I am a veterinary student and a handler for an animal assisted therapy team. It has recently come to my attention that one of the therapy dog organizations, Alliance of Therapy Dogs, allows the dogs registered with them to be fed raw diets. While myself and the majority of the veterinary community do not agree with feeding a raw diet, I realize that what someone does in their own home is their business. However, when you own a therapy dog, that dog is exposed to hundreds of individuals, including those that are immunocompromised in hospitals and nursing homes. Raw diets can contain harmful bacteria like Listeria and Salmonella. When a dog is fed a raw diet, they can become a carrier for the bacteria and shed it into their environment. Thus, people around these dogs have an increased risk of becoming infected. I find it very upsetting that the animal assisted therapy teams that feed raw diets are putting the immunocompromised people they see at a much greater risk. People trust therapy animals and their handlers. Why are we subjecting them to such a danger? My goal is for the Alliance of Therapy Dogs to change their policy and not allow their therapy dogs to be fed raw diets, like the majority of animal therapy organizations. Please consider adding your signature and see research into raw diets below:

AVMA's policy on raw diets: https://www.avma.org/KB/Policies/Pages/Raw-or-Undercooked-Animal-Source-Protein-in-Cat-and-Dog-Diets.aspx

Veterinary nutrionist's prospective on raw diets: http://vet.tufts.edu/wp-content/uploads/raw_meat_diets_memo.pdf

Public health concerns with feeding a raw diet: https://deschutesveterinaryclinic.evetsites.net/sites/site-3089/documents/raw%20foods.pdf

Dogs fed a raw diet serving as a carrier for bacteria: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/104063879700900424