Sunday, July 13, 2008

Juliette de Bairacli Levy's Natural Rearing Diet for Dogs


I have for several years now bemoaned my inability to find a summary of Juliette de Bairacli Levy's Natural Rearing diet for dogs on the web. Born in 1912, Juliette is an herbalist and breeder of Afghan hounds. Her wonderful book, The Complete Herbal Handbook for the Dog and Cat (originally published in 1955), does not include recipes per se, but rather discusses various aspects of feeding and does include suggested amounts here and there. The main points of her Natural Rearing diet are: feeding raw meats and bones, fasting, feeding raw milk and flaked cereals, resting the kidneys by feeding meat only 4 or 5 days per week.

This is my interpretation of Juliette's feeding recommendations. I hope it will be a useful reference and for those unfamiliar with Juliette's work, perhaps it will spark interest in reading her pioneering book for yourself.

Per Average Size Adult Dog, 5 days per week:

Midday Meal: Flaked whole-grain wheat, rye, barley or oats - softened with raw milk, buttermilk or vegetable juice
Alternate Days: raw egg one day, small amount of corn (or sunflower) oil or tahina the next
Can add: whole wheat, rye or corn bread, whole wheat, rye or corn biscuits, uncooked wholemaize flour, mashed black olives, mashed cooked sweet potatoes, mashed cooked carrots
3 or 4 days per week: 2 tsp coconut, 2 tsp peanut or almond flour (Note: peanuts must be raw when ground, not roasted)

Night Meal: Raw, chunked meat and bones with a small amount of fat
1 tsp wheat germ flakes
1 tsp cod liver oil (Winter)
seaweed powder
1 Tablespoon minced green herb
Few Tablespoons bran or flaked oats (as a substitute for the roughage provided by skin and fur, normally consumed)
Can add: grated raw carrot

One day per week: meatless meals using raw milk, eggs, white cheese, cottage cheese, whole-grain flaked cereals, rice, cooked beans and/or lentils.

Day after meatless meals day: Fluids only
"Meals" of honey in water or very watery diluted raw milk

***

As a breeder of Afghan hounds, Juliette describes how she feeds her own dogs as follows:

Per Afghan:

Midday Meal: flaked cereal w/extra herbal bran and some raisins
2 tsp. dried coconut
1 tsp. tahina
raw milk

Night Meal: Raw meat and bones
minced salad greens
also possibly: minced sprouted grains, raw egg

You will note that she mentions feeding raisins to her dogs daily. Raisins now appear on many "foods toxic to dogs" lists although Juliette probably scoffs at this. I am not recommending feeding raisins to your dog but felt it was important to include them in my summary since Juliette specifically notes the information.

There is so much more to Juliette's book than my summary interpretation posted here. It is very interesting reading and I highly recommend it for anyone interested in natural dog and cat care.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi, I just came across your post and it is amazing timing because I am trying to also find a summary of this diet on line. I did find one besides yours, just so you know. It is here:
http://www.naturalrearing.com/coda/l_a_fresh_food_diet.html

But I cannot find guidelines for dogs of different weights. I have a 15 pound sheltie, an 18 pound bichon and a 50 lb bearded collie. I love her book as well and you will enjoy that site I just sent you if you haven't seen it.
Any ideas for quantities? Thanks! I am glad I found your blog-I am going to go look through it now.

YesBiscuit! said...

I would consider that each dog has an individual metabolism and activity level. So the rough guideline of feeding 2-3% of your dog's body weight each day may need to be adjusted. Juliette mentions a "handful" of cereals for her Afghans but again, you'll need to experiment and adjust according to your individual dogs. Here is a page which allows you to add up the calories from the amounts you feed daily and see how they compare to the "recommended" daily amounts:
http://www.phouka.com/dogs/dog_amount.html#cal_req

soma said...

Hi, is there any place I can buy seaweed powder forlulated by Mrs. Levy? Please help.

YesBiscuit! said...

I'm sorry but I don't know of any of Ms. Levy's formulations being sold anywhere. Perhaps someone else can chime in if they've got any info. Meantime, you could make your own seaweed powder mix by purchasing different seaweed flakes from a whole food market.

Listen_to_the_Animals said...

Hello...

For those in search of Juliette de Bairacli Levy's original formulas sold in the U.S. you can order them from Marina Zacharias' site at: http://www.naturalrearing.com/coda/products.html

You can find the Seaweed formula as well as many others mentioned in Ms. Levy's books. Before, I saw these available in Europe only.

Linda

Anonymous said...

Juliette de Bairacli Levy sold me several secret recipes in the 1990's when she was concerned that her British pharmaceutical manufacturer had been taken over by BigPharma.

Juliette gave me permission to produce the recipes commercially but I have only just decided to go ahead for many reasons.

I know these remedies work because I have tried them very successfully with small and large domestic animals for whom there was little hope due to deteriorating condition. I would say they are 90% effective (depending on other circumstances such as ratio of previous exposure to manufactured foodstuffs and lack of outdoor browsing) in overcoming both fleas and internal parasites and in particular alll those vile dysentery-related digestive conditions, which are usually lethal for most young animals.
In the spirit of that great herbalist, I grow all my own ingredients to ensure no pesticide is used.
If anyone would like to obtain these new products, they are welcome to contact me.
Kind regards,
Paris Tague
www.stgeorgestrust.com

Anonymous said...

I used this 'diet' for my dogs 20 - 30 years ago when I was breeding and showing Cocker Spaniels. It was incredible the difference it made within a few days of beginning the regime. I would recommend it to all dog owners.