Pet Supply Verified Weblog

A while back, I gathered some scientific articles about raw foods and some potential risks. Raw meats contain certain pathogenic bacteria. Most pets have an ability to eat foods that contain these organisms with little to no ill effects. However, people in the home that are exposed to the food or the feces of the pet may become infected with these bacteria. Young children are particularly at risk. It has been reported by veterinary experts that death loss in young puppies has occurred associated with a mother eating a raw food diet. If you choose to feed raw foods, as more and more people are doing since the massive recalls of spring 2007, take care in handling and preparing the food and thoroughly clean all dishes immediately after mealtime. Many people feed raw diets and rave about the great results, but be mindful that it is more complicated than simply throwing your dog a turkey neck once a day. Care must be taken to balance the diet to ensure that your pet receives all the necessary nutrients. Below are summaries and excerpts from various scientific articles that discuss enteric pathogens (bad bugs in the gut) and their impact on pet health as well as risk factors for their presence

Canine Infectious Diarrhoea
AUSTRALIAN COLLEGE OF VETERINARY SCIENTISTS SCIENCE WEEK 2003
Jane E. Sykes, BVSc(Hons), PhD, DipACVIM
VM: Medicine & Epidemiology, University of California, Davis
Davis, CA, USA
SALMONELLOSIS
Because Salmonella can survive for relatively long periods of time in the environment, transmission through food, water, or fomites that have been contaminated by fecal material is important. Dogs and cats can acquire infections when they ingest uncooked foods, and this has become an important concern recently with the trend of feeding dogs raw food diets.(4) There is increasing popularity of reptiles as pets, and reptile-associated salmonellosis is emerging as a problem in humans (5); reptile exposure may also be a risk factor for dogs.
The prevalence of Salmonella in canine fecal samples has ranged from 1 to 36%. Young dogs are more susceptible to infection and signs. Factors increasing susceptibility include poor nutrition, anesthesia, overcrowding, concurrent disease, and drug therapy. The severity of signs varies from no signs to death. Fever, lethargy, and anorexia are followed by abdominal pain, vomiting and often hemorrhagic diarrhoea, and dehydration. Severely affected dogs develop septic shock. CNS signs, polyarthritis, and pneumonia may be seen.
The best way to confirm infection is with isolation. However, a positive isolation from the feces does not mean that Salmonella is the cause of disease, because it can be isolated from healthy animals. Negative culture results do not rule out infection.
Aggressive therapy with IV fluids is important for severe cases. Affected animals should be placed in isolation. Parenteral antimicrobials are required for septicemic dogs. Quinolones are probably the drug of choice.

Enteric Zoonoses I
Source: Proceedings, WVC2003
Author(s): Leonard C. Marcus, VMD, MD

KEY POINTS
Feline feces can be a source of human infection with Salmonella, Campylobacter, toxoplasmosis, and, possibly, Cryptosporidium and Giardia.
Except for Toxoplasma, these agents are infectious in freshly passed stool.
Prevention of infection in cats includes feeding cooked, canned or dry food and reducing their contact with infected animals.
Prevention of human infection largely depends on sanitation.
Except for Toxoplasma, these agents cause diarrhea in people.
Extraintestinal complications can occur with Campylobacter, Salmonella, Cryptosporidium and toxoplasmosis.
Details of the life cycle and immune response in cats are key to understanding veterinary public health aspects of toxoplasmosis.

Salmonellosis
Source: Library, ISUFAD
Author(s): Iowa State University, Institute for International Cooperation in Animal Biologics
Salmonellosis is relatively rare in dogs and cats. In these species, acute diarrhea is typical, either with or without septicemia. Pneumonia or abortion may be seen and cats sometimes develop conjunctivitis.

Preliminary assessment of the risk of Salmonella infection in dogs fed raw chicken diets.
Source: JOURNALS ABSTRACT (Can Vet J 43[6]:441-2 2002 Jun)
Author(s): Joffe DJ, Schlesinger DP
This preliminary study assessed the presence of Salmonella spp. in a bones and raw food (BARF) diet and in the stools of dogs consuming it. Salmonella was isolated from 80% of the BARF diet samples (P < 0.001) and from 30% of the stool samples from dogs fed the diet (P = 0.105). Dogs fed raw chicken may therefore be a source of environmental contamination.

Prevalence of Enteric Pathogens in Dogs of North-Central Colorado
Source: JOURNALS ABSTRACT (J Am Anim Hosp Assoc 39[1]:52-56 Jan-Feb’03 Original Article 31 Refs)
Author(s): Tim Hackett, DVM, MS & Michael R. Lappin, DVM, PhD, DACVIM;; Dept of Clinical Sciences, CVM & BS, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523

Many gastrointestinal bacterial, viral, and parasitic infections are important to practicing veterinarians, owing to disease-producing potential in dogs and zoonotic risk for humans. While many immunosuppressed humans are told not to own pets, the incidence of enteric zoonoses in client-owned dogs is essentially unknown. The purpose of this study was to define the prevalence of select infectious agents in the gastrointestinal tracts of dogs with and without diarrhea that were evaluated at a university clinic in north-central Colorado.
Fecal samples were obtained from 71 client-owned dogs that presented for evaluation of acute small-bowel, large-bowel, or mixed-bowel diarrhea as well as from 59 age-matched, client-owned, healthy dogs. Infectious agents potentially associated with gastrointestinal disease were detected in 34 (26%) of 130 fecal samples. Agents with zoonotic potential were detected in feces from 21 (16.2%) of 130 dogs and included Giardia spp. (5.4%), Cryptosporidium parvum (3.8%), Toxocara canis (3.1%), Salmonella spp. (2.3%), Ancylostoma caninum (0.8%), and Campylobacter jejuni (0.8%). Positive test results occurred in dogs with or without clinical signs of gastrointestinal disease.
The authors conclude that the results of this study reaffirm the validity of regular fecal analyses in dogs as part of a comprehensive preventative health-care plan. These fecal analyses should be broadened to include a wider range of enteric zoonotic pathogens in dogs living in homes with immunocompromised individuals. [Summary]