.jpg%3F2025-11-11T18%253A45%253A36.664Z&w=3840&q=100)
Backed by Dr. Susan Recker, Dr. Laurie Coger & 2 others...
Raw feeding is the practice of feeding your dog raw, unprocessed meats to closely mimic what their ancestors would have eaten. Raw diets are not new. They have been the primary source of nutrition for dogs for thousands of years, long before the very first dry dog biscuit was invented. Raw diets lost popularity with the convenience of commercial pet food but returned to the spotlight in the early 90s as pet owners responded to increasing health concerns in family pets. The market has only continued to grow since then with an ever-growing selection of pre-made diets and endless resources for tackling them at home.
Raw feeding isn't right for every dog or household. Many argue that dogs can tolerate the pathogenic bacteria present in raw meat because dogs naturally have a gastric pH of 1-2. This acts as their first line of defense, followed closely by the bacteria strains present in their microbiome. However, the risk of your dog contracting harmful bacteria commonly found on raw meats such as salmonella, e. coli, and listeria still exists and can spread to others in your household.
Dog parents who feed raw diets commonly report smaller and less smelly stools, healthier skin and coat, and better energy and focus. While reported cases of pets contracting pathogenic bacteria are low, many of our dogs today no longer have healthy functioning guts that are able to handle this bacteria. The FDA notes that in cases where dogs show symptoms of Salmonellosis it's generally secondary to an underlying problem. For pets with clearly compromised guts, a gently cooked diet is often recommended while working on restoring gut health and repopulating the microbiome.
Considerations to assess whether this is the right feeding modality for your dog.
| Considerations | Check all that apply |
|---|---|
| Does your dog struggle with any gastrointestinal diseases? | check_box_outline_blank |
| Does your dog have a severe illness? | check_box_outline_blank |
| Are there immunocompromised family members in your household? | check_box_outline_blank |
| Do you have young children in the house? | check_box_outline_blank |
| Do you live with elderly? | check_box_outline_blank |
| Is anyone in your house pregnant? | check_box_outline_blank |
Feeding a raw diet comes with its own language. First, there are two primary types of raw feeding models: the BARF model raw diet and the PMR style raw diets. Raw feeding models break a recipe into different percentages of muscle meat, organs, bone, and fiber. Simply following the raw feeding model’s ratios can create a recipe that falls short in essential nutrients like zinc, manganese, vitamin E & D, omega-3s, iodine, and more. These diets require additional supplementation and can cause nutritional deficiencies in your dog if fed long term.
Beyond these feeding models, many pet food companies have "kill steps" in place like HPP processing, lactic acid baths, and bacteriophaging to neutralize potentially harmful bacteria commonly found on raw meats. Knowing these terms helps you evaluate brands, ask the right questions, and choose the feeding approach that aligns with your individual dog's needs and your household's priorities.
What It Means:
BARF stands for Biologically Appropriate Raw Food, hailed by Dr. Ian Billinghurst, longtime raw pet food advocate who is often referred to as the "father of raw food." BARF diets have evolved quite a bit since Dr. Billinghurst first began advocating for them.
The true BARF diet follows a feeding model of 60% raw meaty bone, 15% crushed vegetable, 10% organ meats, and 5% fruit. The remaining 10% is left to supplements to fill nutritional gaps and mimic nutrition that may be found in the feces of other animals. Dr. Billinghurst regularly cites the importance of this component of their diet for improving the health of the microbiome.
What To Know:
Since 1993, when Dr. Billinghurst's first book Give Your Dog a Bone highlighted the benefits of raw diets, the BARF diet has evolved and taken on many different forms with varying percentages of muscle meat, bone, organs, and produce. The one commonality among all BARF diets: they mostly agree dogs are carnivorous selective omnivores and should eat a meat-based diet with some vegetables and fruits present.
