10 Dog Foods that May Lead to Cancer

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10 Dog Foods that May Lead to Cancer

According to Dr. Carol, one out of every five pets is affected with cancer. In fact, she reports on an 80% increase in breast or mammary cancer and a 100% increase in prostate cancer. She attributes this to ineffective cancer treatments and lack of prevention of cancer.

According to Colorado State University, as many as 50% of pets die of cancer, making it a leading cause of pet death. With loads to worry about and treatments being insanely expensive, what can you do now to help prevent cancer in the future? Below, we have gathered ten dog foods that may lead to cancer to keep off of your next shopping trip. Many of these foods have also been known to cause illness in humans and are also a good choice to stay away from in all pet and people foods.

1. Maple Syrup
Found in only one percent of dog food, this may not be a leading cause of cancer but it does feed cancer according to Natural News. The sugar found in it can also cause weight gain, arthritis, hyperactivity, and others. However, this blog entry does get top spots for being part of “Pet Food Ingredients Revealed!” Other shocking entries and cancer causing agents are revealed. Free to read online, you can check out ingredients listed from best to worst, used with the most frequency, and alphabetically.

2. BHT/BHA and Ethoxyquin
These are preservatives that are often used in pet foods to preserve fats and stabilize the entire product. Developed in 1950, Ethoxyquin has actually been shown to have similar properties to Agent Orange, a poison used during the Vietnam War. Humans who were working with it in the rubber industry reported a dramatic rise in such diseases as cancerous skin lesions, loss of hair, blindness, leukemia, fetal abnormalities, and chronic diarrhea. In animals, it has been linked to immune deficiency syndrome, spleen, stomach and liver cancer, along with the same diseases in humans.

3. Cancer Tissue
You read that correctly. According to Precious Pets, animals that have cancer often find themselves becoming part of the pet food industry. With different standards for pet food, many cows, chickens, and other farm animals that are diseased – possibly even with cancer – find themselves becoming part of the pet food chain. Tina Perry has much more on a behind the scenes look at commercial pet food.

4. Genetically Modified Organisms
Also bad for people, genetically engineered food can be bad for dogs. They are often used to accelerate the growth of many crops, including corn, which can find their way into dog food. It is far more difficult to trace these GMO’s in dog food, but there is this entry from Yesterday and Tomorrow. It lists the dangers of genetic engineering and even lists foods that are good for pets.

5. Aflatoxin
This substance is so toxic it actually gets recalled, although not in every state. The toxic chemical is a by-product made by certain types of mold. Although it cannot be read off pet foods that include ingredients on the package, ABC does include a list of recalled foods that recently occurred in seventeen states. Brand names included Pet Pride, Old Yeller, and Kroger Value.

6. Blue 1 and Blue 2
These artificial colorings are used in candy, beverages, and baked goods. They have also been found in pet food and have been known to cause brain tumors in mice, according to Six Wise. You can also view the entire list of 12 dangerous food additives that are bad for both people and pets.

7. Gluten
Did you know that certain people can be allergic to wheat? Keeping in the tradition of what is bad for people is bad for pets, certain dogs can also be allergic to it, leading to a host of unexplained symptoms. While no link to cancer has been drawn, if your pet is having trouble with their diets, gluten may be the reason. Check out this article from Doctor J, an expert in gluten sensitivity in both people and pets.

8. Glyphosate
A current popular agricultural pesticide is known as Roundup. One of its active ingredients is glyphosate, which is highly toxic. Dr. Carol is a holistic veterinarian and warns of the dangers of this pesticide in pet and people foods. DNA damage and permanent mutations are a concern of the veterinarian. She also includes loads of cancer preventing tips for animals which include diet, exercise, vaccinations, spaying, and visiting the vet.

9. Fluoride
That stuff that is supposed to be good for fighting cavities can actually be harmful to pets. The Pet Examiner reported on a study done by the Environmental Working Group on popular dog foods. They found that all the brands of dog food tested all were found to contain bone meal and animal byproducts. It is believed that these ingredients are the source of fluoride contamination. Excessive fluoride can lead to weakened bones and teeth and even cancer.

10. Grains
The Dog Cancer Diet is a site that specializes in help treating diagnosed pets with the best in nutrition. In this section, they recommend that dogs and pets stay away from grains. They did not evolve on grains – which include rice, wheat, and corn – and should not be treated as such. They recommend that owners look for the primary ingredient to be meat. While grains are allowed, they should be farther down the list.

