because of the cost of production and practical difficulties involving storage and distribution and problems associated with enticing dogs (or cats) to eat all of the day’s prescribed components.

The third and only successful approach on a large scale has been to produce a BARF product; in this case, all the required raw whole components of the Evolutionary Programme of Nutrition are finely ground and combined to form meal-sized patties or rolls – which are then frozen for preservation, storage and transport.

And the results speak for themselves!
Since Dr. B’s Genuine Aussie R.A.W. ™ BARF
Was introduced to the Australian Pet loving community
(In the year 2000),
The health of those canine and feline consumers
Who made the switch, has never been better;
And their numbers grow daily!


Copyright © Ian Billinghurst