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There are many benefits of eating unprocessed diets for people. Many books and documentaries are published and show how natural diet can prevent and help to recover from 5 big health problems (in the U.S.) in human medicine. However, I have never met any veterinarians who recommend unprocessed diets to pet owners personally. Veterinarians’ response regarding raw and/or homemade food is almost always the same: risk of foodborne illness and nutritional imbalance. It is true that raw/homemade diet increase the risk of foodborne illness, but those natural diet has many great health benefits for pets too (I will talk about later blogs). Today, I first would like to discuss the risks of raw and homemade diet. Risks of feeding raw and homemade diet to petsNumerous studies have revealed the fact that a raw or homemade diet given to pets can be a potential risk of several important concerns. The most important concerns of feeding raw or homemade diet to pets include nutritional imbalance, health risks to pets and health risks to human companions. Studies conducted to compare the nutritional status of homemade and commercial diets for pets suggested that there are several imbalances which could badly affect the health of your pet. For example, it was observed that a homemade diet for a pet contains much fewer concentrations of vitamin A and E, calcium to phosphorous ratio and very high concentrations of vitamin D. Another risk of offering a raw meat-based diet to pets includes contamination of pathogens. No matter for what purpose raw meat is sold, it contains the risk of contamination by bacteria. The most common pathogens that are often isolated from raw meat are salmonella and listeria spp. Health risks other than pathogen contamination include injury of the digestive tract and fracture of teeth because of bone fragments in raw meat-based diets. The bones of chickens are brittle, and they can splinter and cause perforation or obstruction of the entire digestive tract. Case studies - after feeding raw and/or homemade dietA case study conducted to observe the effects of an imbalanced diet showed that it could cause vitamin D-dependent rickets and hyperthyroidism. Another study was conducted to evaluate the nature of foreign bodies present in the esophagus. They found that 30-80% of foreign bodies were bone fragments which may have caused esophageal perforation of obstruction. It is evident that offering a raw meat-based diet to your pet can change the blood chemistry. A study was conducted to understand how a raw meat-based diet affects serum thyroxine levels. The study identified 12 dogs with increased serum thyroxine levels, among which six dogs showed signs of hyperthyroidism. Pet owner's awareness of sanitationA study was conducted to understand the level of pet owners' awareness of sanitation. The study found that only 5% of respondents were aware of the existence of FDA guidelines regarding how to handle pet food. Over 75% of respondents understood and handle pet food on a very basic level such as:
Lack of education on natural food for pets in vet schoolsA study was conducted to understand the narrative of veterinary students. It was observed that incoming students had a positive attitude towards nutrition education in the curriculum. At the same time, they put less emphasis on nutrition education when compared with other areas of veterinary medicine. Another study was conducted to understand the availability of nutrition information and the attitude of veterinary students towards that information. The study showed that veterinary students find it very difficult to gather and understand nutrition-related information. They express it in such a way that the available information is more scattered and less accessible. The participants of the study further expressed that the internet is filled with nutrition-related information. Pet owners often get confused and frustrated after reading from the internet. Veterinary and pre-veterinary students shared their opinion that they need information that is easily accessible and readable. The information must also be trustworthy and applicable. Final thoughtThere are several reasons why many veterinarians are not comfortable to recommend raw/homemade diet to pet’s owners. Their two big concerns are bacterial contamination and nutritional imbalance. However, it is also true that many veterinarians don’t have enough resources regarding to animal nutritions. No matter what kind of pet food you feed, there is always a risk of foodborne illness. Unfortunately, raw/homemade food increase the risk more than dry food. So, if you feed raw/homemade diet to your furry family, please take extra attention with the reliability of the food quality/freshness and sanitation measurement at home. Resources:Juul F, Vaidean G, Parekh N. Ultra-processed Foods and Cardiovascular Diseases: Potential Mechanisms of Action. Adv Nutr. 2021 Oct 1;12(5):1673-1680. doi: 10.1093/advances/nmab049. PMID: 33942057; PMCID: PMC8483964.
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AuthorYuki Konno MS, LVT, CVWHM(civt) Archives
January 2025
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