I dont know... I find it hard to believe that bacteria thats gone IN to the dog comes out STILL as the same bacteria. All feces contain bacteria and no one purposefully goes out there to touch it! Yet some dogs eat it!
Bacteria round the dog's mouth eh? Well... I think studies were done on that which concluded that humans have more bacteria in their mouths than dogs. However, yes, maybe raw chicken juice remains on whiskers and stuff. I cant say. All I know is that I'm not sick yet... and neither is anyone else I know who feeds raw chicken.
Saliva is, I believe, one of the best germ killers around. LOL At least dog's saliva and stomach acids are - they eat dead things for goodness sake! Things that are green and covered in maggots. They dig up buried 'treasures' all the time. You can't tell me that dogs are hygenic animals.
Everyone I know just about, including myself, feeds raw meat and chicken. Yeah, I should probably be more careful in my own handling of it but I wash my hands and do the best I can with benches, sink and dishes. I rely on the dog's processing to kill the eaten bacteria and on my own cleaning to take care of the rest. Soap and water. Not antibacterial sprays.
As for bones, yes, there will probably always be the risk that a dog can eat something that will perforate its bowel, or compact or whatever. But so can a broken chewed toy, a sock, too much dry food, etc. A few years ago Pagan picked up a chicken wing and crunched on it a few times then spat it out to run to the door to see who was knocking. I picked up the wing and found it had the consistency of a wet rag. She'd crunched the bones totally. Yes there were probably still pointy bits, but honestly I've never found a bit of bone in any of the dog poop in my yard. They obviously digest them.
Perhaps a dog who hasn't been fed raw from birth can't do that... but when a dog's digestive system is used to it they can digest bones. Hair to wrap it in or not! We aren't talking the bones of large mammals here like cow femurs. We're talking chicken or rabbit bones.
And while I'm on this subject - the bacteria one - I might say something that gets me really worked up. All this hygenic, antibacterial, steralized stuff... I have a friend who's so fanatical she sterilizes her house every day cause she lives in fear that her kids will touch something dirty. These are not robust healthy kids. I wonder why? I grew up in a country town, we played in the dirt and made mud pies and even tasted some of them! We patted animals and didnt wash our hands. Heaven forbid her kids do that.... Now I heard on TV that some doctor is marketing 'dirt pills' for kids that dont get the benefit of germs in their life! I mean REALLY. If you dont have some exposure to bacteria how can you fight them?
I'm just saying, yeah, be careful, but dont go overboard.
(Better go Glen20 the poodles!)
