Raw Pet Food Diets: Welfare and Safety Considerations

The evidence on raw pet food diets for dogs and cats, balancing owner preferences with animal health, food safety, and nutritional welfare.

Key Facts

Raw meat diets for pets have grown significantly in popularity despite limited evidence of benefits
Nutritional imbalances in homemade raw diets are common and can cause serious skeletal and organ disorders
Bacterial contamination with Salmonella and E. coli in raw pet food poses risks to both pets and owners
Commercial raw diets vary enormously in quality, safety testing, and nutritional completeness
Dogs and cats can thrive on either raw or cooked commercial diets when properly formulated and balanced

Welfare Considerations

Raw diet advocacy often overstates benefits while understating risks, creating genuine welfare challenges for pet owners navigating conflicting information. Poorly formulated homemade raw diets cause nutritional deficiency diseases that cause significant suffering. Bacterial pathogens in raw diets can cause serious gastrointestinal illness in pets and zoonotic disease in owners, particularly immunocompromised individuals and children. Commercial raw diets that are nutritionally complete and safety-tested are a safer option than homemade. The welfare priority is nutritional adequacy — whether achieved through raw or cooked diets — alongside minimising food safety risks.

What You Can Do

If feeding raw, use only commercially prepared diets verified as nutritionally complete by veterinary standards
Have your veterinarian assess the nutritional adequacy of your pet's diet at annual checks
Follow food safety protocols when handling raw pet food to protect household members from pathogens
Be skeptical of raw diet health claims not supported by peer-reviewed veterinary research
Prioritise overall diet quality and nutritional adequacy over the raw versus cooked distinction