# More on Dove Food (and clearing up misinformation I previously posted, oops!)



## LuaMoon (Feb 22, 2012)

So, I bought my birds the Roudybush food daily maintenance. It arrived very quickly! Came this morning, and my birds loved it right away. I bought the "nibbles" size pellets.

http://www.roudybush.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=orders.group&group=premium

This food, along with Mazuri, was recommended to me by breeder and former American Dove Association President named George Schutt. 

According to George, he has been seeing many doves end up with cancer after eating a diet that used Ethoxyquin as a preservative or pesticide in the bird seed or feed. He said that both Kaytee dove mix and LaFeber's contain Ehtoxyquin.

I mistakenly thought that the ingredients "sodium selenate" or "sodium selenite" were carcinogenic and were the same thing as Ethoxyquin. They are not the same as Ethoxyquin, but I don't know much about them. 

Just wanted to spread the word and clear that up!!


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

good to know. thanks.


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## John_D (Jan 24, 2002)

Ethoxyquin (From Wikipedia)

Ethoxyquin is a quinoline-based antioxidant used as a food preservative (E324) and a pesticide (under commercial names such as "Stop-Scald"). It is commonly used as a preservative in pet foods to prevent the rancidification of fats. Ethoxyquin is also commonly used in spices to prevent color loss due to oxidation of the natural carotenoid pigments.[citation needed]

There has been some speculation that ethoxyquin in pet foods might be responsible for multiple health problems. To date, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has only found a verifiable connection between ethoxyquin and buildup of protoporphyrin IX in the liver, as well as elevations in liver-related enzymes in some animals, but there are no known health consequences from these effects. In 1997, the Center for Veterinary Medicine has asked pet food manufacturers to voluntarily limit ethoxyquin levels to 75 ppm until further evidence is reported. However, most pet foods that contain ethoxyquin have never exceeded this amount.

Ethoxyquin has been shown to be slightly toxic to fish.


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## Stina (Aug 29, 2012)

I'm quite certain there have been studies linking ethoxyquin to cancer in rodents......though I never saved any links to the studies.


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## LuaMoon (Feb 22, 2012)

All I know is, I (unintentionally) fed my birds a diet containing that and one has cancer in the form of an inoperable tumor.


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## nancybird (Jan 30, 2011)

Don't beat yourself up over this.


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## LuaMoon (Feb 22, 2012)

I know Nancy, just want to make sure peopke know. It seems to be the first thing new dove owners ask : "what should I feed them?" Now I know


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## John_D (Jan 24, 2002)

This is getting quite confusing. 

What DOES contain this Ethoxyquin is the range of Kaytee baby bird *hand feeding formula.*

The Kaytee Zupreem *dove mix* does NOT.

So is this George fella talking about raising baby doves or feeding adult doves?


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## LuaMoon (Feb 22, 2012)

Hi John. He does raise babies, but he mentioned the preservatives they use on the seed mix is ethoxyquin. Perhaps he was wrong. (I can't do seeds anyway with my birds, unless it is just a snack.) He was investigating a lot of different bird feed companies, and for pellets, those are the two companies he recommended so far that he knows for sure do not use ethoxyquin. (roudybush and mazuri). I was just relaying what he told me because he has a pretty good reputation with doves. Hope that helps!


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## nancybird (Jan 30, 2011)

It sure is nice to know that so many people care alot about their birds.


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