BARF and the possibility of worms

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iriebeez72

Boxer Pal
I have experimented with BARF and mixing Barf and mixing cooked meats with kibble and I noticed that he had worms when he ate any raw meat. He was just
9 months and he had many worms when he was younger. I have heard this from other sources RAW = WORMS
 

Jan

Reasonable Moderator
Staff member
My raw fed dogs have never had worms either. I have never seen any evidence to suggest that raw fed dogs would get worms. It was probably just a coincidence in your case. :)
 

myrocky

Boxer Insane
:confused: How do you know that your dog got the worms from raw meat? Are you buying meat for human consumption from the grocery store? If so and that meat has worms then no one should be eating it and the grocery store should know they are selling infested meat. Can you explain what "other sources" you have heard this from?

My dog has been eating raw for over three years and he has never got worms from it. Unless you fed bad meat (which I still don't think a dog could get worms even if the meat was bad) then I agree with Jan and say it was just a coincidence.
 

2boxerdogs

Boxer Booster
I've been told this too by my brother who is friends with a butcher. I've been feeding one of my dogs raw for 2 years and the other one now for many months and neither has had worms from raw meat. I get my meat from the grocery store.
 

myrocky

Boxer Insane
What is the reasoning behind the statment? I don't understand how dogs eating raw meat = worms? I'm just not seeing the connection.
 

gmacleod

Elusive Moderator
Staff member
Actually, it is quite possible for dogs to get worms from eating raw meat. Roundworms, for example, could be contracted by a dog if it were to catch and eat a small prey animal (rodents, for example) that happened to have roundworms... Most worms, however, are picked up environmentally rather than through food.

I suspect what your butcher is talking about, however, is the hydatids tapeworm which can be contracted from the consumption of raw offal (especially sheep offal). Whilst not especially harmful to dogs, hydatids can be fatal to humans. Frankly though, the risk of a raw/barf fed dog contracting hydatids is extremely small. Firstly because they're generally fed on the offcuts of human-grade food (and because hydatids poses such a risk to people, a great deal of care is taken to eliminate hydatids from any animals that may become part of the human diet); and secondly because people take the simple and elementary precaution of freezing raw offal for a week before feeding it (worms, their eggs, and developing larvae are all killed by the freezing or cooking processes).

On a side note - I've fed my animals a raw diet for around 30 years and have yet to have one contract worms of any variety ;)
 
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