|
The belief that dogs and cats "need" bones to chew on has been sadly demonstrated as false throughout the veterinary clinics and hospitals in this country. Feeding bones (raw or cooked) should be discouraged—they have caused intestinal obstruction, perforation, septic peritonitis, and death. In a published review of 90 cases, the bone foreign bodies most often (65-80%) were found to lodge between the heart and diaphragm within the esophagus in two separate clinical studies [Houlton, JEF, et al in J of Small Animal Practice 1985 vol 26 pg 521]. Intensive medical and surgical therapies are needed to survive a bowel obstruction. An obstruction within the esophagus carries the worse prognosis because the surgery (if needed) is through the chest. There is no nutritional value in feeding bones, whereas the risk of illness and death is very real.
In the "wild" the dog and cat had very short life spans. If you would like your pet to live a long and healthy life, always cook the meat and eggs you feed. There is no nutritional advantage to feeding raw foods over a cooked diet, but there is the very real risk of illness and death.
Dogs and cats are just as susceptible to food borne illnesses as people. Animals that roam freely or are fed raw foods are at risk for suffering from food borne illness. Bacteria and bacterial toxins, fungal mycotoxins, and other contaminants all can cause food borne illnesses. The most common signs of food borne illnesses are vomiting and diarrhea; however, disorders of the liver, blood and nervous systems, kidney damage, and skin sores may also result. Please realize that dogs and cats do die of food borne illnesses.
Salmonella is one of the most common intestinal infections in the US and is the second most common cause of foodborne illness. The CDC estimates that more than 500 people die each year from Salmonella infections and that there are 1.4 million cases resulting in approx 100,000 hospitalizations annually. Immuno-compromised people, as well as children and the elderly can become very ill and may die. In many cases antibiotics are successfully used to treat the infection however, there are a few strains detected during the last decade that are resistant to at least 5 antibiotics commonly used. We do not have such statistics available for dogs or cats fed raw meat, however, there is no reason to assume there would be a difference in their susceptibility or the virulence of the infection. The physiology is not sufficiently different between people, dogs or cats to say that our pets are tolerant or immune from food borne infections.
White DG, Zhao S, Sudler R, et al. The isolation of antibiotic-resistant Salmonella from retail ground meats. N. Engl. J. Med. 345:1147-1154, 2001.
Zhao C, Ge B, de Villena J, et al. Prevalence of Campylobacter spp., Escherichia coli, and Salmonella serovars in retail chicken, turkey, pork, and beef from the greater Washington, D.C., area. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 2001;67: 5431-5436.
Feeding washed raw vegetables is relatively safe. However, a few such as onions and garlic can be dangerous. Onions and garlic are from a family of plants that contain an alkaloid disulfide compound that is toxic to red blood cell membranes and irreversibly denatures hemoglobin. This compound is toxic to several species including dogs and cats. Plants such as rhubarb, spinach and beets contain high levels of oxalates and glycosides, which can seriously irritate the gastrointestinal tract in some pets. Other strong-flavored, sulfur-containing vegetables (beans, brussels sprouts) may cause excessive gas production in the large bowel and flatus, which is usually not harmful but quite annoying. Some pets eventually develop a tolerance for these vegetables, but others do not, and these vegetables must simply be eliminated from the diet.
Federally regulated, commercially prepared foods have processing methods and quality assurance programs that limit potential food borne illnesses in pets.
|
If you would like help formulating a homemade diet using “fresh” ingredients for your pet, click on Chef and request a homemade diet formulation.
|
|
