KalaMama

https://www.deltasociety.org//Page.a...=1&erid=190196

Poodle Lover

Wow!!! I was going to get my little havanese certified with Delta for therapy work, but I will pass on them now. Is it just me, or does it sound like the dog food industry had gotten to Delta???

Olie

Thats really too bad. I am not sure their article offers much scientific data either. I hope this does not affect timely placement for people needing this. It takes a while as it is.

WonderPup

what bothers me most is why does Delta even have a say in how dogs are fed by their owners?? Shouldn't that be a personal choice and shouldn't the only thing that matters is that the dog has been cleared for health by a vet?

How would you go about proving that any type of infection a person got came from contact with a dog being fed raw food. Whats with the shedding comments?? I've always seen skin and coat improvements feeding raw, maybe I missed something? Also how on earth do they plan on enforcing this? I can say I feed my dog one thing and go right on ahead and feed it something else. Why stop at raw feeding restrictions how about they go ahead and just tell people exactly what brands of food their dogs may eat. I'm SURE there are some Delta pets that eat crappy food (I know one, she graduated my training class last year).

Just my thoughts... but, hey... only been playing this dog game for how many years now.., what do I know ? :P

I am glad I didn't go with them I is a TDI dog owner. I was going to have Jazz delta'ed but now maybe I won't. I don't really need it I have developed a lot of contacts over the year we were visiting frequently and they could care less so long as your dog is vaccinated.

flufflvr

This isn't anything new with Delta. I just got the email today too, but it's been "suggested" policy for a long time. I think that if someone was feeding raw, and a client got an infection that could possibly be traced to the animal, this gives Delta an out from covering them with their insurance coverage (which only kicks in after the homeowner's insurance anyway.)

They aren't concerned with shedding fur, they're concerned with shedding pathogenic bacteria. Because the teams visit people who are immunocompromised, they consider that bacteria a risk.

yigcenuren

Quote "While many animals fed raw protein diets appear healthy, some do get ill." Does that mean the pets fed commercial diets never get ill? News to me.
I'm not involved in any way with this organization but this just sounds strange to me. And how are the animals 'shedding' pathogens? Through their skin flakes dropping on the ground? Hair, exhaled breath...HOW?

Pamela

I never even heard of shedding pathogens -they said that even if fed commercial food they could shed them - now am I at risk cause I live in two rooms with two spoos? they don't eat raw - they eat chicken soup for the dog lovers soul - something else to worry about? lol

Marian

I understand completely why they would do this, even in the absence of solid scientific evidence. Put on your lawyer hats for a moment and think of it this way: If an immune compromised patient gets an infection and dies, and the family of this patient gets it in their heads that the only way the patient could have obtained this infection is from the therapy dog who visited a day or so ago, they're going to get on the phone and contact a personal injury lawyer (who will work on a contingent fee basis, meaning the more his/her client is awarded, the more he/she makes off the case). These lawyers are bulldogs (no offense meant to actual bulldogs, btw) and they don't care if your dog is healthier because it eats raw meat; all they know is that raw meat has bacteria, their client's loved one succumbed to a bacterial infection, ergo, the dog was the proximate cause. They only have to convince a jury that any reasonable person would draw the same conclusion. Most "reasonable" people have not researched raw canine diets to the extent that some of you have.

Because the Delta Society is an organization that carries liability insurance on their Pet Partners, they might be viewed as a "deep pockets" target for a personal injury lawyer. Not that they are--it's actually the insurance carrier who is viewed as having lots of money.

And, if we imagine that this hypothetical deceased patient was under the age of 20, and did not have a terminal illness, the potential award could be in the millions. So, the policy may not be coming directly from the Delta Society, but from their insurance carrier. Litigating these types of cases can cost more than the settlement itself, and a verdict for the plaintiff could prove to set a dangerous precedent for future cases. It could ultimately have consequences for all therapy dogs, not just the Delta ones, especially since the facilities the dogs are visiting may be at risk of a lawsuit as well. This is why it is their business what therapy dog owners are feeding their animals.

WonderPup

but the question still remains Marian, how do you inforce this. What stops a dog owner from visiting under the delta program name and decided to give Delta the finger and feed raw anyway. Sure you can tell pet partners they cannot feed raw food but you cannot go into their homes and verify that they are feeding commerical food.

Another thing, ( and I completely get what you're saying in your post) HOW would the family get the info that the dog was being fed raw food in the first place? So where would the law suit come, it would most likely stop at verification of the dog's health records and maybe a request for an additional exam? It would be a bear IMO to prove the infection came from a dog in the first place and would be especially hard to prove it was the result of being fed raw and not from a nurse who wasn't observing proper sanitation. Any raw feeding dog owner worth their salt would be able to call in "experts" to verify that raw feeding is not only OK but actually a healthy diet and be able to educate a jury in spite of thier ignorance. Reasonable doubt would be established and in that case they would not be able to award a settlement to the grieving but greedy family. You may as well file suit against the wind unless you could PROVE that the only place the infection could have come from was the dog.

You are probably more likely to get an infection say staph maybe from a dog developing a skin condition that maybe isn't obvious yet than you are getting sick from a dog based on his diet. And anyway I don't know what training programs that other people go through are like but I was always taught to not allow the dogs to lick the good ol' veterans that we visit and to help them pet either on her head and neck or on her back, not around her face.

I should also mention that I do not raw feed

Ray'nBC

yigcenuren,
I think they mean shedding of bacteria through feces. Whenever the dog sits down, there is the potential for transfer of bacteria.