Whats Sodium Pentobarbital Doing in Pet Foods?
Did you know that sodium pentobarbital, the drug used to euthanize animals, has been found in popular pet foods? Rendering plants accept road kill, dead zoo animals, and euthanized pets from shelters and vet clinics. This means that if the pet food manufacturer uses protein from rendering plants , the drug is ending up in pet foods. In the 1990’s, vets started noticing that the drug sodium pentobarbital was having a reduced effect for anesthetizing and euthanizing pets, and reported it to the FDA/CVM. It was investigated and determined that pets were becoming immune to the drug because it was in their food. Sodium pentobarbital was found in 31 of 37 dry dog foods tested. Foods selected contained ingredients such as “meat and bone meal”, “animal digest” and “animal fat.” The reason is that if the meat or fat source isn’t specified, it’s source isn’t known as it came from rendering plants, where the drug is not degraded by the rendering process. In other words, it’s still able to do harm
