Properly balanced homemade diets are clearly healthier for your pet than heavily processed kibble. But there seems to be confusion on whether or not you should feed raw or cooked diets.
After doing some research I’ve come to a split conclusion. Ultimately, I think meat is best fed raw, which keeps the natural health benefits. However, feeding raw meats from the grocery store comes with risks depending on how it was handled after slaughter. Ideally, you should find a local source that raises organic grass-fed meat. Or better yet, raise your own meat. This could be poultry, meat rabbits, meat goats, ect.
Veggies should be lightly steamed. Steaming veggies slightly destroys the nutrients, but it also breaks it down enough that the remaining nutrients are more bio available, and therefore more nutrients are absorbed verses if they were kept raw.
It’s also good to note that raw eggs can prevent B vitamin absorption. So, it’s best to mostly cook eggs before giving them to you dog on a regular basis. Though a raw egg every now and then will be just fine. The best eggs to feed with the most nutrients in them are pasture raised.
A study done by Dr. Francis M. Pottenger involving 900 cats over the course of 10 years indicated that raw feeding is by far more beneficial than feeding cooked diet. You can find that study here.
Below are pros and cons to feeding cooked vs raw.
Raw Diet
Pros
Pets benefit from the natural amino acids, enzymes, vitamins, and minerals
Raw bones are good for teeth
More of a primal diet
Improves your dog’s or cat’s overall health and behavior
Cons
Store bought meat can be contaminated
Raw veggies are difficult to digest, dogs don’t have the enzymes needed to break them down
For some dogs it can take up to a year to adjust to a raw diet
Cooked Diets
Pros
Kills any bacteria & pathogens
Cooking makes it tastier to many pets
Lightly steamed veggies are easier to digest, and nutrients become more bio available
Cons
Cooking meat breaks it down, destroying its natural fibers, essential amino acids, enzymes, vitamins, and minerals.
Cooked bones are dangerous and can splinter into sharp pieces
Over cooking can cause cancer causing carcinogens
The choice is up to you whether to do raw or cooked, either option beats kibble and can improve your dog’s health. Do you research to make sure what you’re feeding in nutritionally balanced and complete.
Raw Dog/Cat Food Calculator By Blue Ridge Beef Here
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