You may not be aware that there has recently been something of a row about raw food. The UK’s only RCVS Specialist in Small Animal Clinical Nutrition (the top level of veterinary expert) has voiced strong concerns about the safety of raw dog food. Unsurprisingly, raw feeding enthusiasts have hit back calling Dr Davies “alarmist”, but government agencies are investigating the safety of raw foods. So we asked our vet blogger Amelia Gates to look into Dr Davies concerns…

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The controversy has a long history

In the red corner, we have raw feeding. Giving uncooked meats, bones and supplements to our pets; sponsored by anecdotal evidence of improved gut and skin issues as well as better overall health. In the blue corner, the less trendy but long established commercial complete diets; in the form of kibble or wet food… And the fight is on!

An informative article recently published in The Vet Times entitled “Act now regarding raw food risks” has once again brought the debate of raw food feeding to the forefront of our minds. Made popular by social media and the idea of “getting back to a natural, ancestral diet”, the proportion of pet owners feeding their dogs raw diets has increased rapidly, in the US raw pet food sales jumped from US$117 million to US$393 million between 2012 and 2016 (Wall, 2017) and with 441.3 million “raw diet” hashtags on TikTok. Pet food trends also tend to follow human food trends. And with a rise in popularity of organic, natural and unprocessed foods, dog food trends were sure to follow. But how much evidence is there for its supposed benefits, and what are the risks?

One argument used to the raw feeding movement is that wolves, the ancestors to our domestic dogs, ate in this way

On this point I say, really? Would you have a wolf sitting on your sofa, or eating out of your children’s hand? Of course not, and this is because they are no longer the same species. Dogs have been domesticated to suit our needs, be that behavioural or with their diet. Domestic dogs are considered omnivores. This means their digestive systems have evolved to process starch and fats (Axelsson et al., 2013).

The benefits of raw feeding

A lot of benefits of raw feeding are anecdotal. There is however some evidence that there is increased digestibility of raw food diets (Hamper, 2014). And a study into canine peripheral blood mononuclear cell expression showed a difference in cell expression between a raw and commercial kibble fed groups, indicating a possible positive impact on immune function in raw fed dogs (Anderson et al., 2018). However, nutrition in pets is generally poorly researched, both for raw food diets and commercial kibbles.

As mentioned in the original article, as much as there could be benefits to raw food feeding, the risks associated are not insignificant

To start with the risk to your pet, feeding a nutritionally incomplete food is easy to do with home prepared raw meals. Of course, this is not the only type of raw food available, and commercially prepared raw diets are more likely to be nutritionally balanced. A small sample size study showed low calcium and phosphorus in home- made diets. However commercially prepared diets also were low in phosphorus and sodium (Freeman & Michel, 2001). 

The main risks covered in the article however were the microbial load found in raw food diets, with dangerous pathogens commonly being isolated

Pathogens such as E. coli, Salmonella, Listeria and Campylobacter. There have been some concerning statistics, such as 113 cases of human campylobacter from stroking infected puppies. Feeding raw diets to dogs with potentially infected meats means that these pathogens are not only on and around their mouths, but in their coats and in their faeces. This in turn means your raw fed pet has the potential to spread the pathogens that we spend so long trying to avoid with good hand hygiene and antibacterial sprays. 

The immunocompromised, very young and very old are most at risk. As a vet, it causes me great concern when a client tells me their pet is raw fed and they are holding the hand of a young child… The article calls for more guidance and action from the bodies of public health in the UK to help prevent outbreaks of infectious disease linked to raw food feeding, and with that I have to say I agree.

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