Local pet store owners are relieved Canada has lifted its blanket ban on U.S.-manufactured pet food.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency announced at noon today the import restriction has been amended to include only those pet foods made with beef products, agency spokesman Jeff Meerman confirmed.

'Effective immediately, the temporary restriction applies only to commercially-prepared pet food containing bovine meat or bovine-derived ingredients (excluding milk and milk products),' reads the inspection agency announcement.

But the vast majority of dog food does not contain any sort of beef products, local pet store owners agree.

Pet food stores in the city were already feeling the pinch just two weeks after Canada closed its border on Dec. 24 to all U.S. pet food products.

The closure came one day after the discovery of a cow infected with mad cow disease in the state of Washington.

Today's announcement comes fewer than 24 hours after Canadian and U.S. officials released results of their DNA research that showed the Washington cow was born in Alberta in 1997.

Meerman said officials have still not determined if the cow became infected while in Canada or after it was shipped to the States in 2001, though research is continuing.

Aside from shrinking supplies on local pet store shelves, there was also a grave concern the ban would have broadsided the 19 American mushers signed up for next month's Yukon Quest sled dog race from Fairbanks to Whitehorse.

Mushers on both sides of the border have until Jan. 22 or Jan. 23 to ship their dog food to Whitehorse and Fairbanks for distribution along the race route on both sides of the border.

It was feared a ban could jeopardize the ability of Alaskan mushers to make adjustments to their teams' diet just a month before the Feb. 14 race start.

Hans Oettli of Duffy's Pets and Tanzilla Harness Supply in Whitehorse said the restriction prompted some customers to begin stocking up on their favourite dog food.

He's already run short in one flavour of a leading U.S. brand but still has other flavours of exactly the same food from the same manufacturer.

Nonetheless, Oettli had put a limit on how much an individual could buy. That was done in order to stretch supplies as far as he could because nobody knew how long Canada would keep the border closed.

He estimates 75 to 90 per cent of all dog food and pet food across the board is free of beef products.

The vast majority of dog food is made from a chicken base, Oettli said.

Lisa Triggs of The Feed Store was relieved when she heard the news, suggesting she could stop telling customers she didn't know when the border tension would ease.

Triggs had already run out of one type of food preferred by local mushers. The 100-bag inventory would have normally lasted her a couple of months but was quickly taken up as news of the border closure spread.

Of the 13 dog food products the store carries, just one uses a beef byproduct fat for flavouring she pointed out.

It's estimated that upwards of 60 per cent of all pet food sold in Canada, from dry dog food to fish food, is imported from the United States.