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Raw food diets for companion carnivores: an untapped panacea or a disaster waiting to happen?

02 April 2020
Clinical
10 mins read
02 April 2020
Volume 25 · Issue 3

Abstract

Raw food diets are being fed to companion animals with ever-increasing frequency in the UK and elsewhere; however, the advantages and disadvantages are frequently debated. There is currently no accepted consensus regarding the best advice for clinicians to give to owners about raw feeding their pets. This review aims to discuss some of the areas where most of the debate exists.

Raw food feeding is the practice of providing domestic dogs and cats with a diet consisting primarily of uncooked meat, bones, and viscera (Schlesinger and Joffe, 2011; Freeman et al, 2013; Goh, 2016; Fredriksson-Ahomaa et al, 2017)

Owners who feed their pets raw diets, alternatively referred to as either biologically appropriate raw feeding (BARF) or feeding raw meat based diets (RMBD), are divided into two groups: those who choose to make homemade raw diets to feed their animals and those who predominately feed commercially available raw food diets (Schlesinger and Joffe, 2011; Freeman et al, 2013; Goh, 2016; Fredriksson-Ahomaa et al, 2017).

For both groups of owners in the UK, the majority of these diets are comprised of meat that has been deemed fit for human consumption, though in England and Wales, but not Scotland, under European Union Animal By-Products Regulations (Regulation No 1069/2009) Category 3 material can also be fed raw to pets (Schlesinger and Joffe, 2011; Freeman et al, 2013; Goh, 2016; Fredriksson-Ahomaa et al, 2017).

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evidence-based medicine
infectious disease
raw diet