Should I be concerned?

This information has been around for at least a couple of months.  I remember reading about it via livestock/ag news agencies.

The short answer is yes, your dog can become a source of "colonization" - ie, carrying the bug.  But then, if you bring MRSA-infected meat into your home, all of the rest of your family will probably become "colonized," regardless of whether you cook it or not - contamination happens in the time you are handling it prior to serving (whether to dogs or humans).

MRSA isn't any more contagious or transmissible than ordinary staph.  What makes it unique is how the bug is highly resistant to normal antibiotics.  Outside the body, however, it's just as vulnerable to cleansers, heat, and cold.  Freezing won't kill it but it will keep it from multiplying during the time you handle it.

Just use common sense as usual, while serving raw food to your dog.  Use disposable hand protection or wash thoroughly with soap and hot water and a clean towel (don't bother with antibacterial soap or that Purel gel stuff).  Wash down all surfaces with a good cleanser, a mild bleach solution, or strong vinegar.  Keep the mess while your dog is eating contained, and wash everything the meat touched. 

That's very interesting reading..  Yes there should be  concern. IMHO

  I know this may sound alarmist in thinking but is the life of your family mean more or does feeding a RAW product that has the super bug ?That's the question I would ask myself.

Until they come up with a antibiotic that beats it you run the risk of it entering your blood stream if you get a cut.

It's the biggest drawback of feeding Raw . Not to your pet who has higher stomach acid, but to you and your family.

I wonder if the Pigs were being given antibiotics in their feeds ?

Dogs don't need to be fed raw, it may be the best thing for our Pets, but not us. In the end if we get sick and die who is going to care for them ?

Becca, as always, thanks for the input.  I was hoping you would be along.

Oh and, fish n dog, when I bring meat home for my dogs I process it and separate it into individual servings right away.  I then freeze it like that and my dogs get a serving each day, still frozen, in their outside kennel, which is in a separate part of my yard from the area where the kids will play in the summer.  I can't imagine that this would put my family in any more danger than should I make porkchops for dinner for the human elements of my family.  I freeze all of my dogs food as they seem to prefer it that way.  The only time they get it thawed is if I have completely run out of food for them and have to make a trip to the store that day.  Even then, I tend to pick them up each a frozen fryer chicken.  I suppose they could still have the bug on their bodies and track in into the house, but they can pick stuff up from anywhere really so getting paranoid about that just seems irrational.

Fish n Dog, one runs that risk each time one prepares raw meat in the home.  The only way to avoid being a direct vector is by never bringing raw meat of any kind into your home. 

Even then you then become dependent on other people to handle cooked meat and vegetable goods in a way that avoids cross contamination.  Thus, you've moved the risk from someone you directly control, to outside your ken.  The last few e-coli and salmonella outbreaks were from cross contaminated fresh greens and vegetables.  One of the most horrific e-coli outbreak in American history had apples as the common factor and was traced to deer defecating in apple orchards.

 Thats kind of where I went with that when I walked away from the computer this afternoon.  I would have to quit buying meat from any grocery store that sells pork, and then I might as well quit buying anything else, because who knows who might have touched something in meats and then something in produce or gone into the bakery.  So I'd have to buy everything from Walmart, but then, ack... people that shop at walmart also shop in grocery stores. But the whole thing is just irrational.

I let myself be scared away from commercial dog food diets in part because a close friend of mine lost one of her dogs to the recall last year.  But that was putting trust in other people preparing my dogs food.  I think being scared away from meat in general would just be going to far.

Sorry,

 like I said it's my opinion . Every person takes risks and chances they can deal with.. Just be sure you know the consequences of not being able to treat a bacterial infection that has no match.. It's not pretty. And in my mind not worth the risk. I take it you posted because in some why you are concerned. I am.  Perhaps from feeding Raw owners immune systems get built up over the years ??

Don't your dogs give kisses, lick your hand, or face? This not your average bacteria we are talking about. Can't you just cook it to be safe?

"The bacteria would be destroyed by proper cooking, so Staph food poisoning is not a major concern, said Weese, an expert on zoonoses, the pathogens that pass back and forth between people and animals.

 

But he wondered whether people handling meat with MRSA on its surface would end up inadvertently "colonizing" themselves. People who carry the bacteria on their skin or in their nostrils are at greater risk of going on to develop a Staph infection, which can range from a hard-to-heal boil to pneumonia to a potentially deadly bloodstream infection.

 

"My main concern is: if there's MRSA on the surface of a pork chop and someone's handling it and then they touch their nose, could they transmit it from the pork chop to their nose?" noted Weese, a veterinarian based at the Ontario Veterinary College in Guelph. "

Cooking it would kill it, but it's the handling part that is the risk.

