# What are the guidelines regarding Rosemary



## Furbaby's Mommie (Jul 10, 2004)

I hear it said that rosemary causes seizures in dogs. I've never heard how much is a problem. Is there any kind of guideline? Also every dog food I've read the label on has it. The Karma I feed Shoni has it. I saw in another post about what dry food people are feeding that a lot of you are using Orijen Fish 6. I got a sample bag and Shoni likes, but it lists rosemary too. The organic foods especially use it as a preservative I think.

Shoni has not had a seizure, so is that the only indication that we can go by?


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## momtoboo (Jan 30, 2006)

I've been pondering on that too. I was trying to find a better quality weight management food & soooooo many of them have Rosemary extract or Rosemary oil. I was all set to buy Innova,but it has Rosemary extract.


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## roxybaby22 (Feb 25, 2009)

Are all forms of Rosemary triggers for seizures in some dogs or is it just Rosemary extract? Because I feed Orijen and it has Rosemary (not extract), but Roxy is doing well (even though it has only been a month).

Also, what dogs are prone to get seizures from Rosemary?


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## CeeCee's Mom (Sep 14, 2006)

The only thing that I can think of is some dogs are more inclined to have a reaction to the rosemary and have seizures. My dogs have never had a problem but I have read that it can cause seizures in some dogs. I was wondering about little Katie but that is because I wanted it to be something like that, you could eliminate the food and it would not happen again~~most vets are not aware of this........


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## roxybaby22 (Feb 25, 2009)

QUOTE (CeeCee's Mom @ Jun 16 2009, 02:59 PM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=792096


> The only thing that I can think of is some dogs are more inclined to have a reaction to the rosemary and have seizures. My dogs have never had a problem but I have read that it can cause seizures in some dogs. I was wondering about little Katie but that is because I wanted it to be something like that, you could eliminate the food and it would not happen again~~most vets are not aware of this........[/B]


Yes, I hope that is the case for baby Katie also. It would be such an easy fix.


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## Nikki's Mom (Feb 13, 2008)

I think that only some dogs have a reaction to it, just like grapes. I steer clear of grapes for Nikki and don't generally use rosemary in Nikki's food, but I think I've used organic treats that contained rosemary and it didn't bother her.


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## Cosy (Feb 9, 2006)

Some dogs are more prone to seizures with rosemary and their extracts than others. Just as some dogs
may be allergic to this or that. I don't care to risk it as seizures can cause damage. I saw my daughter's
maltese gradually work up to grand mal seizures while eating a food with rosemary extract. She stopped
the food and the seizures stopped within the week and never returned. No coincidence. I also had a friend
whose dog had a seizure after ingesting one treat containing RE. She tossed the
treats and nothing since. Dwerten's dog reacted to it also, I believe. Too many stories to take lightly
for me.


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## dwerten (Oct 6, 2007)

it is only in dogs that are prone to seizures - make sure it is low on ingredients and you should be ok -- my demi had a seizure on it as i screwed up and gave her rotisserie rosemary chicken from albertsons  so 12 hrs later she seized. However i have fed her newman's own organic for over a year no issue but i have been looking for foods without it and hardly any -- I will see today though as i wanted to try honest kitchen and gave demi a tiny bit today as it smelled pretty strong and used the force so will see how she does as that has rosemary in it too but i want to get a healthier food as newman's own has a lot of grains and she does not seem to like it - i add organic chicken and then she just eats the chicken mostly - she is a real picky eater too and it takes forever to feed her  

So that being said i would only worry if your dog has a seizure or starts acting off otherwise most foods have it so you are kind of stuck unless you home cook as it is used as a preservative in most foods that are higher quality


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## dwerten (Oct 6, 2007)

ok now i feel bad about keeping newman's own  but rosemary is last on the list -- this is a very good point and why i keep searching for foods without it 

cosy do you have a list of foods you are feeding that do not have it ? as it does scare me still 


QUOTE (Cosy @ Jun 16 2009, 08:18 PM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=792271


> Some dogs are more prone to seizures with rosemary and their extracts than others. Just as some dogs
> may be allergic to this or that. I don't care to risk it as seizures can cause damage. I saw my daughter's
> maltese gradually work up to grand mal seizures while eating a food with rosemary extract. She stopped
> the food and the seizures stopped within the week and never returned. No coincidence. I also had a friend
> ...


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## dwerten (Oct 6, 2007)

it is one of those things you will not know until it happens sadly  but i think demi reacted as rotisserie chicken is really potent and man it stunk when I had the chicken and i knew better as had read that but demi never had any health issues until it happened and i was in shock trying to figure out what caused her to seize - it was a petit mal where she just froze -- it scared me 


QUOTE (roxybaby22 @ Jun 16 2009, 12:50 PM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=792071


> Are all forms of Rosemary triggers for seizures in some dogs or is it just Rosemary extract? Because I feed Orijen and it has Rosemary (not extract), but Roxy is doing well (even though it has only been a month).
> 
> Also, what dogs are prone to get seizures from Rosemary?[/B]


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## dwerten (Oct 6, 2007)

yeah i have been looking at all foods and so frustrated but i do not think natural balance does but demi does not like the organic and i always try to find organic 


QUOTE (momtoboo @ Jun 16 2009, 11:41 AM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=792047


> I've been pondering on that too. I was trying to find a better quality weight management food & soooooo many of them have Rosemary extract or Rosemary oil. I was all set to buy Innova,but it has Rosemary extract.[/B]


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## Cosy (Feb 9, 2006)

Cosy eats NB Sweet Potato and Venison. No rosemary of any type added. That's really all she eats other than
fresh veggies and some fruits. OK, she gets a little bite of ice cream now and then. :brownbag:


