Raw food diet: Is it good for your pet?

By Palagan S. Sewoyo
Veterinary Medicine Student of Udayana University

Pet owners today are very care about what their pet eat. The reason is for giving them a healthy and longer life. The main question is, what is the best food for their pet? When majority of people giving them commercial canned food, some people choose to look for other options. Of course, the owner want the best things for their pet. Various ways are carried out by the owner so the pet can get the best things, one of which is the raw food diet. Feeding a diet with a raw meat has become very popular nowadays, and becoming a trend among pet owners.

Picture source: https://www.uwprovision.com/raw-pet-food-diet-supplies/

What is raw food based diet? This diet is feeding which consist of raw meat (usually muscle or organ), crushed bone, fruits, vegetables, raw egg, and milk. This diet began in 1993, was introduced by veterinarian from Australia Dr. Ian Billinghurst. He called this diet as "BARF diet" which stands for "Biologically Appropriate Raw Food". Raw food based diet is one approach that began to grow in popularity over past few decades, but along with its popularity also developed controversy over the benefits of this diet. Dr. Billinghurst argues that commercial pet food is dangerous for health. However, not a few veterinarians oppose his views.

One of the reason pet owner provide this diet is a more natural approach for them. There is a theory that wild dog must be fed a diet by raw meat and bones, and these pet owners try to apply it to their beloved pets. The number of non-pathogen bacteria and hydrocloric acid in wild and domestic animals is different (Puotinen, 1999), so certainly this approach can't be done on two different things.

What are the advantages and disadvantages caused by this raw food based diet?

Advantages according to Swanson et. al (2018)

• The balance of the ingredients of raw food will have a good impact, many variation in the ingredients can produce the right nutritional profile, quality and nutrient-dense.
• Easy to digest and produce low blood level triglycerides even though they are high in fat.
• Rarely allergic to raw food ingredients.
• Produces good stool quality

Disadvantages:

• Almost 6% of raw food based diet contain Salmonella bacteria, and 50% contain Eschericia coli. Whereas commercial canned food is not found at all by these bacteria (Schlesinger & Daniel, 2011)
• A small study of dog owners on a diet using raw chicken, when cultured it contains Salmonella (Schesinger & Daniel, 2011)
• According to Finley et al. (2006) human also have a potential to be exposed by Salmonella bacteria and Toxoplasma gondii parasites due to feeding raw food to their pets.
• Giving bones will cause choking, intestinal tract obstruction, and broken or damaged teeth.

Perhaps the problem with this disadvantages can be overcome by pasteurizing raw milk and disinfecting the meat, which some of these add to the expense of course. It can be drawn a conclusion that raw food may be a good diet and is another option for pet owners if using bacteria-free ingredients.

References:

Algya, K., Cross, T., Leuck, K., Kastner, M., Baba, T., Lye, L., de Godoy, M. and Swanson, K. (2018). Apparent total tracts of macronutrient digestibility, serum chemistry, urinalysis, and specific characteristics, metabolites and microbiota of adult dogs fed extruded, mildly cooked, and raw diets1. Journal of Animal Science, 96 (9), pp.3670-3683.
Buff, P., Carter, R., Bauer, J. and Kersey, J. (2014). Natural pet food: A review of natural diets and their impact on canine and feline physiology. Journal of Animal Science, 92 (9), pp.3781-3791.
Schlesinger, D. P., & Joffe, D. J. (2011). Raw food diets in companion animals: a critical review. The Canadian veterinary journal = La revue veterinaire canadienne, 52 (1), 50–54.
Finley, R., Reid-Smith, R., Weese, J. and Angulo, F. (2006). Human Health Implications of Salmonella-Contaminated Natural Pet Treats and Raw Pet Food. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 42 (5), pp.686-691.