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by Laurie
Adapted from a 2-part blog post published March 30 and March 31, 2016.
Conventional wisdom cautions against feeding “immune compromised” pets raw food. Why? Is it fear? Or common sense?
My local vet has no personal experience with raw feeding – but she understands that dogs and cats are carnivores and need animal-tissue based protein – not “just” “high protein.” She also understands that in cats “high protein” is actually a species-appropriate amount of protein, and should not be labeled “high.”
Given she isn't anti-raw and understands the nutritional needs of cats, when considering our transition to raw, I asked her about the risks to my immune compromised cats. We determined the primary concern with the caution regarding raw feeding and health status was potential infection due to contamination. I had questions:
Yes, there are symptoms associated with infection.
Yes salmonella is treatable – though it is usually self-resolving (in both people and pets). In our immune-compromised pets, if there are symptoms, get to the vet and get treatment.
Yes, studies have shown that probiotics (including lactic acid bacteria like L acidophilus and Saccharomyces boulardii) help protect us (and our pets) from food poisoning.
Yes, the primary reason for recalls of non-raw pet food is salmonella.
No, we don’t know why vets who caution against raw feeding immune compromised pets do not caution against feeding kibble to those same animals. In fact, this makes no sense based on the recall analysis:
In this chart, bright yellow indicates salmonella. Mustard yellow indicates aflatoxins or mold.
Adapted from a 2-part blog post published March 30 and March 31, 2016.
Conventional wisdom cautions against feeding “immune compromised” pets raw food. Why? Is it fear? Or common sense?
My local vet has no personal experience with raw feeding – but she understands that dogs and cats are carnivores and need animal-tissue based protein – not “just” “high protein.” She also understands that in cats “high protein” is actually a species-appropriate amount of protein, and should not be labeled “high.”
Given she isn't anti-raw and understands the nutritional needs of cats, when considering our transition to raw, I asked her about the risks to my immune compromised cats. We determined the primary concern with the caution regarding raw feeding and health status was potential infection due to contamination. I had questions:
- If a pet becomes ill, aren’t there symptoms that indicate treatment is necessary before such an illness becomes life-threatening?
- Isn’t salmonella – the primary infection concern – treatable?
- Can’t we take steps to help prevent infection by using probiotics?
- The primary reason for recalls of kibble is salmonella contamination. Why are there no cautions against feeding immune compromised pets kibble?
Yes, there are symptoms associated with infection.
Yes salmonella is treatable – though it is usually self-resolving (in both people and pets). In our immune-compromised pets, if there are symptoms, get to the vet and get treatment.
Yes, studies have shown that probiotics (including lactic acid bacteria like L acidophilus and Saccharomyces boulardii) help protect us (and our pets) from food poisoning.
Yes, the primary reason for recalls of non-raw pet food is salmonella.
No, we don’t know why vets who caution against raw feeding immune compromised pets do not caution against feeding kibble to those same animals. In fact, this makes no sense based on the recall analysis:
In this chart, bright yellow indicates salmonella. Mustard yellow indicates aflatoxins or mold.
At Food Fur Life, we suspect many veterinarians and people feeding kibble to their cats would be surprised to learn of precautions The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) suggest when feeding kibble. The CDC may caution against raw feeding our pets: but even when feeding kibble the CDC cautions:
- Do not feed your pet ANY food or treats in the kitchen
- Do not handle pet food directly (use a dedicated scoop and do not use the pet’s dish as a scoop)
- Do not allow young children in areas where pets are fed
- Do not allow young children to even touch kibble or pet treats
- Do not wash pet food and water dishes in the kitchen sink (and if there is no choice, “clean and disinfect the sink after washing pet food items”).
When we get sick and have to take immune-suppressive drugs like steroids, or if we're undergoing chemotherapy, do our doctors recommend we stop eating fresh fruit and salad? We're three months into 2016. Fresh fruit slices, frozen broccoli, and canteloupe have been recalled for listeria contamination; many nuts (particularly pistachio), alfalfa sprouts from differing manufacturers, organic flax seed powder and granola have been recalled for salmonella (and another batch of alfalfa sprouts was recalled for salmonella and e. coli). Last year, cucumbers, spinach, pine nuts, flax seed, alfalfa sprouts - all recalled for salmonella, and celery was recalled for e. coli.