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## princessre (Dec 23, 2008)

QUOTE (Cosy @ Jun 16 2009, 09:29 PM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=792281


> Cosy eats NB Sweet Potato and Venison. No rosemary of any type added. That's really all she eats other than
> fresh veggies and some fruits. OK, she gets a little bite of ice cream now and then. :brownbag:[/B]


Brit!!! Ice Cream?! :yahoo:


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## dwerten (Oct 6, 2007)

vanilla ice cream is not too bad  many give haagan daz vanilla or breyers for dogs with seizures (epilepsy) as it seems to help 

ok i will look into that food then for demi as she is not digging the newman's and i really want to home cook  wish i was not so chicken 


QUOTE (princessre @ Jun 16 2009, 08:32 PM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=792285


> QUOTE (Cosy @ Jun 16 2009, 09:29 PM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=792281





> Cosy eats NB Sweet Potato and Venison. No rosemary of any type added. That's really all she eats other than
> fresh veggies and some fruits. OK, she gets a little bite of ice cream now and then. :brownbag:[/B]


Brit!!! Ice Cream?! :yahoo:
[/B][/QUOTE]


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## Cosy (Feb 9, 2006)

QUOTE (dwerten @ Jun 16 2009, 08:28 PM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=792280


> yeah i have been looking at all foods and so frustrated but i do not think natural balance does but demi does not like the organic and i always try to find organic
> 
> 
> QUOTE (momtoboo @ Jun 16 2009, 11:41 AM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=792047





> I've been pondering on that too. I was trying to find a better quality weight management food & soooooo many of them have Rosemary extract or Rosemary oil. I was all set to buy Innova,but it has Rosemary extract.[/B]


[/B][/QUOTE]


My daughter's dog started with petit mal too and it gradually got worse until it was happening everyday. The vet said epilepsy but I 
just didn't buy it. That's when I remembered what Debbie posted about RE. We checked her food and sure enough there it was.
I don't think the epilepsy would just stop like that. I called the vet and talked to her about it. She admitted she had never heard
of rosemary causing issues. I explained to her there are articles about it on the internet. She checked it out and decided it 
could have been the problem....because there is no problem now! LOL


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## momtoboo (Jan 30, 2006)

Boo & Hannah eat Natural Balance right now & there is no rosemary in it. I can tell they're getting tired of it though & the reduced calorie kibble is only rated 3 star,so I wanted to try something better. Since Boo had 1 seizure with cause unknown, I wanted to stay away from rosemary. I may just start mixing a little canned with the dry to give them a break from boredom. I did find 2 brands without Rosemary, Merrick & Artemis.


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## Furbaby's Mommie (Jul 10, 2004)

Maybe we should all start contacting the home companies of the premium foods we like telling them of our concerns with rosemary. The maker of the Innova and Karma for instance, and Orijen, etc. If they get enough complaints maybe they can find something else natural for a preservative. :huh:


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## coco (Sep 20, 2006)

QUOTE (dwerten @ Jun 16 2009, 07:34 PM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=792286


> vanilla ice cream is not too bad  many give haagan daz vanilla or breyers for dogs with seizures (epilepsy) as it seems to help
> 
> ok i will look into that food then for demi as she is not digging the newman's and i really want to home cook  wish i was not so chicken
> 
> ...





> QUOTE (Cosy @ Jun 16 2009, 09:29 PM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=792281





> Cosy eats NB Sweet Potato and Venison. No rosemary of any type added. That's really all she eats other than
> fresh veggies and some fruits. OK, she gets a little bite of ice cream now and then. :brownbag:[/B]


Brit!!! Ice Cream?! :yahoo:
[/B][/QUOTE]
[/B][/QUOTE]
Merrick Grammy's pot pie


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## Furbaby's Mommie (Jul 10, 2004)

I did send an email about rosemary to Natura (Innova) and to Orijen. I hope the rest of you will do it, and to any other company that you want to use their food but it has rosemary.

Here's what I said, probably you can think of a better way to say.....

I have a Maltese, which is a 6 lb. toy breed. I am a member of a very large group of Maltese owners (a forum) who research and discuss the best foods for our Maltese. There has been quite a lot of evidence that Rosemary causes seizures in dogs. Many on our forum members have had this experience. When the product containing Rosemary was withdrawn, the seizures stopped. At this point we have no official guidelines of exactly how much Rosemary it takes to cause a problem, we just know dogs on dry foods containing it are more and more often starting to have seizures.
<span style="font-family:Comic Sans MS"><span style="color:#000080">
<span style="font-family:Comic Sans MS"><span style="font-family:Comic Sans MS"></span>I love your Innova and Karma dry foods and so does my little dog, but they do contain Rosemary and that is a big concern. In my search I find that almost all the premium dry foods do contain Rosemary now. I wanted to bring this problem to your attention in hope that your nutritionist can address this in your recipe. I don't see why dry foods have to contain this ingredient and hope that you can eliminate it. There are a large number of owners who are dropping your products because of this and I thought you would want to know that.</span></span>[/color] 

<span style="font-family:Comic Sans MS">I would very much like a reply. I want to be able to take your reply to our forum members.
<span style="color:#000080">
<span style="font-family:Comic Sans MS"></span>Sincerely,</span></span></span>


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## momtoboo (Jan 30, 2006)

QUOTE (Furbaby's Mommie @ Jun 17 2009, 03:29 PM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=792724


> I did send an email about rosemary to Natura (Innova) and to Orijen. I hope the rest of you will do it, and to any other company that you want to use their food but it has rosemary.
> 
> Here's what I said, probably you can think of a better way to say.....
> 
> ...




Very good Dee, I don't think I could say it any better than that.


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