Boston Terriers

The first time I gave Beans, my Boston Terrier, a raw egg, I cracked it into a bowl and set it down in front of him. He looked at the bowl, looked at me, sniffed the egg, and then licked at it.  After that first lick, he turned around and looked at me again as if it say, "Wow! Thank you, Daddy!" and then proceeded to slurp the egg right up. When he was finished, he was licking his chomps as if he had some special dessert.

Dogs do like raw eggs, and it would be the most natural state for a dog to eat eggs raw, along with raw meat and bones. However, there are some concerns that some dog owners and vets have about feeding raw eggs to dogs. Let's take a look at two of the more common objections:

Raw Eggs For Dogs And Food Poisoning

This is perhaps the scariest warning we hear and read about. We're told that a raw egg has the risk of salmonella poisoning, and therefore all eggs should be cooked.  Well, I personally have been eating raw eggs (generally in a milkshake) ever since I was a teenager, and I've yet to come down with a case of food poisoning. It may be that I have a stronger immune system – but I doubt it.

Raw eggs that are cracked open and then left out without being cooked or consumed immediately do have a very high increased risk of becoming laced with bacteria cultures that we just don't want to put inside our bellies, or the digestive systems of our dogs. I definitely would not consume a raw egg or feed a raw to my dog if the egg shell had been cracked, or if the egg white and yolk had been left out for a length of time after being cracked open.

It is virtually impossible for bacteria to be found inside an egg that has not had it's shell cracked or broken. My research on the matter has discovered that scientists estimate that the liklihood of salmonella bacteria being found inside an egg to be about 0.005% (five one-thousandths of one percent). The average consumer might come across a single contaminated egg once in 84 years. That's a risk I'm willing to take. And when you consider that it's not just the fact that you may come across a contaminated egg that contains bacteria, but that the conditions have to be right, meaning not refrigerated and kept in an environment that is conducive to bacterial growth, the risks of illness are still pretty low.

When you consider even further that a dog's digestive system is more acidic than a human's, the risk for the dog if fed a raw egg become even lower. Canines in their wild state eat eggs all the time, and these are eggs that are not kept in the refrigerator nor do they go through any strict sanitary procedures in their production and incubation.

So, if you are concerned about food poisoning if you were to feed a raw egg to your dog, I think it is safe to lessen the anxiety and realize that a raw diet for dogs is natural and safe, especially if you are buying your eggs in a refrigerated state and they are kept in a refrigerated state when you arrive home, and none of the egg shells have been cracked or chipped.

Learn more about a raw meat and food diet for dogs. Click Here.

Raw Eggs For Dogs And Biotin Deficiency

The next common objection to feeding raw eggs to dogs is the risk of a deficiency in the B Complex vitamin, Biotin. A deficiency in this vitamin can affect the skin, hair and nails. In humans, it can be the cause of skin issues around the nose, forehead and other parts of the body, and cause weak nails and hair loss or thinning. However, a biotin deficiency in humans is rare. Indeed, the FDA has not even estabilished a minimum daily intake requirement for biotin in humans because the digestive system creates biotin.  As well, such a deficiency is considered mild and easily correctable.

I have not been able to find any information on whether or not a dog's digestive system also creates its own biotin, but it is known a deficiency in dogs can have similar effects: hair loss and lesions on the skin. So how could feeding raw eggs to dogs cause a biotin deficiency?

Well, the yoke of an egg contains a good amount of biotin (in fact, it's one of the moset dense sources of biotin), but the egg white, in it's uncooked state, contains a protein called avidin which prevents biotin absorption. When the egg white is cooked, this is no longer a factor.  However, if a dog is getting biotin from other sources such as liver, there should be no issues with a lack of biotin in the diet.

From what I have read and seen, most of the objections to feeding dogs raw eggs because of the fear of a biotin deficiency are the result of a study done in 1963 where dogs were fed a diet high in egg whites.  Not the whole egg, just the whites. It was during this study that dogs showed symptoms of a biotin deficiency.  But please keep in mind when you are faced with objections about feeding raw eggs because of the fear of biotin deficiency, that these fears originate with this study which had nothing to do with feeding a couple of raw whole eggs a week to your dog. The study conducted consisted of a diet already high in egg whites – not just a few eggs a week.

I have been feeding my Boston Terrier a couple of raw eggs a week for several weeks now. As soon as he hears the egg being cracked, he comes a running!  He has shown no signs of biotin deficiency; in fact he has a lovely coat, and there are no issues with his stools or any other visible signs of any issues.  And eggs contain so many other valubable nutrients that giving him a few ever week is more likely to doing him far more good, nutritionally.

So get cracking and give your dog an extra treat of a delicious whole raw egg!

Learn more about a raw meat and food diet for dogs. Click Here.

 

Now, I will admit that I'm not a Veterinarian and I have no professional qualifications as far as nutrition. Having said that, I won't feed my dogs anything that I think is unhealthy for them. I have done my own research and these are the conclusions I have come up with after reading extensively on the subject. I find it odd that many Veterinarians and so called health professionals will advise against things because no scientific studies have been conducted and there is only "anecdotal" evidence. Well, the anecootal evidence and my own experiences are sometimes good enough for me, and perhaps the reason no such studies have been done is that it just might cause a bit of a dent in the commercial dog food producers' profit margins.