A common BARF diet model among raw feeders today includes 70% muscle meat, 10% raw meaty bone, 7% vegetables, 5% liver, 5% other secreting organ, 2% seeds or nuts, and 1% fruit. This emphasizes whole-food based nutrition with limited supplementation, where the percentages adjust to meet your individual dog's needs.
What It Means:
PMR Diets stand for Prey Model Raw and follow the belief that dogs are carnivores and have no need for plant material. It argues that dogs should eat an entirely meat-centric diet, often with some supplementation in commercial diets. There are a variety of ways to approach these diets:
What To Know:
Some dogs do best on these style diets. Due to the generally limited ingredients, they can make elimination diet processes much smoother in difficult allergy and sensitivity cases.
What It Means:
Muscle meat is the primary component of a raw diet and includes more than just boneless muscle. The muscle meat category encompasses ingredients based on their biological functions rather than commercial names. This includes boneless muscle meat, raw animal fat, animal tongues, heart, green tripe (unbleached stomach lining from ruminant animals), lungs, gizzards (the mechanical stomach in poultry), and connective tissues like cartilage and tendons.
What To Know:
Raw diet ratios typically include 60-80% muscle meat, which serves as the main source of protein and also provides water-soluble vitamins and minerals. Examples of boneless muscle meat include ground meat, breast, loin, thigh, heart, gizzards, lung, and more.
What It Means:
Raw meaty bones are edible bones covered in raw muscle meat and connective tissues. These bones provide essential calcium and other nutrients that play a vital role in creating firm stool. Raw diet ratios include 10-15% edible bone content for dogs as the main source of calcium. In traditional raw diets, they are fed whole or in ground form. Common options include wings, necks, feet, frames/carcasses, ribs, and tails from appropriate protein sources.
What To Know:
As with any chew, raw meaty bones come with risk of choking and tooth breakage. Certain raw bones should be avoided: machine-cut bones with sharp edges, turkey drumsticks and drumettes (too dense and splinter when broken), whole beef bones (risk tooth fractures), weight-bearing/recreational bones from large grazing animals, and any cooked bones.
Never feed cooked bones. High-heat cooking bones change the molecular structure of the bone so they are more likely to splinter and hurt your dog.
What It Means:
Secreting organs are the most nutrient-dense part of an animal and provide essential nutrients that meat and bone lack. In traditional raw diets, a dog is typically fed 5% liver and 5% other secreting organs. Liver is one of the most concentrated sources of vitamin A and also provides folic acid, B vitamins, iron, and copper. Other secreting organs include kidney (concentrated in selenium and B vitamins), spleen (high in iron and tryptophan), pancreas (provides digestive enzymes), brain (source of DHA), thymus (provides hormones for immune function), testicles, and ovaries.
What To Know:
Some dogs can be sensitive to the recommended amount of organ meat and require lower amounts. Excess beef liver can cause Vitamin A toxicity and potentially iron overload.
What It Means:
HPP stands for High Pressure Pasteurization and uses pressure to kill bacteria. This is among one of the most controversial methods with avid raw feeders, as many believe that the process denatures the food.
“While I am inclined to agree that any process we put food through does lower the nutritional value of that food in some capacity, I am not against HPP. It is one of the most effective methods for neutralizing salmonella and I do believe it keeps many pets and families safe from exposure.” – Autumn Somers
What To Know:
Many companies do their own research on how HPP affects their product and make up for it in the formulation. Others reference research more broadly done on HPP. Steve's Real Food, a raw dog and cat food brand, utilizes HPP and cites their findings on the minimal effects it has on their diets and how they counteract this in their formulation.
What It Means:
Antimicrobial washes utilizing lactic acid create acidity within cells that can reduce the presence of pathogenic bacteria like Salmonella, E. Coli, and Listeria.
What To Know:
It has been found that both HPP and lactic acid methods are most effective when utilized together.
What It Means:
Bacteriophaging is becoming more popular among brands now for its limited effects on the nutritional value of the product. This method uses viruses or phages to neutralize potentially harmful pathogenic bacteria like Salmonella, E. Coli, and Listeria.
