Currently browsing posts about: Pet food

When I wrote about dogs getting stoned on cannabis edibles last week, I had no idea this was a thing.

From Bill Nesheim (my sort of son-in-law):

This has been a fairly big problem for hikers in New Hampshire.   I’ve seen a number of situations where dogs needed to be rescued from the mountains due to eating edibles dropped on the trail.  Here’s an example:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/hikenh4k/posts/10162254129628724/.

He then sent me another example (you can’t make this stuff up): Owner warns hikers after dogs sickened on trail: Dogs test positive for THC after eating human feces.  And yet another that cost an $800 veterinary bill.

From Michael Jacobson (founder, CSPI, now director of the National Food Museum):

I can relate.  Guests left an unzipped backpack in our basement. Shortly after they arrived, Oliver was moaning, unable to walk. We thought he had a stroke, but when we rushed him to the vet their verdict was that he was stoned. Turned out that our dear guests had two THC-chocolate bars in their backpack, which Oliver decided to eat. Twenty-four hours and two thousand dollars later, Oliver was back to normal.

From Tamar Haspel (science writer, Washington Post)

I saw your piece today — maybe worth mentioning that, if your dog eats weed brownies, it’s often the chocolate, not the weed, that poses the threat.

And how do I know this? Because Kevin and I visited friends in NY, and we had a bag of weed brownies in our luggage. Their beloved King Charles Cavalier spaniel excavated our bag to find them, and ate the whole thing. We came home from the theater that night and he was being really weird, so we figured it out and took him to the emergency vet, who assured us that the weed wasn’t going to be a problem – he’d just be stoned for a while – but they kept him for 2 days because of chocolate toxicity.

We were SO worried that we killed our friends’ dog! But he was fine.

Comment

Tamar is right about chocolate, especially dark chocolate.  It is not recommended for dogs; they don’t metabolize theobromine or caffeine well.  Dark chocolate can have a 3% fatality rate.

Dogs will eat anything!

The bottom line for pets: keep them away from owners’ and friends’ cannabis edibles.

The bottom line for kids: keep them away from all cannabis edibles, whether intended for humans or pets.

Addition, May 22

A reader, Mollie Morrissette of Pet Food Safety News wrote to point out that cat owners need to be careful about THC in cats.  Apparently, cats’ livers lack key glucuronosyltransferase (UGT) enzymes responsible for processing and eliminating organic compounds like THC and its by-products.  This means that THC toxins can last longer in a cat’s system.

I am a big fan of Whole Dog Journal, a terrifically interesting and useful publication about anything you might want to know about having a dog as a pet—or family member.

One of its recent articles: What to Do If Your Dog Eats Marijuana (Edibles, Weed, Vape Cartridges, etc.)

I wrote about cannabis edibles in a chapter in my latest book, What to Eat Now, and discussed edibles as pet food in that chapter.  That section starts like this:

Pet treats and supplements constitute a sub-genre of edibles, and one that is highly profitable. Owners of dogs and cats spent an estimated $426 million on CBD [non-psychoactive cannabidiol],  pet products in 2020, an amount expected to increase in parallel with reports of increasing anxiety, stress, and behavioral problems in companion animals. For the cannabis industry, pet anxiety is a market opportunity, one that easily explains Honest Paws Calm CBD Peanut Butter for dogs or D Oh Gee CBD turkey and cranberry chewies for calming support and joint wellness.

Every cannabis store in my Manhattan neighborhood sells CBD—but also THC (psychoactive delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol)—treats for dogs.

The Whole Dog Journal article warns: “The amount and type of THC-containing product consumed will determine the seriousness of this event for your dog, and dictate the level of your emergency response.”

A variety of products are available as cannabis edibles, including gummies and other candies, mints, chocolates and chocolate bars, beverages, potato chips, and baked goods such as brownies and cookies. Unfortunately, many of these sweet or savory options are also attractive to our dogs. While we may have more self-control regarding how many edibles we consume at one time, dogs are more likely to ingest an entire package of any edibles they can reach because they taste delicious.

The writer warns that if you see signs of THC toxicity in your dog “listlessness, incoordination when walking, falling over when standing, dilated pupils, slow heart rate, dribbling urine, and an exaggerated response to light, touch, and sound,” take it to a veterinarian immediately.

My advice:

• If you have edibles in your home, lock them up where your pets—and your children—cannot get at them.  Edibles are an increasing cause of kids’ visits to hospital emergency rooms.
• If you have pet edibles in your home, keep them away from your pets (so they don’t overeat them)—but also keep them away from your children.  Young kids can’t tell the difference between gummies for pets, grownups, and them.

