Pet owners may find themselves exposed to a lot of press promoting raw food diets. Pet lovers who want to give their pets the very best care possible may feel they should be feeding raw food. If you are someone who likes to have background for any important decision, especially something as important as what you feed your pet, where can you get reliable information?

Your family veterinarian is the best resource for diet recommendations. Still, you may wonder why a blood bank and emergency clinic would have concerns about raw food. The VABS page on the VAEC website explains that raw food is inappropriate for blood donors for the safety of the blood recipient. At the Vancouver Animal Emergency Clinic, we have seen an increase in the incidence of families feeding various raw meat products to their pets, a trend that has seems to correspond with an increase in the number of companies making and distributing raw food diets. Emergency conditions resulting from animals eating raw meat diets include infection with bacteria, including Salmonella, E. coli, Campylobacter, Clostridia, Staphylococcus and others. Not only may pets become sick from these pathogens, their human families may also be exposed to the organisms that are passed in their stools. We have also treated serious and fatal cases of gastroenteral irritation, obstruction and perforation from bones.

Dr. Rebecca L. Remillard, PhD DVM DACVN of Veterinary Nutritional Consultations, Inc at the MSPCA Angell Memorial Animal Hospital answers some of the common rationales for feeding raw food diets. She emphasizes that: no significant nutrients are lost during cooking; most raw food diets are not “complete and balanced” - nutritional imbalance is more common than not; whole bones (cooked or raw) that obstruct the intestine, or worse the esophagus, can be fatal; and, food poisoning and parasites are food safety issues when feeding raw meat and eggs, particularly if the pet, owner or another family member has a weakened immune system. Freezing raw meat does not make it safe to feed. She quotes Betsy Berry, manager of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Meat and Poultry Hotline: "Freezing merely puts the bacteria in suspended animation". In the US, the FDA has made recommendations about feeding raw food to pets.

Dr. John Hilton, Research and Development for Veterinary Medical Diets reiterates concerns about contamination of raw meat with bacteria such as Campylobacter, Clostridia, E.Coli and Salmonella, and parasites such as Trichinella, Toxoplasma, tapeworms and flukes. He also refutes the mistaken belief that raw meat contains enzymes that enhance digestibility.

Dr. Bernard Rollin, a veterinary ethicist, further refutes the idea that raw is better because it’s natural: “Aren’t dogs descended from wolves, and don’t wolves eat raw food? Actually, there is evidence that wolves in the wild don’t eat so well, are not always well-nourished, and carry formidable parasite loads…Cooked meat is in fact more easily digested by dogs.”

I have come across many online discussions between veterinarians about pets treated for conditions arising from a “BARF” (Bones And Raw Food) diet. There are also some owner based web sites with information about BARF hazards.

Finally, here is a summary of two papers in the veterinary literature linking raw food and Salmonellosis:

• Salmonella was isolated from 80% of the BARF diets in one study, and 30% of the dogs fed the BARF diet had Salmonella in their stool samples; there was no Salmonella in the food or stools of dogs on the control diet (various brands of kibble). The shedding of Salmonella in the stool is of concern for young children, the elderly or other people who may have compromised immune systems.
• Two cats (10 weeks old and 14 years old) from the same home died of Salmonella gastroenteritis and septicemia contracted from a raw meat based diet; their infections were 9 months apart. Cats fed raw beef are at risk for development of Salmonellosis and may constitute zoonotic (spread of disease from animals to humans) risk.

People who choose to prepare their pet’s food are doing so out of love. However, a good philosophy is “above all, do no harm”. To be sure you are keeping your pet as safe as possible, I would suggest:

• never feed bones (even cooked ones), to avoid dangerous irritation, obstructions or perforations of the GI tract
• if you wish to feed a homemade diet, talk to your vet to find a recipe that will meet your pet’s nutritional needs
• cook the food
• if you truly believe raw is better, consider making the switch from RAW to RARE (searing the outside of the meat) and don’t use ground meat (most of the microbial contamination is on the surface; ground meat increases the contaminated surface area)
• follow standard safe food handling guidelines
• consult your veterinarian about diet recommendations

Remillard, R. Vet-to-Vet, Clinical Nutrition, raw food diets VIN 05/16/2003, 04/14/2004
Rollin B. An ethicist’s commentary on the “Raw Diet”. Can Vet J 2003; 44:448-449
Joffe D, Schlesinger DP. Preliminary assessment of the risk of Salmonella infection in dogs fed raw chicken diets. Can Vet J 2002; 43:441-442
Stiver SL, Frazier KS, Mauel MJ, Styer EL. Septicemic salmonellosis in two cats fed a raw-meat diet. J Am Anim Hosp Assoc 2003: 39[6]:538-42