A recent study has found that glyphosate and its derivatives are widespread in the urine of cats and dogs. Glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup and the world’s most commonly used herbicide, has been classified as a “probable human carcinogen” by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, and it’s a known carcinogen to animals.
Glyphosate Found in Pet Urine as Juries Continue to Award Billions
There have been more than 125,000 lawsuits against Bayer, the company who owns Roundup, claiming that the company knew that glyphosate causes cancer and that company executives deliberately kept the information from regulators and consumers. In the most recent case, a jury awarded $2 billion in punitive damages to a couple who say that glyphosate caused their non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
In June 2018, Bayer purchased Monsanto, the original creator of glyphosate and Roundup. Last year, Bayer paid more than $10 billion to end thousands of lawsuits.
As more evidence is presented and juries continue to hand down punishing verdicts regarding the herbicide, this new study poses questions about its effect on our pets – and the extent to which this chemical is poisoning our planet. Despite thousands of lawsuits, billions of dollars in damages, and loss of human life, glyphosate is still sprayed on fields worldwide to the tune of over 300 million pounds a year in the U.S. alone.
The Dangers of Glyphosate in Pet Food
Dogs and cats develop cancer at nearly the same rate as humans, with about 12 million new cases in the U.S. annually. And while this study did not evaluate the connection between glyphosate exposure and cancer in pets, one thing was clear: cats and dogs are consistently and significantly exposed to this toxic and carcinogenic chemical. And the reasons may be worse than you think.
An original hypothesis was that dogs and cats were primarily exposed to glyphosate by spending time on grounds treated with the herbicide. Their close proximity to the ground makes pets particularly susceptible to toxins found in cleaning and gardening products. But the study found that cats, who spend less time on lawns and other outdoor areas than dogs, had much higher levels of glyphosate and its byproducts in their urine.
This shows that the toxins aren’t only retained in soil; they’re present in the food and water supply. Common packaged pet foods are heavy in corn, soybean, and canola products, of which over 90% are genetically engineered to be resistant to glyphosate, implying that they are likely to be treated with the chemical.
Heavy processing combined with the use of added preservatives, fillers, and food dyes makes the situation even worse – contributing to chronic health problems like obesity, periodontal disease, diabetes, arthritis, and cancer. According to a 2018 study published in Environmental Pollution, glyphosate was detected in all pet food samples at a median concentration of 198μg/kg dry weight, which was higher than the concentration reported in human foods.
Is Our Water Safe from this Toxic Chemical?
It’s also in our water supply. The researchers evaluated not only glyphosate, but also two of its byproducts, methyl glyphosate (Me-Glyp) and aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA). U.S. Geological Survey data shows that glyphosate is present in more than half of all surface waters, soil, and sediment. AMPA is even more commonly detected, showing up in more than 80% of wastewater samples collected at municipal treatment plants.
And while Bayer continues to insist that its product does not cause cancer, evidence revealed in court shows otherwise. Our team has been reviewing thousands of pages of evidence from trial, including internal emails and depositions of Bayer/Monsanto employees. These documents tell a harrowing story in which company executives work closely with the government and FDA to protect their profits.
Company researchers who have said unequivocally that they cannot show that glyphosate is not carcinogenic have been shunned and denounced by their coworkers. Monsanto has even gone so far as to write their own studies and publish them through a third-party — an extreme violation of research ethics by any standard.
Most importantly, leaders in the company were and continue to be fully aware that their products cause cancer. But as long as they write their own studies and have the protection of government agencies like the FDA and EPA, they believe they can hide the truth. They are willingly poisoning billions of people and pets to turn a profit.
Unfortunately for Bayer, that plan isn’t working so well, as they’ve lost almost half of their market capitalization since acquiring Monsanto less than a year ago. The truth is a powerful weapon against evil, and each case, verdict, and study is exposing this corporation for the murderous, greedy liars they are.
3 Ways to Protect Your Pets
When it comes to our pets, it seems that they are yet another casualty of Bayer’s crimes. Studies have linked glyphosate to cancer, kidney failure, chromosomal damage, and immune system damage. And when combined, the chemicals found in Roundup are 1,000 times more toxic than glyphosate alone.
