The Advantages of Fix-BA(R)F

Special Features of Our Fix-BARF® and Fix-BAF® Complete Menus

The healthy and species-appropriate nutrition of cats and dogs has increasingly become an important topic among pet owners in recent years. BARF feeding, in particular, has gained enormous significance. It offers many benefits and helps your pet lead a long and healthy life.

Our ready-to-serve Fix-BARF® complete menus combine all the positive attributes of raw meat feeding while uniquely allowing you to provide your pet with a balanced and convenient BARF diet. Fix-BARF® is not just a standard complete menu like many others available on the market; it is a nutritionally complete feed. This means that every recipe contains all the essential nutrients in the right amounts. To achieve this, all animal and plant components are mixed in the correct ratio and supplemented with essential additives in the required quantities. Each recipe for our Fix-BARF® and Fix-BAF complete menus is calculated individually and supplemented to meet the nutritional needs of cats and dogs. As such, the complete menus comply with the legal requirements for complete pet food according to FEDIAF (the European Pet Food Industry Federation).

Harmful Nutrient Pre-Mixes in Industrial Complete Menus

Industrial pet food is manufactured using pre-mixes, which are ready-made mixtures available for purchase. Manufacturers consistently use the same amount of the same pre-mix in their recipes to meet minimum legal requirements. Typically, supplements include Vitamin D3, Vitamin A, Vitamin E, iodine, manganese, zinc, and selenium. However, B vitamins are not added, as they are lost during the cooking process. This means that cooked complete food from industrial production does not contain sufficient B vitamins. While this may not significantly affect dogs, as they also consume fruits, vegetables, and organs like kidneys and tripe rich in B vitamins, it is a critical issue for cats. Cats do not consume these components in sufficient quantities and are therefore dependent on adequate supplementation of B vitamins.

Not only are B vitamins lacking, but industrial pre-mixes also fail to meet the required calcium-phosphorus ratio (1.15:1 for cats, 1.3:1 for dogs) and potassium-sodium ratio (2:1). Some foods contain excessive potassium and sodium amounts, which could lead to kidney diseases. Similar concerns arise with iodine levels, potentially contributing to the increasing number of hyperthyroid cats.

The uniform use of pre-mixes across different products often results in excessively high nutrient levels, leading to negative health impacts.

Only two upper nutrient limits are regulated by law:

• Vitamin A: 30,000 IU per kg of food (Minimum requirement according to FEDIAF* 208 IU for a 4kg cat)
• Vitamin D3: 2,000 IU per kg of food (Minimum requirement according to FEDIAF 16 IU for a 4kg cat)

Here, it becomes clear that Vitamin A is necessary only in small amounts. However, the legal limit is exceptionally high, allowing excessive amounts to be added.

Essential fatty acids are briefly mentioned in the guidelines. For cats, these include linoleic acid, arachidonic acid (AA), EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid), DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), and dihomo-gamma-linolenic acid (DGLA). Dogs additionally require alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), though AA is needed only during growth. These fatty acids are usually insufficient or incorrectly balanced in most industrial pet foods, largely due to the use of meat from factory-farmed animals. Such meat contains significantly lower amounts of essential omega-3 fatty acids compared to meat from animals raised in species-appropriate or organic conditions.

To meet these requirements and establish the correct ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acids, all our Fix-BARF® complete menus include salmon oil.

Composing Nutritionally Balanced BARF Meals Yourself

Pet owners preparing BARF meals at home should always follow a recipe. These recipes may come from specialized forums, nutritionists, or personal calculations.

The recipes are all based on the same principle: the nutritional needs determined by the NRC (National Research Council) form the foundation for the calculations. The NRC establishes nutritional requirements for the pet food industry, including FEDIAF. Nutrient values for individual recipe components are calculated and compared to the needs. We use the following sources, for example:

• Federal Food Code
• Nutritional tables by Souci, Fachmann + Kraut
• Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture
• Research studies (e.g., taurine content in feed animals)
• Specific in-house analyses (e.g., beef brisket)

The nutrient values of the individual recipe components are then totaled. Any discrepancies between the amounts of nutrients and the requirements are corrected with appropriate supplements. In this way, homemade BARF meals become nutritionally complete. For dogs, a rough 80:20 ratio can be followed. For cats, typically 95% animal and 5% plant components are fed. The exact distribution of animal components can vary greatly.

Quick & Easy BARFing with Fix-BARF®

Our Fix-BARF® complete menus combine the advantages of industrial ready-to-eat food and homemade BARF. They are prepared according to individual recipes with specific nutrient calculations and still meet the legal requirements for complete pet food. This ensures that your cat or dog gets only the nutrients they actually need—in the right amounts and ratios. This spares the kidneys and liver from having to filter out excess additives. At the same time, feeding is as simple and straightforward as opening a can of wet food.

Another significant advantage is that many nutrients can be provided using natural supplements. Examples include blood, seaweed meal, eggshell powder, and bone meal. Compared to synthetic preparations, these natural supplements have significantly higher bioavailability and can be absorbed more effectively. For this reason, our Fix-BA(R)F® complete menus include as many natural additives as possible.

The bioavailability is also the key reason why the nutritional requirements from literature are only conditionally applicable to BARF meals. The NRC requirements, for example, were calculated based on ready-to-eat food with high carbohydrate content, including grains. Grains contain phytic acid, which inhibits the absorption of some nutrients like calcium and zinc. In BARF meals, we have no grains and very few carbohydrates. As such, there are no substances present that negatively affect nutrient absorption. The bioavailability of BARF is therefore much higher, meaning that fewer nutrients are generally needed to meet requirements.

This is not considered in ready-to-eat food. While the industry trend is moving away from high-carb and grain-heavy foods, the pre-mix used remains the same. As a result, cats and dogs are often given much higher nutrient amounts than necessary, which is neither positive nor sensible.

A Good Alternative to Canned Food

A real alternative to industrially produced canned food is our Fix-BAF®. It is made just like our raw Fix-BARF® complete menus with individual recipes and then gently cooked in its own juices. The only difference is that B vitamins are added in large amounts before cooking, ensuring they remain available even after cooking. Our Fix-BAF® complete menus are cooked in their own meat juices and cold-filled, making them superior to conventional canned food diluted with water and hot-filled.

As you can see, our complete menus offer significant advantages over industrially produced pet food. A healthy and balanced diet for your pet is simple and easy to implement. Try it now and treat your cat or dog to delicious raw or cooked complete menus in various flavors that are guaranteed to taste great and be 100% species-appropriate and healthy.

Fix-BA(R)F® - For Quick and Easy BARFing of Your Pet!