The Raw Debate
People are very passionate when it comes to the subject of what they feed their dogs, and with good reason. A good diet can contribute to a long and healthy life and even psychological well-being for our pets. The question is, what is the best food to feed domesticated dogs? While the majority of people feed a commercial kibble or canned food, many owners today are looking for other options.
A raw food-based diet is one approach that has grown in popularity over the last decade, but along with this growing popularity has come growing controversy regarding the benefits of feeding a raw diet.
One of the reasons people cite for feeding a raw diet is that it is a more “natural” diet for dogs. The theory is that wild canids would eat a diet mainly consisting of raw meat and bones, so people should try and mimic this diet when feeding their pets. However, the pet dogs that live in our homes do not resemble their wild cousins. We have bred dogs to have a range in size from the tiny Papillon to the massive Neapolitan Mastiff, and a variety of builds from the light-framed Whippet to the bulky Bulldog. In addition, there are breeds like the Bedlington Terrier that are prone to specific nutrient deficiencies. With all of these physiological differences between our pets and wild canids, can we be certain that what a wild canid eats is indeed an ideal diet for Rover?
One of the biggest challenges in deciding whether to feed a raw diet is the overwhelming amount of conflicting information, and the fact that much of this information is anecdotal in nature. There are numerous websites and message boards extolling the virtues of a raw diet and there are others condemning raw diets as unsafe and unhealthy. When choosing how and what to feed your dog, you need balanced information—information that outlines both the good and bad so that an educated choice can be made.
Below, we outline the major benefits and concerns regarding raw diets to help you in deciding if a raw diet would be right for your dog. Keep in mind there are benefits and risks associated with all choices of food for your dog, so you must decide if the benefits of a raw diet outweigh the potential risks. When making the best choice for your dog, it’s important to remember that what is right for you and your dog may not be right for someone else and their dog. A raw diet may not be appropriate for all dogs and before you decide what is right for your dog, you should discuss your options with your veterinarian. Consulting a canine nutritionist can also be very beneficial when designing a diet specific to your dog’s requirements.
Types of Raw Diets
There are two major types of raw diets: commercial and home-prepared. Commercial raw diets, which may be fresh or frozen, supply all of the dog’s requirements and are typically in a meat patty form.
Home-prepared raw diets usually consist of raw meat and bones, with veggies, fruits, supplements, and added grains. These diets may not be balanced each day but, if designed properly, should meet the dog’s requirements over the long term.
The Benefits
Safety. Over the past couple of years, there have been a number of pet food recalls. When preparing your dog’s food at home, you have total control of what you include in your dog’s food and where those ingredients are from.
Health. Raw diets (especially home-made diets) allow you to meet your dog’s specific needs. Raw diets can be prepared to avoid foods that your dog is allergic to and can be made to meet your dog’s specific nutrient requirements. The high water content present in raw food may allow you to feed more while still keeping the calories low for portly pooches.
Processed foods often have added preservatives that enhance product shelf life. Food that has been freshly prepared and has not been processed or had preservatives added is commonly considered a healthier choice. Commercial raw diets are usually frozen, which means they don’t require added preservatives.
The bones that are part of the raw diet are anecdotally considered to be good for dental hygiene, which can be good for overall health.
Other. Feeding a raw diet may provide your dog with a natural outlet for her chewing tendencies; this may help to improve her overall behaviour.
The Risks
Safety. Raw diets have been found to contain Salmonella, Campylobacter, Escherichia coli O157:H7, Clostridium perfringens, Clostridium botulinium, and Staphylococcus aureus, all of which are known human and canine pathogens. These bacteria are shed in dog stools and may be transferred to carpets and furniture as the dog moves around the house. These pathogens usually only pose a serious human risk to the immuno-compromised, the elderly, and young children; however, this is a very important consideration if you are feeding a raw diet and have people in these risk groups living in your home.
In addition, there is a potential risk to dogs from certain pathogens found in raw foods, such as Neospora caninum, found in raw beef, Nanophyetus salmincola, found in raw salmon, and Trichinella spiralis, which is found in raw pork and wild game such as deer, elk, and moose. All of these pathogens can make your dog sick and are potentially fatal.
Feeding bones can cause choking, intestinal blockage or perforations, and chipped or broken teeth.
Health. Because it can be difficult and time consuming to adequately balance a raw diet, nutritional deficiencies, especially in vitamins and minerals, are a significant possibility. To complicate the matter even further, some nutritional deficiencies take many months to show up and you may not see the problems with feeding a particular diet until the animal has been eating it for months or years.
Raw vegetables are often poorly digested by dogs. Most of the nutrients in raw vegetables are rendered more available when they are lightly cooked and then ground.
