Plopper is more than a little upset about what researchers found in her cat food.

Three of our cats suffer from hyperthyroidism, so I was very interested when I ran across the following article:

Study links cat disease to flame retardants in furniture and to pet food

"A mysterious epidemic of thyroid disease among pet cats in the United States may be linked to exposure to dust shed from flame retardants in household carpeting, furniture, fabrics and pet food."

They're talking about PBDEs (polybrominated diphenyl ethers), which I've learned are also a suspected carcinogen in humans. These chemicals have been added to products such as electronics (computers and TVs), furniture foam and upholstery, carpet padding, and even mattresses for decades.

"The epidemic of hyperthyroidism in cats began almost 30 years ago, at the same time when PBDEs were introduced into household materials as a fire-prevention measure."

PBDEs are not chemically bound to treated products, so direct contact with the products isn't even necessary. It reaches you, your kids, and your pets in the form of dust. I guess I'd better bust out the vacuum a little more often.

Even worse, the research shows that canned cat foods having fish or seafood flavors (salmon or whitefish) have higher levels of PBDEs than other foods. Our cats used to eat the Ocean Whitefish flavor almost exclusively, both canned and dry. Before reading about PBDEs, I had never even considered that the flavor (forget about the brand) of food they ate could have contributed to their current health problems.

Once again it seems that, as they say, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

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