If looking for more on pets and disease, there is more to be found than the above ten dog foods that may lead to cancer. Another good source of cancer information is the Animal Cancer Center. Part of Colorado State University, they are researching and investigating into cancer in animals. Visit to learn more, get treatment options, and even read information about clinical trials.

If looking to avoid the entire host of pet food perils, there are loads of resources on the internet for making your own. Both Allrecipes and Dogtime include loads of homemade recipes for pets, some of which can actually be made on both the cheap and healthy.

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Three Dog Bakery - All Natural Food and Treats for Dogs

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Okay, I'll admit it....I actually took a bite of one of these treats because it smelled so good. And you know what? It WAS good! No wonder my pups love them!

What the heck am I talking about? I'll explain.

Recently, I was given the opportunity to try several products from the Three Dog Bakery on my guys. I was sent samples of their dry kibble, wet entree meals, and assorted treats. I was familiar with their treats (especially the cookies with carob chips which my pups love) and the entree meals, which I feed my guys for dinner occasionally. I was aware of the company and their philosophy, and liked what I saw. I had never tried the kibble, though, so I was looking forward to letting my 4-legged critics give it a try.

First a little background on the company. Three Dog Bakery was founded in 1989 by Mark Beckloff and Dan Dye....and of course their three dogs, Gracie, Sarah, and Dottie. The company has grown to have stores all over North America, as well as Japan and China, not to mention their online store.

In addition to dog food and treats, they have an assortment of "bakery" items that, quite frankly, I wouldn't mind eating myself. There are "pupcakes", personalized bone shaped or round cakes, sandwich cookies, Beagle Bagels, and many other items. They are basically just like cakes and cookies for people, only with less fat, no refined sugar, and nothing artificial. Their treats come in flavors such as peanut butter, carob chip, vanilla, apple and oatmeal, mint, sweet potato, and molasses.

Three Dog Bakery promotes their products as "all natural food and treats for dogs." They do not use any preservatives or chemicals, artificial colors or flavors, fillers, refined sugars, or salt. Their food and treats are made in the USA. Pet owners are encouraged to bring their dogs to the store with them, where they can try out various free samples...and probably do a lot of drooling!

A look at the ingredients they use and their manufacturing process gave me nothing at all to growl at (sorry, I know that was corny). High quality proteins, grains, vegetables and fruits are listed. They do not use any by-products. Let's look at a couple items individually.

Their Bakery Blend dry kibble is baked rather than extruded. If you have been reading my blog all along, I explained in an earlier entry about those processes. Baking gives a crunchier, more nutrient-dense kibble than food extruded at high heat levels. There are several formulas, but I will look at the wheat-free lamb and rice (the chicken formula does contain wheat). The ingredients listed are: Lamb meal, ground oats, lamb, ground potatoes, chicken fat (preserved with vitamin E), dried eggs, beet pulp, cranberries, blueberries, garlic, sage, ground flax seed, and a long list of vitamins and minerals. I found nothing in the list that would be cause for concern or make me hesitate to use this food. My guys loved it, by the way.

I tried their Entree for Dogs Chicken, Carrots and Green Beans flavor on my dogs. The food is sealed in foil-lined pouches, ready to eat. The stuff smelled good enough that it made me hungry! It looked like a stew I would make for my family. The ingredients are: Chicken, carrots, green beans, cooked rice, flax seed, and a list of vitamins and minerals. There are a couple other flavors as well.

You already know the dog cookies are good...I admitted to trying one!

Three Dog Bakery has a couple of charitable, non-profit organizations they created. The Three Dog Bakery Foundation offers financial assistance in the form of grants to any properly licensed, non-profit dog or cat group with a focus on rescuing dogs and cats. The company donates up to 1% of their profits to help support the Foundation. The Gracie Foundation acts as a "red cross for dogs" in need. It works to provide immediate response and crucial supplies to pets in emergency situations, offering financial assistance to properly licensed, non-profit companion animal groups.

All in all, I am very impressed with the company, its products, and their general philosophy and charitable work. I would not hesitate to recommend any of their food or treats to anyone, and will continue to use some of them myself.

Give them a try. Your dogs will NOT be disappointed!

Oh yeah.....they do make "We Pity the Kitty" all natural cat treats as well.

Their site: http://threedog.com/

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Review of Vital pet food

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Recently I had the opportunity to try out a new dog food (well, at least new to me). I had been seeing commercials for Freshpet dog food that you buy in the refrigerated section of stores, but hadn't seen it here locally. I decided to research it, as is typical for me, and found their website. I got some samples to try and agreed to write a review of the food after I tested it out on my guys.

