Your cat appears in the kitchen the moment you reach for her food bowl. One feeding choice has won over plenty of devoted cat owners, while veterinarians are urging a closer look. It’s a disagreement that follows you into the pet food aisle, right down to what you put in her bowl tonight.
In short
- Veterinarians advise against feeding raw animal-source food to cats.
- Raw pet food can carry Salmonella and Listeria that put cats and people at risk.
- Raw cat food recalls in 2025 brought H5N1 bird flu into the picture.
- Cooking poultry to 165°F kills bacteria and viruses, including H5N1.
Raw food diets are making veterinarians uneasy
View in gallery
You set your cat’s bowl on the kitchen floor, and she comes running. It is easy to understand the appeal of giving her food that seems closer to what a cat would eat on her own. For veterinarians, though, the word “raw” points to what the food has not been through: a process that eliminates germs.
The American Veterinary Medical Association has discouraged feeding cats and dogs untreated animal-source protein since it first approved its raw-food policy in 2012. The FDA and CDC share the concern. Bacteria in raw food can affect the cat eating it and the people and other pets who share the home.
That matters even when your cat looks pleased with her dinner. You handle the food, put down the bowl, and clean up afterward. A choice that starts at your cat’s dish reaches into the rest of your kitchen.
Contamination has shown up in raw pet food
The concern is backed by food testing, not just a disagreement about what cats should eat. In an FDA study of 196 raw pet food samples, 15 tested positive for Salmonella and 32 for Listeria monocytogenes. Both are bacteria the FDA identifies as a danger in raw pet food.
Then bird flu put raw cat food in the spotlight. In March 2025, Wild Coast Raw recalled certain frozen chicken cat food after possible H5N1 contamination was linked to cat illnesses and deaths in Washington and Oregon. Savage Pet also recalled raw chicken cat food shipped to retailers in 5 states because of potential H5N1 contamination.
Later that year, the FDA confirmed H5N1 in 2 lots of RAWR Raw Cat Food Chicken Eats after a cat in San Francisco became ill and was euthanized. These were specific products and events. For anyone watching her cat wait for dinner, they made the reason behind the veterinary advice painfully clear.
A safer meal still needs balance
Heat offers a direct way to deal with germs in poultry. The CDC says cooking poultry in raw pet food to an internal temperature of 165°F kills bacteria and viruses, including H5N1. That is a more dependable approach to those germs than serving the meat raw.
Your cat also needs the right mix of nutrients over time. Raw diets that are not formulated to be complete and balanced have been linked to taurine deficiency and improper calcium-to-phosphorus ratios. Bones in raw food can cause a serious blockage in a cat’s digestive tract.
When you choose a food, the goal is a meal that is safe to serve and meets your cat’s nutritional needs. Your veterinarian can help you find one that does both.
The limit
Cooking poultry addresses bacteria and viruses, but it does not, by itself, make a homemade cat diet complete and balanced. The 2025 recalls concerned particular products, not every raw food sold. If you are considering changing what goes in your cat’s bowl, ask your veterinarian about a diet that meets her needs without relying on raw animal-source food.
