Pet Nutrition - Raw Food

It is suggested that adult dogs would thrive on an evolutionary diet based on what canines ate before they became domesticated: Raw, meaty bones and vegetable scraps, but these wolves lived an average of 8 years, verses today’s domestic dogs living 14 years plus.

Many mainstream veterinarians disagree with a raw diet, as does the FDA (Food and Drug Association). Many raw food advocates say this is because vets make money out of selling premium dry foods to their clients, but this is not the case. The particular concern to us is that raw foods are not nutritionally superior to processed foods.

We recommend feeding at least 70% of a diet with an AAFCO standard diet (American Association of Feed Control Officials).  These foods have either undergone feeding trials or have been formulated to meet AAFCO standards. So they are complete & balanced.

The majority of raw food diets have not undergone feeding trials so their nutrient content, digestibility & supplementation levels are unknown.

Feeding raw foods leaves the client and their pet open to bacterial and parasitic infection. 25% of poultry carcasses intended for human consumption test positive for Salmonella, most raw poultry is also contaminated with Campylobacter.  There are a number of bacteria that can be found on raw meat & transmitted to animals & subsequently their owners, or others in contact with the animal or their faeces.  Pets may get sick themselves, maybe even fatally - especially if they are young, unwell or immune compromised. Or they may appear well but be a public health risk as they run around shedding the bacteria. 

Unfortunately freezing meat does not completely kill all bacteria such as Salmonella and Campylobacter which can cause diarrhoea in your dog and food poisoning in humans. Even though the numbers are small, as soon as the meat is thawed they can multiply rapidly.  Ideally have a separate refrigerator for your dog food and prepare it away from your own food. If you want to be completely safe you must cook the meat before feeding, also this improves the digestibility of any added plant based dietary components.

Finally of great concern is sustainability.  As the demands for animal protein around the world increase we will be competing with our pets for meat.  We cannot feed the world alone on animal based protein. Nutrition is evolving & it maybe that we will be feeding our pets even weirder things in the future.

If you do wish to feed a raw food diet we would encourage the diet to be cooked to avoid potentially life threatening bacterial & parasitic disease.

The other option we can offer to clients feeding a homemade diet is to have your diet formulated through Massy University so you can be assured that the diet is complete and balanced.