The first thing that attracted me about the food was the ingredient list. There are no preservatives of any kind, hence the need for the food to be refrigerated. There are several product lines produced by Freshpet....Freshpet Select, Vital, Deli Fresh, a couple types of treats, and a veterinary line as well. I tried their Vital line, which is their grain-free line. All the flavors are 85-90% meat protein, and 10% fruits and vegetables. There are no fillers of any kind, and the ingredients are minimally processed to preserve their nutritional values. The Freshpet Select line includes small amounts of brown rice and rice bran in addition to the meats and veggies.

I will use the Turkey Recipe formula of Vital as our example and examine the ingredients. They are: turkey, turkey liver, spinach, blueberries, pomegranate, cranberries, carrageenan, broccoli, natural flavors, inulin, green tree extract, plus a host of vitamins and minerals.

Let's take a closer look at the ingredients.

According to their site, most of their ingredients are of USA origin. The poultry is processed in a USDA inspected plant that processes human food. Due to FDA regulations, they are not allowed to call their meat USDA inspected, however. The salmon is wild-caught. Cranberries are harvested in New England, and blueberries from Canada. While the ingredients are not organic, they are from high quality sources. A couple formulas contain carrageenan, which is a seaweed extract used in both human and pet foods. It acts as a natural thickening agent to improve the form and texture of the food.

The only ingredient I was a little unsure of is inulin. Inulin is an extract of chicory root. It serves as a prebiotic to help nutrient absorption. It also serves as a natural, soluble fiber source to aid in digestion, which is important with a diet rich in meat and fish. There is a lot of good research describing the health benefits of inulin. There is a great article on the site Medical Herbalism that goes into detail about it. There are some sites that state that inulin is not recommended and discourage its use. From my own research, I think the benefits far outweigh any potential issues. This is my own personal opinion. If you have any doubts, you should check it out for yourself.

I received a sample of all four flavors of Vital. I can say that my pups absolutely loved it. They gobbled it up so quickly that I'm not sure they even tasted it. They must have, though, because they definitely wanted more. They did not have any problems with digestive issues when switching from their regular foods to Vital. I was very comfortable with the quality ingredients and would definitely feed it again. Having 5 dogs to feed, 4 of which weigh over 75 lbs, it would not be very cost effective for me to feed it exclusively. I like to rotate my dogs' foods between several high quality kibbles, a dehydrated raw food mix, and my own homemade dog food. I would have no qualms about adding Vital into my rotation of foods. Unfortunately it is not yet available very close to me, but I will be watching for it and will purchase some when I find it.

To sum it all up, it is a great, high quality food that your pets should absolutely love. I would definitely recommend it.

If you want to learn more, here is the link to their site. Freshpet.

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Just what IS in my dog's food, part 9: Dyes

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Dyes

Dyes are another unnecessary ingredient in dog food, since dogs do not care about the color of their food. This is strictly aimed at making products look more appealing to humans, for example by hiding the grey color of poor quality rendered products or visible variations in ingredients, or attempting to make a food look like it contains more meat by adding red dye.

While natural substances like caramel coloring are harmless, they are still unnecessary and generally only serve to make a food look more appealing and uniform to the human eye.

Science also tells us that food dyes are linked to serious disease. The Public Citizen Health Research Group has tried, unsuccessfully, to force the FDA to ban dyes linked to disease. They report that in 2005, over 6 ½ million pounds of Red #40, over 4 million pounds of Yellow #5, and over 600 thousand pounds of Blue #2 were used in pet foods and other products. Red #40 is linked to lymphomas, Yellow #5 is linked to allergies, thyroid tumors, and lymphocytic lymphomas, and Blue #2 is linked to brain tumors.

What to avoid:
►Blue 2, Red 40, Yellow 5 and 6, other "numbered" dyes

http://www.feingold.org/Research/dyesinfood.html

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Just what IS in my dog's food, part 8: Sweeteners

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Sweeteners have no place in food products that are consumed daily, period. They are generally only added to poor quality foods to make them more attractive, since otherwise dogs would simply refuse to eat them. Many dogs get addicted to sweeteners, which can cause or aggravate health problems, including ear infections and diabetes. This addiction frequently poses a problem when owners are trying to convince their pets to eat a better quality food that does not contain any sweeteners, so frustrated owners continue feeding unhealthy brands.

