# salmonella?



## sondraham (Sep 11, 2010)

I have been feeding my EPI dog K-9 Kraving for about 6 months and was wondering if anyone has had a dog with salmonella? I had to rush my dog to the vet the other day due to severe weakness, diarrhea, and not eating. The vet took x-rays and ran bloodwork. Kenny had the GDV surgery 7 months ago so I was concerned when he started having similar symptoms, the vet thought he had pancreatitis but his blood work cam back negative. $700 later the consensus was a infection. He had to be on IV fluids for three days and have three penicilin injections and a week of antibiotics and he lost 3 pounds in two days. He is doing better now. Could this infection have been caused by bad raw food? I am so confused. The vet told me to continue feeding raw diet but may need to cook the food a little if he is having trouble digesting. Has anyone had a experience similar to this?


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## CLARKE-DUNCAN (Apr 8, 2011)

I don't ever give my dog raw meat its full of bacteria and like you say salmonella! Can be quite harmful to a domesticated animal.


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## BowWowMeow (May 7, 2007)

My dogs have never gotten sick from raw but they have gotten sick from kibble. 

However, I do know of a few dogs who have gotten sick from raw food. 

Dogs can get infections from lots of other sources too though. It's really hard to say whether or not it was the food. 

I would disagree with your vet about the digestion issue--if your dog were having digestive issues then he would not have gotten an infection, you would have seen the issue over the long term. 

I would give probiotics now to help the gut heal. If he's still on antibiotics then be sure to give the probiotics 2 hours apart from the meds.


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## Castlemaid (Jun 29, 2006)

CLARKE-DUNCAN said:


> I don't ever give my dog raw meat its full of bacteria and like you say salmonella! Can be quite harmful to a domesticated animal.


Most healthy dogs can deal with the salmonella and other bacteria in raw just fine. Their digestive systems have not changed that much from their wild ancestors. Gryff has been on raw since he was weaned and never an issue. Keeta on raw for close to four years now, no issues. 

Hard to say sondra if the raw caused the problems with your dog. Since he is an EPI dog, he may have some other underlying issues that compromise his ability to neutralize the bacteria in raw, or as BowWowMeow suggested, could be environmental. 

Hope he gets all better!


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## Heidigsd (Sep 4, 2004)

Sorry to hear that your dog is sick, I hope he feels better soon. I don't feed raw for this exact reason. Here are some good links that address issues with feeding raw meat, which I know a lot of people here are going to disagree with but you can make your own decision.

Also, there is a really good yahoo group that may be of some help to you (if you are not already a member) K9Kitchen : dog diets raw cooked allergies disease

Raw meat diets spark concern - January 15, 2005
PetDiets
The Web-DVM TV, Radio & Blog: Search results for raw meat

Michaela


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## BowWowMeow (May 7, 2007)

I had a dog almost die from a toxic reaction to kibble. In fact, many dogs and cats have died from eating kibble (remember all of those recalls?) and more have gotten very sick. Some now are living with chronic renal failure due to eating kibble that was tainted in one way or another. 

The facts are that far less dogs get sick from eating raw food than dogs do from eating kibble. 

It certainly isn't the right diet for every dog but I don't ever hear anyone saying how dangerous it is to feed kibble when the facts completely support such a statement.


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## mspiker03 (Dec 7, 2006)

Not saying the raw diet is for every dog (although we have fed raw for over 4 years at 2 lbs a day with NO problems and my vets are VERY supportive and encourage raw feeding, including my non-holistic vet), but I wanted to balance out the "raw diet is going to make your dog sick because of bacteria posts" for any lurkers:

Lists all the recalls due to salmonella in KIBBLE (in summer 2010 only):
Kibble Fed Pets at Risk of Spreading Salmonella? : Whole Dog News

Raw diet Myths:
The Many Myths of Raw Feeding (there is one about bacteria)

Not Salmonella, but what about all those kibble recalls in 2007 and all the dogs that died due to contamination.


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## Lauri & The Gang (Jun 28, 2001)

CLARKE-DUNCAN said:


> I don't ever give my dog raw meat its full of bacteria and like you say salmonella! Can be quite harmful to a domesticated animal.


Wow. I guess I'm the luckiest person on Earth because I've fed raw for over a decade and NEVER had a problem. I have 2 Chinese Cresteds that have NEVER tasted kibble - weaned directly to raw - and they are as healthy as horses.

I've fed over 10 THOUSAND pounds of raw meat and bones to my dogs over the years and NEVER ONCE had a problem with bacteria or salmonella.


To the OP - I have never had a dog get sick from eating raw, and I don't always feed the freshest raw food. Unless the smell is so bad it makes my eyes water - I feed it.


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## ILGHAUS (Nov 25, 2002)

Lauri, I've not fed as much as you but been feeding raw to my dogs since wow - since I joined this board and you walked me through the beginning stages. I also feed some kibble too but that is because of other reasons. My EPI dog is 99.99% kibble as I wasn't able to find the right combination on raw to feed him because of his allergies and digestion problems. He survives and is happy on kibble. But before his flare up of EPI he was in better over all health on 100% raw. On the EPI yahoo group there are many who feed raw and have done so for years. Just not for my boy other then small amounts of raw fish. The other two no problems with eatting raw - one turned 9 this month and the other 11. 

Next pup will be raw fed straight from the breeders at 8 weeks old.

My vet went from fully against raw to well maybe to now many of his clients fed their dogs raw and no one on the staff bats an eye anymore.

Came back to add that in all of those years never a broken tooth, never a sick tummy, or other problems with bacteria or blockage except for the 9 year old after the one time he ate part of a rag?? for whatever reason.


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## Rott-n-GSDs (Jul 7, 2010)

Lauri & The Gang said:


> To the OP - I have never had a dog get sick from eating raw, and I don't always feed the freshest raw food. Unless the smell is so bad it makes my eyes water - I feed it.


Ditto this. The smellier it is... the more my dogs like it.  When I take out meat for us humans and forget about it in the fridge, rather than waste it, it goes to the dogs.

I have had a vet tell me "it might be salmonella" because she knows I rawfeed and doesn't agree. Her advice was always to tell me to stop feeding the raw diet. I listened to her side of the story, did my own research, left my dog on raw, and he recovered completely. Without proof it was indeed salmonella and not my vet's fears ruling her better judgement, I refuse to believe that it was.


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## lhczth (Apr 5, 2000)

I have fed raw for more than a dozen years and never had a dog get sick from raw. Raised 4 litters on raw, several puppies and 4 of my 5 have never had kibble. Heck, my guys eat chicken poop, deer poop when we go on walks, and in the past would feast on cow, calf (HORRIBLE SMELL) and horse poop whenever they got the chance (and before I would tell them "YUCK, NO"). Since the main source of most food born contamination is due to fecal matter if I was going to have an issue it would be from my dogs eating, well, fecal matter.


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## goatdude (Mar 3, 2009)

Can't beat the raw diet for our dogs. Mine does fantastic on it!


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