But we can give our pets (and ourselves) a fighting chance. While the widespread use of glyphosate is making it harder and harder to avoid, there are steps you can take right now to protect your family members, including the 4-legged ones. And it starts with simple, daily decisions.
1 | Just Say “No” to GMO
The first and most important thing to do is remove GMOs from your home. We’ve written before on how to shop for organic, non-gmo products. The reason Roundup is so valuable is not the money from the herbicide itself, but the sale of seeds genetically modified to be resistant to the poison. Bayer is the world’s largest seed and crop chemicals company, controlling a quarter of the global seed supply.
Shopping for organic, non-GMO food is not usually the easy choice, but it’s the right one.
2 | Drink High-Quality H20
Second, invest in a water filtration system for your home. The majority of U.S. groundwater tests positive for AMPA. Combined with other harmful ingredients used in the purification process, the water coming from your faucet simply can’t be trusted as safe. A whole-home filtration system is the best way to provide pure, decontaminated drinking water for your family and your pets.
3 | Treat Your Pets to a Natural Diet
Finally, feed your pets a diet similar to what they eat in nature. Many experts who’ve studied animal dietary patterns in the wild agree that a whole food diet composed of mostly meats, organs, and bones, supplemented to a much lesser extent with vegetables, is the way to go for both cats and dogs.
Generally speaking, the proper nutrient ratio for dogs is about 75% meats, fats, organs, and bones, and 25% vegetables. Cats are a little more carnivorous, with a diet ideally constituting about 88% meats, fats, and organs (bones are bad for cats) and 12% vegetables.
Editor’s Note: This article was initially published in May 2019 and was updated in March 2021.
Realize that cheap meats used in pet foods are most likely fed GMO products loaded with chemicals. Chicken, beef, and pork are laden with Glyphosate from their feed. And most pet foods do not list “non-GMO” on their labels.
Thanks for sharing, Greg. You’re absolutely right in this – we really can’t know the source of the meats used unless the package is labelled. It’s important to look out for our furry family member’s health just as much as we take care of our own.
Blessings and love!
Yeah, that’s true BUT so are all commercially produced grocery store meats. They are laden w/GMOs, feed-lot, grain-finished animals that just happen to be “human-grade”. I feed my dog a well-balanced, raw diet I make myself per recipes of Karen Becker, DVM and others in this docu-series but have no idea how I can afford to feed her (a 50lb std poodle service dog) organic meat. Right now I’m figuring out how low I can possibly go on my meat consumption which is usually organic in order to give my organic meat to her.
Thank you for this info Ty…much appreciated!!
I do integrative nutrition for our pets and it never ceases to amaze me how uneducated conventional that’s our do not thinking that nutrition and toxicity and things are not going to affect the pets when they push for all the vaccines all the heartworm tick and flea stuff that people put on topically to the food that they’re feeding their pets I get so many sick animals regularly I do Consulting for once they have cancer they’re obese they have diabetes pancreatitis histamine reactions to many things people be aware of what you’re doing with your fur babies
Not to mention vaccines – a canine natural health group I am part of on Facebook is littered with testimonies of dogs being really sick after vaccines
I feed my dog a raw diet using the proportions you quote in the article and I give her non-GMO treats. She thrives on it.. I’m curious about why you say bones are bad for cats as they eat mice and birds, bones and all and as a carnivore bones would be a natural part of their diet.
There always seems to be a concern about a bone fragment breaking off and getting lodged. I think an animal that is used to eating that way would have no issues, while a dog (especially) that ravenously eats their meals, would be quite prone to swallowing lots of stuff in large pieces, while one who was raised on raw would likely not. Just my guess.
Hollow bones such as chicken and turkey, can puncture stomach and intestines.
