Bert Kanist didn't think anything of it when he gave his dog Ozzie a treat one day last month, peanut butter crackers.
Within a few hours, Ozzie was terribly sick.
He was throwing up, Kanist said in his home in this suburb of Atlanta. He had diarrhea. His knees were wobbly.
The following day, Ozzie died. But Kanists other dog, Snickers a pound mutt, similar to Ozzie refused the crackers and was fine.
The crackers were from the Austin brand, made by Kellogg Co. Kellogg recalled the product in mid-January because the line was made with peanut paste supplied by P.C.A. or Peanut Corp. of America of Lynchburg, Va., whose salmonella-contaminated foods are at fault for sickening more than 500 individuals and could possibly have caused at least eight deaths.
The Austin products were just one of more than 420 foods that companies across the food industry have recalled because they could possibly be contaminated with salmonella, which most people probably think of as primarily a human pathogen.
Although food safety professionals say pets can be just as much at risk, either from eating tainted pet food or poisoned people food. Thats why at least 14 brands of pet treats are on the F.D.A.'s list of items that have been recalled since Jan. 1 because they were made with items from P.C.A.
From Owner To Animal And Back
As difficult as it may be to lose a beloved pet to salmonellosis, doctors say an infected pet poses a huge problem: It could infect its owner, because the bacterium Salmonella spp. can be transmitted via waste or saliva.
That means you could get salmonellosis simply by letting your dog lick you, veterinarians warn.
Even if their pets show no signs of the poisoning, owners should always be cautious. Researchers at the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine said last year that they can easily isolate Salmonella spp. from healthy-looking dogs and cats, making them classic carrier animals.
Pets may suffer salmonellosis as a reverse zoonosis, with infection transmitted from person-to-dogs or cat and subsequently back to other humans, the researchers wrote. Similarly, outbreaks of salmonella infections in large animal teaching hospitals have been linked to the introduction of bacteria from infected human employees, with subsequent spread to animals and then back to other human workers.
