Comments on: Storing Pet Food

By: Lucas Ulmer

Lucas Ulmer — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 15:14:11 +0000

I think diferrent because my family use another trade name .It’s relaxed and save prices.But next Auto Pet Feeder I’ll consider this this Auto Pet Feeder that you just present.Thank!!!

By: Josh

Josh — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 00:27:52 +0000

I’ve found the Kirkland (Cat) brand to be a high end one and their staff answered my questions about ingredients.

I keep the food in the original bag, because it has a liner specifically to keep the food fresh, in a bin and then it goes into a opaque feeder dish which holds a few days worth of food so it’s “rotated” in this way to check it for mold/freshness.

Since I’m not a multi-cat household, I share this bulk bag with a friend, which means the kibble doesn’t go stale. We keep a bit of cat grass growing in a pot. We take it out of the container it’s sold in and put in our own soil, to be sure there’s no mold.

By: Nataleerae

Nataleerae — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 21:49:07 +0000

I use kumpi to feed my dog, and it is amazing. When the pet foods were contaminated a few years ago, I almost lost her, and did a lot of research on the different foods out there. Check it out…www.kumpi.com. You do have to order it and have it shipped (unless you live in CO), and it costs a little more than the stuff at the store, but you use a LOT less, so it evens out.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 16:12:15 +0000

Rebecca,

We use Pet Promise because it’s the easiest brand for us to find that seems reasonably ethical. Their deal (from their web site and packages) is:

“* No animal byproducts, those secondary slaughterhouse products that are not generally consumed by humans – such as lungs, spleens, brains, blood, beaks, feet and feathers.

* No added growth hormones that make farm animals grow more quickly.

* No antibiotic-fed protein. Antibiotics are routinely used on factory farms where overcrowded conditions can promote disease in animals; our sources raise their livestock and poultry in a humane manner.

* No rendered meats such as beef, chicken, or byproduct meals. Rendering is a high-temperature process to separate protein and fat that uses slaughterhouse scrap, as well as animal tissue from dead, dying, diseased, or disabled animals.

* No factory-farm meat or poultry tells you we’re committed to providing your pet with exceptional nutrition that comes from pure protein. Supporting rural farms by using locally and regionally raised animal protein sources helps keep our natural environment and our rural communities healthy and vibrant.

* No artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives. Such additives are unnecessary when a pet food delivers sound nutrition with great taste.”

It’s more expensive, but I’ve found it goes on sale at pet stores, so I just time my purchases around those sales and store it.

By: graycat

graycat — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 01:37:02 +0000

Rebecca
If the label ingredients say meat or meat by-products, be suspicious. If they can’t call it beef, chicken, poultry, or pork, then what is it?

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 01:25:08 +0000

Anyone know what brands of food use the um, pet remains, as a protein source? I want to be sure I never feed any of that to my animals if I have a choice.

By: Laurie in MN

Laurie in MN — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 15:39:20 +0000

Anonymous Vet:
We use the cooler to store the opened bags — sorry, I was unclear about that. As of yet we don’t really *store* the cat food longer than it takes them to go through the bags — no back up storage at this point. But as I’d like to put some away (especially the more expensive prescription stuff), I’d like to work out how best to store it before I have several 25 lb bags staring me in the face!

Thanks for the advice — I’ll be marking this for future reference!

By: graycat

graycat — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 15:11:48 +0000

Sharon,
Thank you for the pet food column. I do cat rescue and usually have a houseful. Most are ex-ferals that can not be TNR’ed. So this is a very important issue to me.

Another matter of concern for indoor cats is litter.
I am currently switching over to pine from clay. Much less weight. WTSHTF it will be dirt and sand, using greywater and rainwater to rinse and reuse. Is dilute cat urine also a usable source of ammonia for fertilizing? Maybe I can go into the rent-a-mouser/fertilizer business!

By: Jennie

Jennie — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 14:52:55 +0000

I tried to feed my kitty a raw diet for awhile. Some of the things I learned in my trials and research:
1) home-canned meat loses a fair chunk of it’s nutrition and shouldn’t be relied apon for extended periods of time.
2)There are raw food/prey based co-ops in many areas. Here in Des Moines, IA there’s a guy that brings a truck up from somewhere in Kansas and announces on a yahoo group when and where he’s stopping and you can ask him to bring you certain poundages of certain cuts. There are providers who breed everything from mice to rabbits to goats and butcher them and freeze them and ship them in bulk to your house.
3) Most animals will have to be “trained” on how to eat a raw food/prey based diet. My kitty kept trying to eat her raw chicken like it was kibble and she was just wolfing it down and it would come right back up. Issues like bones and skin can be new and challenging to an animal used to kibble.

By: Anonymous Vet

Anonymous Vet — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 05:41:22 +0000

I haven’t treated a mycotoxin problem in a dog in about 8 years. However, I have been a SAHM for the last 5 so I can’t give statistics. What I don’t recall is if my last case was before or after the introduction of plastic lined bags. It would seem that you could pour out the kibble to check it, then return it to the bag as long as moisture isn’t a problem. The plastic could hold in the moisture as well as prevent it from entering a sealed bag. I know of many kennels and vet hospitals that pour large bags of kibble into galvanized trash cans. But the possibility of heavy metal toxicity worries me. The vet colleges, research institutions and many vet hospitals order large food grade plastic containers for this purpose. Try http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/default.asp for ideas.

The seminar I attended was in April 2008. Although the topic wasn’t covered in-depth, I left with the feeling that the plastic containers being used to market pet foods is not human quality, that is, not food safe. If you have food safe buckets for grain storage, you could transfer the kibble to these. Maybe you could get some buckets from bakeries or sub shops.(Yes, I know that there is evidence that these containers and mylar bags leach but I haven’t found a better alternative. The leaching isn’t supposed to be as bad as the non-food grade containers. If anyone has other ideas for food grade grain storage, please post.)

It would be interesting to know what type of plastic lines coolers. Of course, a cooler would need to shut tightly and be lead free. Remember the issue with lead in coolers and lunch boxes a few years ago? In the 1980′s, I worked for the US Dep’t. of Interior and we stored animal carcasses on ice in coolers to feed wild animals we were re-introducing until they honed their hunting skills. Of course, in the 80′s we weren’t knowledgeable about leaching plastics.
HTH