Kibbles and Fits

Let me tell you a story about dog food. About a year or so ago, our dog, a Shih-Tzu/Poodle mix, was eating Beneful by Purina. She became sick, eating and drinking less, acting very lethargic, and was throwing up often. We didn’t know what was wrong with her, and decided to do research on Beneful.

What we found was horrific.

Beneful is perhaps the biggest problem pet food on the market. There were numerous reports of dogs becoming sick and dying while on Beneful. Some families lost multiple dogs to this food. Snopes confirmed these rumors. We immediately sought out a new food, and settled on Blue Buffalo, which helped my dog bounce back pretty quickly. While talking to the owner of the little pet supply shop in town, we found out that one of his other customers lost her Shih-Tzu a month earlier. It was on Beneful, and displayed all the symptoms we saw described on the internet.

So why is this food so dangerous? It might be toxic because one of the ingredients is Propylene Glycol. While it is used as a preservative in dog food, it’s also the key component in newer versions of antifreeze. Yes. Antifreeze. In dog food. It is actually banned for use in cat food, but for some confounding reason, it is still legal to use this chemical in dog food. Purina has done nothing but deny, deny, deny, and in the face of mounting evidence that they are poisoning dogs left and right, issued an in-house company-sponsored “study” that concluded that Beneful was safe. A class action lawsuit was filed against Purina back in February, and with any luck, it might finally force this toxic food off the shelves.

Blue Buffalo is what I feed my dog now. It’s not cheap, but there’s no antifreeze or other industrial chemicals in it, and the company takes pride in using real, healthy ingredients. My dog is healthier than she’s ever been, and I refuse to feed her anything else, especially since I now know that Purina simply does not care about the health and safety of dogs, and is vigorously defending a product known to have poisoned thousands of them. To hell with Purina.

That’s the story. The comments thread this weekend is reserved for discussion about how we care for our furry friends, and sharing information about giving them long, healthy, happy lives.

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