There has been a lot of debate still ongoing on online forums concerning feeding your pet raw food instead of packed dry food. People against pets eating dry food argue that animals in the wild hunt and eat raw food, so, the body of your pet is structured to basically consume raw food to help keep them in best health.

Many studies are beginning to condemn the nutritional value of packaged commercial pet food, claiming that kibble consists little moisture, low protein quality, and 60% carbohydrate.

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According to a Swedish study, young animals who were fed a cooked, processed diet appeared to be healthy, but once they attain maturity, they began to age rapidly and developed deteriorating symptoms of disease. The control group that was fed raw food did not age rapidly and showed no symptoms of disease.

Is Raw Food Best for Your Pet?

A canine behaviour counsellor has been feeding her pets only raw food for about 10 years. It all began when a golden retriever she adopted named Caesar, was given not more than three years to live, because he had multiple health issues. While carrying out research to find out what could help Caesar, she came across the concept of raw food; till then, she had fed her pets homemade food and kibble.

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Caesar had joint and bone diseases, but a meal of raw food was able to keep the diseases at bay. The doctors said that he would require supplements for life, but she declined from giving him any. Though his condition wasn’t completely cured, but his body was strong; he never limped, his weight was good, as was his blood,” she says. All thanks to a diet of raw food.

Raw food can cause infection

Just like Devisri, there are others who swear by the benefits of feeding their pets raw food diet.

However, two veterinarians heatedly disagree with feeding pets raw food.

Dr Shahid Vaseem says that although raw food can boost pet’s immune system, clinically, it has been found to cause severe infections. “Consuming raw food can cause bacterial infections, such as salmonella. While dry, packed food isn’t too ideal for your pet, it is best to avoid raw food. Pets can be fed with human food to get nutritional benefits, but it shouldn’t include the spices included in human food.

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Vaseem says you should boil your meat first before feeding your pet, so as to destroy bacteria.

Dr Anil Kumar, another veterinarian, agrees with Vaseem. According to Kumar, even milk has to be pasteurized. It’s best to boil meat and vegetables before feeding your dog. You can feed your pet chapatti, idly, dosa, ragi malt and the likes of them, so as to derive the nutritional benefits from human food. Feeding your dog excess protein such as chicken and beans is not too good. So, give your pet chicken once a week, and other meat, such as beef, mutton and pork, once a month.

Raw food versus Homemade food

However, Devisri disagrees with this. “Vets abroad who have studied nutrition and recommend raw food for pets. If the argument is about infection, then cooked food can also contain salmonella,” Devisri argued.

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“The stomachs of dogs are much more acidic than ours and can handle bacteria. Wild animals don’t have access to fresh meat every day. So, they hunt once and eat same meat over several days. Dogs usually bury bones and eat it later.”

Dogs will eat the food you feed them, be it a chapatti or kibble. However, when you give them raw meat, it gives them something to do. They have to chew, tear and gnaw at the meat and bones, thereby giving them primary usage of their jaws. As a result, they are less energetic and destructive. Gnawing on the bones gives them much-needed jaw work that they would otherwise take out on your furniture should they get bored,” says Devisri.

Source: http://www.healthdiary365.com/2017/11/03/should-your-pet-eat-raw-food/