Salmonella and dogs

That would be me with the original post! All of this is good info that I'm glad to know-- the whole raw food concept has been foreign *and scary* to me only because I don't have all the facts about its benefits.
Thanks for the post, Connie!

The first time I met Curt and saw him stick his hands into a bag of raw chicken and give it to his dog, I was SO upset. I was sure he was killing the dog, killing himself, etc. I had no idea there was a whole sub culture of people who fed raw (and have cookbooks about raw/natural diets, etc.) I thought the chicken bones would splinter in the dog's throat and kill it, etc. Then I learned cooked bones and raw bones are not the same. Raw bones: good; cooked bones: bad.

I was happy to learn this as it was something that had always bothered me growing up. I couldn't figure out why chicken bones could kill a dog if animals in the wild ate bones all of the time. So, it turns out it is the cooked bones that are problematic.

This is a very good subject. I totally agree with you. Dogs in the wild who are scavengers will even eat rotting me. I have never heard of a dog getting salmonella or e.coli. This is something to research.

Kirby and Hoover LOVE a raw femur bone from the butcher. It's the best thing in the world!! They're only allowed to have them outside, though. Lola hasn't had one yet. I wonder what she'd do with it?

We supplement with raw chicken. No problems with scary salmonella. Dogs eat out of trashcans, litter boxes, dead backyard animals. Some human grade raw chicken is probably great compared to those things :) (they can tolerate salmonella better than we people can)

Dogs have a higher PH level in their stomach acids, that is why they can tolerate most bacterias that humans cannot. Someplace I have a good article on this, I'll try to find it and post it. :)

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

Good link, Kelly! I love that website. It provides some of the best information about raw feeding. I only know of one dog who got sick from eating raw, and it was because he was immune-suppressed before he started it. I'm still waiting for the day when my dogs can go raw, but it's going to be a while before I can. The new vet at work about got into me about my affinity towards the diet, something about it killing dogs. I just kept my mouth shut.

Jeeze, no kidding? That is too bad. My vet (Dr Hicks) is cool with raw, she's done some research, and said she'd like to research more, but thinks it's fine if done correctly. ;o)

I'm just not going to take a chance. I don't want to do something that I might have to worry about.

I didn't know that about cooked vs raw bones! Wow, good info, thanks! Charlie doesn't get bones to chew on but at least now I know which ones would be best. Cool!

The Salmonella and E.coli usually passes through the dogs and cats; so they don't get sick, but the owners need to be careful, (especially if immunocompromised at all) because they can be exposed.