Report Shows Dog Food Tests Positive for High Levels of Heavy Metals and Carcinogens

Many dog parents think of their pets in the same way that they would their own children, and try and give them the best of everything. That means routine visits to the vet, ensuring they have access to clean and fresh water, and making sure they're getting a well-balanced diet filled with all of the things they need to thrive.

For that last part, a lot of us rely on commercial dog food to provide meal options that contain everything dogs need to survive and look and feel their absolute best.

Sometimes, dog food contains a little more than we bargain for though, resulting in sick animals and product recalls. A report from an third-party company now says that pet parents have something else to be on the lookout for when shopping for dog food, after they say that their labs found heavy metals in the dog food that was tested as part of an investigation into the quality of kibble.

Keep reading to learn what else they found, and what you need to know to keep your pup healthy and safe.

CNN reports that the Clean Label Project took a look at 79 samples of fresh and frozen dog foods, which included things like freeze-dried, air-dried, and traditional kibbles. Then the company ran 11,376 tests looking for things like arsenic, plastic, lead, pesticides, acrylamide, cadmium, and mercury.

According to the findings, fresh and frozen dog foods came back with the lowest levels of these items. The company believes that this has to do with the fact that these items contain more water.

Meanwhile, dry foods had about 21 times the amount of these contaminants, and kibble contained 13 times more than the fresh and frozen options.

While CNN notes that the company didn't release the names of the brands, it did state that it tested the "best-selling" options when deciding which ones to check, which means that the products were probably some of the more commonly purchased ones. “The levels of heavy metals and other contaminants we found were alarming,” the company's director said.

Unfortunately, dogs can't tell us when they aren't feeling well, which is why we need to be on the lookout for signs that they are in distress. When it comes to heavy metal exposure, the Wedgewood Animal Pharmacy website says that some of the symptoms include GI distress like stomach pain, lack of appetite, vomiting, and either diarrhea or constipation.

Dogs may also experience neurological symptoms as well, which may be easier to pickup on, especially if your dog's behavior changes quickly.

These include running in circles or seeming to run around aimlessly, seizures, blindness, and loss of muscle coordination. While heavy metal toxicity usually builds up over time before your pet will begin to experience symptoms, a sudden change in behavior almost always warrants a trip to the vet.

If you have questions about your pet's health, especially when it comes to exposure to toxins or poisons, you should reach out to your vet directly for more information.