Salmonellosis: is raw meat dangerous?

Salmonellosis is an infection caused by salmonella bacteria. Animals and people become infected with salmonellosis when they eat contaminated meat or water, as well as when hygiene is not observed.

People are used to carefully cooking meat, including to avoid infection with pathogens. Many dog ​​and cat owners do not decide to switch their pet to a healthy diet because they are afraid of contamination with harmful bacteria due to unprocessed meat. Therefore, the prospect of feeding a pet with raw meat seems frightening: isn't such a diet dangerous?

Salmonellosis: which foods are dangerous? 

Salmonellosis and E. coli cause many concerns for pet owners. But if you buy meat from verified suppliers, the risk that it will be contaminated is minimal. Usually, the meat of those animals that were kept in poor conditions and were slaughtered without observing safety and hygiene rules is infected.

Pathogens can be infected not only through meat, but also through industrial feed. After all, they go through several stages of processing. If heat-treated products are mixed with infected raw products, then you can catch the infection through them. There are known cases of recall of industrial feed due to contamination with pathogens.

Usually only the surface of a piece of meat is infected with salmonella. When you pass meat through a meat grinder, bacteria multiply throughout the mass. Therefore, it is dangerous to buy ready-made or frozen minced meat that is intended for humans. You cannot check how long the meat has been sitting after scrolling before freezing. Mincemeat manufacturers count on you to cook it and thereby destroy all pathogens that the production conditions could have led to their reproduction. The minced meat, which is prepared especially for animals, is frozen immediately after scrolling, this prevents the reproduction of bacteria.

The body of the predator protects itself from pathogens.

The digestive systems of cats and dogs are highly acidic, so their bodies are resistant to pathogens. The digestive tract of predators is short, because of this bacteria do not have time to multiply. On average, the digestive cycle takes about 13 hours. In humans, it is two or three times longer. Even if the salmonella bacterium gets into the pet's body, most likely it will not affect your pet in any way. First of all, this applies to healthy animals. Sick cats and dogs are more at risk of poisoning.

The acidity of the stomach is reduced in pets that have been fed commercial feed for a long time. Such animals risk not being able to cope with the infection.

What in the end?

A diet based on raw meat is safe for cats and dogs. The body of healthy animals effectively fights pathogens. In order to minimize the risk of infection with samlionellosis, choose high-quality meat from proven suppliers. Meat intended for human consumption undergoes veterinary and sanitary inspections. No one will allow infected meat to be sold.

However, we recommend trying the biologically appropriate food Acana & Orijen from the Canadian company Champion PetFoods. They are made from high quality fresh and selected products. The fodder is made at a gentle temperature, which allows you to destroy bacteria and preserve all the value of the meat.

Before domestication, dogs and cats ate raw meat. But recently, for some reason, people have decided that food from the store, which has undergone deep factory processing, is better for them. Natural feed is an attempt to recreate the diet of cats and dogs that hunt for food themselves. The digestive system of cats and dogs is adapted specifically for raw food, which is rich in animal protein and liquid, but contains almost no carbohydrates. When pets eat biologically appropriate food, their body receives everything it needs for good health.

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