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Mad Cow Disease in Dogs
Whether mad cow disease affects my dog?
Mad cow disease is a disease of cattle. Brain is the most affected part in cows. Bovine Spongio Encephalopathy is the other name of mad cow disease. This disease was first spotted in United Kingdom.
Mad cow disease is caused by special type of protein and not by bacteria or virus. These so called special proteins [Prions] bind with the brain cell, change their chemical composition and prevent their normal function there by leading the animal to death.
The cows are believed to get this disease by accidental ingestion of this special protein.
Some scientist says that the disease attacks only the cows that are genetically susceptible. Is there any mad cow disease test? Can this disease come to dog? If it can attack, whether it will be through the ingestion of special protein or by eating the infected cow's brain? These are the questions that need to be answered.
Some scientist feels that we cannot rule out the possibility of dog getting the disease in total. Cats do get this disease, which is called as feline spongy form encephalopathy.
The human too can get this disease. In human beings this disease is called as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
The big disadvantage as far as mad cow disease is concerned is that this disease cannot be confirmed based on any test done on live animals. We need to open the skull, took out the brain and spinal chord to conduct the examination.
So far there is no scientific evidence that this disease exists in canine population.
Both bovine spongiform encephalopathy and feline spongiform encephalopathy come under “Communicable Spongiform Encephalopathy”. So there is no guarantee that this disease cannot affect the canine in future.
In general this disease affects the cattle that are more than three years old. But young cattle do get this disease.
As the older cattle [3 yrs and above] are prohibited from slaughtering for human consumption, those cattle are used in pet food industry. This is a common industry practice though not permitted by the government.
Not all the parts of the cattle bound to have the special proteins [prions]. The brain, eye, ganglia and spinal chord are the parts that need to be watched. Bone, flesh and blood are believed to be free from prions.
As
there is no cases of canine mad cow disease identifed
so far in spite of feeding the dog with food that contain processed cattle
parts, and no proven mad cow disease test, there is no need to get alarmed
as of now.
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