6 Raw Feeding Myths, Debunked

Raw feeding has been around for decades, but misinformation about it spreads faster than the actual research. Some of these myths come from outdated assumptions, some from genuine misunderstandings about pet nutrition, and a few from marketing by companies that would rather you buy processed food. Let's go through the most common ones with what the evidence actually shows.

Myth 1: "Raw Food Will Give My Pet Salmonella"

The concern isn't baseless — raw meat can carry bacteria like salmonella, the same as raw meat in your own kitchen. But dogs and cats have significantly shorter, more acidic digestive tracts than humans, built specifically to process raw meat quickly and handle a bacterial load that would upset a human stomach. Healthy dogs and cats regularly test positive for bacteria like salmonella in their stool without ever showing a symptom — it passes through without incident. The real risk in raw feeding isn't the pet eating it; it's improper handling in the kitchen that could expose people in the household, which is exactly why sourcing from a reputable, tested supplier and following basic kitchen hygiene (see our companion guide on that) matters.

Myth 2: "Raw Diets Aren't Nutritionally Complete"

This myth usually comes from comparing raw food to AAFCO's kibble-era nutrient profiles, which were designed around processed food formulation, not around what a properly balanced raw diet actually provides. A raw diet built on the 80/10/10 framework — muscle meat, bone, and organ, with protein variety over time — delivers the full spectrum of amino acids, fatty acids, vitamins, and minerals a dog or cat needs, because it mirrors what canine and feline nutrition evolved around in the first place. "Complete and balanced" isn't about matching a kibble label — it's about whether the actual nutrient needs are being met, and a properly formulated raw diet meets them.

Myth 3: "Raw Bones Are Always Dangerous"

This one conflates raw and cooked bones, which are completely different materials. Cooking makes bone brittle and prone to splintering into sharp fragments — that's genuinely dangerous. Raw bone stays flexible and breaks along natural lines instead. The real nuance is choosing the right bone for the purpose and the pet (see our full bone safety guide for the specifics), not avoiding bones altogether.

Myth 4: "Raw Feeding Makes Dogs Aggressive"

There's no research connecting diet composition to behavioral aggression in dogs. Aggression is driven by genetics, socialization, training, medical issues, and individual temperament — not by whether the protein in a bowl is raw or cooked. This myth likely persists because raw-fed dogs are often more food-motivated around mealtime (a natural, normal response to a highly palatable food), which gets misread as aggression. A dog guarding its bowl is a training and management issue worth addressing regardless of diet type, not a raw-food side effect.

Myth 5: "Raw Diets Are Only for Working or Athletic Dogs"

Raw feeding suits every dog and cat at every activity level — the portion size and macronutrient balance adjust to the individual, not the diet type itself. A senior lap dog and a working sled dog can both thrive on raw, fed at the calorie level appropriate for their actual energy needs. This myth probably stems from raw feeding's popularity in sporting and working dog communities, where its performance benefits get the most visible attention, but the nutritional logic applies just as well to a low-activity companion animal.

Myth 6: "You Can't Mix Raw and Kibble"

The often-repeated claim is that raw and kibble digest at different speeds, so combining them causes digestive upset or bacterial overgrowth. In practice, plenty of dogs do well on a mixed approach — kibble for convenience some meals, raw for others — as long as the transition and combination is introduced gradually and the pet's individual digestion is monitored. It's true that switching abruptly between very different diets can cause temporary stool changes in some pets, but that's a transition issue, not a rule that raw and kibble are incompatible. If your pet does best on one or the other exclusively, that's an individual response worth respecting — but there's no universal rule against a mixed approach.

The Bottom Line

Most raw feeding myths trace back to outdated assumptions, a misunderstanding of canine and feline digestive biology, or a failure to distinguish raw from cooked (in the case of bones). The actual evidence supports raw feeding as a safe, nutritionally sound choice when it's sourced responsibly, balanced properly, and handled with the same care as any raw meat in your kitchen. If you've heard a raw feeding claim that gave you pause, it's always worth digging into where it actually comes from — and we're always happy to talk through the specifics for your own pet.