Trader Joe's

T

The Quahog

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Just to get things back on track and put the contentiousness behind us, does anyone have any insight into Trader Joe's dog food line?
Like who makes it and how does it stack up?
Trader Joe's is a 'healthy alternative' grocery store pretty popular around here, and one of my clinets asked me what I thought about their food.
So, since I don't like to make stuff up, (though, trust me, I can do so and I'm pretty good at it- in 1 week i will have been a veterinarian for 40 years... still, I don't like to :cool:), I said 'I have no idea, but I will look into it.'
(I figured that this was a better answer than 'Duh, huh?....What?...')
I did do a little online stuff, but it mostly came up as 'ok'.

So does anyone feed Trader Joe's or have any insight? Given the company's reputation I would tend to think it is pretty health conscious, but I really don't know. - Dr. Mac
 
This food does not say it doesn't use ethoxyquin to preserve the fish in the food. This chemical is extremely toxic. Just google it and read about it. I would never feed any food with this ingredient in it to my Danny Boy. If it doesn't say ethoxyquin free it probably had it.
 
I did a little research on this chemical, which is commonly used as a preservative to present rancification of fats, even in human foods. The LD50 (lethal dose) 800 mg/kg, which is a lot of the chemical as there are 1000 mg in a kg. The FDA has asked pet food manufacturers to voluntarily limit its inclusion in pet food to 75 ppm, and apparently the amount in pet foods has rarely exceeded that limit, and that limit is a very tiny amount, no where near LD. I was unable to find out if ethoxyquin must be noted as an ingredient if it is in pet food. I think if you buy pet foods fortified fortified with fatty acids or made with oily fish like salmon, it would be important to consume them by the date on the label if they don't have a preservative for fats, something I hadn't considered before, frankly.

However, that said, it is easy to find pet foods without it, which is what I would do.
 
Thanks folks.
Sounds like I will put it in the 'won't go out of my way to recommend it, but if someone is doing well on it fine' category. With most foods.

As for my opinion on the ethoxyquin controversy... Pass. :wink2: - Dr. Mac
 
Ethoxyquinn does not have to be on the ingredient list unless the pet food company adds it to the food. If they received a shipment of fish that was preserved with E.... the pet food co will not have it on the ingredient list.

IMO Trader Joes is a much better food compared to Iams, Purina, Alpo, Kibbles n Bits..etc

But not on the same level as the top shelf food. Its a middle of the road food...if you will. depending on the price it may or may not be a viable product.
 
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I don't know anything about Trader Joe's food but congratulations on your 40 years as a vet, Dr. Mac! :biggrin2: I'll bet you've seen a lot of changes in how things are done since you started.
 
Ann said:
I don't know anything about Trader Joe's food but congratulations on your 40 years as a vet, Dr. Mac! :biggrin2: I'll bet you've seen a lot of changes in how things are done since you started.
Click to expand...

Oh, a few. :winkgrin:
Let's see - Tufts wasn't a veterinary school, nor was Virginia, North Carolina, nor Tennessee. :eek2:
There was Cornell (the best, of course) and Penn (their motto used to be 'No, this is not Penn State'. Now its 'No REALLY, we REALLY REALLY aren't PennState,) and beyond Philadephia you had to go south to Alabama or West to Ohio to find the next Vet School. That left less than 150 veterinary school openings for the entire East Coast.
Cornell, which prided itself on being the 'large animal' school, each year took a class of 58 men and two women. Compare that to today, where many classes are 90%+female.
Gas anesthesia was used at the universities, but not in private practices.
Of course there was no pain control or pain meds - 'Its surgery, it's supposed to hurt.'
Bad cases of whipworms were still treated by surgically removing part of the intestine.
And because, outside of universities, there were no specialty practices, we got to do all sorts of crazy surgeries we wouldn't dare do now.:uhoh:

And, oh yeah - my Ivy League tuition was $725 a semester. :lol: -Dr. Mac
 
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