Raw Eggs...

[JanM]

Do many people feed their dogs raw eggs? How many - 1 a week or ??
I'd really appreciate getting some feedback on this - I've heard so many different opinions that it gets very confusing! Some say they are bad for dogs, others say they are wonderful for their coats...

[technodoll]

mine get about 5 raw eggs each, per week... even humans eat raw eggs (ya know... those "power shakes" ) so yeah, they're perfectly safe to give to dogs if they're tolerated! in fact they are mother nature's "perfect food", so to speak. go for it!

[Lissa]

If you are worried, give the yolk raw and cook the white. But if you want to cook the entire egg, I wouldn't bother giving it to your dog because the heat will kill all the nutrients (in particular biotin/EFA's). By cooking the egg white, you will kill the avidin which is the "dangerous" part in eggs (because avidin can cause protein deficiency)

Dodger gets whole/raw organic eggs a few times a week.

[technodoll]

lissa, not really... from http://www.provet.co.uk/health/diseases/eggwhite.htm

Many clinical nutrition books discuss biotin (one of the water soluble vitamin B complex) as being an essential nutrient which can be bound by avidin, which is found in raw egg white. This binding prevents it's absorption from the gastrointestinal tract. Fortunately cooking deactivates this effect of avidin, and egg yolk is so high in biotin content that biotin deficiency does not occur when whole raw eggs are fed. So, whilst biotin deficiency is a potential problem - in reality it is unlikely to be seen in domesticated animals unless they are fed an extremely imbalanced ration that is predominantly egg white.

On the positive side - raw chicken egg white does of course have some nutritional value and contains the following :

88.3% water
9% protein
Trace of fat
Trace of carbohydrate
Minerals -
Sodium - 190mg/100g
Chlorine - 170mg/100g
Potassium - 150mg/100g
Phosphorus - 33mg/100g
Magnesium - 11mg/100g
Calcium - 5mg/100g
Vitamins and vitamin precursors
Tryptophan (an amino acid and niacin precursor in dogs and other species but not cats, mink or fish) - 2.6 mg/100g
Riboflavin - 0.43 mg/100g
Pantothenate 0.3 mg/100g
Folate - 13 mg/100g
Biotin - 7 mg/100g
Vitamin C - 0
Vitamin D -0
Vitamin E - 0
No dietary fibre
36 kcal energy per 100g

[JanM]

WOW - there's an eye-opener for me. Thank you all for sharing your knowledge. My two Goldens will now get at least 2 raw eggs each per week! Thanks again..

[technodoll]

good luck JanM! hope they like it

[Lissa]

Originally Posted by technodoll

lissa, not really...

There's equal amounts of studies showing that there is not enough biotin in egg whites to bind ALL of the avidin.

"However, recently a subscriber, Dr. Sharma, PhD, who is a biochemist with Bayer, contacted me about this issue. His investigation into the matter revealed that there is not enough biotin in an egg yolk to bind to all the avidin present in the raw whites. He found that 5.7 grams of biotin are required to neutralize all the avidin found in the raw whites of an average-sized egg. There are only about 25 micrograms -- or 25 millionths of a gram -- of biotin in an average egg yolk. This is obviously not nearly enough to do the job. For this very reason, controlled diets of only raw egg whites lead to severe biotin deficiency" http://www.mercola.com/

It's not something that worries me because I am giving Dodger free-range organic eggs...I'm not sure I'd feel as comfortable giving raw supermarket eggs.

[technodoll]

i agree... for every study saying something, there is another one saying the contrary. it's enough to drive you mad! maaad, i tell you!

It's not something that worries me because I am giving Dodger free-range organic eggs...I'm not sure I'd feel as comfortable giving raw supermarket eggs.

i wish i could afford those nice eggs, for the dogs AND for us. they're so bloody expensive around here (we do through a dozen eggs per week so yeah, at $5 per pack... i have to buy the cheap ones ) lissa you are so lucky though!!