Why the disconnect between concerns with feeding raw food versus feeding kibble to our pets if the risk of salmonella contamination is present in both?
In fact, doesn’t common sense dictate that the minimally processed food with natural, easy-to-access nutrition is the best choice for our immune compromised pets?
I transitioned to raw when my Lazlo was in chemotherapy for large cell lymphoma. Part of his treatment was 10mg of prednisolone daily.
I feed my four FIV+ cats raw.
I have a cat with immune-mediated hemolytic anemia. As I write this, he is on twice the recommended amount of one of the strongest steroids that can be given a cat (depomedrol). Without this immune suppression, his body kills his red blood cells at such a rapid rate, he would not be alive. He is raw fed.
I transitioned to raw when my Lazlo was in chemotherapy for large cell lymphoma. Part of his treatment was 10mg of prednisolone daily.
I feed my four FIV+ cats raw.
I have a cat with immune-mediated hemolytic anemia. As I write this, he is on twice the recommended amount of one of the strongest steroids that can be given a cat (depomedrol). Without this immune suppression, his body kills his red blood cells at such a rapid rate, he would not be alive. He is raw fed.
I feed my cat with asthma and emphysema raw. She is also on immune-suppressive doses of depomedrol to manage her condition.
…and although this isn’t related to immune-suppression, I feed my cat with chronic kidney disease and pancreatitis raw.
My co-founding partner, Carolina, feeds raw food to her cats with inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) and pancreatitis. In fact, raw food very likely saved her Bugsy’s life.
None of my pets has ever had a food-related illness. They are raw-fed for over four years. As I have (at the time this was written) 14 cats, I use supermarket meat to lower the cost of feeding.
Why did I decide to feed raw food to ALL of my cats, including my immune-compromised pets?
Our pets do not lose their defenses that protect them when eating their natural diet just because they become sick or their immune systems become compromised.
As Tracy Dion, owner of CatCentric, aptly puts it in Raw Feeding and Health-compromised Cats, “Cats are so finely-tuned for a diet of prey animals that it’s not only safe to put FIV+ cats on a raw diet, it’s vitally important to support their immune systems by feeding them the foods that are going to nourish their physiology at the highest levels.” After all “cats’ natural, inborn defenses against bacteria don’t disappear just because their health is compromised, they become FIV+ or catch an upper respiratory infection – the glands in their mouths still produce lysozyme-containing saliva, their stomach acids still kill incoming pathogens, their digestive tracts are still just about the shortest, comparatively-speaking, in the animal kingdom.”
In fact, as both hunters AND scavengers, cats have evolved a highly acidic stomach environment. As explained by Lyn Thomson, BVSc DipHom writing for the Feline Nutrition Foundation in Gastric Acidity - What, How and Why
"Cats need a highly acidic stomach in order to properly digest their food. But, the carbohydrates in many processed foods make the stomach less acidic. Meat protein stimulates stomach acidity by triggering the production of hydrochloric acid in acid-secreting cells within the stomach. A complex cascade takes place when a cat or dog ingests food. Put simply, 80% of the gastric juices secreted are a direct result of chemoreceptors in the stomach detecting the presence of meat-based proteins. This keeps the stomach at a very low pH of around 1-2. A low pH means high acidity. This low stomach pH is important because digestive enzymes work best in an acidic environment and the acidity in the stomach will sterilize ingested pathogens, bacterial or fungal.
When a cat or dog swallows a commercial pet food that is high in carbohydrate and plant protein and low in meat protein, acid-secreting cells in the stomach are not stimulated to produce much hydrochloric acid. The pH within the stomach rises to around 4-5 and a high pH means low acidity. The acidic chyme leaving the stomach is the trigger for the next stage of digestion in the small intestine. The acidity encourages the flow of bile and the flow of pancreatic enzymes necessary to continue the digestive process. If the stomach contents are not sitting at a pH of around 1-2, then digestion is impaired throughout the rest of the digestive tract as well."
