Message #116849

[Monteria]

Its not that a raw diet will increase any individual dogs immune system. That's not what I am advocating at all, and I guess that we derailed to some extent.

My belief is that by over vaccinating every pup, or otherwise over protecting them individually from all the threats out there, we are not allowing nature to take its course. Thereby weakening the K9 breed as a whole.

Regarding Pseudo-rabies, >70% of all wild hogs in Texas have the disease. The good news is that inter-species transmission is rather difficult, as viruses go. It is most often transmitted through saliva and sexually (obviously, we do not have to worry about sexual transmission(unless you have some really freaky hog dogs)). That being said, it can also be transferred through blood transfusion. I have not been able to find any conclusive evidence that Pseudo-rabies is transferred through ingestion, though it would make sense that intravenous transfusion could occur during the ingestion process if the dog had a cur in its mouth or esophagus.

In short, I think its much more likely that the dog actually contracted the virus during the hunt than by ingestion.

Steve