• Blackstrap Molasses is not very sweet, a source of many trace minerals and not the same as Cane Molasses. It is harmless as a supplement in small amounts.
• While any sweeteners should be avoided in food that a dog eats on a daily basis, small amounts of unrefined sugar, such as honey or molasses, are okay in dog treats.

What to avoid:
►Cane molasses, corn syrup in any form, sugar, sorbitol, sucrose, fructose, glucose, ammoniated glycyrrhizin, propylene glycol

Next time....dyes

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Just what IS in my dog's food? Part 5: Fruits and Vegetables

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Fruits and Vegetables

Fresh, unprocessed fruits and vegetables add vitamins, minerals and various phytonutrients. They are nice ingredients but by no means necessary and mostly only included in insignificant amounts. If a brand of food contains high quality protein, carbohydrate and fat sources but no fruits or vegetables, it's still a better choice than one with less ideal main ingredients that does have a few pieces of blueberries, peas or carrots added to make the ingredient list look more impressive. Sharing some of the fresh, unprocessed fruits and vegetables you eat yourself will add much more nutritional value to your dog's diet - just please do not give onions, grapes or raisins. (more.....)



Here are some of the better ones:
Carrots: Natural source of beta carotene (precursor to Vitamin A needed for immune function), excellent fiber.
Alfalfa: Source of chlorophyll, dietary fiber.
Dried Apples/apples: Provides good source of nutritional fiber.
Dried kelp/kelp meal: Good source of iodine for thyroid function and chlorophyll.
Dried Peas/peas: Source of protein/carbohydrates/fiber.
Garlic: Good antioxidant, antibiotic. IS SAFE TO USE in the small amounts present in food!
Sweet potatoes: Good alternative to regular potatoes provides carbohydrates for energy, nutrients, less sugar than beets.

Most fruits are in insufficient quantities to give much nutritional value to the food, but blueberries and cranberries are certainly good for dogs and people, too! Don't buy a food based on their inclusion since the amounts present in the foods are relatively small.

What to look for:
►Fruits and vegetables are a nice touch but should not be a deciding factor in choosing a brand. Unprocessed, fresh items are preferable to already processed ones, and organic is always the best choice. Sweet potatoes and apples are among the better ones to look for.

What to avoid:
►Apple pomace, grape pomace, citrus pulp
Grape pomace, or any form of grape or raisin, can be toxic to dogs!!
Onions are toxic to dogs as well.

Next time we'll take a look at preservatives..


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Just what IS in my dog's food? Part 3: Fats

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Fats and Oils

Dogs need a certain amount of fats and oils in their diet, mostly for skin and coat health, but also for proper brain development and other critical processes in the body. In this regard some are more valuable than others. As food ingredients they should be specifically named and of high nutritional value. Beef tallow and lard make foods highly attractive to dogs, but they are high in saturated fat and low in valuable fatty acids. (more......)

Fats are highly digestible, very palatable, and are an energy dense nutritional ingredient. Unlike humans, dogs don't suffer from various diseases related to high fat intake - they metabolize fat the way humans metabolize carbohydrates. Since fats provide 2 1/4 times the amount of calories per gram compared to proteins or carbohydrates, it is not a good idea to feed excessive amounts to less active animals, but restricting consumption too much (and often for the wrong reasons!) or providing poor quality types of fat will lead to various problems - a coarse, dull coat and dry, itchy skin often being the most obvious ones. The dog's body will always utilize fat to convert into energy before protein or carbohydrates. Fat is also important for reproductive efficiency, kidney function and the absorption of the fat soluble vitamins, A, D, E, and K. As a less well known fact, it also serves as a metabolic source of water, so a hard working dog is less likely to get dehydrated when fed a diet higher in fat.

If you see a generic name like "animal fat" on the ingredients list, run the other way! Note that the animal source is not specified and is not required to originate from "slaughtered" animals. The rendered animals can be obtained from any source, so there is no control over quality or contamination. Any kind of animal can be included: "4-D animals" (dead, diseased, disabled, or dying prior to slaughter), goats, pigs, horses, rats, misc. roadkill, animals euthanized at shelters, restaurant and supermarket refuse, rancid cooking grease, and so on.

"Beef tallow" is often used to make low-quality food more palatable. Dogs like the taste of it. Beef tallow is very low in linoleic acid and much cheaper for the pet food industry to use than a good quality vegetable oil or nutritionally rich chicken fat.

"Poultry fat" is from any source and is not defined as "slaughtered poultry". The rendered fowl can be obtained from any source, so there is no control over quality or contamination. Any kind of animal can be included: "4-D animals" (dead, diseased, disabled, or dying prior to slaughter), turkey, chicken, geese, buzzard, seagulls, misc. roadkill, birds euthanized at shelters and so on.