Cats normally, naturally, have very acidic systems. Their stomachs secrete powerful digestive enzymes with about 10 times the amount of hydrochloric acid than that of a human. As Dr. Thomson pointed out, the pH of a carnivore’s stomach is around 1-2 (highly acidic) - but they are able to maintain that highly acidic environment even with (high protein) food in the stomach. For humans, the pH ranges from 4 – 5 with food in the stomach. The risks to cats of eating raw meat are not the same as if WE were eating raw meat. They are literally designed to manage bacterial contamination, and health status does not impact their stomach acid.
Understanding the risks, we can take steps to mitigate them.
Understanding the symptoms of a problem, we can seek treatment. Salmonella infection is “rarely seen in cats,” and “most felines will only be carriers of the bacteria and there won’t be any clinical symptoms.” According to the Merck Veterinary Manual, salmonella is a normal part of the gut flora of dogs and cats (and other animals). But kittens and cats with weak immune systems are more susceptible to illness, so be aware of what to look for and do not delay taking your pet to see a vet: Salmonella in Cats at VetInfo.
Cats digest raw meat-and-organ based food best. Is it REALLY any surprise that food is more easily digested and the nutrition more readily metabolized by our pets when in a format they would naturally consume it? A study examining extruded (kibble) vs cooked (canned) and raw beef fed to cats demonstrates this, as does a study comparing digestibility of raw diets with a “canned heat-processed” diet in kittens. This study found that “Significantly higher digestibility of dry matter (P <0.001), organic matter (P <0.001), crude protein (P <0.001) and gross energy (P <0.001) was seen in the raw diets compared with the heat-processed diets. This difference resulted in significantly less fecal matter (P <0.001) despite similar levels of intake, kcal ingested and evidence of no difference in fecal scores.” Yes, this is the first thing we notice when transitioning to raw: there’s almost no waste product coming out of the cat. They seem to use so much more of the food they eat! Nice to know the studies confirm we’re not imagining it. We discuss this in detail in our article "What is Digestibility and Why Does It Matter?"
Because I control the ingredients and the quality of the food my cats eat. Commercial pet foods are focused on profits, not our pets’ health. The regulatory loopholes in commercial pet foods allow for unhealthy – even dangerous – ingredients. For more information, see
A new report Decoding Pet Food (Nov 2015) by The Cornucopia Institute (a non-profit food/farm policy research group) highlights “serious problems in pet food industry regulations and how specific loopholes allow for the use of questionable ingredients that could negatively impact companion animal health. …The report accuses some brands of using cheap ingredients, carcinogenic additives, and preservatives that are bad for long-term pet health, as well as attempting to intentionally deceive consumers with pet food labels.”
A 2007 report by Born Free USA, What’s Really in Pet Food? “explores the differences between what consumers think they are buying and what they are actually getting.” “…What most consumers don’t know is that the pet food industry is an extension of the human food and agriculture industries. Pet food provides a convenient way for slaughterhouse offal, grains considered “unfit for human consumption,” and similar waste products to be turned into profit. This waste includes intestines, udders, heads, hooves, and possibly diseased and cancerous animal parts.”
A 2006 report by a Harvard Law student, Deconstructing the Regulatory Façade: Why Confused Consumers Feed their Pets Ring Dings and Krispy Kremes.
My Food versus “Pet Food.”
Which do you think is healthier for you? Canned soup or homemade soup made with freshly purchased ingredients? Canned green beans or fresh green beans? Dry cereal or a quinoa salad?
Why does my doctor recommend I eat as much fresh food as possible – and the FDA tells me to eat lots of fruits and veggies to promote my best health – but the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) and that very same FDA tell me that raw food fed to cats and dogs is dangerous for them AND me?
The very highly processed foods - and highly processed ingredients IN the foods - commercially available in cans, pouches and bags for our pets are, generally speaking, foods that contain adulterated ingredients as per the FDA’s definition; foods that contain ingredients too dangerous to put in a landfill. And even if they contained ingredients that met human grade regulations, the foods typically have been compromised by the addition and/or inclusion of additives, preservatives, pesticides, unnatural genetic material or chemical and/or heat treatments that alter or destroy the healthy enzymes, fatty acids, vitamins and minerals naturally present in fresh food.
