To raw feed or not to raw feed?

GwylimT

hb2 wrote: »

I believe that vets get very little nutritional input during their training and, like some GPs, are very influenced by the reps from various companies.

The TB things recently was a shocker but I believe the easiest answer is to avoid beef products - not a problem for me as they would not be a natural part of a cat's diet but I know nothing about dog nutrition!

As Sherambler says, we all do what we think it best for our furry companions. There is rarely a true 'one size fits all'.

Venison and lamb are at the top when it comes to TB in meat as they’re outdoor grazers. All cats who died or were infected had eaten venison.

Vet

As a vet, I can tell you that raw feeding has its pro's and con's.
For an animal with some sort of allergy, whether skin or gastrointestinal, it can be useful as it can eliminate the allergen source. However, there are commercial hypoallergenic/anallergenic diets available.
Raw diets come with the risk of transmission of disease such as salmonella and campylobacter. The risk of transmission is not just to the animal but to you, the owner, and your family.
I have a seen a rise in the number of gastrointestinal disease secondary to raw feeding over the past few years - however I am just one vet.
Home cooked diets can also provide the benefits of a non-commercial diet (e.g. eliminating the allergen source), whilst reducing the risk of disease transmission through cooking. I would suggest this if you are not a fan of commercial diets.

Edit: Feel free to private message me if you have any more questions regarding diets etc.

~_Daisy_~

Thank you all for the information.

Having discussed further with my hubby who is not too keen on the idea, We are going to carry on a we are for now, whilst I do further research, Im going to speak to the other owners in my local dog walking group and at agility, as I believe there are a few owners who raw feed,and may have local knowledge of suppliers etc.

TB is often not mentioned by those who raw feed from what I have read so is a real big Con on my Pro/Con list.

hb2

The TB issue only really came to light a couple of months ago.

~_Daisy_~

hb2 wrote: »

The TB issue only really came to light a couple of months ago.

Hmm, now wondering what happened a couple of months ago for this to be an issue now, or has it been an unknown one for longer?

We are going to be sticking with what has worked well for the last 3 years. Have decided if it aint broke dont fix it!

MovingForwards

We have a retired greyhound and feed commercial /branded shop purchased kibble supplemented with fresh meat / fish / bones / veg.

I would never advocate raw or commercial as it is down to personal choice and budget.

GwylimT

~_Daisy_~ wrote: »

Hmm, now wondering what happened a couple of months ago for this to be an issue now, or has it been an unknown one for longer?

We are going to be sticking with what has worked well for the last 3 years. Have decided if it aint broke dont fix it!

Meat for animals undergoes the same testing as human meat, however, human meat is cooked, so isn’t rouinely tested for TB.

The particular company involved have failed to correctly test their products to accout for the lack of cooking, iif you avoid natural instinct you’re safe.

gettingtheresometime

We feed our beagle raw food. Only issue we have is that (occasionally) we'll forget to defrost another tub for him.....it's not natural instinct but a similar company.

In fact on the occasions we feed him tinned food, we refer it to the doggy equivalent of a mcdonalds

madlyn

I often consider putting my 8 yr old Jack Russell on to a raw diet.
She currently eats a Salmon and Potato dry food light version as she is a little over weight.
I give her this as some other dry food I have tried seems to give her a very bad skin irritation, either from to much animal protein or the grain in it. So I'm unsure if giving her all meat would make the skin issue worse.

~_Daisy_~

I used to give a wheat free kibble as Penny suffered with dry skin but have sinced moved on to adding oily fish most days which has worked wonders, although it could be that She just grew out of it!
She does have dark red/brown coat so all the flakes stood out more.