Dog Owners: READ ALL ABOUT IT! Urgent Press Release For Dog Owners:

"Many pet foods advertised as "preservative-free" do, in fact, contain preservatives.

..manufacturers don't have to list preservatives that they themselves did not add.

Many preservatives make their way into pet food at rendering plants before the meat is even sent to the manufacturer. An analysis of several pet foods labeled "chemical free" or "all natural ingredients" found synthetic antioxidants in all samples."

"Although you won't see it on the label, since it is often added at the rendering plant and not by the manufacturer, ethoxyquin (EQ) is used to preserve most dry pet food.

EQ is the most powerful of all preservatives and may be the most toxic.

The use of EQ is ... permitted in pet food.

...factory workers exposed to it exhibited side effects similar to those of agent orange:

• a dramatic rise in liver or kidney damage,
• cancerous skin lesions,
• hair loss,
• blindness,
• leukemia,
• fetal abnormalities, and
• chronic diarrhea.

In animals, EQ has been linked to:

• immune deficiency syndrome;
• spleen, stomach, and liver cancers;
• and a host of allergies."

"Before these animal parts and by-product used for pet food are shipped from the slaughterhouse to the rendering plant, the by-product is "denatured."

This means that crude carbolic acid, cresylic disinfectant, or citronella, is sprayed on the product."