If I counted right, the FDA oversaw 17 recalls of pet food and animal feed in 2025.

The causes included Salmonella, Listeria, aflatoxin, bird flu, plastics, and “presence of particulate matter”

Not yet on that list is an even more serious case involving Darwin’s raw pet food (thanks to  Phyllis Entis for writing and sending) : Darwin’s raw pet food linked to human case of E. coli O157:H7 in four-year-old child.

The contamination came to light after food-safety attorney, William Marler, initiated third-party testing of an previously unopened package of BioLogics All-Natural and Grain Free, Beef Recipe for Dogs found E. coli O157:H7 in the raw, frozen product. Whole genome sequencing (WGS) confirmed that the strain found in the pet food was a match for the strain recovered from the child.

In addition to the E. coli O157:H7-positive sample, the third-party lab recovered Salmonella Infantis and Salmonella Hadar from previously sealed packages of Darwin’s chicken dog food and duck dog food, respectively.

This example is notable for two reasons.  The company refused to recall the products (recalls are voluntary) and continued to sell contaminated food:

Darwin’s pet food tests positive for Listeria and Salmonella: The FDA has again found bacterial contamination in Darwin’s Natural Pet Products dog food and the producing company, Arrow Reliance, is again refusing to recall its products.Read more 

As I keep insisting, pet food is not a separate entity; it is part and parcel of the food supply for humans.  Contaminated pet food can and does infect pet owners and their children.   It is made from the same foods that go into the human food supply and is an early warning of problems to come (hence my book, Pet Food Politics: The Chihuahua in the Coal Mine)

That is why safety and other pet food issues are well worth tracking.

SAFETY

• APHA reveals Salmonella findings in animals and pet food: Reports of Salmonella in raw meat-based pet food in the United Kingdom have declined again from the record levels seen in 2022.The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) collected data on Salmonella from animals, feeding stuff and animal by-products (ABP) in England, Wales and Scotland.Read
• Dog food, treats linked to Salmonella outbreak in Canada: The Canadian government reports 27 confirmed cases across four provinces connected to handling various dog food products. Read more
• Dog Food Recalled Nationwide Due to Bacterial Contamination: FDA: North Carolina-based Viva Raw said the recalled dog and cat foods were contaminated with Salmonella and Listeria monocytogenes.

INGREDIENTS

• Report: China dominates critical vitamin, amino acid supplies: New IFEEDER research reveals U.S. dependence on Chinese-produced feed additives essential for animal nutrition and food security. Read more
• Shark-based pet snacks rising in popularity, include regulated species: DNA barcoding of shark-based pet treats in Thailand identified eight species of shark. Biologists have classified many of those species as near threatened, while also under international trade regulations. Read more
• Good fatty acids boosted by BSFL insect protein in dog food: Nevermind humans, dogs didn’t need to be convinced of insect-based pet foods’ value. In preference testing, dogs showed no significant difference in consumption between traditional and insect-based diets. Read more
• Tesco issues urgent recall over contaminated dog food fears: The retailer has issued an urgent recall notice after a foreign body contamination was detected in Lily’s Kitchen branded dog food cans…. Read more

Pet food?  Yes, pet food.

I subscribe to Pet Food Industry, an exceptionally intelligent and informative newsletter.

This piece caught my eye: Study: Farmer’s Dog finds fresh dog food boosts hydration more than kibble.

One great thing about this publication is that its writers get right to the point:

Company published research showing fresh diets increase total water intake in dogs compared to dry food.

The Farmer’s Dog announced research showing that fresh diets help dogs stay more hydrated than traditional dry food. The company said the findings are among the first to directly measure total water intake in dogs across different diets.

Farmer’s Dog sells freshly made meals for dogs.

• The study:  Rae Sires, Ryan Yamka, Joe Wakshlag. Feeding fresh food and providing water ad libitum is clinically proven to exceed calculated daily water requirements and impact urine relative supersaturation in dogs. Front. Vet. Sci., 06 November 2025. Volume 12 – 2025 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2025.1675990
• Method: “Ten dogs were used in a single cross-over study design to quantify and compare feeding a fresh food (71.1% moisture) versus a dry kibble food (6.1% moisture) on total daily water consumption (drinking + food moisture).”
• Results: “…dogs consuming the fresh food consumed significantly more total water daily on average per day.”
• Conclusion: “…fresh food can impact urine relative supersaturation and help support hydration in healthy adult dogs or those that are at risk of dehydration and water loss.”
• Funding: “The author(s) declare that financial support was received for the research and/or publication of this article. This series of studies was fully funded by The Farmer’s Dog. The funder was not involved in the study design, collection, analysis, interpretation of data, the writing of this article, or the decision to submit it for publication.”
• Conflict of interest: RS and RY were employed by The Farmer’s Dog. RS and RY are employed within the Research Department of The Farmer’s Dog and conduct nutrition research for potential use in future commercial fresh dog food applications and products.

