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Newsletter 8, June 2018 – Is raw meat perfectly safe for dogs?

Dear dog breeding enthusiasts

More information about breeding matters can be obtained from our website and my book “Breeding is a bitch”. For further details go to http://www.rantendal.co.za.

Semen can now be frozen on demand at our premises with as little as 1 weeks’ notice. Contact Gigi at reports@rantendal.co.za to make a booking. 

We perform preliminary screening for HD and ED in dogs from 6 months of age and official certification from 12 or 18 months depending on breed. These evaluations can be performed whilst you wait for approximately 15 minutes per dog.

Is raw meat perfectly safe for dogs?

There are many breeders that feed a raw diet to their breeding stock as supplement to a commercial diet or in exceptional cases as their entire dietary intake. Whilst the dogs may enjoy this diet and do well look good on such diets, this practice is not without danger. Below are discussed some potential hazards of this practice.

Neosporosis

Neosporosis is the disease caused by the protozoan parasite Neospora caninum and is mainly a parasite of dogs and cattle. Dogs and more recently coyotes have been confirmed as definitive hosts and all the other species goats, sheep, deer, horses chickens are intermediate hosts (carry the disease in their tissue, mainly muscle). Cattle become infected through ingestion of Neospora oocysts (eggs) in the dogs’ faeces, whilst dogs get Neospora from ingesting raw meat from infected species (mainly beef but other species are also possible). Neospora appears not to affect humans or cats. Heat destroys the parasite in the meat and therefore cooked meat or animal products are safe. The story gets more complex from here. Following ingestion of infected raw animal products, the adult dog and or puppy will shed the oocyst in their faeces for a while and thereafter remain infected for life. These dogs are very unlikely to ever show any clinical signs from this infection but in case of the female puppy that grows up or the adult bitch that becomes pregnant she may infect her litter. Some infected bitches may produce a non infected litter whilst others produce a litter with one, more or all of the litter may get clinical signs of Neopsporosis. Once infected the bitch remains infected for life without her ever showing symptoms. There is no treatment for carrier (infected) bitches. An infected bitch is not infectious to any other dog in the colony as infection from dog to dog is only possible through the ingestion of infected meat. It is possible yet difficult to diagnose carrier bitches through specialised tests. Transmission from one dog to another that leads to disease is only possible through transmission via the placenta from infected bitches to their foetuses in the uterus. The puppies will not show signs of disease soon after birth. Clinical signs usually become evident from about three months onwards up to 1 year of age. This means that the dog is long gone from the breeder into a pet home before the condition becomes evident. The clinical disease in the puppy may vary but mainly involves hind quarter weakness paresis and paralysis. Treatment in infected puppies that show clinical signs is possible (but not always successful). Puppies with advanced neurological signs mostly do not respond. It is best to sterilize both the puppy (if female and has recovered from disease) as well as the dam that produced the affected puppy as treatment does not prevent a recurrence in the following litter or future litters from infected bitches. In contact dogs are not at risk but if they ate raw animal product from the same source, they might also be infected. Specialised tests can identify such bitches with some degree of certainty but this remains difficult. Males play no role in the disease transmission. Neosporosis is not known to be a cause of abortion in bitches, only in herbivores. No preventative vaccine is available for dogs and vaccines so far to control neosporosis in cattle proved unsatisfactory. Although Neosporosis is more common in meat from livestock on farms with contact with wild carnivores, meat from commercial trade is also often infected. Meat does not get inspected for the presence of Neosporosis as it has no significance for human consumption. Due to the difficulty in diagnosing the condition and the many other conditions it may mimic, Neosporosis is probably more common than is generally thought. Several confirmed cases in breeding animals do get positively diagnosed in South Africa annually but nevertheless it still remains rare. The best way to prevent this condition is to not feed uncooked animal products to dogs.

African horse sickness

It  has been known for many years that the feeding of meat from a horse that either died or was destroyed because of African horse sickness may kill dogs. This also holds true for lions eating such carcasses. More recently however, some dogs in south Africa became ill and died from African horse sickness without having ingested horsemeat. It is therefore proposed that these dogs also got infected from bites from the vector host (midge). Therefore, keeping dogs in areas where affected horses are present and the vector is rife presents a danger for such dogs. Fortunately, this mode of transmission to dogs however remains very rare but has and may indeed occur.

Toxoplasmosis

Just for completeness sake the protozoan infection Toxoplasmosis is also briefly discussed. Toxoplasmosis is mainly transmitted by cats and dogs who may contract the disease from ingesting infected cat faeces. Transmission to dogs is also possible following ingestion of raw meat. Both cats and dogs may develop neurological signs form toxoplasmosis and treatment is possible but not always successful. Toxoplasma is a frequent cause of abortion and foetal defect in pregnant women following infection from either cat faeces or raw meat. Dogs appear to play no role in transmission of toxoplasmosis.

Other infections from raw meat.

A number of bacterial diseases may be contracted by dogs from ingestion of raw meat. Raw meat may be contaminated by bacteria such as salmonella, E. coli listeriosis and others that may affect both man and its best friend. Young puppies and old dogs are at increased risk for such infections.

Overall risk of raw animal products

Evidenced by the very many breeders all over the world that feed raw diets, the overall risk of consumption of raw animal products is probably small. However, it would be negligent on behalf of the veterinary profession not to warn its clients about its potential dangers. Supporters of raw diets may therefor consider cooking animal products rendering it safe from such dangers.  My personal observation is that particularly Neosporosis is becoming more prevalent whether through increased vigilance or true increase in prevalence? Diagnosis of Neosporosis in a breeding bitch effectively eliminates her as a breeding animal as sterilization is the only sensible answer in preventing a recurrence.