If you’re a dog owner who’s watched your pup deal with ear infections, skin issues, or mystery tummy problems,  you’ve probably heard the same line from the vet: “Raw food? Too risky – bacteria, salmonella, the whole bit. Stick with kibble.” But from a terrain point of view, that advice is incorrect. If the terrain is balanced, nutrient-dense, alive – your dog will thrive. Damage the terrain with junk, and there will be health consequences. Raw, natural feeding happens to be the best way to build a healthy canine terrain.

Dogs were not created to consume the ultra-processed, high-carb, shelf-stable pellets that dominate pet-store shelves. Their ancestors ate raw prey – meat, bones, organs, a little fur, some fermented veggies (found in the guts of their prey) and dirt on the side. That’s the diet that matches their acidic stomach, short digestive tract, and natural enzymes. When you feed raw, you’re giving the terrain exactly what it was created to eat. Enzymes stay intact. Moisture levels stay high. The gut microbiome stays diverse and strong. 

Now, contrast that with what most dogs actually eat. Kibble gets cooked at high heat, losing enzymes and nutrients and then is loaded with fillers, synthetic vitamins, and preservatives. Over time, that quietly erodes the terrain – weakens digestion, inflames the gut, dulls the immune system. 

Dr. Ian Billinghurst, the Australian vet and surgeon who has written several books on this, has seen it played out in his own practice for decades. He has watched dogs switched to raw diets ditch chronic allergies, dental disease, and arthritis while their kibble-fed littermates kept needing to keep being seen at the vet. He calls it biologically appropriate raw food – BARF – because it respects the dog’s natural terrain instead of fighting it. Same story from Dr. Tom Lonsdale, another raw-meaty-bones advocate and “whistleblower vet.” In his books he lays out how switching to raw reversed skin issues, improved energy, and even extended lifespans in the dogs he treated. 

Dr. Karen Becker, a leading integrative vet, echoes the same wisdom: raw isn’t radical – it’s species-appropriate. She points out that healthy dogs on balanced raw diets have the gut acidity and rapid transit time to handle toxins the way nature intended. The risks only spike when the terrain is already compromised (think long-term kibble, antibiotics, and vaccines).  

So is raw safe? For a dog whose terrain is supported, yes – often dramatically healthier. Will it make them sick? It can cause some digestive issues when first transitioning but that is because the dog’s body will begin to purge toxins it has likely stored for a while.  This is temporary and can be supported with homeopathics to make the transition easier.

Dr. Ian Billinghurst in his BARF Feeding book has a whole chapter on several ways you can safely switch your dog to raw feeding.  I would highly recommend the book as a guideline for making this switch initially.

One of the plans for our membership community is helping families calculate a long-term raw food diet for their dogs.  We also recommend several companies that have pre-made raw food.  Solutions Pet Foods in one of those companies we recommend.

Let us know if the comments if you decide to switch to raw food and the differences you see once you make the switch.