Feed pork to the dog
Whether pork can be fed to dogs is often controversial. Some say you shouldn't give this meat to a dog under any circumstances, others argue that a large part of the commercial dog food consists of pork and pig ears are common delicacies for four-legged friends are. As is so often the case in life, both sides are not entirely wrong.
Almost every dog has eaten it
- The statement that pork makes up a large part of commercial dog food is entirely correct. Most of the animals slaughtered in Germany consist of pigs. For this reason, these are also mainly used.
- Information on the Lining such as "with chicken" only have to make up 4% of the feed content. The remaining 96% may consist of other types of meat.
- Also lots of goodies for dogs come from pigs, such as pig ears or pig paws. Often, dog owners are also advised to use pieces of wiener sausage as a reward, as dogs usually particularly like to eat them.
From this one can conclude that pork cannot always be harmful to the dog.
When pork is dangerous
Under certain circumstances, however, pork can be very dangerous, even fatal, for the dog, even in very small quantities.
Pig bones for the dog? - This is what you should watch out for with bones
Even if wolves or dogs living in the wild always feed on the whole prey, ...
- The problem lies in an infectious disease that can be found in pigs. This is Aujeszky's disease caused by the suide herpes virus.
- Pigs can carry the virus without dying. Humans are not susceptible to the virus. You can eat as much meat from sick pigs as you want without any health consequences.
- However, dogs eat Cats or other susceptible animals meat from such infected pigs, then brain and spinal cord inflammation with severe symptoms of the disease develop quite quickly.
- The affected dogs show severe itching and otherwise symptoms that are very similar to those of rabies. Aujeszky's disease is therefore also called pseudo rage.
- In contrast to real rabies, pseudo anger does not pose a risk of infection for humans. For the dog as well as for every other susceptible and infected animal - except the pig - the disease is always fatal. There is no chance of a cure.
- Aujeszky's disease is notifiable. It is currently wiped out in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and a few other countries. It is therefore highly unlikely that a dog in these countries would contract the disease from eating pork.
- The situation is different with wild boar meat. The disease can occasionally occur in wild boars because they do not care about national borders and targeted disease control is practically impossible in them. As a result, hunting dogs sometimes still get infections with the Aujeszky virus today.
- However, even in infected meat, the virus can be killed very easily by boiling it. Cooked meat is no longer infectious to dogs.
- Commercial dog food is cooked before packaging, so this is never dangerous. Wiener sausages and other brewed products are also safe.
- Nevertheless, to be on the safe side, you should refrain from feeding your dog raw or half-cooked pork and other raw pork ingredients. This is especially true if you are going on vacation with your dog and have chosen a country where not all pigs are free from Aujeszky's disease. (All information: as of 02/2014)
How helpful do you find this article?
