Boxer dog poisoned after eating raw mince

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Last night I was reading an article about a healthy 2 year old female boxer dog who was poisoned after eating raw mince beef.

The dog's owner had bought three large packs of mince from a well known supermarket because it was on offer.  When she got home with her shopping, she put two of the packs in the freezer and put one pack in the fridge to make burgers later. 

When she later had made the burgers there was quite a lot of mince left over so she gave it to her boxer as a treat.  The boxer wolfed it down and was fine until later in the evening when she became restless and very uncomfortable. The lady said her dog started to shake and pant and was violently sick. 

She called her Vet and arranged to meet him at his clinic.

He ran some tests and told her "your dog looks like it has been poisoned".  The lady said "thats impossible, my dog has been at home all day and has not eaten anything apart from the food I have given her".

To cut a long story short....... the boxer bitch died the next day after being kept on a drip at the Vets over night.  When the results came back from the lab, it was some kind of bacteria (I can't remember the scientific name) in the uncooked mince which caused the dog's death.

The lady said she had often given her dog raw meat as a treat and her dog was fine. 

Apparently, raw mince normally has a variety of bacteria in it, some which can only be killed by cooking at a high temperature. 

This poor dog was unlucky and the mince contained high quanities of a certain bacteria.

It was sold for human consumption and would normally always be cooked before it is eaten which would kill off the bacteria that this dog unfortunately ingested.

I have tried to find the article again tonight but have failed so far.  When I do find it, I will make a note of the website address so you can read the full article.

 

 

[Carmel Murphy]

That is very sad and scarey!! I have been feeding Milo raw mince as part of his raw diet!! It too came from a well known supermarket as it was on special offer!! Will be interested in reading the article when you get it!

[Val Martin]

I hope I can find it Carmel, it was very interesting and so sad at the same time.

I was flipping from one website to another and just came across the article by chance.   I read it and moved on to various other web pages.  I can't for the life of me think where I found it!

 

 

 

[Catherine Carter]

I was told some years ago, you should always freeze raw mince from the supermarket before thawing it, and then giving it to a dog to eat....this is supposed to keel any harmful bacteria....even if the meat was for human consumption...I had heard of a German Shepherd dying after eating raw mince from supermarket....I don't know the exact details ...like which bacteria are involved...perhaps more people ( or vets?) could tell us about their own experiences?!

[Carmel Murphy]

Thanks for that info Catherine! I shall freeze the rest of the mince for Milo right now;o)

[Philip Hall]

I think you will find that freezing the meat just puts the  spores into deep hibernation and the act of thawing just starts the cycle again.

Cooking well is the real way to kill off the bacteria.

[Val Martin]

I did wonder about that.....well cooked mince is the only safe bet then.

[Val Martin]

Perhaps extremes of temperature either way kill off the bacteria.

I do know one thing....I won't be giving my dogs any more of the stuff raw......

[Philip Hall]

This is such a sad story and I don’t want to go into massive amounts of detail regarding bacteria and the handling of raw meats. I know a fair number of you feed a raw natural diet and this is fine because I’m sure you all take great care with hygiene and the source of your ingredients.

Minced any thing is horrendous when it comes to serving to the public. Take a piece of steak, the surface will have bacteria present on the surface but the act of placing this onto a very hot griddle will kill most of this off, so we can have our steak cooked rare, medium etc but the moment you mince it the bacteria is well and truly mixed into the meat. I’m sure the lady concerned probably had the beef burger well cooked but as you say the poor boxer got her meat raw and if this had been left in a warm kitchen the bacteria could have multiplied 100 fold.

This mince could have picked up the bacterial contamination anywhere along the journey from slaughter to the ladies kitchen.

I have minced the beef trimmings from my preparation of cuts for the restaurant but they have the living day lights boiled out of them and then it’s only enough meat for one meal.  

I do feel for the lady concered who was only giving her dog a special treat.

 

 

 

 

 

[Val Martin]

Spot on Philip!.......thats exactly what the vet told the lady about the difference between minced meat and steak.

Sadly though,  she found out too late!

[eva ciechonska]

I, like Catherine, was told years ago to freeze mince then defrost properly before feeding it to dogs.  I have been doing this ever since.   

I dug out my old info on it.  It is a parasite called Neospora.  It is particularly dangerous to dogs.  Freezing kills it.

However humans eat raw mince in the form of Steak Tartare.  I don't know if the mince is first frozen though

[Carmel Murphy]

Good to know to freeze mince from now on!! Thanks to you also Eva ;o)

[eva ciechonska]

Carmel, it is not that common and probably thousands of dogs eat raw mince without any side effects but I do remember articles about this in the dog papers a few years ago and the advice to freeze your mince.  I have been doing it ever since.  Rather err on the side of caution.