The idea of feeding pet dogs has gained a lot of fame with the passage of time. Many experts and nutritionists recommend feeding your dog a 100% natural and raw food for better growth and development. This idea became particularly popular when Australian veterinarian, Ian Billinghurst, recommended raw food back in 1993. So, whether raw food diet is good for your pet or not?

Greyhounds and dogs used for sled have always been fed raw food such as raw meat, vegetables, and bones. Besides, the core idea behind feeding raw food to pet dogs is that dogs used to eat raw food before they were brought in as home animals. So it would be better to feed them the natural diet instead of processed and packaged food. The apologists to the raw diet argue that meaty bones and raw vegetables are the best food for dogs as they used to feed on these in the ecosystem before being domesticated. Feeding them the diet with exposure to chemicals and preservatives wouldn’t be as much healthier as the 100% natural diet.

Advantages of Feeding Raw Food to Your Diet

The following advantages are often highlighted in this regard.

• Raw food provides higher energy levels to your dog than the processed food. This is because the natural food is free from added preservatives and chemicals which may limit the nutrients and affect the energy levels adversely.
• Feeding raw food to dogs makes their skin healthier and more glowy. This is due to the natural nutrients.
• Raw food makes the teeth of your dog cleaner.
• Your dog is safe from the negative effects of any harmful preservatives. Such as cancer causing preservatives like BHT, BHA and Ethoxiquin.

There are a number of nutrients, experts and veterinarians who are against the idea of providing raw food to your dog. According to FDA and many other people, giving raw diet may be potentially harmful for your dog.

Disadvantages of Feeding Raw Food to Your Diet

Following are some of the disadvantages highlighted by the studies conducted in this regard.

• The bacteria in raw meat may be potentially dangerous for your dog. After being cooked the bacteria in their raw form dies, thereby making the meatg more edible and safer to eat for the dogs.
• By giving totally raw food to your dog, you won’t be able to keep a check and balance on its diet and nutrition intake. As raw food doesn’t provide a meaure of nutrition, it is an unbalanced diet. If an unbalanced diet is given to dogs for a long time it may have a negative effect on its health.
• There is a risk of injury, damaging teeths and choking from the whole bone.

It is unclear as to what is best for your dog. So the decision is yours. What may be better for one dog may not be good for others. Furthermore dogs differentiate in various species and kinds as well. In any case the raw food diet you give to your dog should be pure, 100% clean and healthy.