Debunking 5 Common Myths About a Raw Meat Diet for Dogs & Cats

My dog/cat will have a hard time digesting uncooked meat – On the contrary, raw meat is easier to digest than cooked meat and MUCH closer to the ideal diet than processed kibble. Canines and felines have evolved over thousands of years to break down and absorb the essential nutrition from raw meat, not cooked meat or grains. It is only in the last 100 years or so that we have adopted the convenient, grain-heavy diet we are so familiar with today.

Feeding raw exposes my pet to salmonella – This is a common worry of pet owners, but an unnecessary one. In fact, most folks are surprised to learn that dogs and cats naturally house salmonella bacteria in their GI tracts without any adverse health effects. So whether you feed your pet raw meat or not, salmonella is already present in their system, making it impossible to “contaminate” them any further – dogs and cats’ digestive systems are designed to handle a much larger bacterial load than those of humans.

Dogs and cats contract parasites from eating raw meat – Another common misconception – parasites such as round worms, hook worms and tape worms are actually found strictly in the guts of animals. The stomach, intestines and colon are where parasites are concentrated and not in muscle meat, which is usually sterile. It is not recommended to feed your pets any guts or entrails, only high quality, preferably organic muscle and organ meat – bones are okay as long as they’re raw!

The bacteria sometimes found in meat is dangerous to my pet’s health – Because dogs and cats’ stomach acid is very acidic, with a pH of around 1, they have the ability to handle excess bacteria with no problems whatsoever. This is one of the ways in which the digestive capacity of dogs and cats is so different from our own. On rare occasion, bacteria can sometimes make its way out of the GI tract and into muscle. Not to worry, you can completely eliminate any bacterial concern by simply freezing raw meat for three days before thawing it out to feed to your dog or cat.

I just can’t afford to feed my pet exclusively raw – No doubt, in comparison to huge bags of cheap dry kibble, buying ground meat is a bit more expensive in the short term. But considering the health problems prevented and regular trips to the Veterinarian averted, feeding raw is much more cost effective in the long run. There is no need to waste your hard earned money on routine check-ups and special hypoallergenic diet plans – raw meat is as healthy and hypoallergenic as it gets!