By Dr. Bec Crawford, DVM CertAqV BSc (Hons)

The human species has been domesticating canines in the range of 15,000 to 30,000 years and felines in the range of 5,000 to 10,000 years. The hundreds of dog and cat breeds existing today have evolved alongside people, eating that which has been prepared for them from day to day over thousands of years. In today’s day and age, we have the scientific knowledge to know what is best for pets, and there is increasing research suggesting breed specific diets may be the way of the future. Most notably, giant and large breed puppies should be fed less calcium and lipids in avoiding developmental orthopedic diseases, and small and toy breed puppies should be fed energy dense foods prepared as small more frequent meals in early stages of growth to avoid hypoglycemic crises. Please consult your veterinarian for advise in choosing the most appropriate food for your pet in his or her current life stage. With endless commercial food brand options on the market carrying health risks for pets and people while endangering sharks, I highly encourage you to avoid all freeze dried, grain free, high protein, limited ingredient and raw diets. While boasting many false health benefits, these diet types predispose to bacterial infections, heart disease, metabolic disorders and nutritional deficiencies. These falsely advertised wild type diets are also the most likely to contain shark.

Raw pet foods, often nicknamed BARF diets for various acronyms, include “Born Again Raw Feeders,” “Biologically Appropriate Raw Food,” “Billinghurst’s Australian Raw Food,” and “Bone And Raw Foods.” Diets consisting primarily of raw meats are not well balanced for pets in any stage of life, despite what your breeder or pet food supplier may tell you. Cats fed meat based diets most commonly become deficient in taurine leading to blindness and heart disease, as availability and uptake of taurine by the feline gastrointestinal tract depends on the amount and quality of the protein, cooking and preparation method, fiber content and levels of other ingredients in the diet, possible bacterial contamination and interactions in the intestine. Dogs fed meat based diets are often offered grain and supplement mixes which when fed in combination with raw meats additionally lead to metabolic bone disease characterized by hypocalcemia and osteoporosis, predisposing to pathological fractures. 

It is a well known fact that 25-50% of human grade raw meats sold in grocery stores and packing plants are contaminated with pathogenic bacteria such as Campylobacter and Salmonella, allowably because the packaging instructs that the meat must be cooked in order to kill microbes before it is safe to ingest. Raw pet food diets have commonly been recalled due to Echerichia coli (E. coli), Listeria spp and Salmonella spp outbreaks. Studies have found Salmonella present in 80% of raw dog foods on the market shed in the feces of 30% of the dogs eating those diets. Feeding raw meats to pets carries the risk of life-threatening acute hemorrhagic diarrhea syndrome (AHDS) or hemorrhagic gastroenteritis (HGE) in addition to environmental contamination. Owners preparing, feeding and cleaning food bowls containing raw pet food run the risk of contaminating their own food preparation sites and contracting bacterial illnesses themselves. The American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) provides nutritional assessment guidelines, position statements and consenses: “Based on overwhelming scientific evidence, AAHA does not advocate or endorse feeding pets any raw or dehydrated non sterilized foods, including treats that are of animal origin.” 

Purported benefits of raw foods include coat and skin support, elimination of body, breath and fecal odors, improved behavior and immunological function, and reduction in allergies, arthritis and parasitism. These claims are false and unproven; in reality, raw foods predispose to dental issues such as gingivitis and tooth fractures, increase exposure to infectious bacteria and parasites, increase risk for gastrointestinal foreign bodies, obstructions, perforations and sepsis, and nutritional imbalances and obstipation. Research has shown that dogs eating raw diets suffer from tooth fractures in 50% of cases and gingival/periodontal lesions in 100% of cases; these findings are consistent with pathognomonic disease lesions in African wild dogs eating bones and raw meat. 

The diet of wild cats and dogs tends to be composed of 60% raw meat and bones with high protein and fat promoting a thick coat. We know that wolves eat elk and other wild animals, but we don’t have enough research to conclude as to whether the nutritional requirements of wolves and other wild dogs are being met in the wild. The African wild dog and average wolf in the wild does not live more than 5 to 7 years, and the average feral cat lifespan is 1 to 3 years. There is no literature available to prove that the raw diet is complete and balanced for wild canids and felids, so I surely will not recommend a wild type diet for your pet. As a veterinarian, it is my goal to advocate for a long healthy life for your pet. 

While descended from wild animals thousands of years ago, pets are considered family members today, living along side us humans here in the 21st century. From a public health perspective, their health is paramount to ours. I’ve personally had clients suffer from bartonellosis (also known as cat scratch fever, a life-threatening blood-borne bacterial disease transmitted by flea bites), clostridiosis (potentially life-threatening gastrointestinal dysbiosis) and giardiasis (protozoan parasite); in all of these cases, these diseases contracted by my patient and client could have been avoided through improved diet choice, hygienic practices and monthly parasite prevention.

So you ask, why not cook for your pet? Research over the years has shown that 40% of pets fed homemade diets are nutrient deficient and that up to 84% of homemade diets are lacking in essential nutrients and high in heavy metals. In some cases where a pet has been diagnosed with an allergy or immunological disorder, I will advocate for a homemade diet under the guidance of a board certified veterinary nutritionist  (specialist veterinarian) utilizing resources such as Balance IT. For most pets without special needs, the food brands most commonly and highly recommended by veterinarians in North America today for their reliability and safety are Royal Canin, Purina Pro Plan, Just Food For Dogs, Hill’s Science Diet and Eukanuba. None of these companies have paid or sponsored me to promote them, but through my research thus far, not only are these brands the healthiest options for your pet, but I’ve found that these brands are also least likely to contain shark. I’d love to see research prove my theory and have these companies don a shark free guarantee on their label; that’s what we’re here at Shark Allies working towards.

TAKE ACTION NOW

• Avoid freeze dried, grain free, high protein, limited ingredient and raw food diets. Remember, grain is good, and grain allergies in pets are extremely rare despite what you may have heard.

• Consider Royal Canin, Purina Pro Plan, Just Food For Dogs, Hill’s Science Diet and Eukanuba for your pet, and do your part to promote shark free pet foods. If you have yet to contact your pet’s food brand to inquire about the possibility of shark in your pet’s food, please feel free to use our Shark Free Pets letter sample as a guide!

• Consult your veterinarian about the appropriateness of a dietary transition for your pet’s current life stage and discuss his/her medical condition(s) that may impact your selection for a particular diet.

Watch this space for more to come on supplements for pets, pet nutrition and how to interpret pet food labels.