REGINA - Carly Patryluk, owner of House of Paws, is trying to shed light on the recent findings of bird flu in raw pet food, which is overlooking a bigger issue.
Back in December, the Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) put out a notice regarding an indoor cat dying from contracting bird flu (H5N1) found in a Feline Turkey Recipe produced by Northwest Naturals.
However, reports later confirmed that the raw pet food tested was unsealed, meaning contamination after purchase was a possibility.
Then, in February, the Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) confirmed that cats contracted Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) from Wild Coast Raw pet food.
These cats were confirmed to be domestic cats, meaning they could have contracted bird flu from the outdoors.
While Patryluk isn’t trying to downplay the health issues cats face concerning bird flu, she feels the facts were skewed to create more fear around raw pet food.
“[People are] told in the industry that raw food is full of bacteria, that raw food will make your animal aggressive [and] that you can't have raw food around toddlers,” she said.
However, as research shows, animals who eat kibble experience higher rates of health issues than raw pet food.
"It’s not uncommon for dogs who eat only "kibble to experience issues like severe allergies, inflammation, stinky poops, chronic dehydration, diabetes, obesity, and even long-term development of cancers or tumours," the website mentions.
Patryluk also noted kibble is sprayed with a very fragile fat. Once exposed to light and air, those fats start to oxidize, leading it to rot.
There are still risks to raw pet food like anything else, but Patryluk mentioned, "as humans [we deal with raw meat all the time], but we are very sanitary [about it]."
If people cleaned their raw meat the same way for their animals, Patryluk said it would be no more dangerous than buying raw chicken at the store.
Corporation benefit
With raw pet food being scrutinized, the people who will benefit most out of pet owners turning to kibble are large corporations, said Patryluk.
[This whole news outreach] I think was to take advantage of a situation that is the exception, not the norm."
Compared to raw pet food, kibble has seen larger recalls, Patryluk pointed out.
In 2021, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) suspected over 130 dog deaths and 220 more illnesses were related to Midwestern Pet Foods Inc., who sell dry dog food.
Then, in 2023, the FDA recalled Mid America Pet Food, which contained salmonella, causing multiple infants to become ill. The company was sued by numerous people who claimed their dogs were killed from their products. Major dog food brand Pedigree also had a recall in 2024 for potential loose metal pieces.
Despite these large recalls, Patryluk believes big corporations are trying to frame raw pet food as a danger because their sales are starting to rise.
The Business Research Company reports the raw pet food market "will grow from $3.68 billion in 2024 to $4.23 billion [globally] in 2025."
Meanwhile, kibble sales in the U.S. were down nearly 2 per cent from June 2024 compared to the same time in 2023.
This hurts companies like MARS Inc., which made $20 billion U.S. in 2023 from pet food, while Nestlé made over $21 billion U.S. that same year.
Seeing how corporations can change the narrative of pet food, Patryluk called it "very frustrating."
To this day, "Dogs and cats are the only animals on the face of the planet that are forced to eat a non-biological diet," she said.
Patryluk is hoping that more people turn to feed their dogs raw pet food while kibble will eventually be left behind.
