Swiss Lick Swissies

Thanks for checking all this out for us!

Thanks for posting about this, I had no clue. Pro Pac is the food I feed and it wasn’t mentioned, any idea if Dana has contacted them and is waiting for a reply? If not, I just may contact them myself.

I’ve also been looking at the HealthWise brand of dog food (possibly thinking about switching to it for availability reasons) and it’s made by Natura who also makes Evo, Innova, and California Natural. Since all three of those were listed as being free of ethoxyquin is it safe to assume that since it’s manufactured by the same company it should be fine?

I’m not sure. I forwarded your post to Dana for response.

Elizabeth, none of the Pro Pac formulas use any sort of fish meal, so you’re fine in that regard. However there is an extraordinary amount of corn in that food as well as yeast, so it’s something to keep in mind.

None of the HealthWise formulas contain fish meal, so again, they are safe – but I would also note that ANY product manufacturer by Natura is Ethoxyquin-free.

Hope that helps!

I have a question for you, Dana, that was emailed to me. I forwarded it to you via email as well, but I thought I’d ask it here.

If a company has E in its food would that mean that it would also have it in its treats? We buy some treats from Drs. Foster and Smith which is on the bad list.

As far as I can tell, none of the Drs Foster & Smith treats use fish meals of any kind and they should be safe. I will go over each treat individually and should I find something I will report back.

Hello!

I ran across this site, and saw this article. I work for The Iams Company and would like to provide some information regarding our products.

Ethoxyquin is a synthetic antioxidant that remains stable at the high temperatures required to cook pet foods. The FDA allows it at levels up to 150 mg/kg of food. Often, people reference certain studies that showed toxic effects to animals fed ethoxyquin. But the animals in these studies were given excessive amounts of ethoxyquin-10x and even 53x the maximum limit–before the negative effects were seen.

We do not add ethoxyquin in any of our over-the-counter foods that you purchase at pet stores; however we do use ethoxyquin to preserve some of our Iams Veterinary Formulas. It protects fats, fatty acids (including omega-3s), and fat-soluble vitamins from becoming rancid. The omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids in these diets are important for the nutritional management of inflammatory conditions. Oxidation of these fatty acids in the food may prevent the dog or cat from obtaining the nutritional benefits of the diet.

In July 1997, the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine requested the maximum level for ethoxyquin in complete dog foods be voluntarily lowered to 75 mg/kg. The ethoxyquin levels in Iams Veterinary Formulas are in compliance with that level.

I noticed the concerned around fish meal- our fish meal comes from cold water sources in the north Atlantic and far south Pacific Oceans. The fish is actually immediately flash frozen upon catching, the supplier then preserves the fish meal with mixed tocopherols (a source of Vitamin E).

I hope this is useful information! Thanks again for your time-

Jenifer RVT
The Iams Company
Jenlovespets.im@pg.com

Thanks for your info, Jenifer! I always welcome the information.

When I spoke on the telephone with an Iams representative named Laura, I was told that the fish meal used in Iams foods ARE preserved with ethoxyquin.

Hi Dana!

I am so happy that you reached out to us, was it a recent call? We have extensive training in the use of Ethoxyquin and I am more than happy to work with you on any questions you may have.

Just for clarification, none of our Iams or Eukanuba over the counter products contain Ethoxyquin.

Here is a link to our website regarding Ethoxyquin: http://www.iams.com/iams/pet-health-advice/pet-questions.jsp

Please feel free to contact me via email or call 1-800-525-4267 I am more than happy to help you in any way I can!

Thank you and have a great weekend~

Jenifer RVT
Jenlovespets.im@pg.com
Twitter: @jenlovespets
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/jenlovespets

Hi Jenifer,

In fact the call was made a little over a week ago. I did indeed see your website prior to making that call. I am however confused as to why your employees need extensive training in the use of a chemical preservative that you now claim as a result of negative publicity that you do not use? If you can provide me with a copy of your recent product testing showing less than 5ppm of ethoxyquin, considered as the industry standard for true trace testing to prove no ethoxyquin residual, I would be happy to rescind my comments. However I should note that unfortunately, as a Nutrition Consultant, I still can not recommend any of your products to my clients, based on a myriad of other factors.

Thank you for your time!

I feed my Swissy the dry Purina Pro Plan salmon formula because my dog has dry skin and loose stools if he doesn’t have that as his base. I also mix in a can of wet food for each meal. I’ve been using Nutro and Purina Pro Plan but have just started to use Blue Buffalo. I don’t see Purina Pro Plan on the list. Do you know if that contains E?
Tks,
Jane

Purina Pro Plan suppliers use Ethoxyquin to preserve their fish meals, and all Purina formulas contain menadione, another substance banned by the FDA for use in human food that causes kidney and liver failure. Purina Pro Plan products were also revealed to contain traces of sodium pentobarbital, also known as Euthasol, a drug used to euthanize pets. It also contains unnamed “animal fat” which by legal definition could be from ANY animal, including euthanized pets.

Wow! What an eye opener! I had no idea. I’m going to be weaning over to Blue Buffalo. He seems to like that.

Thank you so much for your quick response!

Jane

Hi Dana,

Can you tell me how long ago the sodium pentobarbital was found in Pro Plan foods? Was it in all varieties (canned and dry). I feed Pro Plan Sensitive Skin and Stomach dry food. Was it in that one?

Thanks,
Nancy

The study was done in 1998 and only a few varieties and lot numbers/batches were tested. Not all varieties were tested so I can not confirm or deny presence of sodium pentobarbital trace in untested foods. However in nearly every sample tested that contained “beef tallow” the presence of trace sodium pentobarbital was detected. Beef tallow was listed as the 6th ingredient in ProPlan Beef & Rice Puppy – confirmed trace of sodium pentobarbital (in every batch tested), and beef tallow was listed as the 5th ingredient on bags of Beef & Rice adult – of the 2 bags sampled, one tested positive, the other negative, confirming also that samples are not consistent and that nutrients and ingredients and most importantly, protein and meat sources vary from bag to bag.

http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/CentersOffices/CVM/CVMFOIAElectronicReadingRoom/ucm129131.htm

Please note that the FDA insists that no dog or cat protein was detected, however, forensic science has already shown that DNA breaks down at high temperatures (such as that used for the cooking and extrusion process) and it is impossible to run a DNA profile on dog food with any degree of accuracy. Not only that – they DO say that the presence of pentobarbital is likely from euthanized cows, horses, and other farm animals – however the FDA’s own regulations prohibit animals euthanized with sodium pentobarbital from being used in the human or pet food chains… Sodium pentobarbital is a complete other subject than that this blog was referring to and I would be happy to provide more information upon request in a separate article.

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Here are Iams/Eukanuba rep EukanubaEmily comments/replies on ethoxyquin …

http://www.goldenretrieverforum.com/showthread.php?t=66752&page=13

http://www.goldenretrieverforum.com/showthread.php?t=66752&page=14

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