Whoops! Another Contradiction.

[moggy]

I have read recommendations in lots of posts about offal being a necessity in a dogs diet. But wait.....I bought some Exelpet all-wormer for Sophie and in the directions it states "Dogs should not be fed, or allowed to feed on, raw offal from any species."

Opinions please.

Moggy.

[Guest Tess32]

Offal IS essential for a balanced diet, but a lot of people warn against it due to the risk of hydatid worms being transferred to humans. So the option is to ALWAYS buy human grade offal, or boil it up.

[DeltaCharlie]

I always buy human grade liver, kidneys etc from the supermarket. I also freeze it most of the time before feeding it to them.

It is a necessary part of their diet if they are fed raw.

[Cavandra]

Ive fed it for 10 years as a Barf feeder, and have never had any dog with worms nor have I caught tape worm either LOL...........Most of these things are precautionary as they think we are all dumb

Even down to monthly heartworm tablets they recommend once a month when in fact they are every 6 weeks, but they think we wouldnt remember that so make it as fool proof as possible.

[puggy_puggy]

If you buy human grade offal and use an intestinal worming tablet at least every three months , as well as your monthly heart worm treatment, you should have no problems. Don't feed in to big a quantity as it can also cause toxic overload. At the moment I am feeding my pugs a chopped up raw lambs kidney each once a week.

I know there are many differnt opinions on feeding offal. Apparently it is illegal to do so in Tasmania so Tasmaninas will tell you not to feed it at all. Some say cook it before hand, some say freeze if before hand, some say cooking and freezing won't kill the nasties ie the Tapeworms. The you have the BARF and raw feeders that have no problems with feeding it raw.

[Muttaburra]

The warning is given because of the possibility of the dog ingesting Hydatid Tapeworm cysts, the Hydatid completes part of it's lifecycle in the dog then the eggs are excreted in the dogs stools and can get in the dogs fur, so when humans pat the dog then ingest the eggs, they can go on to form cysts in the human.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydatid_cyst

Here you can see a diagram of the life cycle of the Hydatid.

They have been known to lodge in vital organs of humans including the brain.

Here is an Hydatid cyst taken from a human.

[Nekhbet]

I feed my dogs nothing but Royal Canin dry and lamb bones every few days - I have never fed any of them offal. The only issue I have is that butchers tend to let the dog meat sit in substandard conditions and it ends up stinking the house out by the time I get it home.

If its from a human butcher and human quality I wouldnt do any worrying. If your dog is around sheep, sheep paddocks or ever eats anything from the knackery then I would worm with something like Milbemax, Sentinel/Interceptor Spectrum, or Drontal DRONCIT tablets to cover for Hydatic Tapeworm. They cysts can be in the meat as well, not just the organs.

[Muttaburra]

Prophylaxis

There are several strategies to prevent echinococcosis, most of which involve disruption of the parasite's life cycle. For instance, feeding raw offal to work dogs is a key point of infection in a farm environment and is strongly discouraged. Also, basic hygiene practices such as thoroughly cooking food and vigorous hand washing before meals can prevent the eggs entering the human digestive tract. Regular "worming" of farm dogs with the drug praziquantel also helps kill the tapeworm. By employing such simple practices, hydatids have been virtually eliminated in New Zealand, where it was once very common.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydatid_cyst

[Ashka]

Hydatids, sheep measles and I can't remember the one that affects beef, ALL use the dog as the intermediary host. If livestock is your living & you don't want it condemned at the works you keep offal fed dogs off the farm.

Bottom line, hydatis can kill humans.

Freezing and or cooking offal doesn't make it safe to feed.

Dronal plus kills the hydatis worm in dogs.

If you feed cooked or raw offal think about worming with a hydatis wormer every month or so to keep you & yours safe.

HISTORY:

It doesn't seem that long ago when all dogs (in NZ) were regularly starved for 24 hours then tied up at the local dosing strip and drenched. They were then left tied up till the drench worked and the results tested for hydatis ...... the fines were large. Dogs died at the dosing strip, mine thankfully survived.

We then had the hydatis dosing guys come round to every house and farm and dose all the dogs with Droncit. Every couple of months from memory. We also had to carry the dogs dosing certificate with us everywhere we went .

No dogs behind 6' fences ~ all were tied out the front and dosed by strangers whether you were home or not..

mmmm

Maybe I should add to the Wiki entry

Edited February 23, 2008 by Ashka

[moggy]

Thank you all for the valuable information. It is a real eye opener for me. I will be giving her a worm tablet which guards against hydatic worm.

Moggy