Do vets recommend feeding raw

Feeding your pet a raw diet

What is raw feeding?

Raw feeding is exactly what it sounds like feeding your pet raw ingredients, rather than the traditional cooked food that is more commonly available.

Raw diets usually contain a combination of raw meat and other uncooked ingredients such as certain fruits and vegetables.

Why do people feed raw diets?

A lot of people who feed their dogs a raw diet do so because they see it as being a more natural option to traditional dog food. However, there are no studies to support that raw feeding is better than traditional dog food.

Owners who feed their dogs or cats a raw diet often claim that they see a lot of good changes in their pet. This can range from a glossier coat and more energy, to less smelly poos! But a lot of the apparent benefits of raw diets can be easily achieved by making sure youre feeding your pet any balanced, age appropriate diet.

What are the problems with raw feeding?

Raw feeding can pose a lot of problems, especially when prepared at home. Our vets dont recommend preparing your own pet food whether cooked or raw as without help from a specialist in pet nutrition a homemade diet could be nutritionally unbalanced which can cause your pet to become ill.

Raw food, especially meat, contains bacteria, parasites and other pathogens that would normally be killed during the cooking process. So feeding raw food brings extra risks, not just to your pets health but also to other people in your household. Even with the greatest care, the risk of cross-contamination is much higher so you could accidentally spread around bacteria such as E.coli, Salmonella and even Tuberculosis (TB) via the food or via your pet.

Bones are also another hazard with raw feeding, especially with Raw Meaty Bones-type foods. We do not recommend feeding your pet bones ever, regardless if they are cooked or uncooked. Bones can get stuck in your pets stomach and block it, or splinters of bone can damage your pets delicate insides. Chewing on bones can also cause fractures in your pets teeth. Even if your pet is lucky to avoid these issues, bones can often cause stomach pain and constipation due to their high levels of calcium.

The benefits of raw feeding over traditional pet food have not been proven. The arguments for raw feeding are based on the experience of individual owners rather than official studies on lots of pets showing a real difference.

What do our vets say?

Our vets advise feeding your pet a complete commercial diet to make sure they stay healthy. This will provide all the nutrients your pet needs if fed correctly according to their weight and age.

Always speak to your own vet before changing your pets diet as they can advise you on the best course of action. If there is anyone at higher risk of infections in your household (e.g. pregnant, very young, older or immunocompromised) then its best not to feed raw food to your pet due to the risk of disease from bacteria and pathogens on the raw food.

Whether raw or not, our vets do not advise making your pets food at home yourself. If you do choose a raw diet after consulting your vet, always choose a commercially prepared one. This is because commercial suppliers must take precautions to make sure all pet food is packaged correctly to certain hygiene standards, which is especially important with raw food. Companies making complete pet foods will also have to make sure that foods will contain everything your pet needs to stay healthy.

Our vets also recommend that you choose a manufacturer of pet food who is a member of the Pet Food Manufacturing Association (PFMA) to guarantee quality. Their members must have even higher food and hygiene standards than the legal minimum, which means your pets food will be safer.

Feeding a high quality raw diet can be expensive compared to other high quality, commercially produced pet food. Be cautious as cheaper raw alternatives are available but may not meet the high hygiene standards needed to be safe to feed to your pet.

We also wouldnt recommend buying meat or cheaper raw products from the supermarket or butcher that are meant for human consumption. These are meant to be cooked before eating, so are likely to have higher levels of bacteria than recommended for raw feeding.

Even taking all the precautions above, there is still a risk of infections that can affect your pets or familys health. So if you choose to feed a raw diet, its really important to be hygienic at home as well:

• Keep everything (storage boxes, bowls, cutlery, etc) you use to prepare or handle raw food separate. Stainless steel bowls and metal or glass boxes are best as, unlike plastic, they wont develop tiny cracks on their surfaces which can harbour bacteria.
• Always wash your hands before and after handling your pets food.
• Feeding a raw diet will require planning as youll need to safely defrost food before feeding it to your pet. Use a sealed container to allow the food to thaw in the fridge without compromising the safety of your personal foods. You cant microwave raw diets to speed up the defrosting process as this can cause uneven thawing creating hot spots which can cook parts of the food and heat others to unsafe temperatures.
• Wash everything thoroughly after feeding. Always sanitise any surfaces youve prepared raw food on.
• Once frozen meats are defrosted, they must be consumed by your pet within 24 hours and never re-frozen.
• Remember that your pets saliva and poop can contain lots more potentially dangerous bacteria if they are fed raw food. Wash your hands after touching your pet.

Why Vets Dont Recommend Raw Diets

Why Vets Dont Recommend Raw Diets

Raw diets are currently increasing in popularity. There are many books available which describe how to prepare them, and pre-made commercial options are readily available for purchase. Even so, many veterinarians are not on board with the hype. Both the World Small Animal Veterinary Association and British Veterinary Association discourage raw feeding. So why not?

