[Blanketback]

How You Store Dry Dog Food Will Affect Your Dog’s Health. | The Natural Paw

Does anyone here store their kibble in the freezer? Or buy the 5 lb. bags that last a week rather than the economical larger ones? Who wants to freak out with me, lol?

 

[llombardo]

Interesting. I guess I'll be bagging lots of dog food

 

[JeanKBBMMMAAN]

Here you go, more from Steve Brown:
Fats' Chance - Whole Dog Journal Article

At some point...we just need to take a breath. Try, do better, don't invite trouble - but you cannot control everything unless you hand raise all your dog's food in some kind of bubble. Hope that stresses you less, not more.

 

[Shaolin]

Good article. I bought a few of the food grade storage containers from a cooking store. We split our bags of food up; half goes in storage in the basement (cool, dry, dark space) and the other half goes in a cleaned out litter container in the kitchen.

 

[martemchik]

If your dog breathes in too much exhaust fumes that can also cause cancer, my suggestion is to wear a gas mask each time you leave the house. Or better yet, do not allow your dog to go outside. Just place it in a bubble inside your home with an air filtration system. Buy only high grade, organic meat, boil it to get rid of any other organisms that could be in there, then feed immediately and take away if there is anything left after 1 minute as it starts to go bad and rot at room temperature.

 

[JackandMattie]

Another vote for a RAW diet

 

[Shaolin]

The only reason I do anything special container wise is we discovered quickly that because of the high humidity, we were finding mold starting to grow on the food towards the bottom of the bag. Back home, the food just sat in the original bag and we just rolled the top of the bag down.

We have a three month supply of dog food in the house at all times, but only one month is open at a time.

 

[Blanketback]

Thank you Jean for that other link. My kibble stays in the original bag, and that's kept in an airtight plastic bin. But it's the big month-long bag, sigh. I know what you're saying about living in a bubble, martemchik, and I agree with you to a point - but sometimes just sticking your head in the sand will get your butt bitten, lol.

 

[Liesje]

At some point...we just need to take a breath. Try, do better, don't invite trouble - but you cannot control everything unless you hand raise all your dog's food in some kind of bubble. Hope that stresses you less, not more.

I agree. I buy one 30lb bag at a time, open the bag, and it sits at room temp, open, until it's gone (which takes my boys about 2 weeks). We've never had any problems related to their kibble. Of course if it looks or smells rancid I'll toss it. I keep a few lbs in my van at all times, for training and travel, and often toss that stuff out if it doesn't get fully eaten and refilled.

 

[NancyJ]

I go through a bag in 3 weeks. I keep the original bag in a plastic bin with a seal on it and fold it over after each use before I close the lid. It is downstairs in a walkout basement humidity kept around 50%. Never noticed a problem and I *have* smelled rancid dog food before.

Maybe it is not perfect or ideal but I bet you have had boxes of crackers in your pantry for longer than 7 days? How about opened bottles of cooking oil?

 

[Blanketback]

I know....but if I poison myself then oops, that's too bad. I don't mind stale crackers for making meatloaf, and the oil is only used to coat the pan. But since my dog is eating this food exclusively, and I read about degradation of micronutrients, low levels of mold, etc. and possible links to cancer, with me having lost my dogs to cancer...I start to wonder.

 

[Cheerful1]

We buy the 33-lb bag of food, throw out the bag and put the food in a storage bin that is airtight.

I check for off smells before giving to Joey. I'm assuming I'll know if the food is rancid.

 

[Liesje]

LOL true, last night I ate the rest of a row of saltine crackers I bought (and opened) 2 weekends ago and other than giving the dogs the first couple, they tasted fresh to me!

 

[Blanketback]

It is funny when you think about it. My SIL was a kitchen manager and knows all about safe food handling and storage. I think I give her nightmares, lmao.

 

[JanaeUlva]

I go through a bag in 3 weeks. I keep the original bag in a plastic bin with a seal on it and fold it over after each use before I close the lid. It is downstairs in a walkout basement humidity kept around 50%. Never noticed a problem and I *have* smelled rancid dog food before.

Maybe it is not perfect or ideal but I bet you have had boxes of crackers in your pantry for longer than 7 days? How about opened bottles of cooking oil?

Pretty much what I do. I keep the dog food in the original bag and fold the opening over and it is in a plastic container in a room that is not hot, or humid. I do nag my husband to remember to fold the bag opening over tight but he sometimes forgets. I feed the dogs most often so most of the time it's OK. I will keep this in mind and by the medium sized bags of dog food for my smaller girl. The big boy goes thru his so fast he will have to retain the large size bag.

Thanks for the article. Good info to know.

 

[Shade]

I buy a large bag and only open it until I'm completely out of the previous batch. It's opened and dumped into a rubbermaid container and sealed so I can see all the kibble as it's coming out. It lasts slightly over 4 weeks and I've never had a issue with smell or either dog turning their nose up. I think it would be a good idea to maybe keep it inside the bag inside the container but I like to view all the kibble to make sure there's nothing funny in the bag and dumping it all out then putting it back in the bag seems like a real hassle