For many people, the first step to prepare dinner isn’t chopping vegetables or pre-seasoning a cut of meat; it’s taking out the ingredients to thaw. Usually this is a pretty straightforward process. One pet owner, however, learned that’s not always the case. After setting out the Trader Joe’s ground beef on her counter and going about her business, her dinner randomly went missing. And she discovered her German shepherd was the likely culprit.
The woman, @jaikguk6r7, details what went down in a TikTok, which garnered over 66,000 views.
The content creator tells her audience she is mad.
“ So I took it out of the freezer and, like, put it on the counter so it can defrost,” she says. “ So like an hour later, I go to find my ground beef to cook it, and I can’t find it anywhere.”
She then pans her camera to a guilty-looking German shepherd. In her hand, she was holding a ripped-open plastic bag, which once contained ground beef.
“Are you serious?” she asked. “ Did you do this?” The German shepherd did not need to signal or reply. It was obvious.
“Bad. I don’t even know if that’s good for her. I don’t even know…” the content creator trailed off, clearly at least a bit worried about the dog’s eating habits.
She’s now questioning whether the raw meat will poison her pet.
The Bright Side
While Secret was concerned about her dog munching on an entire pack of ground beef, her viewers took an optimistic approach.
One viewer had two reasons why the situation wasn’t all that bad.
“1. at least they didn’t eat the plastic as well. 2. one time my husband prepped steaks that we were going to cook in half an hour,” the viewer said. “[We] popped to the store and back and found our dinner had been pulled off the back of the stove and devoured. that’s the day we learned how far our Husky [can] reach.”
Other viewers warned the content creator not to leave meat out, citing potential bacteria growth.
“Please don’t leave raw meat to thaw on the counter, this can cause rapid bacteria growth so just put it in the fridge a day or two before to be safe,” another viewer said.
@jaikguk6r7 i’m mad
Is Raw Meat Safe For Dogs?
If there’s one thing that people disagree on, it’s whether raw meat is actually safe for dogs.
A majority of online sources support the idea that raw feeding is unhealthy, but some leading “gurus” and pet owners claim that it has nutritional benefits. Anecdotally, some owners say it can lead to a “a glossier coat and more energy,” alongside other pros.
Despite this, leading institutions such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association (CVMA) all agree that a raw-based diet is not healthy for dogs.
VCA Animal Hospitals adds that “Raw food diets likely contain more than enough protein but can be deficient in important vitamins and minerals, which can lead to clinical disease.” Additionally, the CDC notes that raw meat can contain harmful bacteria that can lead to illness.
Even freeze-dried raw treats carry additional risk factors. The Cornell Richard P. Riney Canine Health Center says that many commercially available raw products can create risk for humans just as much as animals. The veterinary college adds that one outbreak, which involved contaminated pig ears, “sickened at least 154 people with salmonellosis over a four-year period.”
But What About A Small Amount Of Raw Meat?
While some veterinarians caution pet owners to avoid raw meat at all costs, others say that a small portion is fine. A veterinarian responding to a Petco discussion thread, for instance, said that “many dogs eat raw meat as part of their diet. Do not induce vomiting.” They said the dog discussed in the post “may have a mild stomach ache or diarrhea but probably no problems.”
In contrast, another expert told someone—whose pug ate 1.35 pounds of raw beef—to induce vomiting.
The answer, it seems, depends on the volume the dog consumes. Most animals are still susceptible to bacterial risk, but a small portion usually leads to mild symptoms afterward—not debilitating side effects.
@jaikguk6r7 i’m mad
BroBible reached out to Secret via TikTok direct message for comment.