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What you are about to read is something that is very startling - and have probably never heard of before. As shocking as it might be, it is something that you should know before you feed your pet it's next meal. A very disturbing fact of pet food comes from FDA testing. The FDA has determined that pentobarbital, the drug that is used to euthanize animals - is commonly found in many popular pet foods. You did read that correctly. Pentobarbital, a euthanizing drug, is in some popular pet foods and treats and according to the FDA is safe for pets to consume. A few years ago the FDA released a report of a two year study - finding pentobarbital common to many pet foods and providing results of an 8 week study to determine if it could be harmful to U.S. pets. Their findings - again from an eight week study - was that it was safe for our pets to consume pentobarbital in pet food. My first concern is that this testing was only done for 8 weeks. No consideration was given to pets that are consuming this euthanizing drug in their food for a lifetime. Unfortunately, the concerns don't stop there. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Agency recently published a report stating that pentobarbital is considered an environmental hazard - "responsible for the deaths of over 140 Bald and Golden Eagles in recent years - as well as numerous other wildlife and dogs." Other wildlife named in the report were California Condors, Vultures, Hawks, Wood Storks, Gulls, Crows, Ravens, Bears, Lynxes, Foxes, Bobcats, and Cougars. This report stated the reason the wildlife was exposed to pentobarbital is from access to euthanized carcasses of farm animals and small animals in land fills. In big bold letters the report stated "Poisoning of eagles or other wild birds, even if accidental, violates Federal law!" This report also stated that Veterinarians and livestock owners have been recently fined for 'involuntary killing' of eagles. "Veterinarians must inform clients that a pentobarbital euthanized carcass is poisonous and requires proper disposal. The client needs to know that the carcass can poison and kill scavenging animals, including federally protected species, other wildlife, or even pet dogs." The FDA has made changes requiring pentobarbital labeling provide information of environmental hazard - the product is toxic to wildlife. New labeling requirements also added "Do not use in animals intended for food." Yet pentobarbital is still legal to be included in a pet food. The facts are - pets are consuming pentobarbital every day. Regardless of the FDA's requirement of use of the drug - 'not to be used on animals intended for food' - pentobarbital is commonly found in many popular pet foods. How the drug gets into pet food is a unresolved controversial argument. It has been rumored for years that the source of the pentobarbital is from rendered (cooked) euthanized dogs and cats picked up from animal shelters all over the U.S. The pet food manufacturers deny such claims stating the only source could be euthanized cattle or horses. The debate continues - because there has never been any clinical evidence provided to the public that the source is from cattle or pets. The possibility of euthanized dogs and cats being cooked and put into pet food is horrendous. We might not ever learn the species source of the drug. The FDA does provide us with the information that the common pet food ingredient 'Animal Fat' is the ingredient that is most likely to contain pentobarbital. Please carefully look at the ingredients in your pets food and treats for the ingredient 'Animal Fat'. Since no testing has ever been done on long term effects of consuming pentobarbital, and we know consuming the drug is killing wildlife - this is a risk too serious to ignore.
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