Ask West Ridge- RAW diet

Q. I have heard that I should feed my new puppy a raw food diet. What do you recommend?

A. West Ridge Animal Hospital does NOT recommend feeding any dog a RAW diet. Very recent studies published in the AVMA Journal have shown a large health risk in feeding raw diets to dogs and their humans. These studies conducted at CSU, show an overwhelming percentage of infection with salmonella. Also, the FDA has issued a guidance concerning this very practice. Here are some excerpts from the FDA's report:

"(The) FDA does not believe raw meat foods for animals are consistent
with the goal of protecting the public from significant health risks,
particularly when such products are brought into the home and/or used to
feed domestic pets."

"The prevalence of pathogenic bacterial contaminants in raw meat and
poultry products sold for human consumption varies greatly, from less
than 1 percent to 100 percent, depending on the specific microbial
contaminant, the species of animal used to produce the raw product, the
degree to which the raw product has been processed, the number of times
the product has been handled, the facility producing the product, and
the methods used to sample the product and identify the specific
microbial contaminant."

"Thus, the scientific literature indicates that feeding raw meat
products carries a risk to human and animal health that is significant
given the microbiological results from studies of ingredients that could
compose such products..."

As you can see, the chance of contamination is great; putting both your
puppy and you at risk for illness.