The Salmonella Myth

Food, Fitness and how to keep them healthy.

Postby cheekymunkee » August 31st, 2006, 10:58 am

This is a pdf file so I cannot copy it but is is a pretty good read & written by a chemist

http://k9joy.com/dogarticles/doghealth01salmonella.pdf

More on the subject

http://rawfed.com/myths/bacteria.html

Myth: THE BACTERIA IN RAW MEAT WILL HURT YOUR DOG.

This is discussion purely about bacteria and your dog. If you are looking for a discussion about dogs spreading bacteria to humans, go here.

Yes, the bacteria in raw meat might hurt your dog IF the dog already has an immunocompromised system or some underlying problem. Raw diets have also been blamed for causing things like pancreatitis and kidney disease, when in reality the underlying disease was already there and was brought to light by the change in diet. Dogs are surprisingly well-equipped to deal with bacteria. Their saliva has antibacterial properties; it contains lysozyme, an enzyme that lyses and destroys harmful bacteria. Their short digestive tract is designed to push through food and bacteria quickly without giving bacteria time to colonize. The extremely acidic environment in the gut is also a good bacteria colonization deterrent. People often point to the fact that dogs shed salmonella in their feces (even kibble-fed dogs do this) without showing any ill effects as proof that the dog is infected with salmonella. In reality, all this proves is that the dog has effectively passed the salmonella through its system with no problems. Yes, the dog can act as a salmonella carrier, but the solution is simple—do not eat dog crap and wash your hands after picking up after your dog.

Even kibble-fed dogs regularly shed salmonella and other bacteria. Most of the documented cases of severe bacterial septicemia are from kibble-fed animals or animals suffering from reactions to vaccines. Commercial pet foods have been pulled off shelves more than once because of bacteria AND molds that produce a deadly toxin. The solution? Use common sense. Clean up well and wash your hands. And think about your dog—this is an animal that can lick itself, lick other dogs, eat a variety of disgusting rotting things, and ingest its own feces or those of other animals with no ill effects. The dog, plain and simple, can handle greater bacterial loads than we can. Can dogs get sick from the bacteria? I suppose they can. But it is rare and usually indicative of an underlying problem, especially when one stops to consider how much bacteria that dog probably comes in contact with every single day. One must ask "Why this dog? Why now? What has made this particular dog susceptible to bacterial overgrowth?" Something is not 'right' regarding the dog's health—a healthy dog does not suffer from bacterial infections or bacterial septicemia. That is just common sense. A dog suffering from "salmonella poisoning" is obviously not healthy, especially when compared to a dog that ate the same food with the same salmonella load but is perfectly healthy and unaffected. The first dog has suffered a 'breakdown' in its health that allowed the bacteria to become a problem; if one is talking in homeopathic medicine terminology, this is simply one more symptom that shows the dog is suffering from chronic disease (see the Vaccines page for more information).

I put forth that it is the kibble, not the raw meat, that causes bacterial problems. Kibble in the intestine not only irritates the lining of the bowels but also provides the perfect warm, wet environment with plenty of undigested sugars and starches as food for bacteria. This is why thousands of processed food-fed animals suffer from from a condition called Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth, or SIBO (Lonsdale, T. 2001. Raw Meaty Bones. pg 85). Raw meaty bones, however, create a very inhospitable environment for bacteria, as RMBs are easily digestible and have no carbohydrates, starches, or sugars to feed the bacteria.

Can raw-fed dogs make other dogs sick? If the other dog has a suppressed immune system or some underlying problem, then perhaps a raw-fed dog can make another dog sick. But keep in mind the inordinate amount of bacteria dogs usually ingest anyway, not to mention the plaques of bacteria covering the teeth and gums of the kibble-fed dogs. People recall raw-fed dogs being the only dogs at dog shows that did not get sick with some communicable disease of some sort, and then instantly assume that it was those dogs that got all the other dogs sick. A more plausible explanation is that the raw-fed dogs have a much stronger immune system and are thus better equipped to fight off diseases and "canine common colds" that circulate at shows (and possibly that they have been vaccinated less than their kibble-fed counterparts, which results in a stronger immune system). For a more in-depth discussion of how processed foods suppress the immune system, please refer to Raw Meaty Bones.