Why would I expect that food to support my pets' best health? I ask again - why are fresh, minimally processed foods healthy for people no matter our health status - but dangerous for our pets?
…and although this isn’t related to immune-suppression, I feed my cat with chronic kidney disease and pancreatitis raw.
My co-founding partner, Carolina, feeds raw food to her cats with inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) and pancreatitis. In fact, raw food very likely saved her Bugsy’s life.
None of my pets has ever had a food-related illness. They are raw-fed for over four years. As I have (at the time this was written) 14 cats, I use supermarket meat to lower the cost of feeding.
Why did I decide to feed raw food to ALL of my cats, including my immune-compromised pets?
Our pets do not lose their defenses that protect them when eating their natural diet just because they become sick or their immune systems become compromised.
As Tracy Dion, owner of CatCentric, aptly puts it in Raw Feeding and Health-compromised Cats, “Cats are so finely-tuned for a diet of prey animals that it’s not only safe to put FIV+ cats on a raw diet, it’s vitally important to support their immune systems by feeding them the foods that are going to nourish their physiology at the highest levels.” After all “cats’ natural, inborn defenses against bacteria don’t disappear just because their health is compromised, they become FIV+ or catch an upper respiratory infection – the glands in their mouths still produce lysozyme-containing saliva, their stomach acids still kill incoming pathogens, their digestive tracts are still just about the shortest, comparatively-speaking, in the animal kingdom.”
In fact, as both hunters AND scavengers, cats have evolved a highly acidic stomach environment. As explained by Lyn Thomson, BVSc DipHom writing for the Feline Nutrition Foundation in Gastric Acidity - What, How and Why
"Cats need a highly acidic stomach in order to properly digest their food. But, the carbohydrates in many processed foods make the stomach less acidic. Meat protein stimulates stomach acidity by triggering the production of hydrochloric acid in acid-secreting cells within the stomach. A complex cascade takes place when a cat or dog ingests food. Put simply, 80% of the gastric juices secreted are a direct result of chemoreceptors in the stomach detecting the presence of meat-based proteins. This keeps the stomach at a very low pH of around 1-2. A low pH means high acidity. This low stomach pH is important because digestive enzymes work best in an acidic environment and the acidity in the stomach will sterilize ingested pathogens, bacterial or fungal.
When a cat or dog swallows a commercial pet food that is high in carbohydrate and plant protein and low in meat protein, acid-secreting cells in the stomach are not stimulated to produce much hydrochloric acid. The pH within the stomach rises to around 4-5 and a high pH means low acidity. The acidic chyme leaving the stomach is the trigger for the next stage of digestion in the small intestine. The acidity encourages the flow of bile and the flow of pancreatic enzymes necessary to continue the digestive process. If the stomach contents are not sitting at a pH of around 1-2, then digestion is impaired throughout the rest of the digestive tract as well."
Cats normally, naturally, have very acidic systems. Their stomachs secrete powerful digestive enzymes with about 10 times the amount of hydrochloric acid than that of a human. As Dr. Thomson pointed out, the pH of a carnivore’s stomach is around 1-2 (highly acidic) - but they are able to maintain that highly acidic environment even with (high protein) food in the stomach. For humans, the pH ranges from 4 – 5 with food in the stomach. The risks to cats of eating raw meat are not the same as if WE were eating raw meat. They are literally designed to manage bacterial contamination, and health status does not impact their stomach acid.
Understanding the risks, we can take steps to mitigate them.
- Know the source of your ingredients and use only inspected meats suitable for human consumption (e.g. in the U.S. that is the USDA)
- Portion your meat and freeze it for up to several weeks prior to use.
- Freezing for 24 hours at 0F (-18C) renders T. gondii oocysts (responsible for toxoplasmosis) harmless. The freezer temperature should be monitored with a freezer thermometer.
- Meat supplies in the U.S. are considered free of Trichinosis, formerly a potential issue primarily in pork. For those in other countries where it may be a problem, Trichinella larva can be rendered harmless by freezing meat for 3 weeks. (There are resistant strains: they are found in bears, wild boar, arctic fox and the walrus).
- Add probiotics to your cat's diet for enhanced intestinal tract health.
- Use safe-handling, storing, and thawing techniques – the same methods used for handling meat for the family.
