A friend of mine has recently had the very bad luck of dealing with neospora. When a puppy she'd bred began showing odd symptoms, she and her vet did some researching and subsequently tested the dam of the puppy, who was indeed (low) seropositive. Because I am also a raw feeder and Tap is going to have puppies, I had her tested as well...Her results just came back and she is negative. Whew.
Now before any raw feeding nay-sayers jump in, neospora had been around for ever but is VERY rare in dogs - my poor friend just had about the worst luck for this to happen. In one study, to 17 seropositive bitches, 118 pups were born and only 3% (4 pups) were seropositive. The study suggested that 80% of pups born to seropositive bitches will be NOT be infected.
As I said: The. Worst. Luck.
On a good note, freezing meat kills neospora (and a lot of other potential pathogens), and all the stuff I feed generally is frozen for 48 hours up to 1 month. But you can be darn sure I'll be extra careful from now on, especially with stuff that is dropped off on my doorstep from hunters, etc.
So, nope, this is not scaring me enough to switch back to kibble (which does scare me!) I am as sure as ever that raw feeding is the best for the overall health of my dogs. Like I said, I'm just going to be extra careful about freezing first.
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