Comment

Disclosure: I met the founders of Farmer’s Dog years ago when they first started the company, and have followed its progress with great interest. Their company has done well.  Its freshly made meals are not cheap.  To find out what they cost, you have to fill out a lengthy form about your dog.  For the chapter on pet food in What to Eat Now, I invented and filled out the form for a 20-pound, moderately active dog.  Its meals cost $5 a day in 2024 ($1800 a year).

As for this study: it is a standard example of industry-funding, conducted by employees of the funder, with a predictable outcome favoring the sponsor’s product.  A second study compared Farmer’s Dog food to canned food; in this one dogs eating the canned food took in more water.  But the overall conclusion makes perfect sense; if you feed dogs more water, they take in more water.

The safety of pet food matters because we have one and only one food supply.  If pet food is unsafe, our safety is at risk.

You don’t believe me?  Try this: Darwin’s raw pet food linked to human case of E. coli O157:H7 in four-year-old child

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is advising the public not to feed certain lots of Darwin’s Natural Pet Products raw food to their pets after a four-year-old child became ill with E. coli O157:H7…The child was hospitalized, and developed a severe case of hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), requiring dialysis. He spent a total of six weeks in hospital and is at risk of permanent injury to his kidneys.

The world of people who care about this sort of thing and demand that authorities do something about it is a small one.  I learned about this from Phyllis Entis, author of  TAINTED. From Farm Gate to Dinner Plate, Fifty Years of Food Safety Failures and TOXIC. From Factory to Food Bowl, Pet Food Is a Risky Business.

She learned about it from food safety advocate Bill Marler.  As the food alert explains,

The contamination came to light after food-safety attorney, William Marler, initiated third-party testing of an previously unopened package of BioLogics All-Natural and Grain Free, Beef Recipe for Dogs found E. coli O157:H7 in the raw, frozen product. Whole genome sequencing (WGS) confirmed that the strain found in the pet food was a match for the strain recovered from the child…when Marler reviewed the files once more, he noted that the family had a dog, and…learned that the dog exclusively ate Darwin’s pet food, and had begun vomiting one day before the child fell ill…Marler arranged for an accredited third-party laboratory to test the sealed packages of food that were still in the family’s freezer.

Marler has plenty of work to do.  He now asks: After Listeria, Salmonella and E. coli positive samples, and HUS in a child, why no mandatory recall by the FDA?

In less than one year Darwin’s Natural Pet Products have been found to be contaminated with Listeria, Salmonella (three times) and E. coli O157:H7.  This year Dawin’s pet food has been epidemiologically and genetically linked to kidney failure in a young child in Utah.

Yet, although Darwin’s has refused voluntary recalls in both instances, the question must be asked, why has the FDA not used its mandatory recall authority?

Comment: It’s great that Bill Marler took lthis on but shouldn’t this be the FDA’s responsibility?  Producers are supposed to produce foods safely—by law.  The FDA is responsible for making sure they do.  Its responsibilities apply to pet foods and well as human foods.  Raw pet food is uncooked and potentially risky; it requires vigilant attention to prevention controls.  This line of pet foods is not getting needed attention to food safety.  The FDA should be enforcing food safety rules, vigilantly, and yes for pet foods too.  What happened to this child and his family was entirely preventable.

Note to dog lovers: if you feed your pet raw food, you are taking a risk, and not only to your animal.

Forthcoming November 11, 2025

For Information and Pre-Orders, click here

Apparently, dog chews made in China may be causing werewolf syndrome in dogs in the UK.

A total of 10 different Barkoo and Chrisco branded chews have been linked to werewolf syndrome by teh FSA [Food Standards Agency] and EU.  They have best before dates ranging from Decembrer 2025 to June 2027.

Werewolf syndrome? 

The term werewolf syndrome has gained traction online as shorthand for a cluster of symptoms reported in dogs who appear to have consumed certain chew products. While not an official medical diagnosis, the term groups together sudden neurological symptoms such as:

• Sudden, unprovoked aggression or fearfulness.

• Excessive barking, crying or howling.

• Hyperactivity or restlessness.

• Destructive tendencies, such as chewing furniture.

Physical symptoms such as epileptic-style seizures, vomiting, diarrhoea and lethargy have also been observed in some cases.

The cause?  Unknown (mycotoxins?).

No cases have been reported from the U.S.

