Is raw fermented pet food safe? Can butter cause pancreatitis?

No, there aren't any merits to this. As we talked about before, companies will make bold claims to get you to buy their products. You see it all the time with homeopathic products claiming to cure things such as cancer. They want you to buy their product.

Hello and welcome to Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Raw food has a huge number of risks associated with it, including auto-immune induced paralysis, severe gut infections, increased vomiting and therefore increased chances of pneumonia, etc. Also, if you feed your animal BARF, then there will be E.Coli and Salmonella all over your house. I never recommend a BARF diet, as there are no benefits and lots of side effects, for both your pet as well as the people living in your house. It especially should be avoided if any immuno-compromised people (old, young, pregnant, cancer patients, people on certain drugs, etc.) are present in the house or around your animal. Bones should also be avoided as they have no benefit (they often cause more damage then good to teeth), and cause many problems as well. Unfortuantely, working in emergency, I see dogs die daily as a direct side-effect of being fed raw food and bones. Many animals have it and do OK, but these are ticking time-bombs waiting to go off and cause severe issues that sometimes, despite all medical care, cannot be saved. Human grade meat can be fed if desired, and if you wish to home cook that is great, I would just cook all meat the way you would for yourself (you wouldn't eat raw food or bones, don't feed it to your pet.). Best of luck with Ralphie!

Hello, Veterinarians generally do not recommend feeding raw diets. Raw diets are associated with serious food borne illness (food poisoning) and the nutritional imbalances are associated with heart and bone disease. I would not recommend feeding any raw meat or bones to any pet, at any time, due to risk of illness. If you would like to feed a home cooked diet, I would recommend using the website balance.it which is formulated by veterinary nutritionists at the University of California-Davis. This website can direct you on making a homemade diet that is safe and nutritionally complete for Molly. If you're looking to purchase any complete diet, I recommend feeding one that is formulated to AAFCO requirements for canine nutrition. These requirements are based off of evidence based canine nutritional studies and the diets are regularly tested to ensure they are meeting every essential dietary need. Most popular brands are formulated like this- Purina, Iams, Royal Canin, Hill's, for example. I hope this is helpful! Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach!

I am sorry we weren't able to get to your question sooner! The most common breeds that come to mind with pancreatitis are schnauzers and yorkies, however there was a study where malamutes were found to show a slightly higher likelihood of developing pancreatitis as well. It's not the protein content that is the issue with pancreatitis so much as it is the fat content. I personally would not recommend a raw diet, mostly due to concerns for bacterial infections for both your dog AND for you and other humans in your household--especially will so many good kibble options are available. My favorite kibble brands for "Northern breeds" are Science Diet, Canidae and Wellness brands. Thanks for asking Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach!

Hello, thank you for your question about Sky. There are many different opinions on feeding raw food diets, so you may hear different opinions depending on who you ask. I would not recommend feeding your dog raw chicken feet. In general feeding raw or even freeze dried food can lead to bacterial infections such as Salmonella. This can be transmitted to humans also. There is no advantage to feeding freeze-dried/raw food over commercial dog food. Hope this helps!

Hi, I think it's great you are asking about this. I know there is a ton of conflicting information out there and nutrition seems to be a topic that is always under scrutiny. Also, I was not even aware of Thomas Sandberg before I read this, so I had to do a little research on him. The first thing I noticed is that Mr. Sandberg has absolutely no credentials in the topic he is researching. Meaning, he has no degrees in nutrition, animal science, veterinary science, or anything related. I cannot tell if he even has a bachelors degree, but he definitely does not have a PhD. I don't mean to tear the guy to pieces here, but his lack of credentials tells me: 1) He does not know the depth science behind nutrition that would be required to carry out his research; 2) He does not know how to run a quality scientific experiment. This information alone tells me that whatever research he is conducting is not quality. However, possible that he is hiring a nutritionist to do the study...I'm not sure, because there seems to be a big lack of information regarding the actual research. The biggest problem veterinarians and veterinary nutritionists have with raw food, is that there is a concern for infection and that there is no good scientific evidence that it is more beneficial than cooked dog food. That is why we do not recommend feeding raw food: we don't think the risk of making you or your pet sick is worth it. I can probably write a novel about this topic, but instead, I'll give you a link to a credible source that discusses raw food. Please check this out: http://vet.tufts.edu/wp-content/uploads/raw_meat_diets_memo.pdf If you would like to discuss more, then you are welcome to start a consult with me. I hope this helps.

No, I strongly urge you not to do it and you'd be hard pressed to find any vet who would recommend it. It's a fad and it's dangerous for both Kingston and you. Raw food diets contain bacteria like E coli and Salmonella, which poses a risk of poisoning him and you. You can get sick from handling it, and even sick from him licking you because the bacteria lives on his tongue for hours afterwards. In addition, these diets are often imbalanced nutritionally, and it's so vital to have a balanced diet for a growing puppy. I have a vet colleague that just saw an 8 month old puppy who was fed a rad diet and due to the nutritional deficiencies had broken his hip and had severe bone deformities. There is no scientific evidence it's beneficial at all, and all there are is bad things with it. You should feed him a dry puppy food such as Royal Canin, Hill's Science Diet, Purina Pro Plan, and Iams. I hope this helps.