Why Your Vet Doesn’t Want You To Feed Raw
French Bulldog sitting on an exam table at the vet’s office
Feeling judged by your vet for feeding, or wanting to feed your pet a raw diet?
In recent years, some pet owners and veterinarians have started to butt heads when it comes to nutrition.
On one end you have a frustrated owner feeling like they aren’t being taken seriously, and on the other you have a defeated vet because their client is believing info they read on “Doctor Google” over their professional advice.
As someone who is passionate about the raw diet and has witnessed firsthand the benefits it provides, but also works with traditional vets that are skeptical of it, I wanted to shed some light on the debate.
So why are so many vets against the raw diet?
LACK OF EVIDENCE
Many owners criticize veterinary tailored pet food companies like Hills Science Diet and Purina because they believe they brainwash vets into thinking their product is the healthiest choice for their pets.
The problem is that these companies have internally-funded studies and food trials to back up their claims. And they don’t have an incentive to conduct research on raw diets since it competes with their own products.
Raw food manufacturers by comparison are still traditionally small businesses and just don’t have the resources to fund research on raw diets.
Vets won’t be convinced until there is solid evidence from the experts.
However this quote isn’t entirely true as raw food studies are starting to emerge as feeding this way is becoming more and more popular among pet owners.
A few universities - University of Helsinki - have done studies on dogs and cats on a commercial dry food vs. a meat-based diet. One recent study being the improvement in atopic dermatitis in dogs on a raw meat-based diet vs dogs on a commercial diet.
II. POSSIBLE NUTRITENT IMBALANCES
While the raw diet sounds nice and might even make sense to your vet from an ancestral perspective, there’s a lot that goes into understanding your pet’s specific nutritional needs and leaving it up to the owner to figure it all out doesn’t sit well with most vets.
Not everyone will go through the effort of learning what it takes to balance their pet’s meals, or even realize it’s necessary to do.
Commercial food is balanced with the vitamins and nutrients your pet needs to sustain life. And those requirements need to be fulfilled with a raw diet as well.
As an example, if I saw someone claiming to feed their dog a raw diet, and yet the only thing in the bowl was ground beef and a raw egg, I would be horrified!
Often times it’s just safer to say no to raw than assume or hope the client is going to do the right thing.
In reality, many vets just don’t have the time or energy it takes to educate everyone on how to feed this way.
And truthfully, they may not even know how themselves.
III. RISK OF BACTERIAL INFECTION
There are bacterial risks when preparing raw meat that pet owners need to be aware of. Which adds to the list of liabilities the vet has to carry when giving the ok for a raw diet.
Teaching someone what to do and what not to do when handling raw meat may often seem like a lot to go over, and the risks just don’t outweigh the possible benefits.
Vets use sources like the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), but research still isn’t clear on what particular strains and quantities of salmonella and other bacteria actually cause illness. Plus, the risk is different for humans than it is dogs.
Bottom line, most conventional vets just don’t want to deal with the risks involved in having their clients feed a raw diet.
They don’t want to be responsible if someone does it wrong or ends up harming themselves or their pets in the process.
Headshot of Bernese Mountain Dog
My advice to pet owners: your vet is not your enemy.
They’re the one you need to trust with your pet’s overall health. Instead of blocking everything they say out, reason with them and try to get them to reason with you as well. If all else fails, find another vet, or search online for holistic vets that may be more open-minded to feeding this way.
My advice to vets: the raw diet is still fairly new and it may be beneficial to investigate the diet yourself from an unbiased standpoint so you can better advise your clients.
If they’re doing something that may harm their pet, don’t just tell them. Explain to them, show them and teach them.
If they’re truly feeding an unbalanced raw diet, work with them and provide sources where they can learn how to balance it or refer them to a canine nutritionist.
Because an unbalanced raw diet is even worse than a balanced low-quality kibble.
It should be you and your vet working together as a team. Not at odds with one another.
Communicate. Listen. And above all, put the needs of your pet first.
Don’t forget - dogs are the best!
-Charlie
