TruthaboutPetFood.com

One of the ingredients in Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul is ‘sodium bisulfate’.  I wrote to them a rather snarky email and they responded that "‘sodium bisulfate’ is not 'menadione sodium bisulfate’.  Do I believe them?

Good article, we always want the best for our pets and improving the ingredients in their food is a great goal... a couple of points though to play devils advocate.

All the potential problems you mentioned happened in people... not pets. There have never been ANY reported cases of toxicity in pets from Menadione in pet food... and it's been used for decades.

The toxicity levels you mentioned reference high doses, much higher than ones actually found in food. Common vitamins we all take that are healthy are also toxic when taken in high levels.

K3 is water soluable, not fat soluable, so it doesn't build up in the liver or lymphatic system, so it is not like small doses which are there for a reason, can build up to a toxic level.

I'm all for education, but lets make sure we consider both sides.

There are many websites that make it clear Menadione is not safe for dog food, not matter how small a amount is there. It is not 'ok' for human consumption, so what kind of person would you have to be, to say its just fine for your companion animal to injest ? Give me a break.

There is no reason to take chances with things like this John, and to state otherwise, with zero conclusive peer reviewed long term studies of it IN dog food, is enough to showcase your statements as uneducated and dangerous.

People have a choice when it comes to feeding their loved companion animals good nutritinal ingredients, and not taking needless risks, when other dog/animal food does NOT contain Menadione, would be in everyones best interest. That is the truth, whether its convenient for you to hear or not. Its just 'cheaper' to include, instead of doing the right thing and not including it, as noted, 'without' peer reviewed studies to proof its safe.

There are other good websites out there that make it clear about this issue, and one that I found the opened my eyes to this is:

http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=menadione

That's not a name drop, that is factual information that opened my eyes to this tragedy of nutrition, and that my dog may have died from it , given it was in his food from del monte natures recipe. I called them, and they too, could not provide and studies proving it.

That it's in dog food for according to you, for decades, is in no way adequate proof obviously. We need raw science here, not speculation John.

The lives of our companions are more important, to make risky choices, so I recommend everyone
look at your lables, and my the choice to buy dog food from companies that are responsible enough not to include this ingredient, rather than ones who do. I learned the hard way as our beloved roc died, though I can't prove how sadly, - yet. But given his liver was 'shot', and even though he was , yes, on PB for seizures, and given that we know PB if not monitored will cause liver toxicity, its also possible and likely that Menadione at least contributed to it. I say that, because our vets ran tests, as they are supposed to every 3-6 months, and he still died. He was also on KBr along with PB,so its not like everything was done to keep his levels in check,and he still died. Was it negligence on VMD's part, I don't know,- yet.

Do not get yourself in this situation by taking chances, until science shows its safe.

I wish I had known about this long ago, as I would have made the choice to be safe, rather
than sorry.

Your decision.

http://www.therocfund.org
Dedicated to our loved animals and in memory of 'Roc' .