Here are some of the reasons many veterinarians will not recommend raw diets:

Raw food prep can introduce bacteria into the home

The surface of any raw meat can carry bacteria. Even commercially prepared pet foods have been shown to carry pathogens. They can also easily be spread around the home if we arent careful when preparing our pets raw food. Dishes used to serve raw foods have to be properly cleaned and disinfected after each use. Young children and immunocompromised individuals are at risk of falling ill even when very low numbers of infectious bacteria are present.

Bacteria found on the surface of raw meats can infect pets and people

Infections caused by bacteria found on raw meat can cause diarrhoea, hospitalisation, and death in both people and pets. Although it appears that cats and dogs are sometimes able to carry pathogenic bacteria without showing clinical signs, they are still able to pass them on to the people they live with. It has been documented that pathogenic and antibiotic-resistant bacteria are shed in the droppings of dogs and cats.

There are reported cases of raw diets causing illness in pets and people

One example was thoroughly documented and published in a scientific journal. In 2018, a raw cat food was linked with tuberculosis in the gut; a very rare form of the disease. One hundred and thirty cats throughout the UK were diagnosed with an infection. It was very likely that the cats picked up the infection from their commercial food as they lived indoors and were consuming the same batch of raw food. There were no other potential sources of infection identified. In the end, a total of five people in contact with the infected cats also contracted tuberculosis, with one requiring medical treatment.

Lack of evidence demonstrating the benefits of raw diets

Research investigating the true benefits of feeding dogs a raw diet is still in its infancy. Dog owners who feed raw diets often report a link between raw-feeding with improved health. This includes beliefs that a raw diet will make a dogs coat shiny, enhance muscle condition and improve teeth cleanliness. However, more scientifically rigorous methods would be required to draw definitive conclusions. Until then, it appears that the risks of feeding a raw diet are greater than the potential benefits they would provide.

Nutrient inadequacies in home-prepared raw diets

Many people have taken it upon themselves to formulate raw meals for their pets. Unfortunately, this can lead to many nutrient deficiencies and imbalances. Even the majority of published recipes have ambiguous instructions which make them inconsistent or are not formulated with a proper nutrient balance in the first place. When looking for recipes to cook at home, the best source is from a board-certified veterinary nutritionist. They will have the expertise to formulate a diet and can tailor the nutrient profile to closely match your dogs specific needs.

Conclusion

Every veterinary surgeon will adhere to the first rule of care: first do no harm. Many vets believe that recommending feeding a raw diet goes against this principle, especially because of the lack of research demonstrating the benefits.

At the end of the day, your vets recommendations will be made to safeguard the wellbeing of your pet while being mindful of any public health implications.

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References

• Dgi, J., Imre, K., Herman, V., Bucur, I., Radulov, I., Petrec, O. C., & Cristina, R. T. (2021). Antimicrobial Drug-Resistant Salmonella in Urban Cats: Is There an Actual Risk to Public Health?. Antibiotics, 10(11), 1404.
• Empert-Gallegos, A., Hill, S., & Yam, P. S. (2020). Insights into dog owner perspectives on risks, benefits, and nutritional value of raw diets compared to commercial cooked diets. PeerJ, 8, e10383.
• Morelli G, Bastianello S, Catellani P, Ricci R. (2019) Raw meat-based diets for dogs: survey of owners motivations, attitudes and practices. BMC veterinary research. 2019 Dec;15(1):1-0.
• OHalloran C, TrnqvistJohnsen C, Woods G, Mitchell J, Reed N, Burr P, GascoyneBinzi D, Wegg M, Beardall S, Hope J, GunnMoore D. (2021) Feline tuberculosis caused by Mycobacterium bovis infection of domestic UK cats associated with feeding a commercial raw food diet. Transboundary and Emerging Diseases. 2021 Jul;68(4):2308-20.
• Runesvrd, E., Wikstrm, C., Fernstrm, L. L., & Hansson, I. (2020). Presence of pathogenic bacteria in faeces from dogs fed raw meatbased diets or dry kibble. Veterinary Record, 187(9), e71-e71.
• Wilson SA, Villaverde C, Fascetti AJ, Larsen JA. (2019) Evaluation of the nutritional adequacy of recipes for home-prepared maintenance diets for cats. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association. 2019 May 15;254(10):1172-9.

What Do Vets Say About Raw Dog Food? Let's Ask a Vet!

Its one thing to take our word for it about the benefits of raw feeding, but its quite another to hear about it from a vet. We had the opportunity to talk to Dr. Alexandra Macaulay, a vet at All Bay Animal Hospital in Concord, CA who happens to be a We Feed Raw customer.

