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Is Raw Safe?
By
Christie Keith
I
got a letter from a member saying that, after posting to a
discussion list that she feeds raw meat to her pets, she was
warned in the direst of terms about risks such as salmonella,
e. coli, and many more. This challenge is very familiar to
those of us who feed raw meat and dairy products to our carnivorous
pets. Most vets draw back in horror, as do a vast majority
of pet-owners and even butchers.
But
those pathogens are not an intrinsic, innate part of meat,
eggs, or dairy products. They are contaminants, mostly caused
by inhumane and highly industrialized livestock producing
practices. Hens live in wire cages, several to a cage and
one on top of the other, so that the droppings and urine of
the hens drip all over the hens below, and the eggs. Cattle
are crammed into small feedlots, stuffed on grains laden with
antibiotics, and sprayed with pesticides to kill the flies
that swarm all around the filthy stockyards. Chickens are
fed a diet of processed grains, animal by-products, growth
hormones, and antibiotics.
Dogs
and cats are carnivores, and evolved eating raw meat. Their
systems can handle a certain amount of bacteria; indeed, they
were designed for it. But the bacterial load of most commercial
foods is so high, most carnivorous animals would indeed sicken
if they ate them raw. The rationale of cooking is, in short,
to kill these contaminants.
So
how do we dare to suggest that it's not just safe to feed
raw meat and dairy products to our dogs and cats, but beneficial?
This
is a multi-dimensional issue. First of all I never feed my
animals commercially raised foods. This makes a huge difference,
as bacterial counts are much lower when the animals are allowed
to get out, move around, spread their droppings and urine
around, and let fresh air and sunlight do their work of disinfecting.
The animals are also healthier themselves, requiring fewer
drugs. (Most free range meats are raised without any drugs
or hormones; if the producer is not willing to state that
in writing, I'd look elsewhere for a supplier.)
In
addition, our dogs and cats evolved eating raw meat, and the
consumption of cooked flesh is totally and completely unnatural
for them. They do not get optimum nutrition from it, it is
not well digested by them, and it not what their organs were
designed to process. Eating a raw diet, based on the evolutionary
diet of the dog or cat, will make the animal healthier. This
healthier animal will be able to handle a certain amount of
bacteria in its food, and will be resistant to most disease-causing
micro-organisms it encounters.
Further,
dogs are not just predators but scavengers, and evolved eating
rotten and decaying flesh, as well as the droppings of herbivores
and even other carnivores. They can handle bacterial loads
that would kill us, without blinking an eye.
Genetically
and evolutionarily speaking, today's dog and cat are no different
from their flesh and bone-eating ancestors. However, they
may not be in good enough health to handle even the smaller
load of bacteria that is present in free-range or organic
meat and dairy products. This is part of the art of natural
rearing: to evaluate the health of the animal, and find the
best way to bring them to optimal health as quickly and safely
as possible. The feeding of the raw, species-appropriate diet
can, by itself, work literal miracles on many animals. I rarely
do anything but just start feeding raw, even with very young,
convalescent, or very old dogs and cats. I have never had
a single problem with any dog, cat, puppy, or kitten in over
11 years. With an animal that is sick, or on antibiotics,
or who has been given immune- supressing drugs like cortisone,
however, I ease them over to it. I begin with a cooked version
of the raw diet, using poached eggs, cooked meat, steamed
bone meal, the usual supplements, and raw, food-processed
veggies. I never use ground meats; the contaminants are on
the surface of the meat, so when the meat is ground it is
spread all through the resulting mixture. With chunks, you
can poach the meat, leaving the inside rare or raw, and still
kill the surface contamination.
As
the animal's health improves, I simply cook the meat or eggs
less and less, until they are raw. I then introduce soft raw
bones, primarily chicken necks, and from then on I ease them
into the new diet. Those who are very fearful can also soak
the meat in a mixture of standardized grapefruit seed extract
and water; this will kill surface contamination. I have seen
a number of recommendations for potency and length of soaking
time; I would suggest that you buy the product at your health
food store and then phone the manufacturer for the specifics.
Is feeding raw without risk? No, it's not. Feeding a raw diet
does entail risk, but after more than eleven years, I have
to conclude the risk is far smaller than the huge benefit
I've seen. There are dogs and cats (and people) who contract
salmonella and other illnesses from raw meat and dairy products
(and many of them who contract them from contaminated cooked
foods), and it's possible that your pet might succumb as well.
It is a question of weighing the risk against the benefit,
and making up your own mind.
To
shudder with horror at the thought of giving a carnivorous
predator raw meat is silly; shudder instead at the sad state
of the modern factory farm, and how the livestock industry
has trained us to accept that our foods are so filthy we don't
dare any longer to "give the dog a bone."
Copyright 1996-1998 by Christie Keith. All
rights reserved.
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