This trendy pet food diet is bad for your dog’s health

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Between 15,000 and 40,000 years ago, wolves and dogs split into their own species from a now extinct shared ancestor. Back then, meat was the only thing on the carnivores’ menu.

Centuries and hundreds of domestic dog breeds later, today’s canines are not built for an exclusive raw meat diet.

A typical raw meat recipe for pets will have animal or poultry muscle meat, organ meats and whole or ground bones. Most recently, “green tripe” has been touted — without scientific proof — as a superfood for dogs, promoted as a sort of canine probiotic due to the presence of certain bacteria.

veterinary diagnostic laboratory at the University of Maine. “There is no scientifically proven health benefit of doing so.”

Peer-reviewed research — including work from the Animal Population Health Institute at Colorado State University — has shown the health risks posed to pets who are fed exclusively raw diets. The diet is strongly discouraged by the American Veterinary Medical Association.

Those risks include nutritional imbalances that can result in deficiencies in the pet, exposure to disease-causing bacteria and parasites, a risk of elevating blood values to dangerous levels and the risk of fracturing a tooth or injuries to the digestive system, according to The Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University.

On the other hand, there have been no credible studies showing any benefits of the raw diet, whether the food is homemade or purchased, according to Tufts.

Among the arguments in support of a raw diet is that dogs are carnivores and, like their carnivorous wolf cousins, should only dine on meat.

As domestic dog breeds became more and more specialized over time, so did their nutritional needs, Yule said. She recommends feeding your pets a quality commercial dog food designed for your pet and to stay away from the raw diet.

“There are not any domestic dog breeds that are as sturdy as wolves or coyotes,” Yule said. “They can’t handle that type of raw feeding.”

There is also a risk to humans who can become ill from coming into direct or indirect contact with raw meat that contains dangerous pathogens. These include ones that cause salmonella, E. coli, listeria and clostridium.

There are always dogs that prove to be the exception to the rule and do just fine on raw food, Yule said. But she believes it’s not worth risking it, especially with smaller breeds that are prone to pancreatitis.

If you are determined to feed your pet meat, Yule recommends cooking it first and only feeding small amounts at a time as a supplement to their commercial kibble.

“Domestic dogs are not wolves,” Yule said. “There are just so many generations of separation from [domestic dogs’] ancestors — you will never see a little toy poodle bringing down a caribou.”

Source: bangordailynews.com