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What are the signs my dog ate spoiled food? How to know if it's bad?

Updated on September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Border Collie | Female | spayed | 3 years and 7 months old | 40.4 lbs

Hi, I have a bit of a strange question. What would be the symptoms of a dog eating spoiled dog food? I saw an article the other day about a girl who lost her fur babies due to spoiled food and wondered if there were any warning signs? Or, besides mold, if there was any way to tell the dog food had spoiled? We buy 50 lb bags of food for our dog as we've always had a 60-100lb dog in the house. Now we have a 40lb border collie mix who takes quite a while to eat that much! So I'm a bit paranoid now!

1 Answer

Most Helpful Answer

Answered By Sara Farmer, DVM

Veterinarian

Published on February 25th, 2018

It can be difficult to recognize when food has spoiled, and there have been many food recalls lately for various problems like salmonella or other contaminants in food that could make your dog sick but wouldn’t be obviously detectable in the food. I would recommend sticking to foods that are produced by manufacturers with good quality control in place like Hill’s, Purina and Royal Canin. I would also recommend avoiding raw diets since there is potential for salmonella contamination.

In general you should keep food at room temperature or a cool, dry place in a tightly sealed metal container or you can place the original bag in a plastic container. Make sure you buy a bag that your dog can eat in 4-6 weeks or the oils could become rancid.

1Pet Parents found this answer helpful

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