Many foods that are harmless to us humans pose a great danger to dogs and cats. This includes, for example, chocolate, which can cause life-threatening poisoning with the alkaloid theobromine in dogs and cats.
In addition, however, raw pork is also one of the foods that have no place on your four-legged friend’s menu. Here’s why cats and dogs shouldn’t eat raw pork.
Key facts at a glance:
- Raw pork can contain Aujeszky virus.
- Infection with Aujeszky virus is always fatal for dogs and cats.
- Aujeszky’s disease is a notifiable animal disease.
- There is currently no therapy or effective vaccine against the virus.
- Humans cannot get Aujeszky’s disease.
What makes raw pork so dangerous
There are numerous assumptions on the Internet as to why eating raw pork is so dangerous for dogs and cats. Despite claims to the contrary, the danger is not that the four-legged friends cannot digest pork or that it triggers food allergies more often than average.
The real reason why cats and dogs are not allowed to eat raw pork is Aujeszky virus, which is contained in the meat and can be transmitted to the four-legged friend when it is eaten.
What are Aujeszky viruses?
The Aujeszky virus is one of the herpes viruses. It was discovered by Hungarian veterinarian Aladar Aujeszky 150 years ago. The viruses are distributed worldwide and cause Aujeszky’s disease not only in dogs and cats, but also in many other mammals.
The Aujeszky virus is very resilient and can survive for a comparatively long time outside of a host. The virus is not destroyed during meat aging and remains infectious for around 20 days even in cured meat.
Aujeszky’s disease is fatal to dogs and cats
Pigs are the main host for Aujeszky virus. Equine and primates cannot become infected with the pathogen. Accordingly, Aujeszky’s disease does not pose a threat to humans.
However, it is different for dogs and cats. In these, an infection with the Aujeszky virus is always fatal.
Aujeszky’s disease is a notifiable animal disease. Even suspected cases must therefore be reported to the local veterinary office.
Symptoms of Aujeszky’s disease in dogs and cats
In dogs and cats, infection with the virus leads to inflammation of the spinal cord and brain. Affected animals suffer in particular from severe itching as well as vomiting and diarrhea.
In addition, there are significant changes in behavior, some of which are reminiscent of an infection with rabies. For this reason, Aujeszky’s disease is often called pseudo-rage. Infected animals become restless and anxious. They salivate profusely and suffer from shortness of breath and convulsions.
Course of Aujeszky’s disease in dogs and cats
The incubation period of Aujeszky’s disease is two to nine days. After the first symptoms appear, it usually takes a week at most for the animal to die as a result of the infection. In cats, death often occurs within the first two days.
Diagnosis of Aujeszky’s disease in dogs and cats
The diagnosis is usually made based on the symptoms of the disease that appear, as well as the rapid deterioration in the condition of the animal patient. However, a reliable diagnosis is usually only possible after the animal has died.
Aujeszky’s disease cannot be treated
It is currently not possible to treat Aujeszky’s disease in dogs and cats. Once infected, animals die in any case as a result of the infection.
An effective vaccine is also not yet available, so immunization against the Aujeszky virus is not possible. It is unclear whether this will change in the future. In any case, older studies with dogs showed that the development of a vaccine is difficult and that the vaccination can sometimes also be fatal.
Aujeszky virus in wild boar
Great efforts have been made in Germany to combat the Aujeszky virus. At least in domestic pigs, the risk is therefore quite low, while Aujeszky’s disease still occurs regularly in wild boar.
In order to prevent infection with the Aujeszky virus, owners of dogs and cats should generally refrain from feeding them raw meat or offal from domestic and wild boar.
Can dogs and cats eat cooked pork?
Basically, it can be assumed that existing viruses are killed by the heat during cooking. The consumption of completely cooked pork therefore poses no danger to dogs and cats.
However, it is certainly easiest to completely avoid feeding pork. In view of the numerous alternatives such as chicken, beef, lamb or fish, it should not be difficult to provide variety in the feeding bowl even without pork.