Pet Forum / Miscellaneous / Animal Health / June 2007

If it's carefully selected, why do you need to increase her
protein?  Why not just choose a denser feed?

An issue with raw eggs is the risk of salmonella.  I don't
know how serious the risk is (i.e. 1 out of every 100,000
eggs?  1 out of 1000?) but it's there.

in thread news:fpva73hg3q199pkpmiq3p7b4v8234jp1s3@4ax.com: Peetie
Wheatstraw <peetie.wheatstraw@gmail.com> whittled the following words:

In raw eggs, biotin is typically bound to a sugar-protein molecule (the
glycoprotein called avidin), and cannot be absorbed into the body unless
the egg is cooked, allowing the biotin to separate from the avidin
protein.Consumption of raw egg whites can  contribute to biotin deficiency
since avidin, a glycoprotein substance in egg white, can bind to biotin and
prevent its absorption. The cooking of egg whites disables this binding of
biotin by avidin.Eggs do not have any fiber, which means that if they are
eaten alone or with other foods that have little or no fiber, they can
contribute to constipation.
many people in North America have been conditioned to believe that eating
raw eggs is dangerous because of the potential of being infected with
salmonella. According to a recent study by the United States Department of
Agriculture, only one in every 30,000 eggs is contaminated with salmonella.

If you are concerned about becoming deficient in biotin as a result of the
protein, avidin, found in raw egg whites, have your egg yolks raw and cook
your egg whites. While avidin does bind onto biotin and prevent its
absorption into the blood stream, you will still be getting biotin whenever
you eat foods that contain it and don't eat raw egg whites at the same
time.  Twice a week shouldn't hurt anything.

did your vet say why he recommends against it? just curious.

re: the biotin issue, the yolk contains more than enough biotin to
make up for whatever the white binds.

i feed my dogs raw eggs, shell and all, occasionally. they enjoy them.

Thanks for all responses. Everything mentioned merits consideration.

The dog is presently getting kibble with min. 21% "guaranteed"
protein. I may consider a higher protein food after she finishes the
35 lbs of what I have, but I have more-or-less forsaken the large
commercial vendors of (even dry) food due to possible associations
with the recall mess. Suppose I'll have to research info on tiny
list of natural/holistic vendors and I'm uncertain as to how
difficult it may be to find the relevant info on the net.

Is the salmonella mortality rate for dogs higher than for humans?

I'd not heard of biotin before, but I think that's what the vet
mentioned. Something always falls thru the cracks when many, many
details are getting discussed.

On re-consideration, I'm not sure she needs the extra protein,
particularly in the dead of summer and winter when we are less
active.

I'll likely either limit the eggs to periods when I can, say, walk
her 1.5+ miles/day or just find food with higher protein.

Thanks for your help.

 Peetie

Why not make COOKED eggs a special treat?  Mine love scrambled eggs with a
little garlic powder or some cottage cheese mixed in.  I add this to their
kibble for breakfast and they are delighted.
I would agree with the vet that eggs should be cooked.

Margaret

I always recommend cooking eggs -- even though the risk of salmonella is
low, it's pretty much zero if you nuke the eggs for a minute or two.  And I
don't really think there is any advantage nutrition wise over raw eggs vs
cooked eggs.  Protein is protein -- does your steak have less of it if you
eat it well done vs rare?  I don't think so....  I don't know anything about
the biotin issue, so can't comment on that.  I just know that I would never
eat a raw egg, therefore I can't recommend people feed them to their pets!

Deborah, DVM