Dog Food Scoring Test, a way to score the food you feed Options

[Jen]

Crap. I know ethoxyquin is bad since the mid 90s and that it doesn't have to make it onto the label if added prior to purchase but I'm very disappointed to see that it's in Taste of the Wild.

You could always feed raw. It's not always super convenient and there's a learning curve at first but I use human grade meats and since I buy in bulk I spend about $100 less per month than I would if I fed the kind of kibble I would want to feed. Crap, I'm probably saving more because Bumper eats 1.5 times what the rest eat! He must have a hollow leg because I still want him to gain a little weight.

[Patty & Bill]

this is an email that went out last month on my sibe group: I assume the "recall" they're talking about it is a recall of the product from the store that the author of this letter must either own or work at.

it has some interesting info in it.

DOG FOOD ALERT!! - Temporary Removal of Artemis, Taste of the Wild, Canidae
& Solid Gold

Please stop using the following till Jan 2011 - read in:

o Solid Gold [all except the Holistique Blendz formula]
o Taste of the Wild [kibble and canned food]
o Artemis [kibble and canned food]
o Canidae [all except the Chicken and Lamb formulas]

Story below:

As many of you know, we lost our beloved Bodhi to liver cancer in late
October 2009. Once Christmas passed it gave us an opportunity to do some
additional research into some possible links to liver cancer
[hemangiosarcoma] .

We became aware that the FDA requires ALL imported fish-meal to be treated
with the preservative ethoxyquin. Ethoxyquin is also used in jet fuel,
cosmetics and in some human foods. The levels allowed in pet food is
substantially higher than that allowed for human consumption. It is a known
carcinogen that targets the liver and spleen.

While many commercial pet foods use imported fish-meal, many of the holistic

manufacturers have applied for a special exception, allowing them to use
other preservatives like Naturox, which is a natural alternative to
ethoxyquin.

Earlier this month we contacted all of the manufacturing companies that had
fish listed on the ingredient panel to find out:

1) Was it imported fish
2) If imported what preservative was being used

We found that the following brands of food contained fish meal treated with
ethoxyquin:

o Solid Gold [all except the Holistique Blendz formula]
o Taste of the Wild [kibble and canned food]
o Artemis [kibble and canned food]
o Canidae [all except the Chicken and Lamb formulas]

We contacted the manufacturer' s representative, and were informed that
approximately 6 months ago they began shelf-testing Naturox, and will finish

with the shelf trial towards the end of this year. Hopefully at that time
all ethoxyquin treated fish meal will be eliminated from the foods listed
above.

While the products only contain trace amounts of this preservative, our
feeling is that a healthy animal might be fine on the food, whereas
genetics, immune compromised states, and other factors could influence
whether an animal develops cancer over time.

If you would like to continue using any of the foods during this internal
recall, we can special order the foods, but we WILL NOT be offering them for

general sale in our store.

As we stated previously, once this ingredient is replaced we will offer
these foods again, but as always, we continue to monitor the products we
sell at The Big Bad Woof®. If you ever have questions about any products in
our store please ask.

We thank you all for being our customers, and we will work with you to find
good alternatives if you were using one of these foods.

(removed the authors name and phone number)
Signed by coowner of "The Big Woo"



I am wondering if it's the fish based food that contains the carcinogen or is it all their kibble? And not sure how to check the authenticity of the info provided.




Patty

[luvmymal]

Oh damn, and I'd been so happy with taste of the wild. We use the pacific stream pretty often but right now just opened a lrg bag of the...high prairie ( think that's what it's called, has bison ) Not sure that one has any fish in it...... will have to check when I get home.

[Sue&Misha]

I have to check my bag too. I just switched Taku to High Prairie for his last bag of kibble and he loves it. Our local feed mill handles all Taste of the Wild formulations, Canidae, Chicken Soup and Holistic Select. I hate to have to go farther to get the kibble but I will if I have to.

[LupineSpirit]

on www.truthaboutdogfood.com I found this regarding dog food companies that responded to the author's letter - she wrote to several mills asking about ethoxyquin:

As of the writing of this article (9/5/09), the following are the companies that have responded.
Artemis Pet Foods
Per Diamond Pet Food (manufacturer) “all fish meal, ocean fish meal, and salmon meal ingredients are preserved with ethoxyquin.”

