Dog Strollers Plus

Check out the can of dog food you are feeding your dog.  Don’t just check the label.  “Super Gourmet Beef Delight” doesn’t tell you what your pet is actually eating.  Read the ingredients.  Are you aware what each ingredient is?  What it really is?  Not all ingredients in a can of food are necessarily good for your dog.  Here are three dog food ingredients you ought to steer clear of.

Corn (in any form)

You will notice it listed as corn gluten, corn gluten meal, corn cellulose, or simply corn.  Dogs are carnivores but they can eat and digest vegetable matter.  However, corn is rather difficult for them to digest because they don’t have enough of the correct enzymes.  Too much corn often leads to digestive issues.  The corn gluten, gluten meal, and cellulose are employed primarily as binders and also have very little nutritional value.

BHA/BHT

They are phenolic antioxidants, used to preserve fats and oils.  Many countries have banned these from human use, but they are still permitted in the U.S.  They may well be human carcinogens and have been demonstrated carcinogenic in animal experiments.

Here’s how this ingredient listing looks on the bag of a popular brand of kibbles.  That’s the fourth ingredient, by the way:  “Animal Fat (preserved with BHA/BHT)”.

Ethoxyquin

Ethoxyquin is an antioxidant.  It was developed by Monsanto as a stabilizer for rubber.  It has also been used as a pesticide for fruit along with a color preservative for spices – and later for animal feed.  It has been linked to thyroid, kidney, reproductive and immune related illnesses along with cancer.  Studies to determine the safety of Ethoxyquin have not been completed, and that is why it’s still allowed in dog foods.

As a side note, if you observe that fish meal is an ingredient in the dog food brand you are using, unless it says “human grade” fish meal, it’s preserved with Ethoxyquin, although it’s not specifically listed.

They are a few of the pet food ingredients you ought to avoid feeding your dog.  The best way to make sure your dog is getting the healthiest, most nutritionally balanced food possible is to make it yourself.  Otherwise, you might be compromising your pet’s health without even realizing it.