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Webinar: Feeding Raw Foods to PetsByMike Davies BVetMed CertVR CertSAO FRCVSRCVS Specialist in Veterinary Clinical Nutrition (Small Animal)Introduction Over the past 10 years there has been a remarkable increase in the practice of feeding raw meat-only based diets to pets. When advising clients veterinarians need to understand the nutritional adequacy of RAW diets, the reliability of published homemade RAW recipes, non-infection related health risks to pets from feeding RAW as well as the health risks for pets and also to in-contact people from meat-borne infectious agentsHealth risks to pets fed RAW include:Nutritional deficiency eg calcium if fed an exclusively muscle-meat rationNutritional excess eg vitamin A if fed raw liverNutritional imbalance eg abnormally high or low Ca:P ratioForeign body obstructionSerious food-borne infectionsNutritional AdequacyA cat or dog can survive and meet all its basic nutritional needs from a carcase when it is fed raw foods as a sole ration, as long as the animal is provided with and eats a correct balance of raw ingredients.Neither commercially available raw foods or recipes for homemade raw rations for dogs or cats have been subjected to controlled AAFCO feeding trials to establish that they are actually complete and meet nutrient requirements at all lifestages. Contrary to the opinion of advocates of pro-RAW feeding there is no evidence that feeding a raw diet provides better health than eating a cooked commercial pet food. Many owners feed a predominantly meat-based ration which is grossly deficient in many nutrients and will fail to meet minimum nutritional requirements (see Fig 1) Studies have shown that homemade recipes recommended by veterinarians have not been subjected to controlled feeding trials to ensure adequacy, and they cannot be relied upon to provide adequate nutrition because of variability in compilation by owners.All veterinary practices regularly remove bone foreign bodies from pets, and in some cases (notably intra-thoracic perforation from a foreign body) the outcome can be serious and even fatal. There is no need to feed bones, especially irregular shaped vertebrae to dogs. Food-borne InfectionsHumans can become infected from food-borne pathogens from handling raw foods, or handling pets fed raw foods or pet utensils/litter trays/faeces.Food-borne infectious agents of concern include the following:Bacteria Campylobacter Clostridia Escherichia coli Listeria Mycobacteria SalmonellaProtozoa ToxoplasmosisViruses Norovirus Pseudorabies Avian influenza Ebola ?According to the Food Safety Authority (2014) food-borne infections account for over 1.7million/year – 22,000 hospital admissions and 700 deaths per year. Campylobacter is the most common foodborne pathogen - 280,000 cases every year and over 100 deaths/yr. Clostridium perfringens accounts for 80,000 cases and Norovirus was third with an estimated 74,000 cases. Salmonella is the pathogen that causes the most hospital admissions – about 2,500 each year and most deaths (c200) E.coli causes almost as many(2,000)Poultry meat was the food linked to the most cases of food poisoning, with an estimated 244,000 cases every year and over 65% of chicken in UK supermarkets contain Campylobacter (FSA). If a million dogs are fed raw chicken daily 365 million raw meals are given, and dogs are given at least 233 million doses of campylobacter every year. This is a significant high risk for both the pets and in-contact people. In a New Zealand study 50 samples of raw meat pet diets acquired from supermarkets and pet stores in New Zealand tested for the presence of Campylobacter. Twenty of these diets (42%) tested positive for Campylobacter, and over half of the bacteria identified were the strain most commonly associated with illness in humans.Serious disease has been reported in people following transmission from animals for many of these infectious agents, but the true incidence is not known because veterinarians and medical practitioners rarely investigate the source of mild or transient cases in detail. All of the claims made by pro-RAW advocates to persuade owners to shift from feeding commercially prepared pet foods eg “dogs are carnivores like wolves and should be fed just raw carcase material”, “kibble kills” “dogs cannot digest and absorb cereals”, “pets are healthier if they are fed a raw diet” simply do not have the evidence to support them – indeed the scientific evidence is that they are not true.Manufacturers of raw diets often claim that freezing kills any pathogenic bacteria but in fact normal freezing does NOT kill and eliminate:Escherichia coliListeria SalmonellaCampylobacterClostridiaNorovirusBird Flu virusWhilst the risk of serious infection occurring may be low it is much higher for at risk people:Children under 5 years ageElderly people over 60 years agePeople with immune deficiency (due to disease or immunosuppressive medications)Pregnant womenLegally there is NO DIFFERENCE in the basic ingredients that can be included in any pet food (raw or cooked) marketed in the UK for pets. Both cooking and freezing alter nutrient content in raw ingredients and cooking, irradiation or pasteurisation are reliable methods for killing bacteriaIn the USA the FDA have issued a public health warning “To prevent infection with?Salmonella?and?Listeria monocytogenes, it’s best if you don’t feed your pet a raw diet.”ConclusionsThe indisputable evidence is that:Raw foods carry potentially life-threatening pathogensPets eating raw foods:Can become ill themselvesShed pathogens into the environmentSerious illness and deaths in humans have been confirmed to have been contracted from:1. Handling raw foods/hide treats2. Handling dogs fed rawConfirmed transmission between humans and pets in families have been reportedEncouraging feeding raw increases exposure and potentially life-threatening risks to pets and peopleBased on current evidence it seems reckless, irresponsible and unethical for the veterinary, veterinary nursing and allied professions to recommend feeding raw diets to its clients because of :Concerns about nutritional adequacyHealth risks to petsHealth risks to humans regularly handling raw foodsHealth risk to humans in contact with pets fed raw and their environmentsIncreased risk of microorganisms developing multiple drug resistance, and transfer to humans- flies in the face of One Health concept and NHS attempts to reduce risk of food borne disease ................
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