Tambi Renee on Raw Diets for Your Pets

Recently, the FDA released a report steering pet owners away from feeding raw diets to their pets. Raw diets, claimed the FDA, saw a far greater incidence of bacterial contamination than other pet food products. According to animal rights activist Tambi Renee, however, this warning is misguided. Raw diets are, in fact, at a much lower risk for contamination and also provide better nutrition. Additionally, raw foods, says Tambi Renee, do not contain salvage food products that have been unequivocally declared unfit for human consumption, and should also not be fed to pets.

According to Tambi Renee, raw food diets can be prepared at home and can leave your pets with healthier skin and fur, as well as cleaner teeth. Pets eating a raw diet consisting of meats, fruits, and vegetables also typically have more energy. Tambi Renee counters claims by the FDA that raw pet food diets also pose a risk to human handlers and may result in unbalanced diets for pets, noting that humans should only be handling meats that they would otherwise eat themselves, and that it is not difficult to establish a healthy raw food diet in consultation with your pet's veterinarian.

In contradiction to the study by the FDA, Tambi Renee notes that there have been no recent food recalls of raw pet food (some pet owners choose to purchase pre-made raw diets), while there have been significant recalls of processed pet foods. Tambi Renee asks, if raw pet foods were so dangerous to our health and the health of our animals, why hasn’t the FDA recalled any of them? Perhaps because, as Tambi Renee argues, these foods are not nearly as dangerous as they are made out to be.