What to do?  Don’t feed those chews to dogs.

Bill Marler forwarded his post about how some pet cats got bird flu from drinking raw milk or eating raw pet food.

He learned about this from a Los Angeles County Animal Health Alert: H5 bird flu confirmed in four domestic cats that consumed recalled raw milk, and in one cat that consumed commercially produced raw pet food.

The Guardian explains how transmission works.

Pet Food Industry writes, Raw pet food linked to H5N1 infection, cat euthanizations: Officials found the cats all consumed the same brand of raw pet food before becoming ill.  Read more

Mother Jones asks: A Raw Milk Magnate Has Spent Years Fighting Public Health Agencies. Will RFK Jr. Take His Side?  (The article is about Mark McAfee, founder and CEO of Raw Farm, which sells the raw milk allegedly implicated in the death of cats.

Marler lists lawsuits over previous outbreaks—among humans—attributed to tRaw Farm milk.

Marler published a Parents’ guide to the safe use of raw milk.  His conclusion:

There is a movement in the U.S. to consume organic, locally grown, unprocessed, more nutrient-dense foods.

Some believe raw milk is more nutritious and provides the body “good bacteria.”

There are many other foods that contain “good bacteria” and are less risky than raw milk. Many stores carry pasteurized yogurt and kefir with probiotics that are very safe to feed children.

There are also high quality nutritional supplements that can be used to add probiotic bacteria into one’s diet.

For more information visit www.realrawmilkfacts.com.

Other resources

Phyllis Entis (aka FoodBugLady), who writes a newsletter about food safety, efoodalert.com, discusses bird flu in cats and includes a useful handout from the Washington State Department of Agriculture on the topic.

t foods are typically made from the by-products of human food production.  These, like offals, are plenty nutritious; we just don’t happen to want to eat them.  Pet foods therefore, reduces food waste.

A reader and friend, Patricia Gadsby, sent me this note:

Never occurred to me to ask this question before. But when the idea occurred I thought of you. What percentage of greenhouse gases are attributable to pet food? I found this.

Here’s the article she refers to:

Pedrinelli, V., Teixeira, F.A., Queiroz, M.R. et al. Environmental impact of diets for dogs and cats. Sci Rep 12, 18510 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-22631-0

The chief findings of this analysis of Brazilian pet foodss:

• Pet food has a high environmental impact.
• Wet diets have the highest.
• Dry diets have the least .
• The more animal protein, the higher the impact.
• The more calories, the greater the impact.

Like all environmental impact studies, this one depends on assumptions and tradeoffs.   The analysis does not consider the role of food waste., although the authors discuss this issue.

Several ingredients used in pet food are considered by-products, and this could be considered as a factor that reduces the impact of these foods…approximately 38% of beef, 20% of pork, and 19% of chicken is viscera or blood that is not used for human consumption31. Of all the by-products produced in Brazil, 12.8% are used in the pet food segment, and the rest is used for animal production, biodiesel, hygiene, and
cleaning, among other uses…In the present study, all types of diets contained by-products such as ofal or meat meals, although
dry and wet diets presented by-products more often than homemade diets.

I’m waiting for consensus on the assumptions.

In the meantime, two other items on pet food sustainability:

• Insect protein is a key solution to a sustainable pet food industry:  Government interest and funding are increasing for using insects to help meet climate goals.  .Read more

• Research reveals vegan diets can improve dog health: A study lead by Professor Andrew Knight at the University of Winchester in the UK found fewer cases of health disorders overall in dogs fed vegan diets. [Paid for by ProVeg International and conducted by authors linked to it and other animal welfare organizations—the full study is here].

Comment

Thanks to Phyllis Entis, author of TAINTED. From Farm Gate to Dinner Plate, Fifty Years of Food Safety Failures and TOXIC. From Factory to Food Bowl, Pet Food Is a Risky Business for the vegan diet item.  Vegan diets may be more environmentally sustainable, but are they best for a dog or cat’s health?  That question involves assumptions and tradeoffs about health and environmental impact.

The health impact would be easier to address if researchers were studying such questions.  But, as I discussed in my co-authored book about pet food issues, Feed Your Pet Right, remarkably little research is being done on dog and cat diets.  I think there are three reasons for the lack of research:

1. Pet owners do not approve of experimentation on companion animals.
2. The government does not want to bother to invest in research on pet food.
3. No pet food company wants to pay for diet studies that might not help sell pet food.

Personally, I would like to see studies examining the effects of high- and low-end commercial foods on health and sustainability.  Without them, we are left with assumptions and tradeoffs, and personal beliefs about what’s best for our beloved animals.