Avoiding Salmonella When Feeding Raw?
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Question & Answer on
Oct 14th, 2009 |
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My cats get pinkie rabbits or feeder chicks a few times a week in their food rotation.
Recently, a friend lost a beagle to salmonella while feeding raw. A couple that I know adopted a puppy last year who went blind due to salmonella exposure before he was rescued.
I can’t find any sites that aren’t biased one way or the other. Does anyone know how to reduce the risk of salmonella while feeding a (partial) raw diet?
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There’s no way I know of to reduce the risk of salmonella, other than cooking the food. Bacterial food-borne infections and parasites are an inherent risk of feeding raw.
Fresh-killed will help (the bacteria doesn’t have time to sit around and multiply). Finding out what kind of salmonella-control measures the farm raising your feeder chicks is taking will help . . . but it’s almost impossible to eliminate salmonella in poultry. Making sure that the uneaten kills are quickly cleaned up and the area disinfected if possible will help. But nothing will eliminate the risk.
If you insist on feeding raw, make sure your cats are dewormed regularly (talk to your vet for recommendations.) My personal feeling is that the infection risks outweigh any benefits of raw diet, and I do feel that most comercially-prepared food is nutritionally adequate.
As far as bias goes – some people say that raw diets are wonderful and commercial diets are harmful. Some people say that commercial diets are wonderful and raw diets are harmful. EVERYONE is biased – but some people base their diets on more scientific evidence than others.
Have you thought of trying freeze dried raw foods? There are many companies out there that sell freeze dried and/or dehydrated. Although slightly process you’ll be losing some of the effects of feeding raw, but because it’s processed it reduces the risk of samonella.
Feed premade raw if your that paranoid. Wild kitty raw cat food has been sterilized so you won’t find e-coli or salmonella in there. Same with natures variety
I wouldn’t worry to much personally. Cats immune systems are slightly stronger than dogs and they are used to eating stuff like poultry that has more bacteria then other meats.