We’ve known for some time that there are human health risks from feeding pets raw meat-based diets. Most of the evidence of this has been anecdotal, as published reports have been sparse. A few better documented reports have started to appear, including the fatal E. coli O157 infection I wrote about recently.
A few days
Lots of media reports have been saying that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have warned people not to dress up their chickens for Halloween.
I wouldn’t have thought that policing chicken fashion would be high on the CDC’s to-do list, but the concern is obviously related to the perpetual
I think I’ve covered this before (probably a few times), but the question keeps coming up so it can’t hurt to talk about it again:
“Is freeze-dried raw pet food any different than fresh or frozen raw diets, from a microbiological standpoint?”
We don’t have much pet food-specific research, but there’s little reason
Taking a break from canine flu and going back to an old favorite… Salmonella and reptiles.
CDC has released their final update on a multistate outbreak of Salmonella Agbeni infections associated with contact with pet turtles. Turtles are very well known as high risk animals for transmitting Salmonella. Even healthy turtles often carry
I’m giving my brain a short break from canine flu, so here’s an interesting report about a multistate US outbreak of salmonellosis linked to… no, not turtles… no, not baby poultry… but guinea pigs.
While guinea pigs have been associated with a few different zoonotic diseases, they’re a pretty benign pet species overall. Yet, our
I haven’t written much lately about recalls of raw pet food because of Salmonella contamination. In large part that’s because it’s essentially an expected event. There are very good reasons why we cook food – one is to kill things that can make us sick. We assume that raw meat intended for our consumption
When we have discussions about the risks of feeding raw meat to dogs and cats, a frequent refrain is “where are the published reports of people getting sick?” While we know some illnesses occur, they tend not to get investigated to the level that they are published, which is problematic when trying to demonstrate the
Not that I needed one more reason to avoid them, but a recent CDC release warns about the risk of Salmonella infection associated with rattlesnake pills. These pills, a literal variation of the old “snake oil” remedies, are apparently marketed as a cure for a variety of ailments, including cancer and HIV.
Hardly a week goes by that I don’t get a question (or a dozen) about backyard poultry. As more cities consider or enact laws allowing urban poultry, the debates about and around this issue increase. It’s also becoming a big business, with ample options for people to buy chicken coops (or high end chicken condos),
It’s not a shocker, but another multistate turtle-associated outbreak of salmonellosis has been ongoing in the US. CDC has reported on an outbreak of Salmonella Agbeni infections involving 37 people in 13 states. As is almost always the case, the number of reported infections is probably a small fraction of the number of people
