Raw Food Diets - A Meaty Topic
Raw Food Diets - Getting to the Bones of the Matter
Raw food diets (RFDs) for pets, sometimes known as ‘BARF’ (once an acronym for Bones and Raw Food, but more recently morphed into Biologically Appropriate Raw Food) or ‘species-appropriate’ diets, have gained recent popularity among pet families.
Motives for feeding a RFD are diverse, but generally fall into two categories:
The perception that raw food feeding is healthier, or offers some benefits when a pet has a specific disease (e.g chronic tummy upsets).
The belief that conventional commercial pet foods are inherently unhealthy.
There is sometimes a surprising amount of emotion and certainty expressed by both proponents of RFDs, and those who view them as a risk. As vets our goal is always to apply scientific evidence to our nutritional recommendations, we’ll explore that here.
So, What’s the Perfect Pet Food?
Whilst it may come as a surprise, we still don’t have a complete definition of even the basic nutrient requirements for dogs and cats. We certainly cannot define the ‘perfect’ diet for any stage of a pet’s life. Pet food companies spend huge budgets researching these conundrums and are yet to answer this question definitively, so anyone claiming to have identified the ‘perfect’ one size-fits-all diet for your pet should have their claims treated with skepticism.
Like any dietary choice, there are both benefits and potential risks associated with feeding pets a raw food diet. Lets take a look at the evidence of each.
What are the Potential Benefits?
Oral Health
It has been shown that when abrasive raw food elements such as bone are added to commercial pet food diets, oral health can be improved. It needs to be noted however that dental disease still occurs, and is surprisingly common in feral cats and African Wild Dogs that eat lots of bony raw food - "wild diets" that contain bones can help oral health by increasing chewing, but as shown by their wild cousins they don’t prevent pet dental disease outright, and do increase the risk of painful oral trauma.
Palatability
Some people report their pets finding RFDs more palatable than commercial pet food - this probably reflects increased moisture content and novelty when compared to commercial dry diets in the studies performed so far.
Protein Digestibility
Improved protein digestibility has been touted as a benefit of RFDs, and overall this is probably true - it is important to recognise that whether cooked or raw, protein digestibility will vary based on the origin and quality of the protein, and for most pets this is not greatly different to commercial pet foods.
When pet food ingredients are cooked this process will induce changes in the macronutrients (proteins in particular). This has been shown to result in altered salivary immune responses in cats - whilst the health significance of this change is not clear, it illustrates that whether we’re talking about human or pet nutrition, food processing is not a benign process.
There are many claims supporting RFDs regarding purported health benefits, and improvements in faeces and behaviour. These claims have never been rigorously tested and therefore can’t be analysed on the current available evidence.
What are some Common Problems?
Microbial Contamination
Microbial contamination of meat varies according to its source. Many meat products deemed unsuitable for human consumption find their way into pet foods. This increases the risk of bacterial contamination.
Studies overseas have shown RFDs to be contaminated with pathogenic bacteria such as Salmonella, Campylobacter, Yersinia and enterotoxigenic E.coli. Furthermore, many of the dogs and cats fed these RFDs are shown to be carriers of the pathogens. Whilst this clearly carries a risk to both pet and their family, this risk would appear to be relatively small and most pets don’t suffer any overt illness.
The parasitic and protozoal risk from pets consuming uncooked meats is well established. Toxoplasma, Neospora and Sarcocystis have all been reported as causes of disease in pets fed RFDs. These infections are probably of greater concern than bacterial ones in terms of their frequency.
Risks to Pet Families
Following on from above, surveys of the public have shown that most pet owners are unaware of the potential for transmission of enteropathogens between their pets and them.
Campylobacteriois is the most frequently reported notifiable enteric infection in the USA, and household contact with dogs is known to be a significant risk factor. Government health guidelines recommend that offal (sometimes referred to as ‘organ meat’ on product labels) should not be fed to dogs because of the risk of transfer of hydatid tapeworms from offal to dogs and subsequent risk of transfer to humans (which can cause serious and potentially fatal illness).
Offal feeding to dogs was largely eradicated as part of hydatid control efforts last century, it’s concerning to see it on the rise again through RFD promoters who presumably have little knowledge of the potential zoonotic risk.
Poor Quality PRODUCTS
The lack of pet food regulation in Australia has also resulted in some tragic adverse outcomes for pets fed RFDs. No case illustrates this more starkly than the high-profile death of 26 dogs in Victoria in 2021, all had been fed toxic wild horse meat which had been sold as beef and kangaroo fresh pet meat products.
Pet nutrition is a lucrative market, sadly unqualified and unscrupulous operators are still able to operate in Australia with few quality assurances for pet families.
Bone Fragments
Bone fragments in RFDs, whilst potentially offering abrasive benefits (see above), are regularly associated with tooth fracture, digestive distress, constipation or even gut perforation.
Nutritional Inadequacy
Perhaps the most significant pitfall of RFDs is that upwards of ninety percent of them seemingly fail to meet nutritional adequacy when subjected to analysis.
This maybe because of inadequate products and recipes, ignorance, or the natural tendency for home-prepared RFDs to become "simplified" for convenience over time.
The most common nutritional inadequacies encountered are calcium deficiency and low calcium: phosphorus ratio - this is particularly the case for young growing animals and has led to the reappearance of preventable diseases such as Rickets.
Other common deficiencies include Vitamins B12, E, D and A, copper, manganese and iodine. Common excesses include total fat, fatty acids (leading to digestive problems and obesity), and over-supplementation of B Vitamins.
Cost and Convenience
RFDs can end up being more expensive and labour intensive to prepare when compared to ready-to-feed commercial diets. Properly sourcing the right ingredients and supplements can be challenging.
The Bones of the Matter
One thing we can all agree on is that we want the best nutrition for our pets.
There are arguments for and against the feeding of RFDs, but we need to be aware that there is little in the way of research to support many of their purported benefits.
Many of the risks associated with RFDs can be mitigated simply by cooking them, whilst sacrificing little of their espoused benefit.
Any suggestion that RFDs provide our pets with nutrition that is more "natural" simply doesn’t stack up. Very few species of wild dogs nor feral cats live much longer than five years, yet the vast majority of our pets fed commercial diets live two to four times longer than that.
Commercial pet food diets aren’t perfect and there is no feeding practice that carries zero risk, nonetheless the rigorous control measures and properly conducted feeding trials that reputable manufacturers undertake, mean there are many commercial pet foods of extremely high quality and on which we can confidently rely. Feel free to check your pet’s food labels with us, or ask us for a recommendation.
Ultimately the form your pet’s nutrition takes will vary amongst pet families depending on priorities such as cost, convenience and food safety risks.
If your preference is to feed a RFD, we are here to help you make it safe and effective in a number of ways:
The Evervet team can recommend local producers of reliable, high quality RFDs that are nutritionally adequate.
Our staff can provide advice on the proper preparation, storage and feeding of home made diets, to minimise food safety issues.
We can help you create individualised home-prepared recipes that are supplemented with quality balanced vitamin and mineral products and meet AAFCO requirements.
We can tailor necessary adjustments to your pet’s parasite prevention program to address the potential public health risks associated with RFDs.
To talk to our friendly staff about a nutritional plan that is best for you and your pet, please call 95101335 or make an appointment.