Pets Now Involved in Salmonella Scare

Sadly, as I anticipated, the current Salmonella scare involving a multitude of peanut butter products has spilled over into the pet world as well.


PetSmart issued a voluntary recall of Grreat Choice Dog Biscuits due to potential contamination with Salmonella. You can see the specific types of biscuits on the recall notice in the link I gave you.


So far, no illnesses have been reported from these biscuits and we likely won't see any as most pets are fairly adept at handling the Salmonella bacteria. Dogs and cats rarely develop any symptoms from exposure to Salmonella and when they do it is usually limited to diarrhea and vomiting with subsequent dehydration. The bigger problem is how the pet's owners handle Salmonella.


Salmonella can be devastating to anyone with compromised immune systems. This includes the elderly, young children, and anyone whose immune system is not functioning at 100% whether due to illness (like HIV) or drugs (chemo patients or organ transplant recipients).


For now, if you have any peanut butter type of treats for your pets in the household, you might be well advised to wait and see how many more foods are affected before giving any to your pets.


Other important things to remember about Salmonella:


1) Always wash your hands after handling any reptile or bird as these are the species most likely to harbor the bacteria.


2) If you prepare raw food diets for your pets, be especially careful and wash all utensils and kitchen surfaces after preparation. Similarly, when cleaning up after your pet, consider that his or her feces may contain Salmonella organisms.


3) Ordinary disinfectants and bleach are usually successful at killing Salmonella.


4) If you have concerns about your pet, or if you purchased the Grreat Choice Dog Biscuits, it wouldn't hurt to call your veterinarian for advice.

1-21-09: Here is an update to the story from CNN