CDC — Salmonella from pets (reptiles, birds, small mammals) & food-safety handling

The CDC notes that Salmonella are bacteria that can live in the intestinal tract of many different animals and can make both people and animals sick. Many animals and pets can carry these germs, even if they appear healthy.

High-risk pet groups for shedding Salmonella include Reptiles (turtles, lizards, and snakes), amphibians, backyard poultry, and rodents/small mammals. Animals that do get sick might have diarrhea; sick animals may vomit or have a fever. CDC guidance emphasises handwashing and properly cleaning/disinfecting items and surfaces that have come in contact with animals.

Pet-food relevance: Salmonella contamination of dry/pet food and raw diets is a major pet-food recall driver (see fda-pet-recall). The CDC's reptile/small-animal shedding facts are the human-health counterpart to the manufacturing-safety controls in mfg_food_safety_us_cfr_507 / mfg_food_safety_eu_183_2005.

Note: CDC live site was WAF-blocked at fetch time; content landed from the Wayback Machine official archive (first-hand CDC text).

Source: pdf-raw/parasite-zoonosis/cdc_salmonella_wayback.html (CDC via web.archive.org, landed 2026-08-09).

Claims (verified C1 substrings of source_file)

• Salmonella are bacteria that can live in the intestinal tract of many different animals
• can make both people and animals sick
• Many animals and pets can carry these germs, even if they
• Reptiles (turtles, lizards, and snakes)
• might have diarrhea
• may vomit or have a fever
• handwashing