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.

 

 

[Sherry Miller]

I take it minced meat you are talking about is like our ground chuck, sirloin or hamburger here?  One thing I do know is that e coli is also a problem with undercooked or improper handling of any meat but like Phillip mentioned especially when ground up.  Only cooking well done would help.  When I do feed ground meat to my Irish I always boil it and then drain it and only cook the amount she will eat.  I do not feed raw but that is a choice I made long ago.......try to balance things as best as I can but also to keep up with what may be causing problems for our beloved setters.  Thanks for the heads up.

[Angela Roberts]

I read about this years ago and have always frozen minced beef since

 

[Teresa]

If it's a parasite, sure, it'll be killed by the freezing process.

But it it is a virus or a bacteria, freezing it will normally do no good - there is a reason why they advice you not to have ice in your drinks when you are in a foreign country, and only drink bottled water - the bacteria that will not harm the local population, as they are used to it, may get you sick (ice is normally not done with bottled water). 

If you are unfortunate enough to get a really nasty bacteria in your meet, you may freeze it all you want, unless you cook the meat, chances are it won't die... and recently there have been quite a lot of these stories, so I guess we should all be extra careful with your dogs food ... and ours!

 

make sure you are all eating meat (and veggies) from quality stores, where you can trace back where the food comes from, this decreases the risks a lot. Minced meat from a supermarket has been a no for me for a long time now, for many many reasons, but mostly because of the aspects Philip pointed out.

Those of you that feed raw should not be too worried as long as you are getting your products form high quality places! (maybe quit the minced meats, or mince it at home.... that's what I'd do!)

 

[Margaret Sierakowski]

When I think of some of horrible things my dogs pick up outside, like putrid dead rabbits, rotting salmon washed up on the river banks, bits of dead deer and sheep that died weeks ago, and appear to be none the worse for eating these things, if I havent stopped them in time. Minced beef from Tesco's seems relatively  risk free in comparison!

[eva ciechonska]

The particular articles in the dog papers concentrated on dogs dying from the Neospora parasite which can be found in beef, horse meat, venison etc.  It doesn't affect the dog the way bacteria does.  It hits the neurological system and results in gradual paralysis of the limbs and muscles.  If it becomes too severe the dog dies, as did this Boxer.  If it is caught early it can be treated but most vets don't know what they are dealing with until it becomes too late.  I believe the progress of the infection is quick.  The view is that freezing kills this parasite so to err on the side of caution it is better to do that.

[Ilona & Gina]

Thank you for the info! My dogs are on raw diet and in future I will make sure to freeze the meat before I feed it.