Pets at risk from fad for giving them raw meat

‘May cause serious illness’

PET owners should not feed raw meat to their cats and dogs because it may carry deadly bugs, it is warned.

It is becoming increasingly fashionable to ditch dry and canned pet food in favour of ‘natural’ raw meat and offal.

Manufacturers say it is what animals would eat in the wild, claiming it will give them fresher breath, fewer allergies and a brighter, shinier coat.

But a study has found the food, popular with middle-class animal owners, often contains food poisoning bugs such as E.coli, salmonella and listeria. Researchers say cats have already died after eating raw meat, while reporting cases of gastroenteritis in greyhounds.

Owners also risk suffering a nasty bout of diarrhoea and vomiting by handling the raw food, bowls, or letting their pet lick their hands. The study, published in the Veterinary Record, looked at brands of raw pet food sold in the Netherlands.

However, the same warnings are being made in the UK, where owners are buying highend raw pet food or creating their own from the butcher.

The Dutch study’s co-author Professor Paul Overgaauw, from the University of Utrecht, said: ‘People who feed their dogs and cats raw meat think they are doing the best for their animals.

‘It is very difficult to convince them it is not advisable because of this word “natural” which you always hear in the marketing. They think they are feeding dogs how they would eat in nature, like a wolf.

‘This study shows the prevalence of bugs which may cause serious illness and food poisoning in raw food – and it is not as safe as dried or canned food.’