Salmonella In Dogs

Posted by Rae and Mark on Nov 3, 2009

Most people have some Salmonella information - for example, they at least know that it is a bacteria that can cause severe diarrhea, or worse.

As with many viruses, bacteria and germs, the people most at risk are the very young, the very old, pregnant women and the infirm, which is why these groups of people are usually advised to stay away from products such as raw or undercooked eggs.

And Salmonella is not just restricted to humans - animals can be infected by it too.

So, what about Salmonella in dogs?

Well, as with humans, it is the very young (i.e. puppies) who are most at risk, mainly because they don’t have fully-developed immune systems.

Adult dogs, on the other hand, very rarely get Salmonella poisoning …

… but there is one notable exception, and it is sadly becoming less of a rarity.

The culprit?

The ever-increasing popularity of the raw food diet (aka BARF diet).

The problem is that, in spite of what adherents to this diet will tell you, food does need to be cooked properly to kill bacteria, as well as bacterial toxins and parasites.

One study showed that as much as 80% of food samples contained Salmonella bacteria, and that 30% of the dogs in that study were shedding these bacteria in their feces.

Now, it could well be that the dogs may not themselves have exhibited signs of Salmonella poisoning, but their stools may contain more than enough bacteria to infect other animals (or even humans) for up to six weeks.

Symptoms of Salmonella in dogs include diarrhea, which is caused by the bacteria secreting toxins which is, in itself, not pleasant for you or your dog.

But it can be much worse than just a runny tummy - the bacteria can damage the intestinal tract, in the same way that the Canine Parvovirus operates (and which can look very similar to Salmonella poisoning), and then invade the rest of the body, causing sepsis (i.e. blood poisoning) and additional complications.

So, this is one reason why we do not recommend a raw food diet for dogs, and why, when treating dogs that do have Parvo, for example, we always tell the owners not to give their sick dogs any poultry-based products, whether it be chicken, turkey or some other bird, and whether the meat be raw, cooked, in soup / broth, in baby food or in any form whatsoever.

With production quality standards clearly being insufficient, Salmonella poisoning in dogs is a real risk, and it’s not one that we believe is worth taking.

There was a time when humans too didn’t cook their food, but would you seriously consider feeding your children raw meat that could harbour any number of harmful, or even lethal, bacteria?