Salmonella - no worries after all?

[marc999]

Interesting video / transcript of a Vet. opinion, on why not to worry about raw food and salmonella, for cats / dogs.  

http://felineinstincts.com/dontworryaboutsalmonellawhenfeedingrawtoyourcats/

 

[ritz]

Thanks for the link. I'm glad a vet is the one saying this. (( wish I had a vet on board with raw feed. My vet said, where's the carbs?)
There have been more reported cases of salmonella problems with dry food than raw food.

 

[mschauer]

You might want to take a look at the raw feeding resources thread :

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/264154/raw-feeding-resources

You'll find information there from vets and others with science based reasons why concern about bacteria in raw food pet food is overblown.

 

[andrya]

And, the salmonella - dry food link is never mentioned anywhere, ever, or so it seems. lt is hugely downplayed.

We recently had a post here at TCS about adding water to dry kibble to provide cats with adequate moisture. Salmonella was one of the things discussed, so l found the following to be very interesting, and related:

There was a link posted on FB about a study where groups of cats were fed kibble at differing frequency per day. A second experiment had the cats fed twice a day, either with dry kibble, or water-soaked kibble. The results were that the cats fed dry 4 times per day were active more than those fed less frequently (in anticipation of their feeding times). Those cats fed wet kibble over dry, both twice a day, were also more active.

The differing takeaways and translations of this study are quite alarming 

One site says, "Fat cats can slim by 'grazing' their kibble all day".   What??? That's not even close to what l read!

My (new) vet's page summed it up as,  

"Cats have evolved as hunters of small prey (mice, rats, birds) and as such are designed to eat numerous small meals throughout the day. You can help keep your cat healthy and prevent obesity by feeding them small frequent meals of canned food or a dry diet with added water. (Note: this is NOT the same as leaving a full bowl of food for your cat to nibble all day long). If your cat has a weight problem, ask your veterinarian for help with a safe weight loss plan."

That sounds like a more accurate translation to me.

Here is the original article for anyone interested:

http://aces.illinois.edu/news/smaller-meals-more-times-day-may-curb-obesity-cats

 

[mschauer]

The differing takeaways and translations of this study are quite alarming 

One site says, "Fat cats can slim by 'grazing' their kibble all day".   What??? That's not even close to what l read!

 Yeah, What!!!?? is precisely my reaction to a lot of the interpretations by lay people of scientific studies. Frequently those interpretations reflect the readers bias. They read into a study what they want or expect it to mean rather than sticking strictly to what it actual says; no more and no less.