VERY Bad News for Raw Feeders

There is a petition here:

http://www.change.org/petitions/american-veterinary-medical-association-avma-protect-pet-owners-rights-to-feed-a-raw-meat-pet-food

Note that vets are signing it and giving their full names.

The AVMA also has a blog for comments

http://atwork.avma.org/

This issue is the first topic to come up.

You can also leave comments on their Facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/avmavets?ref=ts

 Umm... how does this actually effect me if I choose to feed my dog raw? I'm obviously not an AVMA member. Can't I simply ignore this? My vet can discourage me from feeding raw, but can't I choose to ignore that, just like I currently ignore their recommendations about food (actually, they ask what I feed, I tell them, and that's the end of the discussion). But, if I fed raw, I told the vet, and the vet discouraged it, can't I just ignore it? I suppose a vet could refuse my animals as patients, but couldn't I also just pick a food and lie? Sometimes I feed Luke kibble and raw chicken wings. I neglect to tell my vet about the chicken wings. Couldn't I just keep doing that?

griffinej5

Umm... how does this actually effect me if I choose to feed my dog raw?

Yes, you could keep feeding your dogs raw.  The issue becomes economic feasibility. 

Prepared frozen raw pet food and human-quality meats are too expensive for many folks - especially those that are feeding large dogs.  Slightly-off meats that are no longer considered human-quality are much cheaper - sometimes even cheaper than kibble.

Kibble manufacturers would like to retain customers by making raw pet foods as expensive as possible.  They would like nothing better than putting out of business the many folks who are now supplying non-human-quality raw meat in bulk to pet food co-ops. 

If the AMVA does pass this policy, the kibble manufacturers have ammunition to pressure legislators to make selling non-human-quality raw meat illegal.  I assure you that the kibble folks will do that.

janet_rose

If the AMVA does pass this policy, the kibble manufacturers have ammunition to pressure legistators to make selling non-human-quality raw meat illegal.  I assure you that the kibble folks will do that.

Really?  The kibble folks lose that much revenue because of raw feeders?  I wouldn't think the percentage would be great enough to warrant the expense and effort but I don't have any insider info on that topic.

I don't know how much revenue the kibble folks are losing right now, but the raw pet food market is growing.  The kibble folks have a vested interest in nipping that in the bud and they know it!!

If you don't think that legislators could be pressured into making it illegal to sell any non-human-quality raw meat, look at what has happened in the raw milk area.  People drank raw milk for centuries, but the FDA now acts as if all raw milk is poison - even if people are going to great lengths to get it, know what they are getting, and have had no problems with their source of raw milk.

Do you really think that the raw milk market is very big?  The first article below is dated February of 2012.

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/02/15/10418406-amish-farmer-targeted-by-fda-raids-shuts-down-raw-milk-business?lite

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/united-states/fda-issues-second-armed-raid-on-california-food-co-op-60071.html  (2011)
"The attack on Rawesome isn’t unique. Over the last few years, the FDA has been targeting small, raw milk producers across the country. In June, President Obama’s food safety chief and former Monsanto lawyer Michael R. Taylor defended the actions, stating that the campaign was a “public health duty."

According to the FDA, the manufacture and sale of unpasteurized milk products poses a significant risk of pathogenic contamination—including salmonella, listeria, e-coli, staphylococcus aureus and tuberculosis. But evidence suggests that the real risks associated with unpasteurized milk hardly justify the time or tax dollars devoted to such raids.

A recently released study from the Centers for Disease Control said that people are about thirty-five thousand times more likely to get sick from foods such as spinach, peanut butter, and eggs than they are from consuming raw milk. Similarly, a report from the Weston A. Price Foundation found that between 1980 and 2005, there were ten times more illnesses resulting from pasteurized milk than its raw counterpart."

 I'm not overly concerned. And even the vets I know (most of whom do not advocate a raw diet) aren't viewing it as anything to back up their views.

 Heck, prepared raw is expensive for Luke, and he's tiny.

It's quite a stretch to get from the AVMA recommending against raw to a ban on the sales of non-human grade meat. It certainly could happen, but there would be a few steps in between. Basically, it would require the pet food industry to make significant political contributions (which is possible because  many pet food manufacturers are large manufacturers of people food) and hiring a lobbyist. If you want a law passed in America, it basically requires a dead kid, or lots of money.  I may be totally wrong, but I don't think raw food competes with those manufacturers who have enough profit to get this sort of thing done.

griffinej5

I may be totally wrong, but I don't think raw food competes with those manufacturers who have enough profit to get this sort of thing done.

Raw milk doesn't compete significantly against processed milk either.  We will have a bigger fight on our hands if it gets to legislators, so we are better off fighting the AMVA now.

griffinej5

It's quite a stretch to get from the AVMA recommending against raw to a ban on the sales of non-human grade meat.

There a lot of folks (including me) that strongly disagree with you.

janet_rose

  People drank raw milk for centuries

People also drank from contaminated water sources, died of preventable diseases before vaccines and lived much shorter, harder lives in previous centuries. Life expectancy and our increased knowledge aren't coincidental. Those who demand the government not regulate their lives are often the first to make a big outcry when they are personally affected by an unsafe product.

JackieG

Those who demand the government not regulate their lives are often the first to make a big outcry when they are personally affected by an unsafe product.

All the vets I have seen advocate against raw feeding, has this made any impact on my feeding Bugsy raw when I can? no.

The people it might sway are people that aren't overly interested in pet nutrition anyway

Personally I don't really understand bacterial concerns for a healthy dog. Bugsy drinks the most foul water, eats a variety of poop, and sticks his nose into any and all dead carcasses he can. Many dogs eat road kill etc.

My dogs occasionally eat raw venison which we hunt, gut, and process ourselves and as far as I know the AVMA has no bearing on how many deer tags the DNR sells each season.

Vets already want me to neuter my dogs at six months and give them vaccines twice a year and I do neither. 

I may not agree but the AVMA is free to discuss and vote on any issue they please, just as I am free to chose at which vet I am spending my money. :)