I actually learned about all of this several years ago. My first service dog had to be put down from cancer, and, although I cnnot prove that kibble was the cause, I am sure that it did not help. Between retiring my previous dog and getting my next one, one of my friends taught me all about kibble and what it does to dogs. There is no such thing as good kibble–it is extremely burnt to the point that it does not contain any nutrients, it has way too much carbohydrates and fiber, and the body of a dog does not recognize the synthetic nutrients that have to be added back into kibble. My current dog eats fresh food (try Nom Nom Now), and, although it is not a natural diet, it is much closer to that than kibble. Also, what most people don’t know is that, unless you live somewhere like Florida, most healthy dogs don’t need flea preventative. And I agree on not giving your dog tap water unless you absolutely have to do so, such as you are out in public (bring your own water if possible). Long story short: If you would not consume it (kibble anyone?), then your canine and feline friends should not either. If you are worried about spending a lot of money on pet food, then know that what you spend on food you will save on vet bills, if not now then when your pet is older.
Amen to that! A well-written and informative post, Animal lover. Thank you!
Hello Animal lover, where did you get your service dog? I am legally blind and I have fed both kibble and raw diets. Although I prefer raw diets, I am on a limited income and so purchase an all natural kibble and one of my last pets was a Bishop Fries and she lived to be 17yrs. She would have lived longer, but had severe arthritis and was going blind and deaf. She did not have any cancer and if not from arthritis, she would have definitely gone another 2 or so years. I will never ever disagree on that raw is better for our pets, but I rarely if ever have to take my dogs to the vet and they are exercised regularly and their weights are absolutely perfect!! I absolutely cannot stand overweight pets and those who think a fat dog is a happy dog. It definitely leads to many health problems. Again, although I know that kibble is not 100% the best, Its what I can afford and as I said, I rarely have to take my pets to the vet for health issues even after they have gotten older. Have I lost a couple to cancer? Yes. But, I also feel that cancer is also genetic as well as being caused by environmental problems. I do the best I can with purchasing foods that have non GMO products in them. Now, if I lived closer to the koshered butcher that I really liked, I would continue getting my dogs the fresh meat and organs and bones they enjoyed. But, I live over 50 plus miles away and they were not only really good, but super affordable! Sadly, many can only do what they are able to afford. I am also physically disabled and cannot work. So, I must be grateful for what I have. I also agree about the water. I never give tap water and try to always bring fresh water when able. I cannot carry more then 5lbs due to my back injuries. I live in an area where we have a lot of deer. Although I am in a suburb, we have many deer which bring deer ticks and fleas. We have much in wildlife and so fleas are also a concern. We have small ponds around the area as some properties have them. This is where we get mosquitos. So, sadly, we need to protect our pets from these insects and the possible infection of heart worm disease and Lyme disease. Vaccines are only given every 3 yrs and so over vaccinating is not an issue as most veterinarians have stated. Some still prefer yearly vaccines, but if titers are lasting in the blood for 3 yrs then my vet and many others do not see the reason for annual vaccines. I have looked into nom nom now and other fresh foods, but they are still way out of my price range. If it was more affordable, you can bet your life that all of my pets would be eating raw or fresh foods and no kibble. Those who are feeding a kibble diet for one reason or another should never be criticized. We need to remember that many people are told to follow the advice of their veterinarians. Well, if that is the case, then just about all veterinarians are going to recommend a dry formulated diet. So, should pet owners follow their vets advice, or tell their vets to go to hell? They are the ones who spent many years in vet school studying all sorts of medical conditions. We are only the pet owners who want to do what is best. So, we are told to follow our veterinarians advice! Is that wrong?? I think many things are learned thru personal experience and those who have had pets living on kibble up into their mid and late teams are going to say, that they will continue using what works for them as their pets lived that long. Those who had more success with raw or fresh foods, they will continue with those methods. Not every animal is the same and some pets do better on one diet then another pet may do better on raw or fresh. Sadly, in this day and age, its super difficult for some to feed themselves healthy and yet trying to feed their pets a healthy diet. Me, I would prefer feeding my pets and service dog healthier then I do for myself, but unfortunately, money talks and that other stuff walks. I think that anyone who at least tries to