A pet owner recently shared these pictures of bone pieces found in her ZiwiPeak canned cat food:
Bone in pet foods is not unusual, many brands of pet foods utilize bone in their recipes. However, bones in pet food can cause serious issues when a manufacturer doesn’t take all the safety measures necessary.
Unfortunately, there are no required by regulation pet food safety measures regarding bone/bone pieces in pet food.
There are no pet food regulations limiting the amount of bone a pet food can include and there are no regulations limiting the size of bone pieces. And, because all pet food meat ingredients include “with or without bone” in their legal definitions, pet food manufacturers are not required to disclose on the label that bone is included. Such as, manufacturers are allowed to list ‘chicken’ on the pet food label when the actual chicken is chicken frames (skeletal frames after meat is removed). In other words, chicken on the label could mean a lot of bone is included in the pet food.
With bone in a pet food, the meat and bones need to be ground into very small pieces. Some manufacturers claim they grind the meat and bone to 5 mm or less. But, using the example of bone pieces found in the canned cat food from above compared to 5 mm, it’s easy to see that manufacturers don’t always properly grind the meat and bones.
Veterinarian Karen Becker shared an FDA warning about cooked bones stating:
- Constipation due to bone fragments. Your dog may have a hard time passing the bone fragments because they’re very sharp and they scrape the inside of the large intestine or rectum as they move along. This causes severe pain and may require a visit to your veterinarian. Bones also contain a lot of calcium, which is very firming to the stool.
- Severe bleeding from the rectum. This is very messy and can be dangerous. It’s time for a trip to see your veterinarian.
- Peritonitis. This nasty, difficult-to-treat bacterial infection of the abdomen is caused when bone fragments poke holes in your dog’s stomach or intestines. Your dog needs an emergency visit to your veterinarian because peritonitis can kill your dog.
The above would also apply to cats consuming bones in a pet food.
Veterinarian Laurie Coger shared with us that even if the bone pieces are finely ground, the pet food MUST be properly mixed to assure the pieces are evenly distributed throughout the pet food.
If you’ve ever baked a cake from a box mix, you are probably familiar with clumps of dry cake mix unless you stir and stir and stir the batter. The same principle applies to mixing a pet food. Unless the manufacturer thoroughly mixes all of the ingredients, large amounts of bone pieces can be located in one area of the batch with little amounts of bone pieces found in other areas of the batch. (On a side note, proper mixing is also important for even distribution of supplements.)
And again, there are no regulations governing how well manufacturers mix each batch of pet food. Everything is left up to the manufacturers discretion.
Because bone provides calcium to the diet, the amount of bone in a pet food links to the level of calcium in a pet food. And cats are at a great disadvantage with calcium in pet food. Pet food regulations – AAFCO Nutrient Profiles for dog foods and cat foods – have no maximum levels of calcium established for cat food. An adult maintenance dog food cannot contain more than 6.25 grams of calcium per 1,000 kcal. But an adult maintenance cat food can contain any level of calcium above the 1.5 gram per 1,000 kcal minimum.
Pet food manufacturers should test their pet foods for calcium on a regular basis. Ask your manufacturer how often the food is tested and ask to be provided with a copy of those results.
Always visually inspect the pet food when you place it in your pet’s bowl. Look for bone pieces (even protruding from kibble) and make certain they are small sized and consistently evenly distributed throughout the food.
Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,
Susan Thixton
Pet Food Safety Advocate
Author Buyer Beware, Co-Author Dinner PAWsible
TruthaboutPetFood.com
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J King
May 26, 2021 at 12:38 pm
Yes. I’ve seen this before with a dehydrated raw product. Sick cat (bunged up, straining, vomiting), vet visit, enema, and bowel issues ever since. This happened summer 2014 or 2015.
The food was easy to check once I knew. I broke up a piece with my fingers and, in doing so, cut myself on shard.
jodi
May 26, 2021 at 12:42 pm
Wow. Thanks for sharing this information, Susan. Has ZiwiPeak commented? Thanks.
Susan Thixton
May 26, 2021 at 1:03 pm
Yes. I emailed them regarding the pieces – and they assured me they were all 5 mm or smaller (but the pictures prove they were not). They did say they addressed the issue with their canned pet food manufacturer and they were moving towards a 4 mm grind in the future.
Jodi Cohen
June 2, 2021 at 3:22 pm
Thanks for the update, Susan.
Teresa Johnson
May 26, 2021 at 3:43 pm
I had a similar experience with a brand I trusted for years. I’m not feeding cats or dogs. I have a hedgehog rescue in my home. The average hedgehog is about the size of a week old kitten. Imagine my horror when I found sharp bone shards in the canned food fed to some of my special needs kids! First can, I thought it a fluke, carefully “picked” through and removed any bone pieces (which I’m happy to say were few). I did alert my pet food store so they could be aware and alert other customers as well as the distributor. Second can, I was disturbed but picked through. It was a different flavor from first can. Third can, and back to first flavor I’d found bone bits in, I was angry! Picked out some of the bone bits and placed them in a snack size zip bag. I then pulled the remaining cans from my pantry and made a trip to my pet food store. When I showed the bone fragments, the gal at the counter was shocked. She agreed they were of size and sharpness to warrant concern for cats and most definitely a serious risk to hedgehogs.
