Pork kidneys

[MyokyoMc]

I get raw meat of different sorts, organs, ground and chunk from a reputable pastured-animal farm as well as raw turkey wings from another farm. All comes to me frozen and is thawed before offering.

Listen was a bit slower ie not gobbling up her first pork kidney, as she is super enthusiastic mostly about all I feed her. (3-year-old Malamute, eating raw for 2.5 of those years).

She ate it together with her evening sludge but, because she was slower at ingesting the kidney, I checked with the farm to see if their kidneys are washed/cleaned before freezing. They are not.

I had read somewhere about having to really clean kidneys before offering them (definitely, humans do that before eating them). In the wild, a wolf or coyote would not be washing/cleaning a kidney but, in fact, do they actually pass on kidneys?

 

[Dr. Christina]

yes, Myokyo, they do eat kidneys.
So great that you post these questions for all to learn from.
Dogs, just like us, do have preferences and aversions - to texture & smell. Note this in the journal if she continues to not like kidneys.
Dr. Christina

 

[Dr. Sara]

Dear Myokyo,
Dr. Christian is spot-on about canine preference and aversions. Some clients have commented that it is not uncommon for dogs to not like the unwashed kidneys as well as the washed; some dogs refuse kidneys completely. (One of my dogs refused to have anything to do with kidneys, though she loved all other organ meats.) You may notice a mild urine smell to unwashed kidneys, and dogs would certainly notice this.

Urine is sterile in a healthy animals, so any disease risk from unwashed kidneys to healthy animals is minimal. However, pigs (and most other food mammals) can be infected with various Leptospira serovars which could cause leptospirosis in dogs. The Leptospira organism is shed in the urine and found in the kidney tissue. Therefore, transmission of leptospirosis to a dog in pig urine or by eating pig kidneys is possible. Freezing damages Leptospira organisms, so that should decrease risk of transmission, in case some of the pigs have a subclinical infection.
Best regards,
Dr. Sara

 

[MyokyoMc]

Dear Myokyo,
Dr. Christian is spot-on about canine preference and aversions. Some clients have commented that it is not uncommon for dogs to not like the unwashed kidneys as well as the washed; some dogs refuse kidneys completely. (One of my dogs refused to have anything to do with kidneys, though she loved all other organ meats.) You may notice a mild urine smell to unwashed kidneys, and dogs would certainly notice this.

Urine is sterile in a healthy animals, so any disease risk from unwashed kidneys to healthy animals is minimal. However, pigs (and most other food mammals) can be infected with various Leptospira serovars which could cause leptospirosis in dogs. The Leptospira organism is shed in the urine and found in the kidney tissue. Therefore, transmission of leptospirosis to a dog in pig urine or by eating pig kidneys is possible. Freezing damages Leptospira organisms, so that should decrease risk of transmission, in case some of the pigs have a subclinical infection.
Best regards,
Dr. Sara

Dr. Sara,

Thanks very much for the in-depth response/info about Leptospira. Glad that all of her meat from the farm is frozen. (No hesitation this week with the kidneys - Listen wolfed them up, so to speak!)