What To Know:
Bacteriophaging has been shown to be particularly effective against Salmonella, with a 60-92% reduction on various types of food and produce. This method represents promising developments in raw food safety as it’s a more natural method of control.
Commercial pet food is regulated by the FDA. The FDA has a zero-tolerance policy for pathogenic bacteria being found on raw pet food. Due to this, many pet food companies have “kill steps” in place. While contamination does happen, it's not very prevalent among raw diets due to these practices. Pet food consumer advocate Susan Thixton, founder of the popular Truth about Pet Food blog, collected recall data from 2012-2020. What she uncovered: 66% of pet food recalls during this period were from kibble, 32% from canned foods, and under 1% (just 0.6%) from commercial raw diets. The leading cause of these recalls was pathogenic bacteria.
When you make your dog’s raw diet at home, the meats you select are regulated by the USDA. The USDA allows certain amounts of pathogenic bacteria to be present on our meats as they are intended to be cooked. This means when you purchase meat it more than likely has some form of pathogenic bacteria present, and when you feed it to your dog raw they're more than likely being exposed to this potentially harmful bacteria.
If choosing a pre-made commercial raw pet food, there are various things to consider: the quality of ingredients, the nutrients supplied, and whether you prefer it to be whole-food based nutrition or supplements included. Ingredients in raw pet foods come in various forms of quality. Those that utilize higher quality meats, such as those pasture-raised and fed organic diets, will be more naturally nutrient-dense, supply a lower toxin load, and they will also be more costly because raising animals in this manner is more expensive.
A study done on pasture-raised eggs and conventionally raised eggs highlights this. The study was conducted out of Pennsylvania University and showed that pasture-raised eggs contain twice as many anti-inflammatory omega-3s, three times as much vitamin D, four times as much vitamin E, and seven times as much beta-carotene when compared to free-range eggs. Due to the differences in raising and, in turn, health, it was found that certified organic meats were 56% less likely to be contaminated with pathogenic bacteria.
Whole-food based diets rely on supplying natural nutrition through whole foods. These are also generally more expensive than supplement-inclusive foods. Supplement-inclusive foods use added vitamins and minerals to meet nutritional requirements. Often more affordable while still providing balanced nutrition. Choosing a food that supplies optimal nutrition for your pet and is also sustainable for your budget are equally as important.
A gradual transition and the cold turkey method are two popular methods of diet transition for dogs. With both transition methods, it's normal for your dog to experience digestive changes for the first two weeks. This can include diarrhea or loose stool, hard stool, and gas. These symptoms can last up to two weeks, but in most cases resolve within the first week. Digestive enzymes and soluble fiber, such as psyllium husk, can help mitigate symptoms during this period.
It’s also normal to notice your dog reducing their water consumption after transitioning to a raw diet. This happens because most of their water needs are now being met by the high moisture content in the diet.
What It Means:
This is the most commonly known method, which aims at slowly introducing the new diet to your dog by gradually adding a little bit less of the previous diet and a little bit more of the new diet over a period of several days. It’s generally done over the course of 4-7 days. The idea behind this method is that your dog’s gut is being given the time to adjust to the new diet.
What To Know:
This method can be gentler on the stomach as the microbiome readapts to the new food. It’s typically best for older dogs who have been fed a processed diet for long periods of time, or dogs that have experienced little variation in diet. If your pet has BVS (Bilious Vomiting Syndrome) or commonly gets bile vomits when hungry, the gradual transition is likely an easier route.
What It Means:
This method employs a 24-hour fasting period, followed by the immediate and total introduction of the new diet as the first meal post-fast.
What To Know
The cold turkey method is great for dogs that require the total consumption of certain nutrients monitored, such as copper for Copper Storage Disease (CSD).
What It Means:
There is a lot of fear around feeding raw diets. Regardless of whether you’re considering a commercial raw pet food or homemade raw pet food, it requires the same safety practices you use when preparing raw food for yourself.
What To Know