Bones, Bacteria And Freezing

[Fudo]

Hey

My breeder told me (and I think I've read on here as well), that I need to freeze bones for seven days to kill bacteria before feeding to the dog. Is this necessary? I only question this because I wonder what the difference is between bones that have not been frozen before feeding (or say, have been frozen for less than a week) and bones that Fudo has buried for a few days before eating. I would have thought that bones left lying around the yard for two days would have more nasties on them than ones straight from the shop.

Any thoughts? Thanks...

[Pixie's mum]

I've read in a few barf books that as long as the bone is raw than bacteria - for a healthy dog - is not a problem.

[Dame Aussie]

We feed frozen bones but we dont freeze them for a week, we also give some fresh and have never had a problem. Dogs digestive systems are well equipped for baceria etc. And as you said, they bury the things for weeks and then eat them!! If you want to be extra safe then freeze them but I don't think you need to freeze them for a whole week.

[jamie]

Hey

My breeder told me (and I think I've read on here as well), that I need to freeze bones for seven days to kill bacteria before feeding to the dog. Is this necessary? I only question this because I wonder what the difference is between bones that have not been frozen before feeding (or say, have been frozen for less than a week) and bones that Fudo has buried for a few days before eating. I would have thought that bones left lying around the yard for two days would have more nasties on them than ones straight from the shop.

Any thoughts? Thanks...

I've heard that you have to do this with certain types of fish but not with other types of meaty bones.

[dead sheep]

I only freeze our bones to keep them longer. My dogs like to cart their chicken around on the floor, on hot days and let it sit outside for a while to mature before consuming. Freezing for health is a moot point here.

[Golden Rules]

Dogs in the wild don't have a freezer to freeze their bones before eating them

Dogs stomachs produce hydrochloric acid to break down bones etc. There's not much bacteria that survives that

[hopenfox]

From what I've read, freezing kills parasites, but only puts bacteria to sleep. Any bacteria on the bone/meat before it's frozen, will still be there after it's defrosted.

A healthy dog's gut can easily deal with any bacteria, so its not a problem at all.

[Ashka]

Dogs are the intermediary hosts between sheep / goats and humans of Hydatid ~ the cysts can kill you. They can grow anywhere in the body, brain, eyes.....

Freezing raw flesh for a week before feeding makes it safe but no amount of freezing will make contaminated offal safe to feed raw.

Dronal Plus is one of the wormers which will kill hydatid worms in dogs. Not all will.

Raw feeding used to be illegal, feeding raw offal may still be illegal in some areas.

[Greytmate]

Hey

My breeder told me (and I think I've read on here as well), that I need to freeze bones for seven days to kill bacteria before feeding to the dog. Is this necessary? I only question this because I wonder what the difference is between bones that have not been frozen before feeding (or say, have been frozen for less than a week) and bones that Fudo has buried for a few days before eating. I would have thought that bones left lying around the yard for two days would have more nasties on them than ones straight from the shop.

Any thoughts? Thanks...

Freezing bones and meat for 48 hours is neccessary if you want to kill the neopsora bacteria and avoid neosporosis. The bones left lying around the yard have bacteria, but many of those bacteria are harmless to dogs.

[megan_]

Dogs are the intermediary hosts between sheep / goats and humans of Hydatid ~ the cysts can kill you. They can grow anywhere in the body, brain, eyes.....

Freezing raw flesh for a week before feeding makes it safe but no amount of freezing will make contaminated offal safe to feed raw.

Dronal Plus is one of the wormers which will kill hydatid worms in dogs. Not all will.

Raw feeding used to be illegal, feeding raw offal may still be illegal in some areas.

Hydatid is not a problem if you source your bones, meat etc from a butcher. If you source your food from a pet supplier then it is an issue and you must freeze the meat and bones and regularly worm the dog with drontal.

[Fudo]

Thanks guys, that's what I thought. I guess it's just nice to be reassured by what others think.

[sandgrubber]

My vet says bacteria are not a problem for dogs over four months . . . their immune systems + acid gut can handle even salmonella. You freeze the bone. The dog buries it for a few days to get a good group of bacteria and god only knows what else going on it. then eats it . . .

Most of the bones I feed are chicken frames + some beef / pork from the butcher. I feed frozen / fresh indiscriminately and have never had a problem.

[corvus]

Meat regulations in this country mean that even pet food is meant to be checked for contamination and if a carcass has cysts it gets condemned, even though the meat without cysts is actually fine. It is a human health issue as much as a pet health issue after all. I don't know how strictly it is monitored, but I suspect pretty strictly because people would be mighty unhappy if they got a life-threatening cyst from their dogs after feeding pet mince or something.

Also, Hydatids are not a natural parasite of humans, which is why they can cause so much trouble when they get into us. They think we are sheep or some other herbivore and can get lost in our bodies. We are a dead-end accidental host for them.

Regarding bacteria, as far as I know it's true that bacteria are not killed by freezing, which is why you shouldn't refreeze meat after thawing. You can refreeze after thawing in the fridge, though, as bacteria generally don't reproduce below 4 degrees C. That is the case for meat meant for human consumption as well as dogs. I have heard rumours that the bacteria that can do their thing at below 4 degrees, i.e. the bacteria responsible for meat going bad in the fridge, can be harmful to dogs. I feed the dogs meat from the fridge if it smells a little gamey, but if it's starting to smell really bad or going a bit of a strange colour, it goes in the bin. The dogs won't eat it if it's gone off in the fridge anyway, but they will happily eat something that's gone off in the sun! I think they know what they can eat better than I do.