Contaminated Dog Food - Why and What Not to Feed

There no worse feeling in the world for a pet owner to find out their faithful companion is suffering because they were fed contaminated dog food. Since animals cannot shop for themselves or make decisions concerning their health, they have to count on their owners to always have their best interests at heart and when it comes to the food it eats, feeding the dog contaminated dog food may be accidental, but the effects will be the same.

It is never recommended to feed the family pet table scraps due to the many items that are safe for humans but potentially deadly to canines, and sometimes pet foods may inadvertently contain products that may be fit for human consumption but have the potential to cause illness in a dog. Additionally, if only one of the ingredients in dog food is tainted, the entire meal of contaminated dog food is affected.

Recently, tainted wheat products used in pet food was found to have caused serious, and in some cases fatal, illnesses in dogs and cats and the entire inventory of contaminated dog food was removed from the market. However, it was not until many deaths and illnesses were discovered that the product was removed. Unfortunately, the affected animals could not tell their owners what they were feeling and by the time it was realized there was a food problem, it was too late.

Food Chain Often Broken With Contamination
Many different meats and grains go into the making of dog food and at any point on the food chain something can sneak in and cause the production of contaminated dog food. Beef, chicken and other meat products are typically raised independently of pet food manufacturers, and the dog food companies must rely on inspections of the facilities to insure the ingredients are only fed healthy foods.

For example, if a chicken used in the making of pet food were to have been fed tainted chicken feed, it may not have an effect on the chicken. However, it is in the chicken and when it become part of the ingredients in dog food, it can have a negative affect on the dog, creating a source of contaminated dog food.

Reading the ingredients of dog food is a good first step in determining the potential for inadvertently feeding the pet contaminated dog food, but for better assurances, only using quality dog food from a reliable source can help reduce the possibility of illness from the food source.

Next article: Dog Food Contamination - Why and How to Prevent