O interesse por dietas cruas para cães e gatos tem aumentado nas últimas décadas, acompanhando mudanças na percepção dos responsáveis pelos animais sobre alimentação e processamento de alimentos para animais de companhia (1,2).
As dietas cruas, também conhecidas como BARF (biologically appropriate raw foods), geralmente consistem no fornecimento de carne e vísceras cruas, podendo também incorporar ossos e pequenas quantidades de vegetais ou outros ingredientes (1,3).
Pesquisas conduzidas com responsáveis por animais indicam que os principais motivos para a escolha desse tipo de alimentação incluem a busca por dietas percebidas como mais naturais e biologicamente adequadas para cães e gatos, a desconfiança em relação ao processamento industrial dos alimentos comerciais e o desejo de maior controle sobre os ingredientes oferecidos ao animal (1,2,4,5).
Paralelamente, estudos sobre percepção de risco mostram que muitos responsáveis reconhecem a possibilidade de contaminação microbiológica associada a dietas cruas, embora frequentemente considerem esse risco baixo ou manejável com práticas de higiene doméstica (2,4).
Do ponto de vista nutricional, as dietas cruas podem apresentar grande variabilidade e inadequações na composição, principalmente quando formuladas sem acompanhamento profissional. Somado a isso, a formulação também enfrenta desafios adicionais decorrentes da limitada disponibilidade de dados nutricionais em bancos de composição de alimentos, o que pode comprometer a estimativa do aporte de nutrientes (6-10).
Em estudo recente realizado na Hungria (10), em que foi analisada a composição de minerais de 33 dietas cruas para cães vendidas como completas e balanceadas, todas possuíam ao menos três minerais acima ou abaixo do recomendado pelo FEDIAF (11). O achado corrobora com estudo prévio que analisou a composição nutricional de 31 dietas cruas para cães e gatos igualmente comercializadas como completas e balanceadas, no qual todas apresentaram inadequações nutricionais, incluindo desequilíbrio na relação cálcio:fósforo (6).
Doenças causadas por deficiências nutricionais associadas às dietas cruas ou dietas compostas predominantemente por produtos cárneos têm recebido atenção crescente na Medicina Veterinária.
Na literatura, já foram descritos casos de hipervitaminose A em gatos (12), além de alterações na mineralização óssea e osteodistrofia nutricional em filhotes e adultos (13-17).
A dieta exerce influência direta sobre a composição da microbiota intestinal em cães e gatos, sendo considerada um dos principais determinantes da estrutura microbiana do trato gastrointestinal (18,19). Estudos comparando animais alimentados com dietas cruas x comerciais extrusadas demonstraram diferenças significativas na composição da microbiota fecal entre esses grupos (20,21).
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