Can you make your own dogfood?

Lily-Lu

Doberwoman wrote: »

my big gripe with most dog food (and human food actually ) is additives. BHT was suggested as potentially carcinogenic at a natural preservative conference i attended a couple of years ago. i concede the reporters of this would indeed be biased. however with posher brands using rosemary or vitamin e instead, and cheaper cereal mixes not bothering with antioxidants/preservatives at all, at least I'm happy.

I was reading this site yesterday, and from what they say, you can't be sure that a food doesn't contain BHA, BHT, or Ethoxyquin, even when it states 'naturally preserved with'. If you scroll down the page a little it gives 3 examples of foods, ingredients added, then an ingredient declaration. Apparently, not all the preservatives have to be listed if they were added by the supplier of a certain ingredient (such as fats) before the actual manufacture of the food. I guess the only way to know is to contact the manufacturers and ask. Then hope that they are open and honest about it.

http://www.pet-food-choice.co.uk/antioxidants_in_pet_food.htm

Doberwoman

That's a really interesting link lily-Lu- thank you!

Personally I have contacted some manufacturers, but suspected they could be coy with loopholes. It appears somewhat similar to legislation regarding processing aids (which applies to human foods too, such as sugar, where chemicals used do not necessarily have to be listed)- but is indeed very misleading at times for the customer.

My step to avoidance is to use a cereal mixer (figuring that the naturally low fat content means manufacturers do not need to be concerned with rancidity and therefore antioxidants/preservatives).

Lily-lu's link just goes to show the advantages of making your own pet food (and meals for yourself) - you can be fairly confident of exactly what went in to it.