It should be noted that the veterinarian could be held legally responsible for zoonotic or outbreaks within animal populations. The veterinarian and staff should be aware of this concern and should ensure proper client education.

Much propaganda exists amongst the raw food advocates including concerns regarding commercial diets including the use of fillers (eg. Grains), the reduction in digestive enzymes from cooking process and the presence of "by-products". These are misinformed, uneducated statements that are either proven false or do not have the meaning that is being claimed.  

Finally, raw food proponents also claim that it is more natural, as it is what is fed in the wild. It is important to note however, that many wild animals have a shorter lifespan than those in captivity suggesting that being more "natural" may actually be inferior.  

On the other hand, the opposition to feeding raw food frequently cites the following:  

The raw food enthusiast should be aware that storage of food in cold environments (eg. Refrigerators, freezers) do not kill bacteria, only slow bacterial growth. Therefore, minimization of contamination can be achieved with preparation of individual meals rather than "making a batch for the week".   The general principles for reducing potential for contamination include the following: 

From a clinician's perspective, bacterial gastroenterocolitis is uncommon from food related bacterial contamination in our small animals patients. However, it should be noted that higher levels of bacteria have been appreciated repeatedly in studies and the potential for disease always exists. Noting that disease expression has to do with level of exposure/contamination and host related factors (immunity, concurrent diseases, etc.) and may not be expressed phenotypically. Additionally, patients eating raw food have been shown to shed infectious agents to the environment with higher frequency than those not consuming raw food. This can act as a potential vector for zoonosis and companion animal infection. Particular concern exists in households with immunosuppressed individuals or animals, therefore raw food cannot be not recommended in these situations.  

An additional concern regarding raw diets is the nutritional adequacies of the diets. Many of these diets have been shown to have nutritional inadequacies with a large percentage being deficient in at least on nutrient and commonly being inadequate in protein or essential amino acids, like taurine. The taurine deficiency in these diets is critical in some cats, as dilated cardiomyopathy has been documented in cats fed raw food exclusively.   Additionally, some evidence suggests that taurine availability, even when provided in sufficient quantities, can be altered, leading to decreased plasma taurine levels.  

An additional factor found in raw diets that include bone is the potential for the bone to result in complications to the consumer including esophageal/intestinal obstruction, gastrointestinal perforation and/or gastroenteritis.  

As stated above, commercially available raw food diets exist and may by "safer" than homemade diets as the manufacturers typically purchase meat from known sources, need to meet AAFCO standards, often provide instruct owners on packaging of proper handling/preparation (limiting contamination) and employ freezing practices that may kill some potentially pathogenic organisms. These diets will always be preferred to homemade diets for these reasons.

In addition to raw diets, other unconventional diets exist including: vegetarian and homemade diets. Vegetarian diets are not optimized for obligate carnivores like the feline species and may not be ideal for the canine, either. Several commercially available vegetarian diets exist however, they have not been evaluated over a long time period to appreciate health benefits or complications.   Nutritional supplementation is likely necessary to meet all demands in the feline species (eg. retinol, cholecalciferol, taurine, and niacin). No proven health benefits exist for these diets at this time.

Homemade diets have become more common place over recent years for multiple reasons. Homemade diets can have potential advantages through reduction in preservatives, control of ingredients and the ability to tailor diets to the individual animal. However, they are very commonly shown to be nutritionally inadequate. While veterinary nutritionists are very capable of formulating a balanced homemade diet, they are uncommonly utilized as the majority of homemade diets are prepared by pet owners with little to no training and lack of understanding or validation of the "recipes" they prepare. These diets have been commonly shown to be commonly deficient in calcium, zinc, iron, linoleic acid, choline or other trace minerals/vitamins. Additionally, it is common to add supplements to these diets, which occasionally can lead to excessive concentrations of various minerals with vitamin A and D excess being documented most commonly. Supplementation of these diets may be inadequate as many veterinary supplements are designed to be fed with a concurrent commercially available diet, rather than homemade.

It is the author's opinion that all pet owners insisting on feeding an unconventional diet should consult a veterinary nutritionist for guidance and validation of the diet. Additionally, veterinary nutritionist can aid in manipulation of the diet to suit the needs of patient and their concurrent disease processes.   Veterinary nutritionists can be contacted by contacting the American College of Veterinary Nutrition (www.acvn.org).