raw diet – Pawjourr | Blog contributors

Seriously, it is Alright to Feed Kibbles and Raw Diet Together.

I’ve always seen this question and always hear this answer in response:
“No! You should never mix kibbles and raw meat together. It will lead to problems because kibbles and raw meat have different digestion speeds and require different pH levels, so you can’t eat them at the same time. You should feed a fully raw diet, none of that kibbles cr@p. That’s like feeding McDonald’s to your pet every day.”

It has also gotten really annoying to see raw feeders with a holier-than-thou attitude bashing on or criticising other pet owners for feeding kibbles or mixed diets. Let’s just start off by saying this:

Feed the pet in front of you. What works for one may not always work for the other. There is no one RIGHT or WRONG feeding, and you should do what is right for YOUR PET. No one has the right to criticise another individual for their decisions.
Of course I’m not referring to people who are just feeding their pets the most blatantly obvious and unbalanced meals, those should be called out. I’m talking about most decent and thinking pet owners in this situation, who does not deserve being called out for their decisions on feeding their pets.

I can’t emphasise this enough: EDUCATE people, not put them down. When we all first started, we all know what it is like to be in a position of confusion with so much mixed information available on the Internet. Why not take the time to share your experience, your learning resources, and allow them to then make a decision for themselves on what is right for THEIR FAMILY.

Raw feeding may be cheap or expensive depending on the country. The owners may or may not have the time to prepare a nutritious meal. There are many factors that go into why someone decides on feeding raw/kibble/HCF/any of the above combinations.

Also, just to address that whole idea of kibbles being MacDonald’s. That is not exactly right. Kibbles are essentially balanced meals that provide the necessary nutrition for the pet to live. MacDonald’s are unbalanced fast food that is poor in providing many essential nutrients.

Rather, try thinking of kibbles as army rations.
Does it taste good? Probably not.
Does it look or smell appetising? Not really.
But does it hit the minimal daily nutrients requirements? Usually*, yes.

* Disclaimer: I am referring to kibbles that are of decent quality which abides by nutrition guidelines in these situations.

This seems to have turned into a rant (lol). Now that the rant is over *sorry for ranting*, let’s get back to the point of this post.

What you see in a bowl is NOT representative of everything that goes into my dogs’ diets. Please do not replicate without knowing what is necessary for your pets.

So, it is not true that you cannot mix kibbles and raw meat. Yes, the digestion speed will definitely be slightly different, but this does not mean that you cannot feed at the same time. Do you have to wait a few hours before eating meat when you eat grains?

Note: Some pets may have diarrhoea when eating kibbles + raw meat, but this is not because of digestion problems, but because the stomach is not used to it. Any change in diets usually causes some problems (even among different brands of kibbles if you have a pet with a sensitive stomach).

Remember, your stomach does not have a pH level button, it will not change stomach acid when digesting kibble or eating raw meat.

Breaking Down “Digestion”

Geddit geddit? Breaking down? Digestion? (Okay sorry I’ll just show myself out.)

Digestion is the process of extracting nutrients from food and then transporting the released nutrients from the gastrointestinal tract to the body, where they are used for energy and tissue growth. The stomach and small intestine are the main parts of digestion. The stomach does not absorb nutrients, it releases them from food and destroys pathogenic bacteria such as Salmonella. The longer the food spends in the stomach, the greater the amount of digestion (this is good).

It is the small intestine, not the stomach, that absorbs nutrients. The nutrients released from the food are absorbed into the blood through the intestinal wall. The speed of food passing through the intestine will affect the number of nutrients that the small intestine can absorb. Fast-moving food cannot absorb too much nutrition. (Note: This might be where the misinformation starts.)

A recent experiment was conducted to observe the digestion speed of dry food and raw meat (see picture below). The researchers used X-rays and barium (a radiopaque liquid mixed with food) to trace dry food and raw meat through the gastrointestinal tract. Although only one dog was examined, its original digestion rate was slower than that of kibbles, which overturned the general statement that “raw meat digests faster than dry food”. In fact, liquids are emptied from the stomach faster than solids, and carbohydrates are excreted faster than protein and fat.

