Much as we wish otherwise, pet food companies continue to use harmful ingredients that may be slowly killing your kitty. Chemical ingredients such as BHA, BHT, Ethoxyquin, and Propylene Glycol are used as preservatives and unfortunately, prolonged use of these chemicals are harming our pets! Vomiting, diarrhea, weight loss, seizures, cancer, kidney and liver failure are among some of the side effects from these toxic ingredients.
We often hear about the FDA recalling certain drugs from the market, but pet food recalls tend to receive less attention. This should be of great concern for pet owners since they, unknowingly, might serve unsafe food to their cat. Aside from trusting their local pet food store, or doing constant online research, how can pet owners ensure that the food they give to their cats is FDA approved and safe?
Good news; we found an excellent and easy to use mobile app that will identify harmful pet food ingredients and recalled pet food products! It’s called Safe Pet Treats and it allows pet owners to scan the barcode of a food product and get not only its relevant information but also the FDA status. In case the product is recalled, the pet owner can anonymously report the product to the FDA. The list of recalled products is updated as a recall is made; thus keeping you fully appraised while making a purchase.
In the past 5 years, nearly 1,000 pet food and treat recalls have been announced by the FDA. It’s up to the manufacturer of the pet food product to contact every single retailer to have the product removed, but unfortunately some of these products remain on the shelves of retail stores for days after the recall has been announced.
We downloaded the app and tested it out at 2 of our local pet stores…no surprise, it worked purrfectly. We even found one brand of cat food that was recalled but still on the shelf. The store manger promptly assured us that he was aware but had not yet removed this product from the shelves, but that it would have been flagged at checkout. Hmmmm…he’s no longer on our list as a reputable pet store owner.
[clickToTweet tweet=”This App will Protect Your Cat Against Harmful Ingredients in their Food or Treats” quote=”This App will Protect Your Cat Against Harmful Ingredients in their Food or Treats”]
As to the app itself, we love the fact that it’s easy to use, clutter-free and has no advertisements! It’s free to try and has a very low cost annual or monthly subscrition fee which gives you peace of mind knowing that your version is always up to date.
Some of the key features offered by the Safe Pet Treats app include:
- Instantly identify harmful pet food ingredients
- Instantly know if the product has been recalled by the FDA or manufacturer
- Personalize and add up to 10 additional ingredients to avoid
- Receive instant notifications as soon as a product has been recalled
- Save time at the pet store by not having to read every single ingredient
- Search for your favorite pet food product to see just how safe it is
From the home screen you have the option to either click on the left paw to scan a barcode or click on the right paw to do a manual search. The “scan barcode” paw automatically turns your smartphone into a barcode scanner. Aim it towards the barcode and the app will instantly show you if the product has been recalled or if it contains harmful ingredients. When you click on the “manual” paw, you have the ability to search the recall or ingredient database by typing in the product name or UPC number.
Every recalled pet food product since 2014 has been added to this app. The moment a recall is announced, the app’s database is updated with the newly recalled product. This ensures that your next scan references the latest recalled data available. The Safe Pet Treats app currently holds over 10,000 pet food products in the ingredient database and more are added every day!
We follow the principle of “it’s better to be safe than sorry” and give this app a two paws up rating and highly suggest you grab a download for your smartphone.
Download your copy => Safe Pet Treats App
You can also use the automatic cat feeder to auto feed food for your cats. I used it and its really perfect