My vet doesn't like raw food diet

​"My vet doesn't like feeding raw food diet"

This is the frustration I frequently hear from my friends and clients who are considering or already implementing a raw food diet for dogs and cats. It's a common concern that many pet owners face when trying to make the best nutritional choices for their furry companions.

I often ask them to elaborate on what else their vet said to them regarding raw feeding.
The responses I get are typically along these lines:

"They said that raw food is not balanced. It has a higher risk of contamination and of salmonella or something similar."

These concerns are indeed valid and worth addressing. However, I always follow up by asking how their pets are doing on the raw food diet. Their answers are almost always positive:

"My dogs are great! They love raw food. They've never had any serious problems since we switched to raw feeding."

My response to this is consistently the same:

"Then, you don't have to change it. If your pet is thriving on a raw food diet, and you're taking proper precautions, there's no reason to switch to a different feeding method simply because of general concerns."

In my experience working with various veterinary hospitals, I've encountered many staff members, including veterinarians, who have strong anti-raw food opinions. Their reaction is also quite typical:

"Raw food is so disgusting!"

When I tell them that I don't have any negative opinion about raw food, they're often surprised. I explain that I'm not against any specific type of food. What type of food is fed should be based on the owner's choice (which often reflects their lifestyle) and the pet's individual health condition.

I've observed some veterinarians and veterinary professionals trying to convince pet owners to stop feeding raw food. They basically all tell the same things:

• It's not nutritionally balanced.
• There's potential for contamination - it's a safety concern.

While these points are worth considering, it's important to look at the bigger picture.

How many dry or canned pet foods are recalled every year due to excess amounts of specific minerals or vitamins, or because of contamination?

The answer might surprise you.

I personally experienced a heartbreaking situation where a client brought her deceased dog to the clinic where I worked. The unexpected and unknown death was later found to be due to contaminated kibble from a very well-known brand, particularly praised for its high-quality ingredients.

Even more alarming, there have been recalls for prescription diets – foods specifically designed for pets with health issues. This goes to show that the problem of food safety isn't exclusive to raw diets.

My point is that it doesn't matter whether the diet is highly processed or raw. Both can potentially become contaminated and dangerous for pet's health if not handled properly. The real issue isn't about which type of food is inherently good or bad.

The actual problem is that many veterinarians don't know how to minimize the risks associated with raw food (or homemade diets) for dogs and cats.

For example, I have rarely, if ever, met a vet who addressed how to balance a raw or homemade diet properly. If veterinarians' primary concern is that these diets are "not balanced," why don't they take the time to check exactly what pet owners are feeding and give specific instructions on how to balance it?

The answer is simple: many don't do this because they don't know how.

Let's consider the potential contamination issue. Do veterinarians typically discuss how to minimize the risk? Do they ask where the raw food comes from or how the pet owners handle it? Do they at least discuss proper sanitary practices, storing methods, and handling techniques with owners?
In my experience, the answer is often no.

On the other hand, there are some veterinarians and veterinary professionals who support the benefits of a raw diet for dogs and cats. There are even some board-certified veterinary nutritionists who advocate for raw diets when properly balanced and handled.

Odin's story

My friend, Charlie, kindly shared her experience with the raw food diet for her dog, Odin.

​Our journey with raw/fresh feeding our Bernese Mountain Dogs came as a result of chronic diarrhea in our very first Berner Odin.

From the day we brought him home from the breeder at 11 weeks old until he was 6 months old, every single day was filled with cleaning up explosive diarrhea. We’d get up every hour on the hour at night to take him out, ran him to weekly vet visits and accrued more medical expenses than we could afford.

We did everything the vets recommended including but not limited to: weekly stool samples, monthly deworming, expensive veterinary prescription food, limited ingredient diets, allergy panels, specialist visits, intestinal biopsies, antibiotics, pre and probiotics.

We had to recruit family and friends to help us let him out during the day so that the mess we came home to each night wasn’t so bad I’d spend my entire evening cleaning up from it.

The only thing that would keep it at bay were antibiotics and if we fed him a diet of cooked hamburger and plain white rice. As soon as he came off of those, the diarrhea would come back in full force.

We were at our wits end.

We also felt like horrible pet parents because we knew our puppy was not absorbing any nutrients he needed to properly grow and thrive.

As a last ditch effort I reached out to our dog trainer. I pulled her aside after one of Odin’s last puppy kindergarten classes and told her everything we’d been struggling with. Thankfully she offered a recommendation.

She said she’d been feeding her dogs a raw food diet for decades and never had issues with chronic digestion or other health issues. She gave me the name of the local butcher she used and told me to keep her posted.

I’ll be honest, I was extremely skeptical.

Growing up I never thought dogs were supposed to have cooked food, let alone raw. But other than my sanity, more sleep and more money I didn’t have, I had nothing left to lose. I picked up the phone and placed an order for the following week.

It’s no exaggeration when I tell you that within 24 hours of feeding Odin the raw diet, his diarrhea cleared up and NEVER came back for as long as he lived!

My husband and I had witnessed our own personal miracle!

Since then, over a decade later, we’re still feeding our Berners a raw diet. Each new puppy has come to our home with diarrhea from kibble from the breeder, and transitions to a member of the “solid poops club” once we switch them over to raw.

If you're interested in Charlie's story, click here to sign-up her newsletter!

Those owners dedicate their time and money for their pets health

​This is just my experience, but I've noticed that pet owners who choose raw or homemade diets for their pets are mostly very health-conscious people. They take the time to research and educate themselves, often spending more money on their pet's food. They believe, as I do, that food is the foundation of health, and they're very careful about what they feed their pets.
​
So, why do many veterinarians simply dismiss these pet owners' careful choices and try to change their minds? Instead, wouldn't it be more productive if they were good listeners and acknowledged when they're not familiar with the benefits of raw diets or how to minimize the risk of foodborne disease or balance the diet properly?

They could simply state that due to this lack of familiarity, they cannot recommend it. This would be a more honest opinion.

Again, I don't believe there's a universal "which is better" answer when it comes to pet nutrition. Some pets benefit greatly from a raw food diet and digest the food without any problems.
Others may be more sensitive.
Yes, there could be a potential risk of foodborne illness if the handling is not appropriate or if the food was not prepared properly. But these risks can be mitigated with proper education and care.

The important lesson here is to respect the pet owner's choice and know how to support them in keeping their pet healthy, regardless of the chosen diet.

In conclusion, the debate over raw feeding is likely to continue in the veterinary community. For a pet owner, the most important thing is to stay informed, make decisions based on your pet's individual needs and your ability to manage the chosen diet safely, and maintain open communication with your veterinarian. After all, the ultimate goal is the same for everyone involved: happy, healthy pets living their best lives.
​

If you're interested in balancing your pet's diet or adding herbs and mushroom to enhance your pet's health, I'm happy to help you and your furry friend. To schedule the appointment with me, click the button below.

​#dog #dogcare #pethealth #dogfood #pethealth #cats #catcare #catfood #herbs #holistic