On the left is the x-ray of the dog eating kibbles, and on the right that of the same dog eating a raw meal.

The first two rows on the left is that of a kibble diet, the right and the last row is that of a raw diet. You can see that kibble was digested quicker than raw meal.

The above images were taken from The Raw Feeding Community, a great online source for raw feeders. I highly recommend heading on over to their post for a detailed explanation on the hour by hour breakdown of the meals being digested. Click here to be brought over to the original post.

Back to the explanation, when food enters the stomach, it will be soaked in stomach acid. Then, depending on the degree of swelling, the stomach will release an appropriate amount of gastric acid to control the dilution, so the pH can be maintained at a high acid level initially. Dilution is part of the digestion process. It occurs gradually through the digestive tract. What you don’t want to do is to have undiluted acid coming out the other end. Just thinking about it is painful.

The stomach has an excellent design and has served dogs and cats for thousands of years. As an example, when calcium is felt in the stomach, more stomach acid is released because bones are expected to appear due to the calcium content. More digestive juices are needed to break down bones than meat. There are more “sensors” and feedback mechanisms in the digestive system, which can effectively extract nutrients from various diets ingested by animals in different foods. We are at a time where we have access to a lot of information, let’s not fall for false information. Detailed research on pets has shown that mixing raw food and kibbles does not produce toxins or digestive challenges.

People have been feeding their pets a mixed diet for decades. Only recently has the trend of avoiding mixing become popular under the influence of false or wrong news. Studies have indeed shown that mixing some fresh raw food with kibbles is much healthier than kibbles alone. Complete + balanced raw meat is one of the best things you can feed your pet. But there are exceptions. Some owners may not have the time or money to feed raw meat, so we should not blame others for their choices. We all want the best for our pets, so please also give other pet owners the same respect, and do not fault them for a decision that they may have also made with the same best interests at heart (within reason of course).

Seriously though, please do not take my words out of context. What I’ve shared above is information from research that I have done. You should absolutely do your own research, start by reading up the blog I linked above to read about the experiment in detail. Then, come to your own conclusion on what is right for YOUR PET. You know best from experience and trials what works for YOUR PET.

A (Failed) Raw Diet Journey

The raw diet for dogs and cats has always been a controversial topic amongst pet owners.

Common misconceptions

Many who’s against it have formed or hearsay misconstrued perceptions such as (but not limited to) “Omg won’t my pet attack humans/animals if it consumes raw meat?!”; or “Isn’t there salmonella bacteria in raw meat?”; or “It’s not nutritionally balanced.”; etc. These misconceptions have often been debunked by professionals and raw feeders, and there are many available raw diet providers that have nutritional consultations and catered portions. However, these are still valid questions and worries, to an extent, – it is with good intent we worry – as most of us love our furbabies more than anything in the world.

Contrarily, we hear and/or see several success stories, on social media especially. Successful raw diet feeders rave about the benefits and evident changes, advocating and encouraging those who are apprehensive to make the move. In fact, I approached and sought advice from many friends/acquaintances made through Jr’s Instagram and pet community groups on Whatsapp & Telegram. Everyone I’ve spoken with was very kind and encouraging, none withheld tips and encouragements!

Not all pets thrive with a raw diet

There seems to be a lack of “failed” raw diet testimonies due to the fear of backlash and/or comments from insistent raw feeders. I felt like I couldn’t share Jr’s unsuccessful experience publicly because it felt like everyone else flourished from their transition to raw; and there was this impending anxiety that some raw feeders would disagree with the idea of an unsuccessful attempt. When Loki shared his unsuccessful experience and similar fears of speaking out, I felt so relieved!

Haha, it was a moment of slight disbelief, I realized that I wasn’t the only one and many others have probably experienced likewise. I’m glad I can now share my experience, I hope those who’ve had unsuccessful experiences with raw diets alongside pro-raw feeders see, it’s okay that it didn’t work out, no matter the reason and/or outcome – there’s no ‘one diet fits all strategy.

