Raw feeding attracts more myths than almost any other way of feeding a dog. Some come from genuine caution, some from marketing, and some are just repeated until they sound true. Here are the five you’ll hear most — and what actually holds up when you look closely.
A note on tone before we start: a myth-buster that claims raw has no downsides is as untrustworthy as one that claims it’s lethal. So where there’s a real consideration, we’ll name it.
Myth 1: “Raw meat is a salmonella bomb”
This is the big one, and it deserves an honest answer rather than a defensive one.
The honest part: raw meat can carry bacteria like Salmonella, Listeria and E. coli. That’s true of the raw chicken in your own fridge, and surveys have found these bacteria in commercial raw pet diets too. Pretending the risk is zero would be dishonest.
What the myth gets wrong is who is mainly at risk, and how manageable it is. A dog isn’t built like you. Its stomach runs far more acidic (around pH 1–2) and its gut is short, so food — and the bacteria in it — moves through fast. That physiology is exactly why a healthy dog handles a bacterial load that would trouble a person. The veterinary literature that’s most cautious about raw feeding (Freeman et al., 2013) frames it the same way: the real issue isn’t the dog dropping dead, it’s household hygiene — the same handling you’d use for any raw meat.
So the practical reality:
- Handle raw pet food exactly like you handle raw chicken for yourself: clean surfaces, wash hands, don’t cross-contaminate, keep it cold.
- Take extra care if your home includes someone immunocompromised, a newborn, or a frail elderly person — that’s a genuine, sensible caveat.
The myth says “raw is uniquely dangerous.” The reality is “raw meat carries bacteria, your dog is well-equipped for it, and ordinary kitchen hygiene handles the rest.”
Myth 2: “The bones will hurt my dog”
Almost everyone picturing this myth is picturing the wrong bone. The danger everyone has heard about — splintering, perforations, choking — is overwhelmingly about cooked bones. Cooking dries bone out and makes it brittle, so it shatters into sharp shards.
Raw bone behaves completely differently: it’s softer, more pliable, and in properly formulated meals it’s usually finely ground into the mix, where it’s the natural source of calcium and phosphorus a carnivore needs. There’s a world of difference between a ground-bone raw meal and tossing your dog a cooked lamb chop bone — and it’s the cooked one that earns the warnings.
The rule worth remembering: never feed cooked bones. Raw, appropriately sized or ground bone is a normal part of how dogs have eaten for as long as there have been dogs.
Myth 3: “There’s no real science behind raw feeding”
This one was fair a couple of decades ago. It isn’t anymore.
The evidence base is younger and smaller than the kibble industry’s — that part is true, and worth saying plainly. But “smaller” is not “nonexistent.” Controlled studies have shown raw and fresh diets to be highly digestible and to shift the gut microbiome in measurable ways (Algya et al., 2018; Sandri et al., 2017). Research is ongoing and the picture keeps filling in.
What you should be sceptical of is anyone — on either side — who claims the science is fully settled. It isn’t. Honest reading of the current evidence: raw is well-digested, it changes the microbiome, and the long-term outcome studies are still being done.
For how this connects to what’s actually in a meal, see raw dog food versus kibble.
Myth 4: “Premium kibble makes raw unnecessary”
“Premium” is a price tier and a marketing word — it isn’t a biological category. A more expensive kibble is still kibble: a dry, shelf-stable product made by cooking ingredients at high heat, which changes them (we cover what heat does in what happens when you cook your pet’s food).
A better bag may well use better ingredients — that’s real and worth paying for if kibble is your choice. But “better kibble” and “fresh raw food” aren’t the same question. One is which processed product; the other is processed vs not. Spending more on the first doesn’t answer the second.
Myth 5: “Dogs live longer on kibble”
You’ll see this stated with great confidence. The truth is duller: nobody has the clean, long-term, controlled lifespan study that would actually settle it — in either direction.
Lifespan is driven by genetics, body condition, exercise, veterinary care and a dozen other things, which makes diet alone fiendishly hard to isolate over a dog’s whole life. So be wary of confident claims both ways: we won’t tell you raw adds years (we can’t prove it), and you should distrust anyone who tells you kibble does.
What the current evidence supports is narrower and more honest: dogs digest raw well, and it changes their gut in measurable ways. The lifespan headline, from anyone, is running ahead of the data.
The bottom line
Good myth-busting cuts both ways. Raw meat carries bacteria — and your dog is built to handle it while you handle the kitchen. Bones are a real hazard cooked, and a normal food raw. The science is younger than kibble’s, not absent. “Premium” answers a different question than “raw.” And the lifespan claims, from every direction, are louder than the evidence.
If you’re weighing it up, the useful move isn’t to swallow a slogan — it’s to learn how to read a label and judge for yourself.
Key takeaways
- Raw meat can carry bacteria; a dog’s acidic, fast gut manages it, and normal kitchen hygiene manages the household side. Take extra care around immunocompromised people.
- Cooked bones splinter and are dangerous; raw/ground bone is a normal, safe part of a formulated meal. Never feed cooked bones.
- The science behind raw is smaller than kibble’s but real and growing — be sceptical of “settled” claims either way.
- “Premium” kibble is still kibble; better ingredients don’t change the processed-vs-fresh question.
- No clean study proves either diet extends lifespan; distrust confident lifespan claims from anyone.
Sources & further reading
- Freeman LM, et al. Current knowledge about the risks and benefits of raw meat–based diets for dogs and cats. JAVMA, 2013. DOI: 10.2460/javma.243.11.1549
- Algya KM, et al. Apparent total-tract macronutrient digestibility, serum chemistry, and fecal characteristics of dogs fed extruded, mildly cooked, and raw diets. J Anim Sci, 2018. DOI: 10.1093/jas/sky235
- Sandri M, et al. Raw meat-based diet influences faecal microbiome and end products of fermentation in healthy dogs. BMC Vet Res, 2017. DOI: 10.1186/s12917-017-0981-z