My dog has been staying with a friend for a week and a half while I have been away on holiday. She has recently started feeding her dogs a barf diet and so fed my dog the same.

When I picked him up his coat looked lovely and I could not believe how much his hair shedding had reduced (he is a lab).

Does anyone else think that a barf diet dramatically reduces shedding?

For dogs to shed is natural and one would hope the feeding would not stop this - it is more likely that the dog has finished the mould and has been well groomed. The coat can look dull and dusty when shedding and glossy and sleek when not but food may make a difference but that would depend on what his usual diet was.

He is 15 months old and has shed heavily since about 10 months old. I've always kept up to his groomming, and he had been to stay with my friend many times before (although this is the first time he's had a barf diet there).

His diet is the only thing that has changed so thought it must be that.

I think my dogs shed far less when they were on a barf diet

My dogs shed so much less now they are on barf/raw, one of the benefits of a healthier system I guess.

Good to hear that other dogs shed less too!

I'm starting him on a barf diet tonight - think i'm more excited than he is.

He is 15 months old and has shed heavily since about 10 months old

That would seem the normal sort of teenage shed, changing from puppy to full adult coat. Although I would not deny that a dog needs a good balanced food the lack of shedding may as well be a sign of poor health as well as good, dogs should shed as not only is it a way of maintaining their body temperature but it is also a way of shedding dead hair and replacing it with growing hair a normal and desirable mechanism.

Bitches seem to shed in relationship to their seasons where as dog seem to do it in response to heat so a dog kept in a heated house will shed more than one kept in a kennel, in deed, it can become an almost continual process with a dog who lives in a warm home for most of his life.

No it's not made the slightest bit of difference for my dogs -they moult twice yearly as usual, more if they are indoors a lot -the one that has the quickest and easiest moults is my one kennelled dog. My first dog to be 100 % raw fed (for over 3 years now) is in heavy moult at the moment, you could fill carrier bags with the coat coming off him. I think if the dogs were fed a good diet before that they did well on, whatever that was, it won't make a difference, but if the food did not suit them, then yes you will see a difference.

No difference to mine either

> dog seem to do it in response to heat so a dog kept in a heated house will shed more than one kept in a kennel

Buster was shedding like crazy in that recent little heat-wave we had.

Buster was shedding like crazy in that recent little heat-wave we had.

With the male there is a strong link between heat and fertility (hence the dangly bits dangle) which I guess is why males are quick to moult when they become overheated may also account for why they all lay with everything exposed, they don't know why of course it is an inbuilt reaction to becoming overheated.

Mine are raw fed and still shed a lot of hair - tumbleweeds everywhere at the moment.

Nope - mine are hoping to compete in the Olympic Synchronised Shedding competition - reckon they stand a good chance of winning gold too.

Nope.  No difference here at all...2 heavy coated dogs, raw fed for about 7 years and still moult heavily twice a year with low level constant shedding all year round.  You should see what I swept up off just the living room floor yesterday...I could knit myself a new dog!

No idea mine have nearly always been raw fed if it does make a difference thank goodness I raw feed then . I too could knit a dog from the hair in the hoover on a daily basis ;)

Not sure if you mean yes, no or pass furriefriends but think you mean pass.

oh gosh am I typing rubbish again ! I mean mine moult like mad so thank goodness I feed raw or it may be worse , does that make sense?

Yep! thought that is what you meant although I don't think what you feed makes much difference unless it was sawdust, Spanish dogs seem to be fed on bread and their coats are fine even it they could do with some weight so I think it has little to do with food at all. Mind you a totally undernourished dogs do not have good coats but they do not seem to moult either.

I do think what they eat affects the condition of their coats and general health as it does with us but dont find it affects a natural moult. Gosh even after being bathed and groomed professional and looking georgeous (okay I am biased) Whispa still loses enough to recarpet the floor 

Well, of course, a healthy dog will have a healthy coat but providing they have a balanced diet I don't think it matters what that food is, wet, dry or home made.