Our initial decision to try out a raw diet

I had actually considered transitioning Jr to a raw diet for a long period, I did extensive research and spoke with others for a year or so. I saw several success testimonials for dogs that faced long-term skin and coat issues, like Jr has struggled with dermatitis, yeast/bacterial infections, and more since puppyhood (which seems common with shih-tzus). Consecutively, Jr had an unfortunate incident last year which triggered a severe acute case of stomach inflammation and pancreatitis. He sought intensive treatment whilst inpatient in a veterinary hospital. After that incident, we maintained a low-fat diet but he still struggled with gastrointestinal issues like random soft stool or constipation and more.

With each success testimonial on my Instagram feed, with drastic before and after comparisons, the more my excitement grew and I was highly convinced it would work for Jr too. Every time I would research about the diet, speak to raw feeders, and scroll through success stories, my bias increasingly leaned towards pro-raw ideals. I was fascinated with its theories of feeding a primal diet which is supposedly most in-tuned with the psyche and biology of canines, positively impacting their health and wellbeing. With the information I’ve attained over a year, I was fully convinced so I decided to transition during the COVID-19 lockdown/circuit breaker period since I was able to closely monitor his behaviours and changes.

Transition and outcome

When I decided to transition, there were already difficulties communicating the benefits of raw to my family but I persisted and carried on with his diet transition. I heeded advice to slowly decrease the cooking time as he had been on a home-cooked diet. As usual, Jr started to get picky but he eventually ate the meat and offal. However, I noticed he vomited whenever he would eat the offal and he started to leave out certain offal parts like the kidney (fascinating, isn’t it, how their bodies notice what’s wrong?). After this, I decided to remove the offal and he stopped vomiting which was a huge relief.

[Haha, this part might be a bit TMI & graphic because I’m talking about Jr’s poop so, please skip to where I have indicated with an asterisk (*) if you’re uncomfortable!]
Although the vomiting stopped and he continued to eat most of the raw meat, his stool was very soft, which I knew was a common symptom during the transition but he seemed very uncomfortable and it persisted with lethargy which deeply concerned me. I had a bad gut feeling as his poop’s softness seemed too wet/watery with little to no solid pieces, much like bad diarrhea, unlike any other transitioning experience I’ve seen/heard of.
*

I was confused and stressed, as I was following the advised procedures, portions and steps but everything was going downhill and I felt extremely guilty for causing distress onto Jr. With the consistent symptoms of soft stool, discomfort and lethargy, I decided to switch back to his previous home-cooked food diet and he immediately felt better after two meals. Hence, our raw diet journey was, evidently, unsuccessful and I learnt that it wasn’t the right fit for Jr. There could’ve been a correlation to his previous GI issues, or maybe his body just wasn’t receptive, or maybe other reasons.

Afterthoughts

My experience hasn’t negatively impacted my perception of the raw diet, I have actually learnt to have unbiased viewpoints. I’m still glad I spent the time on thorough research but I now realise the lack of proper scientific studies on this topic. Understandably so, as studies have specific requirements and controlled environments. And it’s not to say I disagree with the raw diet theories now, I still think there’re truths to its theories and it could benefit many pets! Their results speak volumes for their advantages. Nonetheless, I think it’s essential for pet owners, who are looking into the raw diet, to remain unbiased and keep in mind the possibility of ‘failing’ too.

Here I conclude, is the raw diet too good to be true? No. Is it dangerous? No. Is it the only “right”/“best” diet for dogs and cats? Not necessarily. Will it turn your pet into a blood-thirsty monster? LOL no, eating raw meat ≠ bloodlust! Pets are aggressive due to abusive environments, lack of training, etc.

I genuinely believe there’s no ‘one diet fits all’ solution, as I’ve mentioned. The raw diet has clearly benefited many pets and that’s amazing! On the other hand, it is okay to not have had a successful experience. The raw diet wasn’t the first that didn’t work for us, kibbles and (most) wet foods also didn’t work well for Jr as he is allergic to chicken but many times ingredient lists with “poultry” or “meat flavours” etc. contain chicken byproducts. However, that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t work for others, there are many pets who thrive on kibbles and wet food diets too. Hence, we should be open to sharing negative/unsuccessful experiences (with all types of diets) and hold back judgment because everybody is different! ☺️

The above article is written by the hooman of @jr.boyboy.