Feeding your Dog Raw Meat and Bones

[subhanalah]

There has been a handful of cases in the last ten years or so, most from wild game like wild boar and bear. The chance of getting it back in 2009 was something like 1 in 154 million and that was from all sources wild game included. Commercial pork is not allowed to be fed raw garbage any longer, feeding dead pig parts back to pigs in the past was the main way it was passed. Freezing the meat will also kill it if the small possibility of it bothers you. Do you know of specific cases of commercial pork having it?

I know about the life cycle of the parasite.

There are two ways people can become infected. One way is by eating meat from an animal that has the encysted form in its muscle tissue. The pig gets the encysted form by eating contaminated fecal matter that contains eggs.
This form is what gives humans tapeworms in their gut.
The encysted bugs can be killed by cooking the meat properly or freezing it.

The second way for humans to contract this parasite is similar to how people get E.coli: eating something that has been contaminated with the fecal matter of an animal infested with the parasite which contains eggs.
This form encysts in human tissues, including the brain stem and/or brain. It is often fatal, and most times cannot be operated due to the location.
The eggs are not killed by extreme temperatures, so even if you cook it thoroughly or freeze it, you can still contract this life stage.

Anyone know if this applies for dogs too? Or just pigs and humans?

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

I never said I went to vet school 30 years ago. I'm only 38.

I apologize. I misread your first post to say you had 30 years professional experience, which lead me to believe you took that path after deciding to stop vet school. I'm not sure how long you took classes, or how long ago you took them, but I'm still willing to bet a lot has changed since then. I will admit some schools are better at teaching subjects than others.

I will say that nutrition is not taught by saying "you need to feed this food for this ailment". Instead, (in my experience) it is taught in a more physiological way. Vet students are taught that for this disease, you need to restrict X, Y, or Z. While we can ask what is normally used, that is usually followed with a list of options. As I mentioned before, that list can sometimes be short and raw can often exacerbate issues.

I agree that many problems do arise from improperly fed raw diets. A common misconception that I come across is people who think feeding chicken is a good low fat option for their animal, when this is quite the opposite. As I mentioned in another post, a diet based on only whole chickens is quite high in fat and can cause pancreatitis. Another problem is people who think they can feed just ground beef.

I've seen some animals do very well on raw diets, but it was not the easiest for the owner and not cheap. I do not recommend raw diets for families with small children or elderly. Unless you bath the dog after every meal and scrub the floors/area where they ate very thoroughly, you will not eliminate risk of salmonella. It's a risk some people are fine taking and that is ok. I just don't want people to be surprised if it occurs. I can't tell you how many people I've had come in with a sick dog and tell me they feed raw but the ailment cannot be salmonella because dogs can't contract that disease.

Studies have shown commercial feed can transmit salmonella, though this was often due to improper storage or contamination at the facility. Despite this, the ratio of dogs that shed salmonella from commercial feed is far lower than those that shed the bacteria from raw meat.

Ive seen many, many dogs do very well on commercial feeds. To say that every dog does terrible on a commercial diet is inaccurate. Are there bad diets out there? Sure. Are there diets out there that may be just fine? Sure thing. Will some dogs be allergic to certain ingredients? Of course, just as humans are allergic to some things and not others in varying degrees.

 

[lightchick]

Could I feed them meat and bones that are left over when they cut up meat at the grocery?

 

[K9Dave]

...

Could I feed them meat and bones that are left over when they cut up meat at the grocery? [/quote Yes they will love it.

 

[subhanalah]

Could I feed them meat and bones that are left over when they cut up meat at the grocery?

joint bones and necks are really good! But really most all of the scraps from butchering.