# Coinsidence? Or Is There Something To It? Dog Food Storage.



## jafo220 (Mar 16, 2013)

I have been feeding Blue Buffalo Lrg. Breed Puppy To Cruz for some time now. I store his bag of food out in the garage in what ever ambient temprature there was out there, not thinking too much about it. This spring, I don't remember having any trouble with him having the runs or loose stools to much. But later off and on he will go through stages of having loose to soft stools for awhile. I have noticed since the heat and humidity has hit, the garage has been about the same temp and humidity as outdoors......hot and very high humidity. Also noticed his food would develop an off smell to it, not rancid just a stronger smell. I just figured it was because of the heat making the food odor more pronounced. It would happen about the time there was maybe a third of the bag left to go.

Then I noticed he was having soft stools and couldn't figure out why. I tried to connect it to either too many treats or over feeding and he was getting some bacterial infection causing him loose/soft poo from somewhere. Eliminated his frozen rags used for his teething ect. Still he would go through these soft poo stages. Then he would straighten out for awhile. Then back to soft poo again. Some of this loose poo was explosive meaning he had gas also. 

Then, I went out to get his food the other night and noticed that strong smell again from his bag of food. He has been having loose stools at this time also, but not the whole time. So I talked to my wife and told her I was suspecting the food may be the problem. She mentioned a friend telling here that a vet informed them that some foods will get bacterial growth due to the humidity, the more humidity the worse. I never coinsided the two because I thought there would be enough preservative in the food to keep that from happening. But with the smell, the loose poo and the humidity, it just kind of adds up.

So we decided since we had a few coupons, we'd try a new bag of food and this time keep it indoors in the AC of the house. Cruz had two loose stools yesterday. He had ate his first bowl of the new food last night. This morning his stool had firmed up alittle. His second bowl this morning of new food. This afternoon after work my wife said his stool look pretty firm and hard. OK. Now what the heck? 

Is this possible? Could the humidity be causing this food to go bad and then in turn be causing Cruz his loose stool? Has anyone here went through the same thing with thier dog food? I'm going to keep an eye on this and monitor the food to see if it develops the same strong smell as it did outdoors. I think I will keep his food in a temp controlled enviroment from now on too, just in case. But this does make sense to me.

I posted this because I see a ton of threads started concerned about loose stools on here and thought I'd share in case they want to give it a try also. It may not work then again you don't know until you try right?

Comments on this?


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## Heidigsd (Sep 4, 2004)

Here is a link on how to store dog food. 
http://www.dogfoodscoop.com/pet-food-storage.html

I would not recommend storing the food in the garage, especially when it's hot and humid. When I did feed kibble I kept it in this container (Vittles Vault) in a cool/dry place in the house. Gamma2 Air Tight Pet Food Containers


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## trcy (Mar 1, 2013)

we use a air tight pet food container and it's kept in the house.


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

keep the food in the bag and store it in the house (not in the basement
or garage). store the food in a ice chest, cooler, a large trash can, vittle vault.
i think keeping the food in the bag when stored works best. the bag is treated
for storage.


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

doggiedad said:


> keep the food in the bag and store it in the house (not in the basement
> or garage). store the food in a ice chest, cooler, a large trash can, vittle vault.
> i think keeping the food in the bag when stored works best. the bag is treated
> for storage.


I agree w/ doggiedad. And another good reason to keep the food in the bag is that you have the information handy in case of the ever present recalls kibble seems to have.


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## jafo220 (Mar 16, 2013)

I'm more convinced now than ever that this is the culprit. No doubt.

Thanks for the input and links. Great info. 

With all the dogs I've had, I've never given this a thought once. Pretty ignorant on my part. I should know though as my mom worked for Ralston Purina for years, but not in the dog food division. But she new people who did and I remember now she touched on how clean and serious they took storing ingredients, and the production on thier line of dog food. At the time I thought it was silly, but the more I see recalls and such, the more sense it makes. 

I plan on looking into a container also as well as following the suggestions on those links.


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## jafo220 (Mar 16, 2013)

Well, still so far so good. No loose stools yet. All looks normal. He's actually feeling better. He's never been a fetch type dog but yesterday afternoon, he was.


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## jafo220 (Mar 16, 2013)

Been almost a week now on the food deal. I checked his food now kept in our finished basement. Very well climate controled. It's actaully alittle cooler than the rest of the house. I keep the top of the bag rolled tight and taped shut. I got in it tonight for a feeding and it smelled as good as the day it was bought. 

Cruz appears to be have stopped with the volitile pooing. He hasn't had any large loose poo's either. He just appears to be more content and upbeat also along with being extra honery. I think we have figured this out. i still am looking into a container if I can get a break from work and honey do's.

Just wanted to update those if interested.


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