The information recently released from the Environmental Working Group about the high levels of fluoride in dog food is concerning. Although there have never been “safe” levels of fluoride determined for dogs and cats, the levels in the dog food tested well exceeded the safe limit levels for humans. When you consider the combined fluoride exposure dogs are getting from their food and tap water, there may be real health concerns.

Follow these tips to avoid excess fluoride consumption in your pet:

1. Choose a natural high quality diet like Halo. Halo foods contain no bone meal or inferior by-products which were found to be the primary source of excess fluoride.

2. If your pet has food restrictions and their food cannot be changed (from one containing bone meal or inferior by-products), decrease the amount of tap water they drink. Tap water contains fluoride and eliminating this source of fluoride will be beneficial. Most forms of spring water and bottled water have less than 0.1ppm fluoride. You should call the company and ask how much fluoride is in their water to insure a low intake. Some water filters will remove fluoride and some will not—again a quick phone call to the company will give you this information. Distilled water is fluoride-free.

3. If you cook for your pet, avoid using Teflon-coated pans as they may increase the fluoride levels in the food.

4. Avoid using human toothpaste and oral rinse products that contain fluoride in pets. Dental health products designed for pets are fluoride-free to avoid dangerous levels.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 14th, 2009 at 10:00 am and is filed under Dr Donna Spector, Healthy Dog Food, Natural Pet Food, Pet Health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.