The raw meat diet for dogs trend has taken over TikTok, with dog owners taking to the platform to showcase their pets chowing down bowls of raw food garnished with colorful supplements.
Many seem to adopt this dietary approach to mirror what dogs would otherwise eat in the wild. Unfortunately, experts say that a raw meat diet does more harm than good to our canine companions. Veterinarians have voiced concerns over this diet, urging dog owners to stick to high-quality kibble instead.
Raw dog food diet more dangerous than kibble
According to Houston Chronicles, many veterinarians don’t endorse putting dogs on a raw meat diet. This is mostly due to the potential health risks associated with this type of diet.
Dogs feeding on raw foods have a higher risk of contracting food-borne illnesses such as Salmonella and E. coli. Moreover, humans can catch these life-threatening bacteria while handling raw dog foods, especially those with weak immunities.
“For people who do insist on feeding raw food, they need to be so super vigilant about cleanliness,” Lori Teller, a clinical professor at Texas A&M School of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, stated, adding, “And if anybody in the household is immunocompromised — say they’re a cancer patient or have some kind of immune-mediated disease — raw food becomes really dangerous for them. “
Additionally, Teller shared that a raw meat diet doesn’t provide dogs with complete and balanced nutrition. A high-quality kibble, on the other hand, can be complete and balanced. Consequently, dogs put on a raw diet eventually suffer from nutritional imbalances that impact their health in the long term.
“It can take a long time for nutritional problems to show up,” Teller stated. “It’s not like you feed a raw diet or a non-nutritionally balanced diet for a week, in general, and then problems show up from that. Generally, it can take months to years,” she added.
Teller further shared, “A lot of those times, the problems may not be correctable. The damage may already be done.”
