PetSmart Recalls Grreat Choice Dog Biscuits

The peanut butter recall has reached all the way to pet food. PetSmart announced on January 20th that they are recalling their Grreat Choice dog biscuits in the peanut butter and assorted flavors because the peanut butter in them was made by the Peanut Corp of America. That company provides peanut products as an ingredient to many food producers, and recalls of human foods are also under way.

Complying with the PetSmart recall will help protect you as well as your dog. What? Can possibly contaminated pet food affect humans if the humans don't eat the recalled pet food? Yes. Keeping dogs from becoming ill is the first line of defense for their human owners.

Dogs, being carnivores, are much less likely to develop clinical infections with Salmonella than humans and non-carnivore animals. The normal canine diet in the wild includes raw meat and the intestinal contents of their prey, which frequently includes Salmonella and other pathogens. A canine digestive and immune system usually neutralizes the pathogens before they cause illness. This natural resistance is good news for dogs.

However, dogs can be healthy-looking but still be shedding Salmonella in their feces for weeks after an unapparent infection. The shed Salmonella are bad news for any humans who are in contact with the dog's feces because humans are much less resistant than dogs. The "fecal-oral" transmission route is how Salmonella spreads best, and it takes strict hand-washing and sanitation procedures for an adult to avoid contamination from the dog's feces. If you have children, especially if you have toddlers, if the dog is shedding bacteria, the child will be exposed to those bacteria.

To infect a human, Salmonella or any other bacteria has to survive the human's stomach acid in numbers large enough to cause an infection. Stomach acid is one of your body's physical defenses against illnesses. It's no coincidence that toddlers and the elderly, who have lower levels of stomach acid, are the most likely to show clinical infections of the bacteria that cause gastritis. They have the fewest natural defenses against the bacteria.

In conclusion, although the chances are slim that a dog will become ill from Salmonella after eating a doggy snack flavored with peanut butter, it's better to protect your dog, yourself, and your family by taking the PetSmart products back to the store for a refund.

References:

FDA Recall Information: http://www.fda.gov/oc/po/firmrecalls/peanutcorp01_09.html

PetSmart Recall Information: http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=196265&p=factset16

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