When Feeding A Barf Diet How Do You Deal With Contamination From Raw Meat/chicken Bones In The House?
This is for anyone using the BARF diet for their dogs (or cats). We are getting a dog this summer and I’ve been looking into the option of feeding a raw diet. My wife is concerned about the dog eating raw food in the house, mainly the chance that it could drag raw chicken around and contaminate places other than his/her food dish. I would imagine that a dog with a piece or raw chicken will take it’s time eating it and won’t just eat it out of the bowl. How do you deal with this? What is your cleanup routine? What if the dog brings the bone over to carpet? If you have children in the house how do you deal with a dog with raw food and kids? Should we really be concerned about all this?
Keep in mind this question is for people using the BARF diet, not an opportunity to oppose that anyone uses it.
Thank-you.
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I don’t buy premade food.. so unless I’m feeding ground meat of some sort, canned fish or whatever a bowl just doesn’t cut it.
I feed my dogs in their crates. I’ve never really worried about possible salmonella contamination… since I live in the Seattle area I have to clean out the crates on an ongoing basis due to the mud.
I think if I had small children I would probably feed the dogs in crates in the garage.
And no.. my dogs consume chicken backs in mere moments.. of course they start eating chicken wings and necks at about 4 weeks, so they crunch through bones pretty quick.
Edit: I feed a primarily prey model raw diet and not a “BARF” diet… I say “primarily” because I give high quality kibble as training treats… I also feed my dogs a pretty fair quantity of leftovers from my fridge.
With a little patience the dog can be taught to keep its meal over a towel or folded sheet, table cloth, ect. These can then be washed/bleached and reused. I also recommend the use of baby gates to keep the dog in the designated area (preferably over tile/kitchen flooring) for easy clean up.
My beagle eats in the kitchen off a plate or the cutting board laid on a towel. He has quickly learned to keep his meal there and not take it elsewhere. Due to my smallest dog’s size and preference not to dirty his paws, I sit with him (often holding it) while he eats. My larger dogs don’t require as much supervision, so they are gated into the kitchen individually and, again, have learned to keep their food over the towel. All of my dogs have no problems with me holding their meat while they eat or asking them to “drop it” at any time.
As far as regular cleanup, as long as they aren’t spilling juice/blood all over the place, there is very little mess on the towel and it can be folded and reused several times. If they make a mess that does soak through, antibacterial disinfectant wipes make quick work of the floor. Everything else gets washed normally.
I have 3 different dog bowls so that I do not cross contaminate and after the dog finishes one meal, I quickly pick it up to wash and sanitize it. But with any raw food, You have to be careful. Carefully WASH all your utensils, cutting board, your hands, and the countertop. I only allow my dog to have raw bones Outside ! He knows the command. With kids, it’s especially important to thoroughly cleanse all surfaces ! You could also create a “BARF dog safe zone” like in the laundry room or his room. My dog has his own room w/ his food and water and toys and I can put a baby gate up to prevent him from wandering all over the house. This keeps cleanup to his room making it easier for me.
The kids come first. Those germs would be everywhere. Feed the pets outside. To allow raw meat contamination in the house is absolutely bad. The pets can eat on a surface that gets washed with bleach and hot water afterwards, each time.
I feed a prepared raw diet (nature’s variety) and she eats it pretty much near the bowl. But, she can and does take the medallions out and drop them on the floor next to the bowl (and sometimes chunks fall out while she’s eating). She enjoys her raw bones on the carpet in the dining room. Since I have no children, I don’t worry about the salmonella (I wash my hands and her bowl thoroughly and of course always wash before handling any other food). However, you probably need to confine the dog to a washable area as suggested by others. You don’t need bleach, but you do need to clean thoroughly with HOT, soapy water and try to keep the kids out of that area as much as possible. If you don’t feed a commercially prepared raw diet, you will need to be even more vigilant about stray chunks. Food or bones that are not consumed within 1/2 hour or so should be picked up and thrown out. It’s not that hard, but it is harder than just feeding kibble.
you could use a ready made frozen raw (like Nature’s Variety) so that its all together in one patty, in which case the dog should eat it relatively quickly.
as for in the house, pick a room that the dog can eat in thats easy to clean- like a laundry room with a linoleum floor – and after mealtime, spray it down with a pet safe antibacterial cleaner. also, clean up the dogs dish in between meals so your children cant play with it.
Not exactly answering the question as you’ve requested, but I would recommend feeding the dog outside of the house.
Contamination from the raw food touching surfaces wouldn’t be my concern, it would be chunks of food left lying to rot around the house to rot.
You could always consider a kennel-type cage for feeding time… the dog could go there to eat, and leave when finished.
Good luck!
I have a friend that feed all 14 of her dogs raw. I treat my guys raw in conjunction with their kibble. Easy fix for that is feed your dog in a crate, one you won’t have them dragging the food around the house and 2 easy clean up if there is anything left for you to clean up. You’re going to want to have a crate anyway for crate training.
I feed raw, most of my dogs eat directly from their bowls, they love their food and it is eaten in a very short time. My youngest likes to take his out, when it’s a large piece of chicken and eats it on the floor directly beside the bowl, he doesn’t travel anywhere with it, I simply use the disposable antibacterial wipes after he is done. You can use all ground meat, which I tend to alternate with, and of course they don’t take it out of the bowl. When I give my gang beef ribs for recreational chewing, I send them outside with the bones to eat the meat off of them.
if you are planning on feeding raw, which is a very good idea, do some research first, and see if you can find other raw feeders in your area to find out their meat sources, a couple of people in my local kennel club and we regularly let each other know of good sources.