Cheap dog food is rife with nasty industrial toxins, that's why we don't feed it to our Boerboels.
The responsible dog owner should be aware that that numerous brands and types of dog food have been revealed to contain poisons; toxic heavy metals, mercury, pesticides, hormone-mimicking chemicals, artificial coloring, PCBs, and PBDEs - flame retardants! Since dogs don't sue, dog food manufacturers are (shamefully!) pretty unconcerned with the purity and quality of their products.
What effects do these toxins have?
To name just a few...
Dog cancer is terribly common, the leading cause of death in dogs over 10-years-old. Is it any surprise that dog food is rife with BHT and BHA (industrial preservatives) and often Carrageenan (a stabilizer) which are indisputably linked to cancer?
Behavioral issues - artificial coloring, like Red Dye 40 are well-studied and known to cause mental health conditions and things like ADHD in humans. That's why we chose artificial coloring-free food and pass on conspicuously colored dog treats.
Its impact on male dogs fertility, which was documented in a UK study - the lead researcher commented...
This is the first time that such a decline in male fertility has been reported in the dog and we believe this is due to environmental contaminants, some of which we have detected in dog food and in the sperm and testes of the animals themselves.
Keep your dog healthy
What to look for (and look-out for)...
Less is more when it comes to ingredients. Look for dog food products with ideally a single ingredient. If the label lists ten different things that hints at low-quality individual ingredients contained and the presence of toxic preservatives. If the label generalizes about the ingredients - animal, meat, or poultry - that's a red flag. It should name what the food is derived from.
Avoid corn, soy, wheat, and grains in your dog's diet. These are evolutionarily alien to dogs, they contain plant lectins that cause autoimmune disease. Modern dogs suffer from arthritis as they age, but their ancestors didn't because Grok the caveman threw his "best friend" a bone with a little meat on it after dinner instead of feeding him lectin-rife plant foods.
If you can't pronounce it, pass on it! If the label ends with some strange sounding unpronounceable chemicals - beta-hydroxelene-sulfur-preservateraserin (I just made that one up!) - it's probably not something your dog should be consuming.
Made in China? No thanks! China has infamously low or non-existent quality assurance standards for the food they produce. It costs a little more to get "Made in America" or South America dog food but it will pay off when it comes to your veterinarian bills.
Pet treats are problematic
While your dog may love them, dog treats may not be good for them. According to the book Food Forensics, by researcher Mike Adams who scanned numerous dog foods with a time-of-flight spectroscopic analysis...
Beware of high mercury content in pet food treats derived from fish, where I’ve spotted some products containing more than 1,000 ppb mercury (1 ppm).
Over 500 ppb mercury in cat treats and fish-based dog treats
Over 500 ppb mercury in dog treats
Over 1,800 ppb [lead] in popular pet treats (made in China)
Notable brands
A few brands worth the attention of the nutritionally-adroit dog owner...
Toxin-free puppies
Tragically, autism and autoimmune diseases are on the rise among (human) children - this has everything to do with the prevalence of toxins in almost everything that we consume. You can just imagine how these toxins might similarly afflict puppies. This is why toxin-avoidance matters in raising great dogs. As the saying goes...
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
So a little more time and money spent on the highest quality dog food and products will ROI in the form of years added to life, life added to years, and a lot less expensive trips to the veterinarian.
Ultimately...
It's next to impossible to completely ensure that your dog (or you) doesn't consume these insidious toxins. But Boerboels are extraordinarily resilient dogs, and we make them more resilient with "biohacks"; red-light therapy, C60, and adaptogenic herbs. These biohacking measures in combination with being very selective with the dog food chosen are the best we can do to fortify our four-legged friends against all those nasty chemicals out there.
