Storing of dog food
But a day and a half later she went back to vomiting and diarrhea, which was yesterday. I put her back on the same diet and she has not been sick for about 20 hours. Is it possible for dry dog food stored in large Rubbermaid container to go bad? Should it be stored in it's original bag?  |
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| I think it is possible for the leftover oily residue to spoil. I always wash my containers and dry them thoroughly before refilling them. |
| Yes, It can go bad, or you could have a bad bag or an old bag. There should be a manufacture date or an expiration date on the bag. I would suspect that to be the problem, more than storage in a rubbermaid container.
One thing to check - lots of the storage tubs have holes in them; usually a hole to several holes under where the handles/handgrips are. You may want to plug them or tape over them to make a more airtight container. Humidity and bugs are kept out then! I go through lots of food - so mine doesn't hang out for very long after the bags are opened.  We use a metal garbage can for large storage in the garage, and a smaller 2 gallon size airtight tin in the house.
Oh, - and we dump ours out of the bags and put them into the containers. |
| My puppy and I just went through exactly what you are describing. He would vomit and have diarrear so we would go on the boiled chicken and rice diet...then we would start with food and same thing...went on for quite a while...meantime he was tested for everything and nothing turned up. I sent a sample of the food to the manufactururer ( was using Purina Pro Plan for Puppies) thinking the same as you - that I had a bad bag of food...but I tried a new bag and same thing...
Anyway, I thought he may have developed an intolerance to something in the food so I now started him on Wellness which has no wheat gluten, soy or corn, etc... If this continues with your dog, you may want to make a visit to the Vet and bring a stool...dogs can pick up anything at any time. Also, I had to keep my pup on the boiled rice and chicken for almost a week to ease the inflamation in his intestines. A day or two was not enough... Hope he feels better soon. |
| If you do store your dog food in a container, you need to make sure you practice FIFO (fist in first out). If you do not fully empty the container before you pour another bag in, the food in the bottom of the container could be very old, and eventually get buggy.
A rubbermaid container should hold the food at a reasonably stable condition, as long as it is airtight. It should actually be albe to keep the food better. (I took some classes in school that pertained to sanitation.) |
| Dry kibble should be kept in the original bag that it was purchased in.
You can leave it in the bag and put the whole thing in a tightly sealed Tupperware container. |
| Really? ouch.
We transfer our 40 pound bag of kibble to 3 "airtight" containers and then use them all up before opening another, about a month I think. Why keep it in the same bag? |
| With 3 or 4 sheepies in the house we go through 40 lbs of dog food fairly fast. Since my husband has mobility issues I have a hopper that is mounted to a wall that holds 40 lbs at a time. I wipe it out each time it gets empty before we load in the next bag. I do not buy more than 1 bag at a time so it does not go bad. |
| I have never heard that, but I'm not saying it is not be true. ...just that I've heard the opposite.
In fact, I was told by my vets it was a great idea to keep it as airtight as possible in ziplock bags, freezer, or storage containers. The oily-stuff inside of the bag are the vitamins/nutrients and depending how stored (not airtight) ...they can rub off causing more of a loss of vitamins, etc than needed. This makes the most sense to me, so I follow their advice. Everything goes in 2 gallon ziplock bags until used. For my little dog, her food is stored in the freezer to prevent the least amount of lost (vitamins) since it takes her forever to eat it. |
| FYI, vitamins are very sensitive to temperature. Heat and cold.
I would talk to the vet about a daily vitamin rather depend on the dog food for the vitamins. I do like the idea of a freezer though. We keep our dog's food in two containers, in the house. The new bag sits in the house until the container has been emptied and cleaned. |
| Why store in the orginal bag:
"Plastics can leach vitamin C out of the food and the components of the plastics themselves may leach into the food. Rancid fat lodges in the pores of plastics that are not food-grade and will contaminate new batches of food." Also, the vitamins and nutrients that are on the inside of the bag stay around to be absorbed into the kibble as time goes on. That is why the inside of the bag is not made of absorbent material. Any container used needs to be opaque. The food must be kept from heat, light and dampness. |
| I've also thought since the packaging itself contains bht as a preservative that would keep it fresher?
I sometimes put the bag right in a bin with a lid, or I dump the food in... it doesn't last long around here anyway. I think I'll stick with keeping it in the bag, in the containers.... |
That's a lot of great advice!  Thank you all so much!
I have not stuck to the "first in first out" method and now I'm pretty sure it's the food that's gone bad. I'll throw out what I have and clean out the plastic container real good. Sometimes my common sense just isn't working... 
Again, thanks for all the advice. I  this forum!!! |
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