I agree, it's not talking rott when informing the poster that uncooked meat can contain salmonella ( it's fact), and given the posters dog is already compromised it would be wise to check if continuing to feed raw is a sensible thing to do, it's best to check with her vet or do some research and make her own mind up.

I disagree - changing something as important as diet is not a good idea unless it is to a very special type of anti cancer diet or some such. And I dont care who they are if someone talks bollox I will say so. Any vet will agree that dogs deal with much higher levels than we can of salmonella - but bearing in mind the immuno suppression it is probably not a bad idea for cookie's meat to be well cooked.

Indeed, which is why I said it would be OK to cook meat.

But for healthy dogs, which presumably the so-called "expert" was talking about, it is absolute rubbish to say that feeding raw meat is not a good idea because of the salmonella.

It is indeed a fact Jackie that uncooked meat MAY contain salmonella, especially raw chicken - it would be wrong to say that ALL uncooked meat contains salmonella - but you are ignoring the FACT that dogs have a far better digestive system than us and can deal very well with salmonella-infected meat. To say otherwise is anatomically incorrect.

Thank you all for your help, sorry I haven't been back and sorry that it has caused a bit of chaos between the hype of raw making dogs sick ect.
As you have rightly said Gnasher raw is the best and I don't want to mess with his diet being the best if he is still okay, my concern is which his white cell count going down (down to 3.7 at the last test) and his inability to fight off any bugs if he picks them up through his diet.
I spoke to one vet (the normal very lovely lady we see) and she reassured me that raw is the best, adding that she has had a few dogs previously go through chemo on raw only diets and it seems to have helped them better cope with the stress their bodies have undergone.
Then after finding out about Cookie worryingly low white cell count I asked the other vet (the lovely man who removed Cookie's cancerous lump and was his main vet for the week he stayed in after the op) and he assured me that raw would be fine, but if it would stop me worrying I could buy some hydrogen peroxide (might have the wrong name since it was a few days ago) or if I really wanted I could cook his food but he insisted raw was best for him and since he is still healthy and happy to carry on and chill out.
So I'm taking their advice, Cookie is doing great on his raw and with the vets on board it makes me much happier to continue. Thank you again for your support at this difficult time, it means so much knowing I have somewhere to turn.
If Cookie does start with an upset stomach though I will be feeding him cooked turkey and little else, since he can't handle cooked red meat very well. Another reason I am so happy to keep him on raw.

That is brilliant news, I am so pleased for Cookie and for you! And you hang on to those vets of your's - they are in a rapidly decreasing, but nevertheless significant minority, of vets who actually know something about the importance of diet. It is very interesting what one of them said about dogs actually benefiting from a raw diet whilst on chemo - because of the immunosuppressive effect of the drugs, even I would have admitted to being concerned about compromising Cookie with the feeding of raw meat, but it would appear that it is just the opposite.

Which just goes to prove my point that our canine friends can MORE than adequately cope with nasties like salmonella. Raw feeding is the natural diet for a mainly carniverous animal like a canid - they are geared up with the tools for it - nature pretty well always knows best.

Interestingly in this context, Ben dug up a revoltingly manky old bone in the garden yesterday. It was minging - we could not get it off him without causing him immense trauma, so we decided we would risk it and leave him to it. We fully expected to have a disturbed night with him, but no, all his well. He tucked into a huge meal last night of 2 packets of Albion raw tripe and raw lamb with two 2 large chopped up carrots and some left over cooked vegetables, and is bouncing around in the garden again looking for his bone!

Uncooked meat CAN contain high levels of salmonella - that is indeed a fact.

It is also a fact that canids can cope with far higher levels of bacteria and other nasties than us humans can.

As always, it is always best to check with the vet, which the OP has done, and Cookie continues to be fed on raw. Excellent result, and I for one have learned something about dogs with a compromised immune system which I did not know before.