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I watch my Belgian Tervuren bitches make “natural and green” food. While my boys love to be cooked and served on a platter, the girls will catch the rabbit, and eat it all. Hair, head, intestines, and muscle meat. Is this a natural raw food? Not really.
Many green diets focus on lean meat and bones. Home versions are hard on the neck bones, wings and backs. And, importantly, supplements are needed to combine the food and bring it closer to nutritional completeness.
Important vitamins and minerals should be compensated in green food. Getting the calcium/phosphorus balance right, especially in puppies, can be very challenging. Eating raw food properly yourself is not easy as your dog catches and eats rabbit from time to time.
Proponents of raw food believe that greens are natural and nutritious. The catch is that commercial and homemade foods do not mimic the true natural diet of canids, which includes a variety of game (dead and live), as well as plants, berries, and vegetables.
Is Raw Food Healthy for Dogs?
To be healthy, a raw diet must be balanced and complete, and there are raw foods sold that do just that. Vegetables, fruits, and ingredients may be included. Many producers rely on freezing, drying, or dehydration to preserve food for shipping and storage.
Can Raw Foods Safely Provide Nutrition?
Yes, it is possible, but it requires more cost and effort than the average dog owner can or will put in to do it right. If you choose to eat raw, do your research and make an effort to do it right. In some dogs, it seems to help (rarely, since there are no clinical studies), probably from very small doses like anything.
Is Raw Food Harmful to Dogs?
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends avoiding raw food for pets, for both the potential health problems for humans and animals. Many vets agree.
Raw pet food is in the news a lot because of cats dying from raw food and raw milk that contracted bird flu. Freezing and freezing does not kill the bird flu virus. At this time, dogs seem to be resistant to the bird flu virus, but that can change through genetic changes.
In addition, an FDA study from 2014 found the risk of exposure to other foodborne pathogens (Salmonella, Listeria, or toxigenic E. coli) from raw frozen pet food purchased online is about one in three. Remember, freezing and drying do not affect most bacteria, although most bacteria and parasites will be wiped out. Any existing toxins may be retained.
Although dogs are usually immune to these viruses, many are not. Puppies with immature immune systems and adults with weakened immune systems are at risk, as well as any dog with a health problem that suppresses the immune system, such as cancer. Also, humans are more susceptible to these viruses than dogs.
That means food hygiene while preparing this food must be perfect. Households with elderly people, very young children, and anyone with an immune-related disease should avoid handling uncooked pet food.
So, why don’t my dogs who catch and eat rabbits get sick? These girls are eating really fresh meat that has no chance of bacterial growth or toxin production sitting in your kitchen and thawing. (Of course, my dog can still get things like tire worms from that “new” food.)
When it comes to “natural eating,” dogs have evolved to eat a wider variety of foods than their wild ancestors through domestication, such as utilizing starch better than wild canids. If you choose to feed raw food, just make sure you take all precautions and make sure the food you buy or make yourself is whole.
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