Feeding Dogs Raw Meat Might Exacerbate The Antibiotic Resistance Crisis

Think twice before indulging your dog by offering chunks of raw meat. Recent research findings have associated feeding raw meat to dogs and the growing presence of drug-resistant bacteria in the environment.

In a new study published in the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, a team of researchers at the University of Bristol observed that pet dogs who were predominantly on a diet of raw meat were far more likely to poop drug-resistant E.coli bacteria.

The researchers were a part of a prior study published in the journal One Health where they first identified a link between a dogs who were on a diet of raw meat and their poop containing antibiotic-resistant E.coli bacteria. In that study, they analyzed the feces of 223 dogs up to the age of 16 weeks in the United Kingdom.

They then found that the bacteria was resistant to antibiotics like tetracycline, amoxicillin, and streptomycin after sequencing the genome of the E.coli isolates that were in the dogs’ poop.

Previous studies that also used whole genome sequencing in the UK concluded that antibacterial resistant bacteria getting shared between farm animals and humans is uncommon. But thanks to everyday reaction, there is far greater potential for bacteria between humans and their pet dogs to get exchanged or shared.

“There are several ways that domestic pet dogs may become colonised by antibacterial resistant (ABR) E. coli and so bring them into the home. Ingestion is an essential part of colonisation; therefore, ingestion of faeces or faecally contaminated food or water by dogs may be a key source of ABR bacteria derived from humans and farmed animals,” the researchers wrote in their One Health study.

Whereas when it comes to urban dogs, the exact source(s) of drug-resistant E.coli remains unclear. In their second study, the researchers recruited 600 adult dogs. Their respective owners filled out questionnaires where they revealed their dogs’ environment, diet, and feeding habits. The owners also provided the researchers with their dogs’ stool samples.

Another major source of ABR E.coli for pet dogs are veterinary hospitals that act as fertile breeding grounds for various strains of bacteria. But when it comes to raw meat being fed to dogs, the researchers observed that pet dogs living in the countryside are far more likely to get colonised by ABR E.coli through that source.

In a press release, Matthew Avison, professor of molecular bacteriology from the School of Cellular and Molecular Medicine said, “Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are everywhere, but some antibiotics are considered critically important for use in humans. We have shown that dogs fed raw meat are more likely to carry bacteria resistant to these important medicines. This doesn’t mean that the animal, or the owner, will become sick.”

“We should do everything we can to reduce the circulation of critically important antibiotic-resistant E. coli and other bacteria. Our research adds to the increasing evidence that not feeding raw meat to dogs may help in that objective,” he concluded.