Convenience. Feeding raw food is expensive and time consuming. The preparation of balanced meals for your dog every day can be a challenge to fit into a busy lifestyle. As a rule of thumb, if you are eating out more than three meals a week, you are likely too busy to properly prepare meals for your dog, so a home-made raw diet may not be the best choice for your life schedule.
Raw diets are particularly inconvenient if you travel frequently, whether your dog goes with you or stays behind. Many hotels are not equipped to deal with raw food storage, not all commercial brands are available everywhere, and some boarding facilities charge a premium for dogs on raw diets because of the space required for food storage.
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Unfortunately, there is little scientific research on feeding raw foods. This means that some of the information provided here is based on anecdotal evidence and has not been proven at this time. Much of the existing research on raw diets surrounds the microbial risks of raw meats and is very important to take into consideration. Hopefully, future research into raw diets will allow you to make a more informed choice about what to feed your dog.
Laura Scott holds a Master’s degree in animal nutrition. She lives with two Golden Retrievers, a 12-year-old couch potato and 2-year-old who loves training and competing in dog sports. Liz Pask is a PhD candidate studying nutritional toxicology. She has two Labrador Retrievers who train and compete in a variety of sports.
Comments (26)
Do you really think the dog is more evolved to handle extruded, over cooked food instead of fresh raw meat, organ and bone with a little produce?
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Most of America DOES feed their children multi-coloured multi-flavoured kibble.
Certainly there are dangers in any type of food fed to dogs. Dogs can have issues with bones, as stated by the author, however, I have not seen this to be the an issue for the majority of dogs. Raw bones are pliable. Cooked or weight bearing raw bones pose the most risk. What is a balanced diet? Humans don't eat a balanced diet at every meal, but, rather through the course of a day or two. When feeding raw it is important that they get their dietary requirements over a very small period of time. Muscle meat, bones, and organ meat are the primary sources of these requirements. Veggies and fruit occasionally. Never grains. When was the last time you saw a coyote, fox, or any other wild canid graze for grains? Their teeth are designed for tearing and chewing muscle meat and crunching bones. It is only the pet food industry that states that grains are a necessary requirement in a dogs diet. Yes, they can consume and digest grains, starches, etc., but it is really not very healthy for them.
While we have dogs with many different characteristics that give us a wide range of size, look, etc., they all still have the same digestive system as their ancestors. Therefore, it stands to reason (anecdotal) that a raw food diet is beneficial.
Raw feeding does not have to be expensive, but it is more time consuming. It takes a little research to find raw food that is not expensive. I feed my four dogs for under $1 per pound on average. That is cheaper than most commercial kibbles.
As far as benefits there are more than what was stated in the article. Yes, on a meat and bone diet, not ground, teeth are kept clean by the chewing of the bone. Coats are healthy, shiny, and soft. Muscle tone is enhanced. They do not defecate as much and because it is raw, fresh food the poop dries up and disintegrates. Kibble fed dog's poop will sit for years looking the same way as it did when it first was deposited. Why do they poop more? Could it be that there is so much they can't digest due to the large amount of grains in kibble?
When it comes to bacteria, all raw food contains it. We handle raw meat for cooking and consuming in the human diet. If care is utilized there should be no dangers of getting ill. Dog's digestive systems are strong, short, and powerful enough to kill and quickly discard any bacteria involved.
In an age that humans are realizing that commercial, processed foods are unhealthy for humans and raw, fresh food is ideal it would stand to reason that the same would apply to our pets. All kibble is is waste from the human food industry. Proteins are suspect, corn is genetically modified, vitamins are synthetic, etc. How many dog food recalls have their been on contaminated products that have made dogs ill and even killed them? A good book to read is Food Pets Die for by Ann Martin. She breaks down what is found in kibble and what AAFCO allows.
As a raw feeder for over 6 years, I have fed raw to my Collie, 3 Corgi's and a Lhaso Apso with no issues whatsoever. I did a lot of research (anecdotal) before switching. I have very healthy dogs! Ive never had to pay the big bucks to have their teeth cleaned, nor have they ever gotten ill from salmonella, etc.
If you or someone comes across this comment and this happens to your dog, I highly suggest you look into healing your dog's gut before starting a raw or cooked diet for your dog. Look into the human GAPS diet and it'll work just the same for your dog. Once your dog's gut is healed, you should be able to feed them a normal diet again without any autoimmune issues.