feed their pets a healthy diet over feeding something cheep should be commended for at least trying. All of the schools in the USA that breed, train service dogs have their own veterinarians on staff and they know how important our dogs are to us and that they need to remain healthy. A good school will at least use an all natural formula with no GMOs. Again, kibble is not totally ideal, but people will always continue to use it because veterinarians are pushing it strongly! Unless you can change the minds of all western medicine doctors into looking at feeding only raw or fresh, they will only recommend dry foods. Its getting people to think holistic and all natural and to recommend holistic medicine and veterinarians that will recommend feeding raw or fresh foods. I must say that although I am not fond of using flea/tick products and heart-worm prevention, its an necessary evil. Heart worm is caused mosquitos Lyme is caused by deer ticks, tape worms are caused by fleas. Some say that skin so soft keeps fleas away, but what if the dog licks its fur where people have sprayed the skin so soft and water mix and they ingest the chemicals that make up the skin so soft product? If you only spray the dogs back, then the fleas go everywhere else and so what is the point. We are told to use only pet recommended products. In this world totally avoiding chemicals is pretty difficult unless you live in a bubble. There is never going to be anything 100% perfect and so at least if people try and do their best, that is all we can ask for. But, I have mentioned feeding raw/fresh to many veterinarians in my past and they all preferred feeding a dry food. So, unless we find a way of changing their minds on a more natural way of feeding and managing a dogs medical care, things will remain the same. Sadly, those who make a decent monthly wage will be able to feed raw/fresh. Try living on only $800 each month. Paying bills, and food for yourself before managing food for your pets or service animal. Again, when you are disabled and are told by your doctor you cannot work, its that lack of finances that prevent you from doing all of the things you would love to do for both yourself and your pets when it comes to eating a healthy diet! Ok, well thanks for listening and hope you have a great day!
I am thrilled that Petco recently said “no” to those types of dog and cat food; they are starting a trend that will, hopefully, continue to spread to other retail stores…
Amen, Suzie! These are our hopes as well! 🙂
Bones are not bad for cats! They require them in their diet. Most cats can handle chicken wings and/or chicken necks. The alternative is to finely grind the bones. I have been feeding raw diets to my pets for over 30 years.
I have noticed that the dry dog and cat food consist also of carbohydrates which is high in sugar which is not good for dogs and cats. Therefore it is not too surprising that they have the same chronic illnesses as people do.
We used to be city folk but when I got poisoned with Dursban, I became so sick that we moved to the country and before long we had two cats and several dogs (we doubled our pet population very quickly).
Our original cat was 19 years old then and been raised mostly on a Purina dry diet. Our dogs ate mostly Purina or Sams or Walmart dry food with added raw goats milk for all of our animals and well water. They were all very healthy except for a stray we adopted that had very coarse dry hair.
Before we moved from city to country we always took our animals for yearly expensive checkups with a rabies vaccine included and then gradually bought into other vet suggested vaccines. When we moved we realized we could legally do these ourselves. That was back before you had to take your animal to a vet for a rabies shot. You could just buy it from your local feed store and inject it yourself. You no longer had to subject yourself or your animal to that yearly expensive visit to the vet that we did when we were ignorant city folk. So we bought two or three very good books written by vets about natural raising and that’s what we did as much as possible.
We later got free bones from a local meat processer that would process deer bones for our local hunters. At that time our animals had no flea or tick problems. Our only concern was heartworms and other worms so I found natural herbal and food wormers such as garlic, black walnut hills and pumpkin seeds.
Not long after that We got a new neighbor who was a vet who specialized in radiology with, of course, her main focus being cancer treatment. This was back in the early to mid eighties and when we first met her, my hubby and I just shook our heads in amazement as we’d never heard of cancer in animals. We liked our neighboring vet and one day she sort of apologized to me about the fact that our state had passed a new law that would require us to have a vet do the actual injection for the rabies vaccine. She shared that our state veterinary association had hired lobbyists to get it passed because these young people that were graduating from A&M with expensive vet degrees couldn’t find work or afford to set up a practice- too little demand or too much labor supply- however you want to look at it. A&M has a lot of weight here in Texas and they want to raise that tuition every year.
