Raw, combination or no change?

[FayRose]

I completely agree with all that's been said here about the risk of raw feeding however careful we are. My thought though, on the dog licking your hands/toys etc. is that the health risks of this apply anyway.

As far as Molly is concerned, she licks some unmentionable things, including cat poo, guts of rodents the cats have killed, other left behind bits that she sniffs out in the garden and any stinky foulness she can find when we're out.

On that basis, I feel we, particularly children are always vulnerable to stomach upsets, and I'm hoping, not more so because of a raw diet.

 

[M.F.]

I’ll chime in from the pro-raw feeding to say I’ve been feeding my boy raw meat for close on 7 years and I’ve never been infected. Same with my husband and our cleaner. We all feed him. We do wash our hands a LOT but that’s probably cos we’re vegan and don’t like handling meat. We also use plastic bags over our hands to handle the meat—also cos we don’t like handling it. Snowie licks unmentionables and, to my mother’s disgust, we kiss him and let him lick us. We do feed him human-grade meat. I think it’s really unlucky to get sick if your dog eats raw meat, and it could be anything that could make you sick. Pre-school teachers come down with infections all the time due to being around little kids and their snotty noses and sneezes. One really needs to keep oneself healthy enough to fight the millions of germs that are out there ready to infect us. I really don’t think the risk of infection from raw meat is enough to outweigh the health benefits for the dog.

 

[MellowYellow]

Agree completely @M.F. - we’ve been feeding raw for years, and have never had so much as a tummy ache... not to say it can’t happen tomorrow, of course! I think if I had small children in the house, or my health was compromised in any way, I might reconsider the whole raw feeding lark... but as @FayRose says, when I think of the disgusting things our dogs eat and lick I stop worrying... Poppy has suddenly become very partial to deer and wild boar poop; I must remember to give her a worming tablet soon!

 

[Oberon]

Yeah, must worm Obi too!!