Rosemary “extract” has been added to many supplements especially for pets’ supplements and sadly now in our ground poultry and frozen poultry foods as a preservative.
I have searched the toxic issues rosemary has for cats because we know that rosemary oils are toxic to them. That being said, I did more research today. No, I would not chance using products that have rosemary extract or any other herb in it. How much is too much before we see our beloved cat or dog get sick and possibly die. Vets don’t know how to test for rosemary toxicity do they? Or, do the vets know how to treat it if they suspect it is the cause of your pet’s illness? Would I chance feeding any product with rosemary extract to my cat? NO and here is why…
This link from the European pet food industry is what gave me real pause https://efsa.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.2903/j.efsa.2012.2526
After reading all the ‘pet food” products answers to pet owns questions about the addition to rosemary extract in their products saying it was safe and that the rosemary essential oils are what is toxic, not the “extract”. Do we take this as truth? Knowing from past experience that many of our beloved cats and dogs have died because of products sold as “safe” I feel they had to say that or loose a great deal of customers.
Nowhere has there been an actual study done to prove the “rosemary extract” is safe…NOWHERE, and the European link explains that. I trust Europe’s guidelines in food because they do not accept a lot of toxic things that we do in America. https://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/efsajournal/pub/2526
