Dog owners have been issued an urgent warning over potentially deadly food. Experts claim raw food could be poisonous to your four-legged friend.
They say this is because it could contain dangerous doses of toxic metal. New research from the University of Cambridge found raw pheasant food could contain lead.
In 77% of food samples, the amount of metal in the uncooked pheasant-based food exceeded the safe limit. Researchers tested 90 samples of five different pheasant-based dog food products.
They found the concentrations to be 245 times over the limit in just one of the products, while two others were 135 times and 49 times higher, respectively.
Read more: Vet says even the cutest of dogs should not be left alone with children
Professor Debbie Pain, of Cambridge University’s Zoology Department, said: “We were already aware that lead concentrations in pheasant meat sold for human consumption are often far higher than would be permitted in other meats like chicken, beef or pork.
“However, we were surprised to find that lead concentrations in raw pheasant dog food products were so much higher.”
The lead concentration in dried pheasant-led food was still above the maximum residue levels. However, this was at lower levels than raw pheasant food.
Meanwhile, no chicken, goose or tinned pheasant samples contained any dangerous levels of lead. Raw meat diets are currently seeing a surge in popularity across the United Kingdom.
Despite the possible dietary danger, lead shot can be used legally to kill game birds in the UK. Researchers however found just 34% of 50 online raw pet food sellers sold pheasant-based recipes.
And only 70% said their products may contain “shot”. Dogs eating food with such high concentrations of lead can pose a risk to their health, with puppies being particularly vulnerable.
Lead poisoning, which can be dangerous to both pets and humans, can lead to convulsions, coma and even death. Although most pheasants are eaten by people, some are minced and used in pet food.
Most pheasant meat is minced for pet food, meaning it could contain small particles of lead shot in the meat. This increases the chances of them being absorbed into the bloodstream.
Study co-author Professor Rhys Green said: “The fact that most samples from three randomly sampled raw pheasant pet food products had very high lead concentrations, and that our recent research on shot types used to kill pheasants found that 94% are shot with lead. , suggests that this is a far broader issue than for just these three products.
“However, some producers may source pheasants that have not been shot with lead, and owners could ask about this when buying pet food.”
