Shureem writes:
“I give my pup a raw egg about every 3 days or so. And one day a week I put a tblsp of vegetable or canola oil in her food. Her coat seems to be very shiney and her skin moist.
My grandmother actually told me to do it this, so her skin and coat would stay healthy. So far, so good. Also, Suzie loves it so much, she can hardly wait for food on “egg day!”
**Updated Information: This email was received recently**
Adam,
Dogs can and do get Salmonella but they don’t present in the same way a human does. The risk is to the owners, handlers and public in general…although there are currently some studies being undertaken that seem to show a link between a bitch being infected with Salmonella and an associated higher rate of spontaneous abortion of the fetus pups. But the depletion of Biotin, due to feeding raw eggs to a dog, is detrimental to the canine itself without question!
Horses also get Salmonella with surprisngly deadly consequences. I had an AQHA weanling die of Salmonella back in 1981 while my sister was in vet school at the University of GA. Salmonella went like wildfire through our stable and many of the horses, mine included, ended up at UGA’s Vet School where three of them died of Salmonella and another one died in the trailer while enroute to UGA.
Dogs can also get e-coli, mainly from eating raw meat contaminated with e-coli as well as a dog getting Salmonella from eating raw meat from chickens or consuming many different types of raw foods. E-coli can make a dog pretty doggone sick! (One of the reasons I refuse to BARF my dogs.) And yes, dogs can get Salmonella from injesting another animal’s feces that is contaminated with Salmonella.
I’m sure you’ve heard rather frequently about the problem with pig ears, cow hooves and rawhide chews that are contaminated with Salmonella and that have caused many a dog to get the bacteria. It is a great risk for families with young children, as well as a high risk for the elderly and it is a major risk for immune compromised individuals, as well as a general risk for healthy people…especially those handling Salmonella infected dogs that are not totally religious in washing their hands, etc. And no, an egg doesn’t have to be cracked or unrefrigerated to be contaminated with Salmonella…which is why cooking eggs throughly and handling them properly is so important to avoid the bacteria being passed on.
The bacteria actually contaminates the egg itself via the hen long before the egg is even laid and can not be detected by visual inspection.