Millions of Americans are feeding their beloved pets food that contains the controversial ingredient, Ethoxyquin. What the heck is Ethoxyquin? And why isn't it listed in the ingredient panel on the bags? Well this my friends, is the dirty little secret you aren't supposed to know about. Dog/cat food manufacturers are only required to list the ingredients they themselves, actually add to the food.
Ethoxyquin was developed by Monsanto in the 50′s, registered as a pesticide in 1965 and used as an antioxidant to prevent the scalding of pears.
The EPA has four toxicity classes of pesticides. Classes I through III are required to carry a warning on their label. Ethoxyquin falls under Class III for oral, dermal and inhalation which would require it to carry a “caution” label.
Do you remember seeing any “caution labels” on any of the dog food bags you’ve read? Because I sure don’t, but yet a huge percentage of dog food manufacturers use fish meal preserved with Ethoxyquin in their dog food.
According to the EPA’s own website, Ethoxyquin was shown to target the liver and kidneys in experimental animals. It was also associated with contact dermatitis with humans, which ceased when Ethoxyquin was removed from their environment.
I accidently stumbled upon this information about 6 years ago when my oldest lab, then 11 months old, developed allergies. Vet to vet I went; the solutions offered to me at the time, were not acceptable for an 11 month old dog. So I buried myself in allergy research, dog foods and any acceptable option I could find.
In my 7 months of research, I discovered Ethoxyquin and learned a lot about dog foods. I'll just say that the foods I'd been feeding my dogs for years are definitely not the foods I am feeding today. Thinking back, I knew something was wrong but I never associated it with the food.
Edited to add, for anyone that may find their dog/cat food does contain Ethoxyquin and may wish to change foods....
So as to not have bouts of diarrhea all over the house, my recommendation would be to change over VERY slowly as chances are you will be upgrading the food. Start with a 5% new food/95% old food ratio 1st day, 10%/90%-2nd day, etc. Watch the stools. If they start to soften, do not increase new food until they are solid; either remain at the current percentage or back up a percentage.
If stools do not firm up in a couple days, the food may not agree with the pet and normally you can return the unused portion to the store for a refund and try something else.