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Originally Posted by Sophie's Auntie Never, ever raw chicken. Salmonella is always a risk. If you wouldn't eat chicken raw, don't give it to your dogs. |
I mean this in the most respectful and noncombative way, but equating dogs with humans is, in my opinion, a major error. I wouldn't feed people my friends dog food, nor would I crate train my kid or teach him to walk on a leash. Furthermore, biologically the two are entirely different entities, and what is okay for one species often has no bearing on what is fine for another.
One paper has been published which I found on PubMed which addresses the risk of salmonella to humans through dogs shedding it in fecal matter.
http://www.pubmedcentral.gov/article...medid=12058569
A thorough response to this is found here:
http://www.bonsah.com/forum/viewtopi...85e3e58ffd434f
Personally, I feel that the criticism of the paper is justified. As a researcher myself, the paper has no significance due to its low sample number, and consequently results are anything but conclusive. Also, none of the dogs that were tested were mentioned to have any ill effects themselves, and the authors have admitted that no papers have been published linking BARF to salmonellosis in dogs (though salmonellosis is found in dogs most frequently in immature puppies and pregnant bitches)
Until conclusive evidence or experiments have been conducted in a scientific manner to address this issue, what we have left is only the first-hand accounts of people who have used this, none of which I have personally found to be negative in any manner. However, we do also know that dogs are capable of shedding salmonella in their feces, so just be aware of that for your own health.
In response to the bird flu statement, I work specifically on avian influenza, and that has about as much relevance in the US as not feeding your dog anything beef-related because you are scared of mad cow disease.