February 16, 2012
A dilemma… I’ve been talking a lot about my cat’s diet lately. I am meeting with my vet next week to discuss switching Magpie from canned wet food to a home-prepared diet that meets her specific nutritional needs. The grain-free canned food seems to agree with her­—she is a healthy weight and her coat is soft and shiny. But I’d like to move her into a diet that is organic and of course one that makes less waste. Last weekend I was so excited to find the brand I feed her (Wellness) in her in a larger 12.5 oz can. I bought a few and brought them home. I had intended to post about how switching from the 5.5 oz cans will reduce the amount of metal I buy and recycle every week until I’m able to wean her off the wet food. Tonight while reading about the different metals used for pet food cans I came across some information that throws a kink into the plan. The small 5.5 oz cans are made of aluminum and the 12.5 oz cans are made of coated steel. The coating that lines the inside many steel food cans contain bisphenol A (BPA), while the coating on most aluminum cans does not. The lining is used to prevent the food from eroding the metal. I suppose I should have thought about this sooner because there have been a lot of reports in recent years about BPA in canned human food. As I make a great effort to reduce my own contact with harmful leaching chemicals, it’s difficult to imaging not making the same considerations for my pet. I came across this newsletter with a pretty thorough post about the kinds of cans used by different pet food brands. It looks like there are some brands that do sell food in large 12.5 or 14 oz cans that do not contain BPA. I am going to call Wellness tomorrow to ask if they are still using steel cans that contain BPA. If so, I will do some research to see if there is a brand with a formula similar to what I’m feeding my cat now, in a large BPA-free can, available at a local store. Meanwhile I remain very hopeful that my vet and I will come up with a manageable alternative solution.

A dilemma…

I’ve been talking a lot about my cat’s diet lately. I am meeting with my vet next week to discuss switching Magpie from canned wet food to a home-prepared diet that meets her specific nutritional needs. The grain-free canned food seems to agree with her­—she is a healthy weight and her coat is soft and shiny. But I’d like to move her into a diet that is organic and of course one that makes less waste. Last weekend I was so excited to find the brand I feed her (Wellness) in her in a larger 12.5 oz can. I bought a few and brought them home. I had intended to post about how switching from the 5.5 oz cans will reduce the amount of metal I buy and recycle every week until I’m able to wean her off the wet food. Tonight while reading about the different metals used for pet food cans I came across some information that throws a kink into the plan.

The small 5.5 oz cans are made of aluminum and the 12.5 oz cans are made of coated steel. The coating that lines the inside many steel food cans contain bisphenol A (BPA), while the coating on most aluminum cans does not. The lining is used to prevent the food from eroding the metal. I suppose I should have thought about this sooner because there have been a lot of reports in recent years about BPA in canned human food. As I make a great effort to reduce my own contact with harmful leaching chemicals, it’s difficult to imaging not making the same considerations for my pet. I came across this newsletter with a pretty thorough post about the kinds of cans used by different pet food brands. It looks like there are some brands that do sell food in large 12.5 or 14 oz cans that do not contain BPA.

I am going to call Wellness tomorrow to ask if they are still using steel cans that contain BPA. If so, I will do some research to see if there is a brand with a formula similar to what I’m feeding my cat now, in a large BPA-free can, available at a local store. Meanwhile I remain very hopeful that my vet and I will come up with a manageable alternative solution.

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  1. notrashproject posted this
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