What is a raw dog food diet?
A raw dog food diet (as opposed to a cooked dog food diet) is made of ingredients that are uncooked. Typically they are high-meat diets, but this may include toxin-housing organ or leftover parts of the carcass after the rest of the cuts of meat have been removed. Raw diets utilize parts of the animal that are not always as or restaurant-quality.
Because raw diets are typically ground in manufacturing facilities, it’s common for a raw dog food diet to include ground bone (or bone meal). The reason we do not recommend bone content in our dog meals (beyond the obvious reasons that this is a lower quality ingredient) is can cause variations in the calcium and nutrient content of the meal. Sharp pieces are not always removed, and the bone acts as a (potentially harmful) filler.
Raw dog food diets are either shipped frozen and thawed by or shipped entirely raw. While some raw diet proponents argue that cooking may lead to nutrient loss, the reality is that gently cooking enables us to preserve more than enough nutrients, while also minimizing harmful bacterial risk for dogs and humans. Additionally, the deep freeze than many raw diets before reaching a dog’s bowl take a greater toll on the nutrients than any cooking may.
At the end of the day, one of the greatest challenges with a raw dog food diet is that you have a product that certainly looks like ground meat, but it’s not entirely clear just based on visual appearance what is in the diet, despite what may be on the label.
Facts about raw dog food
The reality with raw dog food diets is that they present many risks to dogs and their humans, without any research showing that they present additional benefits. Because of how raw dog foods are processed, we have seen much higher rates of bacterial contamination (within dogs and owners), presenting a risk for illness that is not worth the uncertain benefits.
We have seen that the high level of animal fat in high-meat diets (which raw dog food diets are) can be problematic for a dog’s and that this excess protein must be converted into carbohydrates, due to the lack of any whole carbohydrates within the meal itself.
The underlying misconception about raw diets is that they must be because wild animals are healthier and that is how they eat. Unfortunately, healthier as their lifestyles may appear, wild animals do not live as long as our domesticated dogs. And as much as our dogs may remind us of their wild cousins, they have long-ago adapted to an omnivore’s diet and a domesticated lifestyle that doesn’t leave their bodies prepared to handle dangerous bacteria, nor rough objects found in a raw diet.
Even for dogs that do well on a raw dog food diet, a gently-cooked diet presents the same nutritious benefits, is free of the danger of contamination, and balances nutrients more successfully than a meat-heavy raw diet is able to.