Read on to find out what she learned about raw feeding in vet school, why she switched her own dogs to We Feed Raw, what changes she noticed in her dogs after making the switch, and which dogs should or should not eat a raw diet.

Q. Thanks for agreeing to talk to us. Before we get started, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your background?

A. Hello! My name is Alexandra Macaulay, and Im a small animal general practitioner in East Bay, California. I ended up here after completing my veterinary degree at the University of Scotland.

Q. Theres this idea in the raw feeding community that vets are only taught about kibble (and other commercial diets) in vet school and are discouraged from exploring other food options for the animals in their care. Was that your experience? What, if anything, did you learn about raw feeding in vet school?

A. I was not taught anything about raw feeding while in vet school. From what I gathered, it was very much considered taboo to raw feed your pets.

Q. If you didnt learn about raw diets in vet school, where did you get your information about the benefits of raw? Did you have to dig deep to find good evidence of the benefits of a raw diet? Are there resources you can point pet parents to discussing raw dog food?

A. I first got interested in raw feeding when I started doing agility training with my two dogs. Almost every single owner in my group was raw feeding. And these are extremely athletic and high-energy dogs were talking aboutthey all looked so healthy and in such great condition. It really made me start to think and question the type of nutrition I was giving to my dogs.

Q. Are there any potential risks or downsides to raw feeding you want people to be aware of?

A. Potential risks include pets or humans contracting food-borne pathogens and raw diets not being nutritionally balanced. Not all raw foods are created equal, and it's best to find a raw option like We Feed Raw that uses a kill step (called HPP, high-pressure processing) to neutralize food-borne pathogens, that meets AAFCO nutrition standards, and that is adequate for the current stage of life.

Q. What did you feed your dogs before We Feed Raw? Have you tried other raw diets?

A. Both my dogs were previously fed a prescription kibble with hydrolyzed proteins. They both suffer from inflammatory bowel disease, so they were required to be on a hydrolyzed protein diet. For a short time, I tried making my own raw diet at home using a formulation provided by another raw dog food company, but I was finding it extremely time-consuming.

Q. How did you hear about We Feed Raw? What made you decide to give our food a try? How long have you been feeding your dogs We Feed Raw?

A. I heard about We Feed Raw through a simple Google search. I contrasted and compared several different raw food companies but ended up going with We Feed Raw based on their excellent nutrition standards and great reviews.

Q. Did you notice any changes in your dogs after switching them to We Feed Raw? Do you remember how long it took to start seeing those changes?

A. One of my dogs is extremely picky when it comes to food. It would take up to 24-36 hours for him to eat a kibble meal. The instant I started feeding him We Feed Raw, he hasnt missed a meal! He is so excited about mealtime now and licks his bowl clean every single time.

Stools for both of my dogs have also become a lot more solid since starting on the raw diet. They would both have intermittent soft stools, but about a month after switching, they have been having consistently normal stools.

Lastly, one of my dogs also required monthly B12 injections due to his inflammatory bowel disease. About 3 months after starting the raw diet, I re-checked his B12 levels and they have completely normalized without having to administer his B12 injections!

Q. Over the years, we've noticed the tide changing when it comes to vets and raw feeding. While this used to be the kind of diet they'd never recommend, we now have many clients whose vets fully support their choice to feed raw. What do you think has caused this shift?

A. I think in this field we have been very limited in natural interventions that we can implement. Its not always ideal to just put pets on another medication to help alleviate symptoms. I think vets are now seeing the great advantages that raw feeding can provide. Whether it be for intestinal diseases, skin allergies, joint issues, etc, I think raw feeding offers a plethora of health benefits.

Q. Is a raw diet something you recommend for all of your dog and cat patients, or do you only talk about it if the pet parent asks? Are there some dogs or cats who should NOT eat a raw diet?

A. If pets are doing well and there are no health issues, I typically do not recommend switching diets. I definitely like to bring it to the table for pets with skin allergies or intestinal issues as these are the ones I see benefiting most from a raw diet. I think pets from households with any immunocompromised individuals should avoid feeding raw diets.

Q. What are the most important things you want pet parents to know about feeding their pets a raw diet? Do you have tips as a pet parent who feeds raw? Important information from a vets perspective about feeding raw?

A. The most important thing about feeding a raw diet is to ensure it is a complete and balanced diet and that it meets the requirements for the current stage of life, ie: growth, maintenance, etc. And always check to ensure the diet meets AAFCO standards.

Q. Although the tides are starting to turn, some vets still recommend against raw feeding. What should people do or say if their vet is pushing hard against their decision to feed a raw diet?

A. I recommend doing some research on your own and finding what fits best for you and your pets needs. You can always try and get a second opinion from another vet that you trust.