Here's the story. I switched my two pit bulls to raw from kibble in December 2013 after doing a little research (not enough) and at the advice of friends who have fed raw with no issues for years. my nine year old and four year old dogs seemed to have more energy at first, then on Jan. 27th my older dog quit eating and was lethargic. took her to the vet and told him of the diet change. he said he did not recommend it and then never mentioned it again, never asked me exactly what I was feeding her. I requested a senior blood panel since she had never had one and I figured it would show any abnormalities in her blood. I did not know it would not show e-coli. It came back normal. I did not ask him to specifically check for e-coli, and looking back I definitely should have. Hindsight is 20/20.
Two days later she is lethargic again, stomach spasms and cold to the touch. Back to the vet (same stupid one)Vet tech makes the comment "you are cold today girl" while he listens to her heart. NO mention of this very crucial symptom is ever made again, and I did not know it was crucial at the time. I also was not told her temp was below 100 which is also crucial. Vet takes an x-ray. comes back in and says "I can't find anything wrong with your dog other than she has a lot of stool in her intestines. She is constipated, just take her home and leave her in the yard for a while.You have a healthy dog that should live several more years". I got one more week.
I did not know that constipation is very bad for dogs on a raw diet because the bacteria etc can sit in there and cause e-coli. Nothing was given to me for that, no further blood tests, no urine test, nothing. I was somewhat uneasy about his diagnosis, but figured, he's the vet, he should know.
9 days go by, she is pooping and acting normal so we don't think about it again. Then on Feb. 8th she wakes up with the same symptoms. I am stupidly thinking constipation again. I call the vet he says "just watch her and bring her in on Monday if she isn't better." Several hours later she is no better. I call a different vet finally, but it is Saturday and they are gone. I call my dumb vet again, same thing, he is gone and the person says to take her to ER if she worsens. I'm spending all this time trying to google her symptoms to figure out what it is. I know it is not constipation because she pooped. She is also vomiting clear fluid. I am starting to panic. About 2 I am checking her gums which are pale, tell my husband I think she is going into shock and we need to rush her to ER. She tries to get up to follow me and can't walk. I am crying my eyes out because I know it's bad but am hoping that they can fix her.
The ER takes a bunch of blood and x-rays and comes in to tell us that there is fluid in her stomach which they suspect is septic. Prognosis is poor. I ask to see her. When they take me back there her eyes are dilated and I know I am losing her. I had just enough time for them to put her on a gurney in a private room before she died. Diagnosis: septic peritonitis with possible GI perforation. I have now lost my baby because I fed her raw. No second chance to make it right.
Needless to say I have filed a complaint with the AZ veterinary board. If he had cared to do what he should have she may have been saved at that second visit. There are so many variables to feeding raw that I did not know. Older dogs and puppies are susceptible to e-coli. Peritonitis is caused by e-coli and one of the symptoms is cold body temp among several of the other ones she had. Chicken bought from the store has all kinds of nasty things on it and should not be given to your dog. Some say to freeze it first, I did not know this until to late. Some say don't mix kibble with it, again I did not know this until too late.
Some people love raw. my other dog was fine, but she is also 4 years old and not in that more susceptible range.
So if you feed raw, be very careful and for goodness sakes have a GOOD vet!
So you were feeding kibble along with the raw chicken? Exactly how were you feeding?
I started to look around for a better solution and was already aware of raw feeding but had had little success with a previous dog so was reluctant at first. I started just giving raw frozen chicken. Immediately, the loose stools stopped!
I gradually built up the food to include turkey, lamb, beef etc in the percentages similar to the prey model. We have not looked back. No diarrhea since and his coat has been glossy and no scaly skin.
We are lucky in that we have a raw food company near us and so it costs less than £1 per day to feed a 27kg dog.
I disagree with some of the above article. We went camping and still managed to raw feed it's just about planning ahead - the campsite we stayed on had a freezer. You can also get packaged foods similar to raw if you are going to be somewhere with no freezer. Plus, most places sell frozen meat for humans whereas not every place will sell your preferred choice of kibble.
Recently there were programmes on tv in the UK regarding the terrible poisons that have been found in well-known brands of dog food. I have always believed that it was strange that my parents fed their dogs kibble and the dogs lasted less than 10 years yet my grandparents who believed in feeding scraps to their dog had a dog who lived to around 18!
Chicken bones won't hurt your dog as long as they have not been cooked. Any cooked bone can cause damage as they splinter due to the reduced moisture content.
I don't believe in feeding vegetables or fruit. I don't imagine wild dogs would scavenge for fruit and veg (nor would they cook it in order to get the best possible digestion of nutrients!!). Many fruits and veg are actually poisonous to dogs - grapes, apple pips, onions etc
I am an advocate of raw feedings purely because I have seen what good it has done for my dog and others.
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