What to look for:

►Specifically named fats and oils such as chicken fat, herring oil, canola oil, sunflower oil, flax oil etc. (but not one preserved with ethoxyquin or BHA/BHT. We'll tackle those sorts of preservatives in a future post).

►High percentages of Omega-6 and Omega-3 fatty acids, but a low ratio of the two. For each percent of Omega-6s at least 0.13% Omega-3s should be present, resulting in a minimum ratio of 7:1. Ratios of 5:1 and lower are preferable. Don't discount a food because of low percentages of essential fatty acids though, you can easily make up for this with a good quality fish oil supplement.

What to avoid:

►Non-specific sources such as animal fat, poultry fat, vegetable oil, generic fish oil

►Mineral oil

►Lard

►Beef tallow

Next time we will talk about the various types of fiber in pet foods. Some may surprise you.

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Just what IS in my dog's food? Part 2: Carbohydrates

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Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates are useful to dogs for readily burnable fuel for all kinds of muscular and metabolic activities. Cheap and easily produced sources of carbohydrates are such items as rice, corn, wheat, barley and soy. Hmmmmmmm... sounds like what some pet food manufacturers are commonly using as their first choice for a diet’s foundation.

It is common knowledge and generally agreed upon by experts that dogs are meat eaters and have evolved through the ages primarily as meat eaters. Although now "domesticated", our pet dogs have not evolved rumens along their digestive tracts in order to ferment cellulose and other plant material, nor have their pancreases evolved a way to secrete cellulase to split the cellulose into glucose molecules, nor have dogs become efficient at digesting and assimilating and utilizing plant material as a source of high quality protein. Herbivores do those sorts of things. That’s how Nature is set up at this time.On the other hand, some plant material such as rice, soybean meal and corn have some, although limited, usefulness in the meat eater's diet. Corn, wheat, soy, rice and barley are not bad or harmful to dogs. These plant sources are simply not good choices (we do get to choose what we feed our pets, don't we?) for the foundation of a diet to optimally nourish animals what are, have been, and for the foreseeable future will be meat eaters.

Cereal grains are the primary ingredients in most commercial pet foods. Many people select one pet food and feed it to their dogs for a prolonged period of time. Therefore, companion dogs eat a primarily carbohydrate diet with little variety. Today, the diet of dogs is a far cry from the primarily protein diets with a lot of variety that their ancestors ate. The problems associated with a commercial diet are seen every day at veterinary establishments. Chronic digestive problems, such as chronic vomiting, diarrhea, and inflammatory bowel disease are among the most frequent illnesses treated. These are often the result of an allergy or intolerance to pet food ingredients.

Let's pick on corn, for example.... it's cheap, takes up lots of room in the bag of food and in the pet's stomach so it will "fill ‘em up", it's a good carbohydrate source so the pet will have some energy, it has a few amino acids in it so the corn will contribute to the protein totals on the guaranteed analysis list, and there's a cheap and steady supply of corn. So the pet food manufacturer makes a corn diet, adds some "meat and bone meal" (which has been cooked at least twice before it gets in the bag and may contain too much calcium) to "complete the amino acid profile" and adds a few other calculated substances so that COMPLETE AND BALANCED can be stamped prominently on the pet food label.

What to look for:

►Whole ground grains such as rice, oats, barley, millet etc., potatoes, sweet potatoes, peas.

►Corn often gets a bad reputation. While it is NOT acceptable as a main source of protein in a dog food (as it is used in combination with corn gluten), as a source of carbohydrates it is no better and no worse than other grains in terms of nutritional value and digestibility. The starch part of corn is highly digestible but the whole ground product has a higher fiber content than other grains (around 7%). It should NOT, however, be listed as two or more of the top 5 ingredients!

What to avoid:

►Fragments like potato product, middlings/mids or mill run of any kind

►Unspecified grain sources like cereal food fines, (distiller's) grain fermentation solubles

►Any sort of grain hull (peanut hulls, rice hulls, soybean hulls, etc.) These have no nutrional value whatsoever and only add to the bulk of the food.

Dogs are livelier and healthier when meat, poultry, lamb and fish are the foundation of their diets. In other words, we should choose to feed them as the meat eaters they are and stop the senseless practice of feeding as if they were herbivores simply because it's cheaper to do so.

Next time we'll discuss the types of fats used in dog food.

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