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.

In late 2008, Cathy DiMatteo was browsing the aisles of Whole Foods in Princeton, New Jersey. An owner of three dogs, she mistakenly picked up a can of Spot’s Stew for cats. “When I placed it back on the shelf, a man standing there with a clip-board said ‘Excuse me, can you tell me why you put that can back?” recalls DiMatteo, who told the man she was looking for Halo dog food. “And the man said, ‘I’ll help you find it.’”

The man turned out to be Alan Kerzner, Halo’s president, visiting the store with other Halo employees. During this chance meeting, DiMatteo told Kerzner she was a volunteer at Sayreville Pet Adoption Center, a no-kill animal shelter in Sayreville, N.J. She told him that the center was always in need of food, and that when volunteers brought in cans of Halo, the cats went wild.

Kerzner, impressed that people were donating Halo, decided to make a much larger gift: Soon after that fortuitous meeting, Halo donated 100 cases of dog and 300 cases of cat Spot’s Stew to the shelter. “As animal lovers it makes us feel great,” Kerzner says. “It’s good to help any animal, and especially gratifying to help those in need.”

Barbara Keegan, director of the shelter, was ecstatic when a truck pulled into the shelter driveway. “That was such a blessing they gave us that food, beyond belief,” she says. “This is over and above anything we’ve ever been given.”

This good fortune for Sayreville almost didn’t happen. DiMatteo planned on shopping earlier in the day but a stroke of luck put her in the aisle with Kerzner. “It would have never have crossed my mind he was so high up in the company,” says DiMatteo, noting Kerzner never told her he was Halo’s president. “He was so down to earth.”

Sayreville, a privately-owned shelter, is completely dependent upon donations; one of its biggest expenses is for food at over $10,000 annually for the approximately 25 dogs and 170 cats that are there at one time. “So far this year,” says Keegan, “we haven’t had to spend a cent on food, which is awesome.”

When the cases of Spot’s Stew arrived in late January, so did a homeless American bulldog that the shelter staffers named Halo. “We really wanted to honor the company,” Keegan says. “And he was the number one lover of the Halo food.”

DiMatteo says that the shelter’s normally noisy cats now quiet down when it’s feeding time. “It’s so funny,” says DiMatteo, “everyone shuts up and eats. The cats are in heaven with the Spot’s Stew.”

The Halo donation has helped Sayreville care for what Keegan notices is a tremendous rise in homeless pets. “It’s very bad, especially now,” Keegan says. “We’re seeing more abandoned pets, animals being found in parking lots, animals that were clearly someone’s pets.” Why? “Because of the economy,” says Keegan, who has seen a spike in owners whose homes have gone into foreclosure come in to give away their pets. “It’s horrendous.”

Still, at least these strays will be well fed. One top feline aficionado of Spot’s Stew is Big Boy, a toothless Siamese mix cat with feline AIDS. Says Keegan: “He has no teeth left but he loves the Halo.”

Actor Benjamin McKenzie, a star of the hit TV show The O.C., appeared on the Ellen Show April 2 and raved about how his sweet brown and white pit bull, Oscar, loved eating his Halo.

McKenzie, star of the new NBC cop drama Southland premiering April 9, received a year’s worth of Halo from Ellen last April when he appeared on her show.

Oscar was found by a friend, abandoned in a park. McKenzie said at the time he thought the dog was used as bait for dog fighting because he was so meek. Oscar was named for the character ‘Oscar’ from ‘The Odd Couple’ because he acts like an old man, McKenzie tells Ellen.

Here’s a wonderful story for those of us with fussy eaters or pets with sensitive stomachs, from L.J. Schrader on Amazon.com:

HALO food for my little angel of a dog!, February 25, 2009
By L. J. Schrader

I have a small Italian Greyhound who is quite fussy about his food and has always had a sensitive stomach as well. Since they are tiny & skinny dogs, keeping him at a healthy weight is not easy if he does not enjoy his food.

Long story short, he loves Halo’s Spot’s Stew in both the beef flavor and the chicken, and the 5 oz. cans are the perfect size for him twice a day. The food is really so authentic that it looks and smells more like chunky baby food than dog food that has the usual fillers. It is easy on his stomach since it is a great natural product, so he is healthier than ever.

It is a little pricey, but I believe it is great food for great dogs.

Thanks, L.J.! We’re so glad your Italian Greyhound is healthier than ever! Of course no one should be surprised that it looks and smells more like human food – because it is! Take a look at this fun video. And be sure to sign up for our newsletter to get lots of coupons and special by email.

Click here to see the review on Amazon, or to comment.

Dr. Spector Answers Readers’ Letters: Dr. Spector Reveals Inside Scoop on Pet Food

Q: I think the author has confused meat meal with meat by-product meal.

A: Sorry for any confusion.

By-products are the clean non-rendered parts other than meat, derived from slaughtered mammals. It includes, but it not limited to lungs, spleen, kidneys, brain, blood, bone, fatty tissue and stomachs and intestines freed of their contents.

I had stated that meat meal is “by-products that are cooked, pressed, dried and added to food.” I can see why the terminology I used may seem a little confusing. I was just trying to give the average consumer some easy definitions of by-products and meals. Meat meal is the rendered “parts,” other than meat, derived from slaughtered mammals, whereas if meat meal is cooked and the meat fat is removed, the remaining material is extruded to form meat by-product meal.