The Advantages of Fix-BA(R)F

The healthy and species-appropriate nutrition of cats and dogs has increasingly become an important topic among pet owners in recent years. In particular, BARF feeding has gained significant importance. It offers many benefits and contributes to your four-legged friend's ability to live a long and healthy life.

Our ready-to-serve Fix-BARF® complete meals offer all the benefits of raw feeding and uniquely allow you to feed your pet in a balanced and uncomplicated way. Fix-BARF® is not a standard complete meal like many others on the market but a nutrient-complete complete feed. This means that each recipe contains all the essential nutrients in the right amount. All animal and plant components are mixed in the correct ratio and supplemented with essential nutrients in the required amount. Each recipe is calculated individually for our Fix-BARF® and Fix-BAF® meals and supplemented to meet the nutrient requirements for cats or dogs, making them complete feeds according to FEDIAF (European Pet Food Industry Federation) standards.

Harmful Nutrient Pre-Mixes in Industrial Complete Meals

Industrial pet foods are supplemented during production with so-called pre-mixes, which are available as ready-made blends. Manufacturers always add the same amount of the same pre-mix to their recipes to meet legal minimum standards. Typically, vitamin D3, vitamin A, vitamin E, iodine, manganese, zinc, and selenium are added. B vitamins are usually omitted because they are lost during the cooking process. That means industrially cooked complete foods do not contain sufficient B vitamins. This is less critical for dogs, as they eat fruit, vegetables, kidneys, tripe, etc., which contain B vitamins. But cats are different – they don’t eat these components in sufficient quantity and rely on adequate supplementation of B vitamins.

Pre-mixes also perform poorly in other areas. For example, the required calcium-phosphorus ratio of 1.15:1 for cats or 1.3:1 for dogs is not achieved, nor the desired potassium-sodium ratio of 2:1. Legally, a calcium-phosphorus ratio of up to 2:1 is allowed, regardless of the absolute calcium and phosphorus content in the recipe. Potassium-sodium ratio is not considered at all. Some pet foods thus contain extreme amounts of potassium and sodium. Since only the ratio is judged, not the total amounts, such foods may still be rated as good complete feeds. However, high levels of potassium and sodium are suspected of contributing to kidney disease.

The same applies to iodine levels. Iodine is likely partially responsible for the increasing number of cats with hyperthyroidism. Because iodine can be overdosed, feeding recommendations must be strictly followed – which is difficult with a pre-mix.

Using the same pre-mix across various recipes can result in significantly excessive nutrient values, sometimes with serious consequences. A manufacturer often has six to eight food varieties, all containing the same pre-mix in the same dosage. Whether the recipe includes gullet with thyroid parts (rich in iodine) or fish (rich in iodine and vitamin D3), the pre-mix is always dosed the same – even when bones or liver are used. This leads to pet foods often having extremely high levels of vitamin A, D3, and calcium – not a good thing.

Legally, only two values are limited at the upper end:

Vitamin A: 30,000 IU per kg food (FEDIAF minimum requirement: 208 IU for a 4kg cat)

Vitamin D3: 2,000 IU per kg food (FEDIAF minimum requirement: 16 IU for a 4kg cat)

*FEDIAF stands for the European Pet Food Industry Federation. It issues the nutritional guidelines for pet food and is based in Brussels.

This clearly shows that vitamin A is only necessary and beneficial in small amounts. Nevertheless, the legal upper limit is very high, and excessive addition is permitted.

Essential fatty acids are only briefly mentioned in the guideline. For cats, these include linoleic acid, arachidonic acid (AA), EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid), DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), and DGLA (dihomo-gamma-linolenic acid). For dogs, alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) is also essential, while AA is only needed during growth. These fatty acids are often insufficient or unbalanced in industrial pet foods. This is mainly because meat from factory-farmed animals is used, which has a significantly lower content of essential omega-3 fatty acids than meat from animals raised in more appropriate or organic conditions.

To meet the need and balance the omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, all our Fix-BARF® meals are supplemented with salmon oil.

Creating Balanced BARF Meals at Home

Barfers who want to prepare their pet’s food at home should always use a recipe. These may come from forums, nutritionists, or self-calculated sources.

In principle, recipes are based on the same logic: the nutrient requirements of the NRC (National Research Council) are used as a basis. The NRC defines the requirements for the pet food industry – also for FEDIAF. Nutrient values are determined for each ingredient and compared to the requirements.

We use the following sources, for example:

German Nutrient Database

Souci, Fachmann & Kraut nutrient tables

German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture

Scientific studies (e.g. taurine in prey animals)

Own analyses (e.g. of beef brisket bones)

The nutrient values of all components are summed up. Any deficit between the summed nutrients and the requirements is supplemented. That’s how balanced home BARF meals are created. For dogs, the rough 80:20 ratio applies; for cats, usually 95% animal and 5% plant content. The exact ratio of animal parts can vary individually.

BARFing Made Easy with Fix-BARF®

Our Fix-BARF® complete meals combine the benefits of industrial pet food and homemade BARF. They are created using individual recipes with tailored nutrient calculations and still meet the legal standards for complete feed. The big advantage: your cat or dog only gets what they truly need – in the right amount and ratio. This relieves the kidneys and liver from having to excrete excess nutrients. At the same time, feeding is as easy as opening a can of wet food.

Another important benefit is that many nutrients in BARF can be added through natural supplements – like blood, seaweed meal, eggshell powder, and bone meal. Compared to synthetic additives, these have significantly higher bioavailability and are better absorbed. That's why we use as many natural ingredients as possible in our Fix-BA(R)F® meals.

Bioavailability is also the key reason why nutrient requirements from the literature can only be partially applied to BARF meals. For example, NRC nutrient requirements were derived from foods with a high proportion of carbohydrates, including grains. These contain phytic acid, which inhibits the absorption of nutrients like calcium and zinc. BARF meals do not contain grains or many carbs – meaning nothing inhibits nutrient absorption. Bioavailability is significantly higher in BARF meals, so less supplementation is needed. Industrial pet food doesn't account for this. While trends are shifting away from grain-heavy food, the pre-mix remains the same – often providing excessive nutrients that are unnecessary or even harmful.

A Good Alternative to Canned Food

Our Fix-BAF® meals are a real alternative to industrially produced canned food. Like our raw Fix-BARF® meals, they are based on individual recipes and gently cooked in their own juice. The only difference: B vitamins are added in large quantities before cooking – so that enough remains after the process. Fix-BAF® meals are gently cooked and cold-filled, making them more premium than canned foods that are diluted with water and hot-filled.

As you can see, our complete meals offer clear advantages over industrial foods. A healthy, balanced diet for your pet has never been easier. Try it yourself now and treat your cat or dog to delicious raw or cooked complete meals in various flavors – guaranteed tasty, species-appropriate, and healthy.

Fix-BA(R)F® – for fixed BARFing of your pet!