As human are getting more concerns on the quality of food for themselves, they also starting to care about what they feed their domestic pets. In recent years, raw meat-based diets (RMBDs) have become popular since the awareness of food quality arose. Many pet owners treat their domestic pets like family members and want to provide the best for their domestic pets, including food. This is a way of showing the love to the companion animals and strengthen the owner-pet relationship. Another reason why pet owners are switching diets for their pets is the major recall of pet food caused by melamine contamination in 2007. This has brought up consumer’s attention to the safeness of commercial dry extruded and moist pet foods which are not absolutely
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A normal, healthy dog is estimated to have 1% to 36% prevalence of Salmonella organism; the estimated prevalence of Salmonella organism in a normal, healthy cat is 1% to 18% (Finley et al 686). A study was conducted to evaluate whether dogs would shed Salmonella organisms after consumption of homemade RMBDs. Seven out of 10 dogs that were fed homemade RMBDs were reported to have Salmonella organisms in their feces; no Salmonella organisms were found in any of the 10 dogs feces that were fed conventionally dry extruded food. Nevertheless, none of the dogs exhibited clinical signs of salmonellosis. Cats and dogs have similar symptoms of salmonellosis; similarly, cats shed Salmonella organisms in feces too (Finley et al …show more content…
Pet owners can now feed their pets with raw meals confidently. However, there are some exceptions in feeding raw too. For pets that have chronic diseases, it is best to consult veterinarians before switching their diets. Sick pets usually have low immunity to pathogens, it will be difficult for the sick pets to fight pathogens when consuming RMBDs at first. All the benefits that were illustrated above are applied to normal pets only. Similar to human, every pet is an individual that might encounter different problems. If there is human allergy to gluten, there will be pet allergy to protein. Know the condition of the pets before making the decision to switch their diets. Do research on the food content and the company as well. Only understanding the full picture will raise a happy and healthy
A normal, healthy dog is estimated to have 1% to 36% prevalence of Salmonella organism; the estimated prevalence of Salmonella organism in a normal, healthy cat is 1% to 18% (Finley et al 686). A study was conducted to evaluate whether dogs would shed Salmonella organisms after consumption of homemade RMBDs. Seven out of 10 dogs that were fed homemade RMBDs were reported to have Salmonella organisms in their feces; no Salmonella organisms were found in any of the 10 dogs feces that were fed conventionally dry extruded food. Nevertheless, none of the dogs exhibited clinical signs of salmonellosis. Cats and dogs have similar symptoms of salmonellosis; similarly, cats shed Salmonella organisms in feces too (Finley et al …show more content…
Pet owners can now feed their pets with raw meals confidently. However, there are some exceptions in feeding raw too. For pets that have chronic diseases, it is best to consult veterinarians before switching their diets. Sick pets usually have low immunity to pathogens, it will be difficult for the sick pets to fight pathogens when consuming RMBDs at first. All the benefits that were illustrated above are applied to normal pets only. Similar to human, every pet is an individual that might encounter different problems. If there is human allergy to gluten, there will be pet allergy to protein. Know the condition of the pets before making the decision to switch their diets. Do research on the food content and the company as well. Only understanding the full picture will raise a happy and healthy