I am continually searching for negative things on the Britbarf website, basically because as I've said I'm a right little worrywort when it comes to Bella and bones so find me a scare story and I'll stop giving that kind of bone
. All I've been able to find is some people who don't feed chicken wings unless to a very small dog (I've actually decided as of today to follow suit because Bella is a guzzler so I'm now sticking chicken quarters through the blender, not a pleasant job!), because they can potentially be choking hazards, and some people who have found certain bones (eg lamb ribs) to be a bit splintery (likewise I don't feed them).
My dog walker had a bad experience with a lamb bone where his dog got a splinter that did a fair bit of damage to its insides, but I do not know what kind of lamb bone it was (leg, rib, neck etc) as I didn't think to ask as it was before I was giving raw bones to Bella.
I think the Britbarf group is good for people who wish to feed raw diets to be able to get some kind of slightly balanced view at least in terms of what to actually feed on a raw diet. You find out as you get into these things that even within raw feeding there are various schools of thought - BARF is one, then there's one (can't remember the name) about only feeding your dog the types of animal it could naturally catch (guess that
wouldn't be squirrels in Bella's case as she waits for them to get up the tree before chasing
), there are some who believe dogs should have veg, some who say they shouldn't. It is, to be honest (IMO) a bit of a minefield, there's alot of conflicting information. I think in some ways that probably adds to the whole evangelical slant there can be, because if you're feeding raw you need to have done a fair bit of research into canine nutrition (at least if you want to get it right) and any book on raw feeding will wax lyrical about how fantastic it is and how "wrong" kibble is. There is no balanced argument.
To my mind, I'm sure people like Burns have done alot of good research and produce a very good quality kibble that does have really good results for alot of dogs being fed on it. In the end I think alot of people are forced into one camp or the other and then vehemently defend whichever side they are on - raw feeders can come up with scare stories about kibble and kidney damage and tooth decay or whatever, kibble feeders can come up with scare stories about raw bones, salmonella etc etc.
At the end of the day what we really need is for vets and canine nutritionists to be a bit more open about the pros and cons of both kinds of diets - I suspect there's as much chance of that happening as there is of Bella deciding those squirrels are really,
really boring.