This was at a peak time of Covid-19 concerns and most specialty pet food stores were not taking returns. I was fully prepared to take the loss of my purchase. To my happy surprise I was able to make a return and picked up just two cans of an alternative brand. The store employee took my bone shard specimens and made contact with the distributor, and I believe manufacturer. Responsible business! But still a very scary and dangerous pet situation.
Angela
May 26, 2021 at 6:01 pm
Oh my, I had this issue with Stella & Chewy dehydrated raw when it was sold as small bricks. I would break up the pieces with a fork, add warm water, stir and serve. But then I found a bone shard and started using my fingers to break it up and pulled so many bone shards from 3 bricks, it filled 2 heaping tablespoons. These were not tiny shards and one was so sharp that it cut my finger. I contacted Stella & Chewy and told them this was unacceptable. I also stopped buying it. A few months later, the bricks were gone and replaced with 1/2 in kibble size pieces. I cringe to think what could have happened to my cat’s esophagus or GI tract.
Tina
May 27, 2021 at 9:44 pm
oh my goodness this scares me now, I fed my dog commercial raw from Ontario Canada and I was thinking of changing to a company called https://nutricanine.ca it is located in Toronto Ontario and is an order company but now am not sure if commercial raw is the way to go . Especially when I have a small dog 14 pounds it now scares.
Will Falconer, DVM
May 27, 2021 at 11:53 pm
I think it’s important to distinguish between “bone in” foods that are cooked vs raw, as Karen Becker mentions the cooked being largely indigestible. Raw bone pieces, in an average healthy animal, should be easily digested, starting as soon as they hit the stomach acid and largely finishing in the small intestine.
Bone is a fine source of calcium and phosphorus, and in perfect proportions. No wonder the carnivores of our planet don’t need supplements for these macro minerals (nor do they die of intestinal perforation from far larger pieces than the suggested 5mm).
Just check your source: if it’s cooked (or even dehydrated), yes, beware the bone. But if it’s truly raw, carry on, you’re feeding an excellent mineral supplement right with your food.
Tina
May 28, 2021 at 1:30 pm
good to know as I was getting really worried about feeding my dog commercial raw
Mary Sue
May 31, 2021 at 1:05 am
Years ago I had bone shards like that in that brand as well as Hound and Gatos. I notified both companies and stopped using those brands. ZiwiPeak lists bone in the ingredients, but Hound and Gatos did not.
Bonnie
November 28, 2021 at 12:11 am
I was using Blue Buffalo wilderness chicken can cat food. I found a sharp bone! I put a can through a strainer and there were many fragments.
Barbara Phillips
February 1, 2023 at 1:49 pm
Have been buying Instinct Limited Ingredient pate canned cat food from Chewy.com since 2014 along with Tiki Cat After Dark canned food that is shredded chicken. In 12/22, my female 9 year old cat started vomiting and stopped eating for days. I took her to the vet and she asked me if my cat had eaten small critter. She’s an indoor cat since birth and I don’t have mice or critters in my house. Xrays showed bones had accumulated in her intestines and had to be rectally removed. It was the Instinct pate that had bones in it. I even complained to Instinct manufacturer several times about the amount and size of the bones. They put me off saying they’re finely ground (not!) and not a problem. $700 later and trial and error with a new brand of pate, she seems to be okay…occasionally throwing up when a fur ball is present and once in a while just because no apparent reason. I am paranoid about ingredients now and constantly monitoring the new food and her.
Wilbert
April 25, 2023 at 7:34 pm
Found a very sharp bone fragment in my dog’s Fresh Pet for small dogs. It was about an inch and a half long and very hard and splintered to a sharp point on one end. Had my wife not found it prior to feeding our dog he would have just gulped it down. Very disappointing.
Erin
August 10, 2023 at 3:11 pm
This’ll probably be considered a bit over the top by some, but I pick the bone fragments out of my kitty’s food. Yep. I share my home with two kittens who are 4mos old. I usually add a bit of water to their wet food, mash it into a soupy mix, then use my finger to feel around the bottoms of their bowls, and pull out all of the little ‘rocks’. Some are big enough to shock me, but most are pretty tiny. I had a senior cat who passed away last April, and used to do the same for her. I don’t like those to be in there! I can’t imagine they’re very pleasant going in or coming out. So I just take care of it. 😳
Diane Neary
March 2, 2024 at 4:00 pm
I am feeding my pup well year and half old started her on ready made raw dog food and have bones in it,I was shocked this can harm your dog,please reply