DR BRUCE CHARD

contact@northharbourvet.co.nz I want to feed my male boxer dog a raw meat diet. The product I can get is supplied frozen and I thaw it out before feeding. Is there still a risk of bacterial contamination even though the food has been frozen?

Feeding a raw diet is becoming more popular with dog owners. The two major problems with this diet is being able to supply the correct nutrients for a balanced diet, and avoiding the risk of bacterial contamination. Unfortunately freezing meat does not kill all bacteria such as Salmonella and Campylobacter which can cause diarrhoea in your dog and food poisoning in humans. As soon as the meat is thawed they can multiply rapidly. Ideally have a separate refrigerator for your dog food and prepare it away from your own food. To be completely safe cook the meat before feeding.

I am spending my holidays with a cousin on a sheep farm in Hawke’s Bay and want to take my two jack russell dogs with me. Do I still need to worry about hydatid disease infecting the dogs?

Hydatid disease is caused by a tape worm living in the intestine of dogs. Eggs from the tapeworm pass out in the dog droppings and when eaten by sheep, cattle and even humans can lead to cysts developing in the liver or lungs. This eventually can cause serious disease in humans and sometimes death. Fortunately a strict programme of worming all dogs and stopping the feeding of raw offal and meat to dogs led to the elimination of the disease in 1995. So you can safely take your dogs to your cousin’s farm, but it is still wise to worm them both before going as they can carry another tapeworm which can lead to cysts in sheep but is not harmful to humans.