# samonella question



## jezzdobbel8610 (May 27, 2012)

I was at the vet's office yesterday, and my dad and I saw a paper on the wall talking about the recalls of the foods that was listed on the paper. Saying that it was being recalled due to a risk of samonella poisioning, and i said to my dad, look at this, more reason for feeding my dog Raw. He said oh yah, he looked at it, then he said but wait, I thought dogs don't get samonella, I mean that is why it's not a big deal to feed him raw if they don't get samonella disease. I couldn't think of an answer for that. Not that he's berating me, in fact he is thinking of converting his dogs to raw as well, but I got to thinking, why are pet food being recalled cuz of risk of samonella but yet we feed them raw, isn't that the same risk? Can anybody clear that up for me? 

thanks


----------



## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

jezzdobbel8610 said:


> I was at the vet's office yesterday, and my dad and I saw a paper on the wall talking about the recalls of the foods that was listed on the paper. Saying that it was being recalled due to a risk of samonella poisioning, and i said to my dad, look at this, more reason for feeding my dog Raw. He said oh yah, he looked at it, then he said but wait, I thought dogs don't get samonella, I mean that is why it's not a big deal to feed him raw if they don't get samonella disease. I couldn't think of an answer for that. Not that he's berating me, in fact he is thinking of converting his dogs to raw as well, but I got to thinking, why are pet food being recalled cuz of risk of samonella but yet we feed them raw, isn't that the same risk? Can anybody clear that up for me?
> 
> thanks


dogs will get salmonella if they are immune compromised. And frankly, alot of dogs with food allergies, pancreatitis, cancer, etc. are probably susceptible.

But the REAL danger is to humans. In the last recall, 22 people were hospitalized

It seems to me, watching the nature of the recalls, they don't recall unless people start getting sick. Like the chicken jerky. It's not salmonella, it's something else that's jsut killing dogs, so it's on the shelves still.

And with raw meat people are normally careful. They don't let their toddlers dig into dog food bags and try a couple pieces like alot of people do.


----------



## doggoblin (Jun 6, 2011)

Already posted recently in another thread but worth reposting here.. K9joy Education: free article on "The Salmonella Myth" by Mogens Eliasen


----------



## Makovach (Jan 24, 2012)

There are also many different stains of salmonella. The strain of salmonella found in the diamond dog food was an uncommon strain. It is also not common for it to affect dogs with notable difference. Nikkie is correct in saying that they recalled the food because of human infection. If you look at all the recalls, they say "no dogs reported ill/dead/affected" and act like they are doing it out of precaution in the begging. They didn't care to mention how many people were getting ill from it. It is true that many dogs did not get sick from it. But some did, and a few are believed to have died from it. But who in the modern world that isn't obsessed with dog food would think of their kibble being a hazard for salmonella? I know many people who reach into feed bags with their hands to dish it out. They don't wear gloves or wash their hands after feeding. They don't wash dog bowls on a regular basis. They don't take the precautions that any normal human being would after handling raw meat as when they handle kibble. 

I found this video helpful- she talks about salmonella and how it affects pets and how they already have it in their system and why it generally doesn't cause mass destruction like it does in humans.
Raw Meat Diet for Dogs and Cats - YouTube

The part about salmonella is aprox 6:15 minutes in.


----------



## KittyKat (Feb 11, 2011)

meat also goes through a dogs system very quickly, and thus bacteria doesn't have time to build up. when you start stuffing your dog full of carbs their whole system slows right down, thus giving bacteria time to build up in an environment thats warm and moist.


----------



## shellbell (Sep 24, 2011)

I think the salmonella fear as a reason to recall the food is mainly for the human's sake. People know to wash their hands after handling raw meat, but probably don't think to do so after handling kibble.


----------



## MollyWoppy (Mar 19, 2010)

I just wanted to mention that I'm pretty impressed with your vet. My vet has nothing, absolutely nothing mentioned anywhere, including facebook about the recall. 
I've been there twice a week for the past 3 weeks, I know that place inside out, but nothing, nothing at all about recalls on pet food. Go figure.


----------



## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

shellbell said:


> I think the salmonella fear as a reason to recall the food is mainly for the human's sake. People know to wash their hands after handling raw meat, but probably don't think to do so after handling kibble.


especially children whose job it is to feed the dog.....


----------



## shellbell (Sep 24, 2011)

magicre said:


> especially children whose job it is to feed the dog.....


Yeah, and someone on another forum I'm on brought up a good point about the fact that dogs chew on their toys, lick a variety of things, etc....and people/children could easily be coming into contact with all that stuff as well.


----------



## Makovach (Jan 24, 2012)

shellbell said:


> Yeah, and someone on another forum I'm on brought up a good point about the fact that dogs chew on their toys, lick a variety of things, etc....and people/children could easily be coming into contact with all that stuff as well.


Tucker eats PMR and had his mouth swabbed by the ER vet because they wanted to prove to me that he has salmonella poisoning (they swore he would get anyone he licked sick) and that was why he was sick. The results came back negative for the bacteria  

Basicly, with feeding raw, if you don't eat your dog's intestines or their poop, and use common sense when handling their food, you will more than likely never get any ill affect. With kibble, people don't think about "safely" handling it. Thats where issue comes from. 

I wonder if the bacteria would show in a kibble fed dog's mouth?


----------



## bett (Mar 15, 2012)

dogs can get salmonella.
dogs can eat salmonella tainted food and get sick.
or they can not appear sick and be carriers of salmonella and give it to humans.
i learned the hard way.