And no, you can't feed a dog cooked pork necks. 

 Fish n dog are you a vegetarian? Because like someone else said it's the handling of the meat and cross contamination etc. We all take risks whenever we bring raw meat into our homes,but i think there are far worse things to have to worry about.

I know not everyone will agree but IMHO if you have a dog,a carnivore,then you have to feed raw meat if you want to feed them what they NEED.

My dogs get raw meat and bones on a daily basis,and they dont always keep their bones on their blanket.They lick my hands and face all the time,it's unavoidable,and i have the immune system of an Ox LOL. I am never,ever sick,dont even catch colds,,,touch wood 

Just for the record...

Meat isn't the only place that you can come into contact with staph. I've seen more than one study that have found it all over gyms and fitness centers. I'm sure there are plenty of other places as well. The scariest part about this staph is that it's got ONE, just ONE antibiotic to go before we can't stop it anymore. This is the road we face with almost all bacterial infections eventually because they mutate so readily and pass these mutations on easily.

 Your safest bet is to wash your hands thoroughly with regular soap (not antibacterial!) after messing around with any raw meat (or any other foreign scary place like a public toilet handle!). That of course, is a no brainer to any raw feeder. I'm not going to live in fear of raw meat, or anything else for that matter. It comes down to proper handling and cooking procedures.

ETA: As for my dog licking my face after eating raw meat... I do try to avoid it for a while after she's had it, but I do try to avoid that contact for at least an hour. For me, it comes down to risk vs. benefits. And for me, raw has more benefits to my dog than risks it poses to either of us. Salmonella and E. coli both 'lurk' in places we don't expect from rawhides, to dry dog food, to fresh green spinach!

I am not a Vegan nor do I think that's the way to go.. But I do take seriously these new antibiotic resistant bacteria. And when a certain group of foods have been found to have it I would avoid it until it's under control.. I call that having common sense. Or being cautious.

Unfortunately I have seen the devastation a run away bacteria can have. These things happen every day. In most cases when you go to a hospital they will have the right protocol to treat the infection. This super Staph strain is very dangerous.. I don't think you would ever want to get an infection from it. It might be your last on this earth if it gets into the bloodstream.

If one feeds raw wouldn't it be prudent to avoid this meat source for a while ?  Like the old song.. You don't tug on Superman's cape, you don't spit into wind, etc, etc, etc.

When a food recall happens to a commercial diet do you keep feeding it hoping you will the lucky one and not have the deadly bag ?

Actually, I avoid hospitals as much as possible as they are the highest vector for these new super strains of bacteria.  I have a friend who died of a super bug contracted at a vet clinic (it was a drug resistant e-coli).  Are you proposing that we avoid taking our dogs to the vet?

Before you were trying to make the point that raw feeding is dangerous because of MRSA.  Our point was that unless you avoid meat altogether, cooking does avoid the cross-contamination problem, which is in fact the primary concern (since staph is equally susceptible to heat and acid - even MRSA, so once consumed staph is not an issue - you can't get a gi staph infection, for instance, as with salmonella and e-coli).

Now you are saying avoid the meat in question.  Well, the problem is that they haven't figured out yet where the contamination came from - what if it was from feeding egg product to the pigs - where did the product come from?  What if it came from yeast product?  The really safe thing to do would be to avoid eating altogether, but I'm not going to do that, of course.

Cooking doesn't solve the problem.  It takes more steps and handling to cook a product than it does to feed it raw straight from the freezer.  Do you wash your utensils every time you touch the meat as you are cooking it?  Few people remember to do this - and yet you are much more likely to cross contaminate your meat and other food with that utensil, than you are by taking raw food from the freezer and giving it to your dog in the crate or on a washable towel.  Fewer steps, fewer chances of a cross contamination event. 

One thing for sure.. When the final Super Bug hits there will be a certain number of people that will have a natural immunity and they will survive. I do think that people who live on rural farming areas who deal with bacteria of all types will be those people. Their immune system gets stronger every day being exposed .

 Wasn't it T.S. Eliot who said " We will go out with a wimper not a bang" ?

I'm vegan, and my dog eats raw meat every day. I have caught a cold, but I didn't have much of a chance of not getting it. Everybody at work got it. My training buddies got it. Everybody in my house got it. Now, everybody's on the mend, and I have it. My dog and I are both healthier on our current diets than we have been, in the past. I am careful enough with Em's food. I wash my hands after I make her dish, and wash her dish at least a couple of times a week, occasionally throwing it into the dishwasher. It could happen that one day, one or both of us becomes ill from meat contamination. I'm not counting on it, though.