Delta Society Policy On Raw Feeding

[poodlefan]

Poodlefan I'd say they just used a commercial food in the study to try and keep it constant. They would have contaminated the food with the bacteria themselves, for the study.

I can recall at least one major contamination issue that arose from feeding canned commerical food.

From memory a Sheltie breeder lost a number of dogs due to salmonella??? in the product.

[Nekhbet]

Yes this is true if you have a therapy dog that visits hospitals. The dog was to be swabbed and a culture sent away which Delta paid for. Nursing homes and disabled centres were OK AFAIK.

In the US there is a huge amount of people that for them, raw diet is game meat or knackery meat NOT something from the human butcher. So I dont see the issue since yes the dogs can shed pathogens to immunosupressed people they visit.

[tyra2007]

I was trying to find out some more information on this as I feed my boys raw ... since I couldn't find anything significant I decided to email DELTA to ask them a few questions...

I read with interest the “Raw Protein Diet Policy” on your website so decided to find out more about the “scientific facts” and “studies” used as a basis for the decision.

I am having difficulty find any information on what studies were conducted to form the basis that dogs feed a raw diet shed “significant amounts of pathogenic bacteria”.

Having not found any real information on this study, I am hoping your organisation will be able to answer some questions for me.

1. What brand “commercial foods” were fed to the dogs who undertook this study?

2. What grade was the “raw food" fed to the dogs who undertook this study? Was it “pet food” grade or “human” grade as many dog owners who feed raw actually feed?

3. Was each dog first fed raw and then commercial (or were they fed commercial and the raw) in order to determine if the particular dog was shedding “significant amounts of pathogenic bacteria” regardless of what it was actually being fed? And if so – how long was the dog fed the particular diet before they were tested?

4. Where the individual dogs tested a number of times to determine the average level of shedding or where they test just one or two times?

5. Where the tests undertaken in a “sterile” or “controlled” environment to rule out environmental contributions to the “pathogenic bacteria” detected?

6. What was the difference in readings between “commercial fed” and “raw fed” dogs? Was this reading different between individual breeds?

7. Your site also states “Since many studies have shown pets fed such diets shed a significantly higher number of pathogenic bacteria, the risk is too great for inadvertent, but avoidable infection” – can you also provide some information on what studies these were?

I look forward to your response.

I got an automatic response as an acknowledgement which implies responses to questions will be provided on the website (under FAQ's) but I can't imagine they will do that ...

I don't mean to be a nit picker... So, sorry in advance.

When you send a letter like this to anyone it is always good to really proof read it.

In your points 4 & 5 you start with "where" when I think what you really wanted to say was "were" this is something that spell checker will not pick up. It can cause a letter or a point to become confusing to the reader.

Just thought I would make that little point - apart from that it is a good letter and I would be very interested in hearing their response.

Cheers

Edited May 24, 2010 by tyra2007

[sas]

Can you spell S-E-L-L-O-U-T!!!? It is outrageous to believe that feeding raw is more dangerous than a dog engaging in normal 'dog' activities. You would need to keep a dog in a bubble to ensure they don't carry bacteria, there are alot worse things dogs do than eat raw food. How do they propose teeth are kept clean? Surely plaque build up in more unhygienic?

Why are so many organisations/ professional individuals selling out lately? Where's the integrity..

My dog eats his own shit, how does Delta feel about that?

[Jaxx'sBuddy]

Can you spell S-E-L-L-O-U-T!!!? It is outrageous to believe that feeding raw is more dangerous than a dog engaging in normal 'dog' activities. You would need to keep a dog in a bubble to ensure they don't carry bacteria, there are alot worse things dogs do than eat raw food. How do they propose teeth are kept clean? Surely plaque build up in more unhygienic?

Why are so many organisations/ professional individuals selling out lately? Where's the integrity..

My dog eats his own shit, how does Delta feel about that?

;) ;)

thank you for this sensible post...too true