Just some final thoughts on bacteria and raw: this is what finds its way into the "sterile" kibbled commercial foods:

"Meat products not intended for human consumption, such as inedible tissues, condemned portions of carcasses, and entire carcasses of condemned animals (eg, animals found to be dead, dying, disabled, or diseased at the time of slaughter), are also used for dog food. Because of the inherent nature of these products and the less stringent handling requirements, compared with products approved for human consumption, these products may contain high levels of bacterial contamination." (LeJuene, J.T. and D.D. Hancock. 2001. Public health concerns associated with feeding raw meat diets to dogs. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, 219(9): 1222.)


And as for commercial foods being "bacteria free" (an assumption that is often inferred when people put down raw diets because of the bacteria):

"Pet foods, commercial or homemade, provide an ideal environment for bacterial proliferation." (LeJuene, J.T. and D.D. Hancock. 2001. Public health concerns associated with feeding raw meat diets to dogs. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, 219(9): 1224.)


So do not be fooled into thinking kibbled, commercial pet food is a sterile, bacteria-free source of food! The starches, rancid fats, and sugars in kibbled foods provide much better food sources for bacteria than the proteins in raw meat.

For further information on salmonella and rawfed pets, please click here (note: AdobeAcrobat Reader is needed).
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Postby SisMorphine » August 31st, 2006, 11:11 am

Great articles. Thanks for posting :)
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Postby cheekymunkee » August 31st, 2006, 11:15 am

Thanks. I am NOT trying to turn everyone on this board into a RAW or BARF feeder, if you don't want to feed it, don't. BUT, don't tell me that I am harming my dogs by doing it.
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Postby Magnolia618 » August 31st, 2006, 11:41 am

Amen Sista!
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Postby Big_Ant » August 31st, 2006, 11:52 am

cheekymunkee wrote:Thanks. I am NOT trying to turn everyone on this board into a RAW or BARF feeder, if you don't want to feed it, don't. BUT, don't tell me that I am harming my dogs by doing it.

You feed your dogs RAW food? Don't you know that they get the 'taste of blood' and then they are ruined. They'll just turn on you now that they like blood. :shock:

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Postby cheekymunkee » August 31st, 2006, 11:54 am

I know Ant but I LOVE the way their little faces look when they have blood dripping from their teeth after they have consumed a small child........oops I mean chicken.
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Postby Magnolia618 » August 31st, 2006, 5:06 pm

rofl

A friend of mine has a picture of his am bull with a bloody face after biting her tongue while doing bitework. He likes to tell people that she just got finished eating some small children. :lol
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Postby SisMorphine » August 31st, 2006, 5:17 pm

Just remember, when unthawing frozen small children in your fridge, a plastic bag isn't enough! Put tupperware under them otherwise your fridge will be filled with blood like mine was. Yuck!

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Postby cheekymunkee » August 31st, 2006, 5:21 pm

What a mess those little boogers make huh?
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Postby Magnolia618 » August 31st, 2006, 5:34 pm

I like to chop them up into small pieces, mix some yogurt, raw egg and kelp in with 'em and then I throw the mix into freezer bags. You have to get the sturdy ones or else it'll look like Sis's fridge. It is SO not fun to clean up.
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Postby SpiritFngrz » September 1st, 2006, 2:18 pm

OMG Sis I remember that. That heart was so gigantic. Hoping to get a couple more in November if Wally's interested!!
Yes I don't feed raw, just because I choose not to. But I'm not against other people doing it. We fed raw with our first pit, Annabelle. She did fine on it. Her favorite was venison.
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Postby SisMorphine » September 1st, 2006, 2:22 pm

SpiritFngrz wrote:OMG Sis I remember that. That heart was so gigantic. Hoping to get a couple more in November if Wally's interested!!
Yes I don't feed raw, just because I choose not to. But I'm not against other people doing it. We fed raw with our first pit, Annabelle. She did fine on it. Her favorite was venison.

Wally will be psyched! And so will Mike. Actually I wonder if Mike'll eat it or not. He's a picky little (big) bastard . . .
"All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another." -Anatole France
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