The Pros and Cons of the Raw Food Diet for Dogs
The origin of the raw food diet came about ten years ago. At that point it was called the “BARF” diet, which stood for the Bones and Raw Food diet. This diet was created by an Australian veterinarian named Ian Billinghurst. As time passed the diet then became known as the biologically appropriate raw food diet. Today we just simply call it the Raw Food Diet.
If you spend anytime at all on the internet, then you will know that there is a lot of information out there about the raw food diet. There are many people that are strongly for the raw food diet and there are some against it. In this article we are going to give you the pros and the cons of the diet so that you can make the best decision for your dog.
I’m sure that you’ll recall last Spring, that the raw food diet received a lot of attention when numerous commercial dog foods were recalled. The massive recalls made many pet owners pause and consider giving homemade dog food a try. The idea of giving your dog a fresh, varied, rich in enzymes and amino acids type diet became very appealing to many pet owners.
While many people tend to switch to a raw food diet in times of stress such as when your their dog becomes sick, or they develop allergies. However as dog owners become more proactive about making sure that their dogs are getting proper nutrition they are beginning to think along these guidelines, “If this is how I should feed my dog when they are sick… why don’t I feed him this way all the time?”
Some veterinarians are still not comfortable with recommending a diet that mimics what a wild dog would eat, raw meat, pulverized fruit and veggies and bones. Their main concern has to do more with the bacterial contamination and nutritional imbalances and the possibility of internal injuries that can be caused by the bone fragments that can come from chewed bones.
The advocates of the raw food diet counter the bacterial objections by saying that good hygiene is essential in handling raw meat. The majority of healthy dogs are able to tolerate bacteria such as Ecoli. With this in mind if your dog is immune compromised in anyway, the raw food diet may not be the best diet plan for them.
Advocates also point out that if you grind the bones into a hamburger type consistency you then eliminate the risk of bone fragments lodging in the intestinal tract and causing problems. A note about feeding your dog bones…never give them cooked bones. When bones are cooked, they become brittle and can splinter.
As with any new diet it’s not advisable to start your dog on this raw food diet without doing proper research and talking to your vet.
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