Before long we noticed how all these unnatural products started to be suggested for our animals or you weren’t a responsible pet owner. So we just took our dogs to the mobile vet for their mandated annual rabies shot. (Cats didn’t have to have them then). Our cats were so healthy then – none of those dread diseases that they scare you into vaccinating them for, either.
One year when we had a very wet cool damp spring all of our 5 dogs came down with distemper so I grabbed my books and set up a dog hospital in our new garage. I only gave water and a few herbs to four of the obviously sick dogs. The only one I fed was the one that really looked and acted healthy and he was the only one that died. You see distemper has a strange way of deranging the brain and making a dog want to eat when that’s the worst thing for them.
Now, as I said above, we had very few problems with fleas or ticks. until the early 2000’s when I started to landscape more of our property and brought in mulch that I didn’t realize was infested with ticks – oh my, what a disaster. We only had two dogs then but I called the vet to learn about the products that were available then and one vet tech told me that they all put an animal at risk. They’ll probably be fine until they get exposed to another toxic substance and then ??? and long term effects are iffy and have to be weighed. In other words, do your risk vs. reward analysis for yourself. So I drove myself crazy trying to hand pick those things as she was a literal tick magnet. Now, I also tried some herbal repellants with very little success. We tried all sorts of safe environmental treatments but we just had too many trees to treat and a local deer population, too. In retrospect, we no longer had access to our own goat milk or the deer bones. I think we should have gone back to the raw bones and found goat milk for us, again. It would have been easier and less expensive in the long run.
To sum this up my main other point is that we’ve been brainwashed and intimidated with our pets the same as we have ourselves. These vaccines and other chemicals are making us all sicker – not protecting us. When we humans get sick then we get immediately intimidated and rushed into expensive treatments that have huge risks. If it happened to my husband, as aware as we were, then it can happen to anyone. And now we see people clamor to get these experimental “therapies” that they have the gall to call a vaccine even though they admit (if you dig deep enough to find it) that they aren’t really a vaccine as they not only don’t prevent transmission but the recipient actually becomes an asymptomatic carrier for who knows how long and carries other huge risks as well. Go. Figure!!!
The animal pet population get so sick, now. When we go for help then we are encouraged/intimidated into spending thousands in a matter of days to “heal” them or we are negligent and subject to public disdain. I’m a widow now and can’t even afford to have a pet to snuggle with or I would because I can’t begin to afford those vet bills that I might have.
The same thing is happening with our children and grandchildren – look at the vaccines that are encouraged and even being mandated. Plus, we don’t dare try to treat ourselves – we go to an “expert” who is “practicing their art” on us no matter that they are allopathic doctors. How many people even know that allopathy means “poison”. They don’t try to get to the root cause, just suppress the symptoms.
I totally applaud The Bollingers for their role in trying to educate the world as to our flawed medical system and alternative ways to heal. It’s very inspiring to hear that other countries aren’t as controlled as we are here in the U. S. by the powers that be and some amazing Godly doctors that are out there do true healing. I would be honored to know them, I’m sure. In fact, now that I think of that, I have a bit of knowledge that I’ll try to share with them soon. It’s on my bucket list.
God Bless us all and especially the Bollinger family.
Elaine
When I clicked on the link from my email it said the link was FLAGGED?!? 😡
🤦🏻♀️ Luckily I still had the choice to click on the link anyway. Trolls! I have had 3 dogs get cancer in the last 30 years. I adopt so I have no control over what they ate before I got them. People need to know this information!
Tons of great information, but I’m in desperate need of finding my 6 yr old feline cat some healthy food. (She keeps ripping out her hair and drooling.) The vet gave a prescription for some Purina hydrolyzed HA cat food, but I can’t find any wet (which is what she likes) and I’m thinking the ingredients of that is still not safe. Can anyone steer me to some good names of wet cat food that is healthy for my Cali kitty (she loves salmon). Thank you!