Infertility

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#1
I'm not sure if I should post here or dog food forum but will try here... So I've been reading posts from another dog food forum I go to about phytoestrogens in dog foods causing infertility.

I have been told ingredients in dog foods that should be avoided due to phytoestrogens and the possibility to cause fertility issues in dogs include:

Peas
Barley
Soy
Alfalfa
Flaxseed
Sweet potato
Brown rice
Millet

And I'm sure the list continues.

Wondering what other peoples thoughts on this are? Flaxseed and barely seem to be in SO many foods. And so many grain free foods have lots of peas.
 
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#2
Flaxseed seems to be indicted quite a bit in this area, but I have not ready any of the research. It's something I don't add to a dog's diet anyway as it doesn't offer a ton of benefit, at least not anything I can't find in lots of other places. Soy I would absolutely avoid. I wish it would go away completely, but it's a cheap food and heavily subsidized by the gov't so I doubt it's going anywhere. But as a food source for dogs or humans I think it's ****.

Other than that I'd be worried about plastic content in dog toys, water bottles, food dishes and containers etc that hold things our dog consume.
 
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#3
Yes, if there isn't another explanation for the infertility then I'd be more worried about xenohormones in plastics and other environmental sources than anything in food. They are in so many common household products and dogs would have to consume massive amounts of any particular foodstuff to actually disrupt hormone function.
 
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#4
Thanks for the info. I personally have not had any fertility issues with my dogs. I currently have a litter of almost 4 wk old collie puppies.

I've just been hearing a lot about this over the last few months. The more I research the longer the list grows of foods that have phytoestrogens.

For years I fed diamond naturals chicken and rice. It did have barley and flaxseed. I had big strong litters. A little over 2 yrs ago during their last recall I stopped diamond all together. Since then I've had such a hard time finding a good quality reasonably priced dog food that works. Then reading this list of ingredients you should avoid just makes it more difficult.

Diamond naturals have changes formulas now too and have peas and chia seed in their ingredients now.

Soy I have never fed a dog food with soy in it. But flaxseed seems to be in almost everything I've looked into. Peas an barley are also common.
 
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#5
They are in so many common household products and dogs would have to consume massive amounts of any particular foodstuff to actually disrupt hormone function.
Thanks! This is kind if what I was thinking as well. A friend of mine swears the reason she had a few bitches miss over the last year was because of peas in the dog food so it really had me thinking and looking into this a little bit more but I just didn't see how peas as one ingredient in the food would cause this??
 

Romy

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#6
Were the males tested? There are a ton of reasons a pregnancy won't take, and it's not always the bitch's fault.

What is their inbreeding coefficient? How much natural sunlight do they get? Are they vitamin D deficient? (this makes a much bigger difference than you'd expect) Did the girls have vaginal infections? Were they natural breedings or AI? If AI were they fresh collected or frozen? etc. etc. etc.
 
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#7
Were the males tested? There are a ton of reasons a pregnancy won't take, and it's not always the bitch's fault.

What is their inbreeding coefficient? How much natural sunlight do they get? Are they vitamin D deficient? (this makes a much bigger difference than you'd expect) Did the girls have vaginal infections? Were they natural breedings or AI? If AI were they fresh collected or frozen? etc. etc. etc.
Totally agree and I can't answer any of those questions as not my dogs. But my friend saying that just made me do more research and ask questions.

I tend to think she blamed the food because she had only been feeding it for a few months and then had some bitches miss. It's just something I've seen more people talking about these last several months.

On a different note I also agree it's not always the bitches fault. I bred my smooth girl last fall and she missed. Her sister owned by another person also missed. Bred to the same stud. Stud owner apparently told the owner of my girls sister she shouldn't waste her time breeding her again since 2 sisters both missed (same stud) they probably couldn't get pregnant--- neither bitch had been bred before.

Well my girl that missed last year now has a nice fat healthy litter of rough and smooth babies that are almost 4 wks old--- bred to a different stud of course.
 

Romy

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#8
I think food could have an effect, but unless it was contaminated with weird phamaceuticals it probably wouldn't cause infertility after a few months of feeding.

I bred Kaia last year and she missed. It was fresh chilled, the person who collected fractioned it incorrectly so it was mostly dead when it arrived. Still gave it a try, but they were just too weak to do anything. Now she's got 6 big fat puppies
 

Tam501

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#9
I think food could have an effect, but unless it was contaminated with weird phamaceuticals it probably wouldn't cause infertility after a few months of feeding.

I bred Kaia last year and she missed. It was fresh chilled, the person who collected fractioned it incorrectly so it was mostly dead when it arrived. Still gave it a try, but they were just too weak to do anything. Now she's got 6 big fat puppies
I started Diamond almost two years ago. I raise dobermans, my girl has always had large litters, since starting the diamond she had two litters, 5 pups then the second 4. One of my new girls just gave birth to a singleton. So i researched alot in the last month. They have added phytoestrogens to the dog foods competing with this natural crap. I do not recommend Diamond or Kirkland products for breeders. I have heard from other breeders with the same issue's of low birth litters, using diamond and fromms.
Apparently peas are a natural contraseptive.
I free choice my dogs, phytoestrogens, they mimic or interfere with estrogen produced in the body by binding to estrogen receptors.
https://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/forums/topic/phytoestrogens-and-reproductive-issues/
 

TheDeena

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#10
wow this is quite interesting. having always fixed my dogs never paid attention to any of this. However, have you ever visited DOG FOOD ADVISOR? ton of information, however, I would try mating and if it doesn’t happen in a couple of heats then I would worry of other causes. Soy definitely is something to stay away from both for humans and dogs.
 

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