If you Google the search term Raw Diet, you will find that about 2 of every 10 entries are for raw pet diets. It’s not just the Internet that is full of resources on raw diets for pets. There are also many books written by very experienced, credible individuals who provide advice and guidance on the highly recommended raw diet for pets. Some of the most noted books include The BARF Diet by Australian Veterinarian Ian Billinghurst who uses the BARF diet for his clients’ pets and for his own pets. Denise Flaim is the companion-animal columnist for Newsday. Flaim’s book is entitled, The Holistic Dog Book: Canine Care for the 21st Century. Other books include Raw Dog Food by Carina Beth MacDonald, Natural Nutrition for Dogs and Cats by Kymythy R. Schultze, and Dr. Pitcairn’s Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats by Richard H. and Susan Pitcairn.

With the exception of animal flesh (which is actually a pretty big exception), the raw food pet diet is not that dissimilar from the human raw and living diet described in this book. There is a middle-ground solution for those of us without the stomach or the conscience to serve our pets raw animal flesh. This middle ground is proposed by Denise Flaim, and we will address it in the section on Raw Animal Ethics below. In The Raw Food Diet Myth, we will discuss the history and the components of the raw pet diet, as well as the ethics of it.