If you’re wondering about what’s the deal on Answers Pet Food suing the FDA — here is a nice article with a clear review of the situation. In it you will learn about the position/perspectives from each side so you can better understand the case.

There is a lot of criticism I have and others have regarding the biased and misleading evidence provided by the “science” being used to support the warnings, actions and position statements being put forth by anti-raw organizations. “Sanitized”, denatured, highly processed food is NOT real food and, IMO, not healthy. We ALL agree, recognize and know this is true for humans, so why would this be any different for our carnivore companions? Processed pet foods were only introduced in very recent times (past 40-50 years). They are, IMO, a failed food experiment – to be placed into the same category as high fructose corn syrup, monounsaturated trans fats, refined grains, GMOs, etc. As important members of human society, domestic animals such as dogs & cats literally co-evolved along with humans. Since the origins of the domestic canine/feline species thousands of years ago, dogs & cats have thrived forever on unprocessed, whole, raw or cooked, unprocessed real foods. Commercially prepared, denatured, processed “pet food” was developed to meet the manufacturing and financial needs of the grain industry (then the meat industry/larger food industry), not the biological or nutritional needs of dogs & cats. Pet food is new and strange for their bodies and not what served them well for the vast majority of their existence as a species. It’s a shame that we have such a different and opposite perspective when it comes to nourishing, healing, feeding our animal companions compared to humans. Every living being should be afforded the opportunity to enjoy fresh, clean, real, wholesome foods (appropriate to the unique nutritional needs of their species) to achieve and maintain a state of wellness. Access to healthy, fresh foods is the very foundation required for everyone to live a long and healthy life, free of all the many common and terrible diseases associated with “sanitized”, denatured and processed foods.

This lawsuit may mark a pivotal change or might just be the beginning of a long battle ahead — we’ll just have to see how things progress. Even if you don’t feed raw, but you support the right for people to make their own decisions about what to feed their animals by protecting access to fresh, real foods for pets — please SIGN THIS PETITION right now & share widely!

Fight for Your Right to Buy Minimally Processed Pet Food

PLEASE SHARE widely to protect consumer’s rights to have access to fresh, minimally processed natural and wholesome foods for companion animals available within the marketplace!

There’s a lot more to this story that is not included – Answers and other raw food manufacturers (including Rad Cat, Hare-Today their statement, and Raw Dog Food and Company) have shared some pretty shocking, highly alarming, and compelling experiences related to this.

But, just from from my own experience, as a dedicated 100% raw feeder for over 30 years, I am comfortable sharing that for a lot of this time (2001-2012), I did so while frequently hospitalized and on 2x daily doses highly immunosuppressive medication/chemo & steroids as well as other immunosuppressive medications for a life-threatening autoimmune disease which was primarily/initially related to bone marrow function, renal, cardiac/respiratory, and neurological function. The bone marrow issues (where our bodies make the cells that allow for us to fight infection and manage exposure to normal bacteria/pathogens in the environment) made me even MORE immunocompromised than just being on those awful, yet life-sparing medications. While in a very seriously compromised immune state, I continued to feed and prep all the meals/raw foods for my family. I simply continued to use basic safe food handling practices – the only change was that I started to use gloves. I also don’t allow my animals to kiss my face (under the chin is ok) and this has worked great for all of us. 🙂 After meals, I don’t clean their faces or paws off (well, only if it was something especially bloody/messy), but they usually do this on their own. I do happen to prefer to maintain a very clean environment in the kitchen and household. I’m a bit kooky when it comes to being tidy and neat and, as a vegan, I keep my own raw vegan foods & prep area segregated from the animal based meatie/dairy/egg/seafood ingredients/meals. But I’m not at all a germ-phobe – plain soapy water, maybe some vinegar, Bon Ami in the sink, some EOs sometimes — all I use to maintain a clean space in the kitchen. Because my own animals are all so well adapted to eating raw after so many years, and they are more resilient than most, I routinely feed older or even aged meats. In 30 years, I have never once became ill from food borne pathogens. I know this is a sample size of one – but, just let me say I take this seriously and do, indeed, have the experience to back-up my own position on the topic of raw feeding being a health risk to humans.