Breeders-Choice – AvoDerm Natural Pet Food
“Breeder's Choice does not use ethoxyquin in any of it's foods. However, because it is found in the food chain, trace amounts cannot easily be eliminated.”

Blue Buffalo Pet Foods
“Fish meal is preserved naturally with Naturox.”

By Nature Pet Foods
“Fish meal is preserved with natural tocopherols.”

California Natural, Innova, Evo Pet Foods
“Fish meal is preserved with Vitamin E and mixed tocopherols.”

Canidae/Felidae Pet Foods
Per Diamond Pet Food (manufacturer) “all fish meal, ocean fish meal, and salmon meal ingredients are preserved with ethoxyquin.”

Castor & Pollux Pet Foods (Organix and Ultramix)
“Fish meal is preserved with Naturox.”

Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover’s Soul Pet Foods
Per Diamond Pet Food (manufacturer) “all fish meal, ocean fish meal, and salmon meal ingredients are preserved with ethoxyquin.”

Diamond Pet Foods
Per Diamond Pet Food (manufacturer) “all fish meal, ocean fish meal, and salmon meal ingredients are preserved with ethoxyquin.”

Evolve Natural Pet Foods
“Fish meal is preserved with mixed tocopherols.”

Flint River Ranch Pet Food
“Fish meal is flash frozen until time of manufacturing; no preservative needed.”

Fromm Family Pet Foods
“Fish meal is preserved with citric acid.”

Kumpi Pet Foods
“Fish meal is preserved with Naturox Plus.”

Merrick Pet Foods
“Fish meal preserved with mixed tocopherols.”

Natural Balance Pet Foods
Per Diamond Pet Food (manufacturer) “all fish meal, ocean fish meal, and salmon meal ingredients are preserved with ethoxyquin.”

Nature’s Logic Pet Food
“Fish meals are preserved with natural tocopherols and rosemary.”

Newman’s Own Pet Foods
“Fish meals preserved with Vitamin E.”

Petcurean Pet Foods
“Fish Meal is preserved with Vitamin E.”

Premium Edge Pet Foods
Per Diamond Pet Food (manufacturer) “all fish meal, ocean fish meal, and salmon meal ingredients are preserved with ethoxyquin.”

Taste of the Wild Pet Foods
Per Diamond Pet Food (manufacturer) “all fish meal, ocean fish meal, and salmon meal ingredients are preserved with ethoxyquin.”

Timberwolf Organics Pet Foods
“Fish meal ingredients are preserved with Vitamin E.”

TLC Pet Foods
“Fish meal is preserved with tocopherols.”

Many other pet food manufacturers were contacted, no response as of 9/5/09. The holiday weekend could be the delay in their responses.

[Autumn]

Dogfoodanalysis.com

On this site it says that Chicken Soup is no longer preserved with ethoxyquin.

Makes me wonder if these manufacturers are even telling the truth!

[Nikita]

Well crap, I didn't realize that Canidae had ethoxyquin. Guess we'll be switching over to Red Paw sooner than we anticipated.

[Sue&Misha]

Well crap. Taste of the Wild Bison/Venison has fish meal in it so I will begin weaning Taku off of it. I had to buy small bags in order to get back to Holistic Select (Formerly Eagle Pack) $$$. I checked the labeling on Canidae and Chicken Soup; the ethoxyquin content is not apparent because no specific perservative for the fish meal is stated. It shows how even when you read labels carefully you don't know the whole story. I think that sucks. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/dry.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/mad.gif)

[Patty & Bill]

Fromm Family Pet Foods
“Fish meal is preserved with citric acid.”

this is the one that caught my eye. I read somewhere that citric acid is connected to bloat.

[luvmymal]

Fromm Family Pet Foods
“Fish meal is preserved with citric acid.”

this is the one that caught my eye. I read somewhere that citric acid is connected to bloat.

Maybe it's like our human stuff....everything nowadays seems to be bad for you???? I'm thinking I might stay with TOW high prairie, the fish in it is quite a ways down on the list so doesn't that mean it doesn't have much??
Someone did say our food has ethoxyquin in it too, right? Just lower amounts? Seems to me alot of things are unhealthy in large doses! ( like alcohol, but you ain't taking my miller lite!! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif) )

[Patty & Bill]

I don't know what to think anymore (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif) It's all so confusing.

[April]

Patty, I have heard citric acid is connected to bloat as well.