- Do not leave any uneaten food out for longer than 30 minutes and dispose of unconsumed meal portions.
- Wash hands after handling any pet food, raw or otherwise.
- Regularly wash and disinfect with a mild bleach solution bowls, utensils, food preparation surfaces, and implements.
- Do not allow pets to consume raw food products outside of the dish (or feed them in areas that can easily be cleaned and disinfected).
Understanding the symptoms of a problem, we can seek treatment. Salmonella infection is “rarely seen in cats,” and “most felines will only be carriers of the bacteria and there won’t be any clinical symptoms.” According to the Merck Veterinary Manual, salmonella is a normal part of the gut flora of dogs and cats (and other animals). But kittens and cats with weak immune systems are more susceptible to illness, so be aware of what to look for and do not delay taking your pet to see a vet: Salmonella in Cats at VetInfo.
Cats digest raw meat-and-organ based food best. Is it REALLY any surprise that food is more easily digested and the nutrition more readily metabolized by our pets when in a format they would naturally consume it? A study examining extruded (kibble) vs cooked (canned) and raw beef fed to cats demonstrates this, as does a study comparing digestibility of raw diets with a “canned heat-processed” diet in kittens. This study found that “Significantly higher digestibility of dry matter (P <0.001), organic matter (P <0.001), crude protein (P <0.001) and gross energy (P <0.001) was seen in the raw diets compared with the heat-processed diets. This difference resulted in significantly less fecal matter (P <0.001) despite similar levels of intake, kcal ingested and evidence of no difference in fecal scores.” Yes, this is the first thing we notice when transitioning to raw: there’s almost no waste product coming out of the cat. They seem to use so much more of the food they eat! Nice to know the studies confirm we’re not imagining it. We discuss this in detail in our article "What is Digestibility and Why Does It Matter?"
Because I control the ingredients and the quality of the food my cats eat. Commercial pet foods are focused on profits, not our pets’ health. The regulatory loopholes in commercial pet foods allow for unhealthy – even dangerous – ingredients. For more information, see
A new report Decoding Pet Food (Nov 2015) by The Cornucopia Institute (a non-profit food/farm policy research group) highlights “serious problems in pet food industry regulations and how specific loopholes allow for the use of questionable ingredients that could negatively impact companion animal health. …The report accuses some brands of using cheap ingredients, carcinogenic additives, and preservatives that are bad for long-term pet health, as well as attempting to intentionally deceive consumers with pet food labels.”
A 2007 report by Born Free USA, What’s Really in Pet Food? “explores the differences between what consumers think they are buying and what they are actually getting.” “…What most consumers don’t know is that the pet food industry is an extension of the human food and agriculture industries. Pet food provides a convenient way for slaughterhouse offal, grains considered “unfit for human consumption,” and similar waste products to be turned into profit. This waste includes intestines, udders, heads, hooves, and possibly diseased and cancerous animal parts.”
A 2006 report by a Harvard Law student, Deconstructing the Regulatory Façade: Why Confused Consumers Feed their Pets Ring Dings and Krispy Kremes.
My Food versus “Pet Food.”
Which do you think is healthier for you? Canned soup or homemade soup made with freshly purchased ingredients? Canned green beans or fresh green beans? Dry cereal or a quinoa salad?
Why does my doctor recommend I eat as much fresh food as possible – and the FDA tells me to eat lots of fruits and veggies to promote my best health – but the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) and that very same FDA tell me that raw food fed to cats and dogs is dangerous for them AND me?
The very highly processed foods - and highly processed ingredients IN the foods - commercially available in cans, pouches and bags for our pets are, generally speaking, foods that contain adulterated ingredients as per the FDA’s definition; foods that contain ingredients too dangerous to put in a landfill. And even if they contained ingredients that met human grade regulations, the foods typically have been compromised by the addition and/or inclusion of additives, preservatives, pesticides, unnatural genetic material or chemical and/or heat treatments that alter or destroy the healthy enzymes, fatty acids, vitamins and minerals naturally present in fresh food.
Why would I expect that food to support my pets' best health? I ask again - why are fresh, minimally processed foods healthy for people no matter our health status - but dangerous for our pets?