TOTW High Prairie Formula

[Lael]

Greetings,

It's been a while since I've been on the board. Good to be back.

I've been feeding our two girls Taste of the Wild High Prairie Formula for several months now. Our local pet supply store recommended it after meeting the manufacturer. Our girls have done very well on it, with notable improvement in coat thickness and softness.

I'm just noticing some issues discussed here on BW regarding a possible carcinogen used to preserve the fish meal. Therefore, I was surprised tonight to find that TOTW is rated as a 6-star dry food by Dog Food Analysis.

Is the carcinogen a known ingredient? If so, is this a threat specifically to boxers that DFA isn't considering in their analysis?

Any thoughts or experiences are appreciated. It's tough to find a food that seems to have good results, only to discover it may not be as good as it seems (which happens to me a lot). :(

fellow boxer lover,
Cat

 

[gmacleod]

I'm just noticing some issues discussed here on BW regarding a possible carcinogen used to preserve the fish meal. Therefore, I was surprised tonight to find that TOTW is rated as a 6-star dry food by Dog Food Analysis.

Is the carcinogen a known ingredient? If so, is this a threat specifically to boxers that DFA isn't considering in their analysis?

No, it is not a known ingredient (it could only be known if disclosed by the manufacturer).

It is a suspected ingredient, due to the fact that it contains fish meal - which is required by regulation in the US to be preserved with ethoxyquin unless specific permission is gained to use an alternative preservative - and the manufacturer doesn't guarantee that they have purchased fish meal preserved with an alternative.

As with any other food (and there are many) containing fish meal likely to be preserved with that chemical, DFA states whether or not it has been able to locate any guarantee to that effect (in this case, not).

DFA rates foods according to the stated ingredients used to make it. NOT according to what other things "might" be in there also, but that cannot be verified. I don't know why you're so surprised to see the food well rated - I certainly hope you're not expecting DFA to rate foods according to assumption, guesstimation or suspicion rather than known fact! Those sorts of decisions are the responsibility of the consumer and the site already points out clearly that the issue exists. It is up to you to decide whether or not to buy the product anyway.

Cancer affects all dog breeds, so no, it is in no way a specific threat to any one breed - or even any one species (ethoxyquin is banned from use in human food products because of being carcinogenic, it is not banned or even regulated (except "voluntarily") for animals).