----------



## shellbell (Sep 24, 2011)

Makovach said:


> Tucker eats PMR and had his mouth swabbed by the ER vet because they wanted to prove to me that he has salmonella poisoning (they swore he would get anyone he licked sick) and that was why he was sick. The results came back negative for the bacteria
> 
> Basicly, with feeding raw, if you don't eat your dog's intestines or their poop, and use common sense when handling their food, you will more than likely never get any ill affect. With kibble, people don't think about "safely" handling it. Thats where issue comes from.
> 
> I wonder if the bacteria would show in a kibble fed dog's mouth?


I am not referring to this being an issue with a raw fed dog, I am referring it being an issue with a kibble fed dog. I do wonder if this may be how some of the humans who contracted salmonella from the Diamond recall may have gotten sick. They may not have even been in direct contact with the kibble, but rather had their dog lick them or touched something the dog licked right after eating.


----------



## Makovach (Jan 24, 2012)

shellbell said:


> I am not referring to this being an issue with a raw fed dog, I am referring it being an issue with a kibble fed dog. I do wonder if this may be how some of the humans who contracted salmonella from the Diamond recall may have gotten sick. They may not have even been in direct contact with the kibble, but rather had their dog lick them or touched something the dog licked right after eating.


I know 

I was just saying how Tucker eats raw and his mouth was clean. And how I wonder the same thing as you!


----------



## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

shellbell said:


> Yeah, and someone on another forum I'm on brought up a good point about the fact that dogs chew on their toys, lick a variety of things, etc....and people/children could easily be coming into contact with all that stuff as well.


i don't know why ....and i pretty much have an intimate relationship with germs.....i think kids just don't get sick from dogs. 

i know there are many strains of bugs on kids , on dogs....the toys, the licking, all the things that make dogs dogs and kids kids don't seem to make them ill.

what seems to make children sick is the handling of the kibble, which is direct contact. that and maybe eating the kibble. 

if i did it as a kid, that and milkbones....i'm betting there are plenty of other kids who did it.....and of course, licking their fingers to get kibble dust off.

i never washed my hands after feeding dogs....but i used a scoop because i was measuring.....i also never licked the scoop...

and i'm immune compromised.

no therapy dog ever infected me in the hospital, be it kibble fed or less recently, raw fed....

so i'm thinking it has more to do with direct contact than indirect contact, even though salmonella can live on surfaces.


----------



## Dude and Bucks Mamma (May 14, 2011)

bett said:


> dogs can get salmonella.
> dogs can eat salmonella tainted food and get sick.
> or they can not appear sick and be carriers of salmonella and give it to humans.
> i learned the hard way.


From what I have learned they are much more likely to get it from kibble than from raw. 

How is Rex, by the way?


----------



## bett (Mar 15, 2012)

rex according to the specialty vet, is in liver failure. we're trying 3 different antibiotics and prednisone to see if anything helps his liver. he wasn't able to have the biopsy because his blood clotting time was way too high. but, i'm trying.

and yes, dogs that have eaten salmonella tainted food, who lick people, even tho they don't test positive for the disease, can carry it and transmit it. that is probably what happened tho, it can happen from touching the infected kibble as well.


----------



## naturalfeddogs (Jan 6, 2011)

I have yet to hear of anyone getting salmonella from a raw fed dog. Kibble on the other hand could be a much more reasonable way of contamination. 

I can't tell you how many times our dogs have licked me right after eating chicken for the last three and a half years.....


----------



## ShanniBella (Jul 1, 2011)

xellil said:


> dogs will get salmonella if they are immune compromised. And frankly, alot of dogs with food allergies, pancreatitis, cancer, etc. are probably susceptible.


I see where you are coming from when you say that an immune compromised dog could get it but I'm on some yahoo raw chat groups where RAW has helped many sick dogs with allergies, cancer, etc. as well as countless other stories. My girl was loosing her hair (allergies) and constantly breaking out in hives and PMR saved her  She's gorgeous again


----------



## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

ShanniBella said:


> I see where you are coming from when you say that an immune compromised dog could get it but I'm on some yahoo raw chat groups where RAW has helped many sick dogs with allergies, cancer, etc. My girl was loosing her hair (allergies) and constantly breaking out in hives and PMR saved her  She's gorgeous again


I absolutely agree - if I had a sick dog I'd go to raw food for sure. 

sometimes dogs DO get salmonella from dry dog food (I haven't heard it on raw). But most don't. There has to be a reason for it - probably they have some kind of compromised immunity.

The Myths page says this:


> Yes, the bacteria in raw meat might hurt your dog IF the dog already has an immunocompromised system or some underlying problem.


Myths About Raw: Will the bacteria in raw meat hurt my dog?

although I do believe it's alot rarer than on dry dog food we can't suppose that it would never, ever happen. So I am hesistant to tell people if they feed raw, their dog will NEVER get salmonella.


----------



## lmgakg (Jan 1, 2011)

MollyWoppy said:


> I just wanted to mention that I'm pretty impressed with your vet. My vet has nothing, absolutely nothing mentioned anywhere, including facebook about the recall.
> I've been there twice a week for the past 3 weeks, I know that place inside out, but nothing, nothing at all about recalls on pet food. Go figure.


OMG!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE that photo of your dog holding his bone!!!!!!!!!!!! SOOOOOOO cute!


----------

