Raw feeding

Raw feeding is the practice of feeding domestic dogs, cats, and other animals a diet consisting primarily of uncooked meat, edible bones, and organs. The ingredients used to formulate raw diets vary. Some pet owners choose to make home-made raw diets to feed their animals but commercial raw diets are also available.

The practice of feeding raw diets has raised some concerns due to the risk of foodborne illnesses, zoonosis, and nutritional imbalances. People who feed their dogs raw food do so for a multitude of reasons, including but not limited to: culture, beliefs surrounding health, nutrition, and what is perceived to be more natural for their pets. Feeding raw food can be perceived as allowing the pet to stay in touch with their wild, carnivorous ancestry. The raw food movement has occurred in parallel with the change in human food trends for more natural and organic products.

Despite beliefs in better health outcomes there is no evidence raw feeding provides any health benefit compared to conventional diets. Raw diets may be nutritionally incomplete or have harmful parasites and bacteria. Feeding bones can lead to tooth damage or gastrointestinal blockage and perforation.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.