Just opened a new bag of food and found Moths.

[Indigo]

I switched my dogs from Blue Buffalo to Wellness Complete at the first of the year. Everything has been going great. Sky put on a bit of weight, so I'm adjusting portions. I just opened a new bag for dinner and there were long, fuzzy, stringy something all over the top of the food. And then I found moths. Several dead, at least 2 alive. I trapped a live one in a baggie and sealed the bag as quick as I could, so I don't know how bad the infestation was. Quick internet search told me they are Indian Meal Moths. They are a common critter. The fact that I had full grown moths makes me think they have been there for some time. More reading says they may have entered the food at the factory or it's possible they made a hole in the bag and entered during storage. Hubby has already carried the bag outside, so I need to get a flashlight and search for pinholes in the bag.

Has anyone else had this problem? If so can you tell me what food and where you got it? I wonder if places like Chewy would have less problems. I usually shop at Pets Mart because my shopping choices are limited around here.

I'm not pleased. I don't think the bugs would hurt the dogs, but I don't want them in my house. I don't want to think they got in at the factory because I did a great deal of research before choosing this to replace Blue Buffalo. Over all I have been very happy with the food. Each bag has had kibble that looked like the last, unlike what was happening with BB. The kibble was bigger and Buddy was actually chewing his food half the time. The dogs had no problems switching over. The cost is a bit more than BB, but I'm feeding less, so that evens out. If we didn't travel so much I would start looking at RAW.

[doubledip1]

Call Wellness!

[POPTOP]

Definitely call Wellness. Also, wherever you bought the food should replace it, no questions asked. Although it does not make a difference if there was a small hole in the bag, be sure to check expirations dates.

[Indigo]

I got out the flash light and looked at the bag. In the crease close to the top I found a empty pupal case. I also discovered that the expatriation date was two months from now. I figure the bag has been sitting in some Pet's Mart warehouse for months and was attacked by bugs. We took it back to the store and exchanged it for a new bag. No questions asked. The new bag has an expatriation date 8 months away. No bugs in the the bag.

I'm fairly confident that the fault is with the way the food was stored after it left the factory. Now I just have to remember to look at expatriation dates and look over the bag when I buy food.

[SunDance]

Yeah...nice. I found them in treats I bought many years ago. Research indicated that they were harmless and could be killed by freezing the product for a while...and added extra protein. Since I had dogs who'd race the cat to catch/eat a moth, I just froze the treats. Not so easy to do with a large bag.

Note: There weren't that many in the bag...the actual moths and some larvae stayed in the bag when I transferred the frozen treats to another container...the pooches would have gotten a few dead larvae at best. I know...ewwww.....

[Snowshoe]

Extra protein in a pesticide free bag of food? Maybe. But I would be letting the store and the company know too, and would return the bag.

[charliebbarkin]

Ew! Glad you got to return it!

FWIW I've done a ton of travel feeding raw! It's not so bad

[happy_blackbird]

I agree that calling Wellness to let them know is a good idea. I don't care how "shelf stable" kibble and treats are, I try to find the bags with the most recent manufacturing date (farthest expiry date). I know stuff happens and it's not a sterile process, but we've had so many spoiled bags of kibble over the years from a wide variety of manufacturers. It always makes me worry about The Belly Monster (we had a rancid bag of Stella & Chewy's Carnivore Crunch Raw Duck treats a few months ago and they had just been manufactured).

[Woofie]

I'm another who feeds total raw & travels quite a bit with 2 big dogs! Doesn't bother me a bit.