Pet Food Recall

[rangerette]

yahoo news link - pet food recall

There is incomplete information at this time, but thought it good to post this as soon as possible.

[Hit_The_Road_J1]

sue.t wrote:

Little Kopit wrote:
... The vet repeatedly said talk to your vet about diet ...

Please keep in mind that a vet cannot make negative comments about particular brands or manufacturers without putting their licence to practice at risk. A vet cannot say Brand A is better than Brand B, or that Brand C is very bad.

A vet can suggest a particular type of food as being suitable for an animal, and can prescribe certain products for an animal's health benefit. But your vet cannot slander any particular product, even if that product is horrific. Their words are usually very carefully chosen.

Even so, a vet is a valuable source of information and can help you assess diet options. The final decision is yours.

Seems a real shame!...possessing this type of critical/horrific information yet not sharing with their customer, regardless of the consequences!

As with the Pet Food Recall!

[sue_t]

Little Kopit wrote:
... The vet repeatedly said talk to your vet about diet ...

Please keep in mind that a vet cannot make negative comments about particular brands or manufacturers without putting their licence to practice at risk. A vet cannot say Brand A is better than Brand B, or that Brand C is very bad.

A vet can suggest a particular type of food as being suitable for an animal, and can prescribe certain products for an animal's health benefit. But your vet cannot slander any particular product, even if that product is horrific. Their words are usually very carefully chosen.

Even so, a vet is a valuable source of information and can help you assess diet options. The final decision is yours.

[Tweety_Girl]

I buy the cheap dog food and yes it makes my dogs gassy but at least the food did not appear on the list. I buy the Dad's dry food and the Dad's indoor formula for my cats. This is the only food any of my animals will tolerate. If my regular store doesn't have it I have to go to another store to see if they have it. For me to buy most expensive food isn't worth it. Especially if the fur kids won't eat it.

[beboy]

Ngataki wrote:
After I read THIS article...I am even more confused/scared now and will say bye bye to these brand names even for dry food..Will try Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance dry food.

There are lots of informative articles on Wysong's website as well.
Its a good place to start if you want to learn more about pet foods.
Wysong

[Little_Kopit]

There is a Canadian angle as of last night.

Pet food manufacturer Royal Canin has been charged in a lawsuit for incidents ending in 2006. http://thechronicleherald.ca/Business/565807.html

& The CBC radio program The Current http://www.cbc.ca/programguide/program/index.jsp?program=The+Current
started off with a very interesting discussion on this issue. I caught parts of interviews with Ann Martin author of the 2002 book, Food Pets Die For: Shocking Facts About Pet Food and a vet whose name I did not catch. Martin was pointing to ways in which dogs have had higher vets bills since the pet food industry really got going and to the fact that dog food manufacture is unregulated in Canada.* The vet repeatedly said talk to your vet about diet.

The Current has a radio archive. The one to let you listen to today's program should be available tomorrow.

:C

* both interviewees said the U.S. does have regulation of dog food. Please let us catch up with you.

[BCSnob]

Wheat is being looked at because of Fusarium which is a fungi that can affect grains. Some of the strains of fusarium can produce Mycotoxin. A familiar mycotoxin is aflatoxin.

Mark

[Auntie]

I have asked the Vet today about the foods..and I have to tell you I'm not getting a whole lot of help there either. They have latest print out of updated re-calls. I feel as if they don't want to commit to anything..probably from a liability stand point. They have the prescription food..and say it's not been effected..but you have to wonder if even that will be on the update. After reading that article about what is really in the pet food..who knows. This Dick Van Patten Food...do you know of anyone who uses it..and I see it has no by products...wondering if we should make the switch also. My dog has been sick..(I'm the one with the 6 month old Sheltie goes to Vet)..and if everything is okay tomorrow he will start on one of the prescription foods for bland diet. He formerly was on the Eukanuba dry..but I'm worried about that too after reading the article about how pet food is made. I don't trust that paying more, necessarily means it's going to be any better.

[Ngataki]

After I read THIS article...I am even more confused/scared now and will say bye bye to these brand names even for dry food..Will try Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance dry food.

[CA_POPPY]

NBC had a report that said a wheat product in the affected dog/cat food was suspected but not proven as the contaminant. It sounds like that was probably an ingredient in the gravy. Somebody has a lot of 'splainin' to do, that's for sure.

[sue_t]

I want to ensure everyone has access to the info about which foods are affected, rather than relying on news reports which may or may not be complete.

For recall info from the company involved:
http://www.menufoods.com/recall/index.html

The list of affected dog food brands is at
http://www.menufoods.com/recall/product_dog.html

The list of affected cat food brands is at
http://www.menufoods.com/recall/product_cat.html

The brand links provide detailed info about which products might be problematic.

The company's press release is at
http://www.menufoods.com/recall/Press_Recall_03162007.pdf

[RVSnowbird]

subtle reminder that this topic is "Pet Food Recall" and was made a sticky at the top of this forum because of the importance of it.

A reference to an ingredient used to euthanize animals has given it a new direction. Please confine future posts within this topic to the subject of the pet food recall.

RVSnowbird
Moderator

[BCSnob]

dturm wrote:
I don't work on anything larger than a great dane, but I find it difficult to believe that pentobarb would be used to euthanize large animals. Because of cost, I just can't imagine it would be done. Do any of you know how farm animals are euthanized??

Doug

Warning, these may be too graphic (in description) for some.

Mark

Horse Euthanasia Procedures

Practical Euthanasia of Cattle

[Bill___Cathy]

I just posted my dog food recipe under a different thread titled "Home-made Holistic Dog Food Recipe." Been using it for years, and it's worked great.
And, Auntie, we'll be thinking about you and your Sheltie, and sending prayers and good wishes your way.

Cathy

[Auntie]

Our 6 month old Sheltie went to vet on Saturday. He had been vomiting on and off for a little over a week. At first I though that perhaps he had eaten something (he is a puppy and will eat anything left around)..then he would seem better. A couple of days later..again..he vomited..but I thought maybe he ate too fast. Then he stopped eating..almost three days..just a few nibbles here and there. He seem sort of larthargic, but not overly so. He went for his walks and perked up when my son was home. After reading about this recall on Sat. I took him to vet. Now..he was eating Eukanuba dry. Not the wet. However...today I get a call that I have to bring him back in..he has blood in his urine. White and Red blood cells. They are thinking he has a kidney infection..or the start of kidney problems. They want a "fresh" morning urine sample. They said the sample they took on Saturday was very dilluted. As if he drank alot of water..which he hadn't. I'm worried. We stopped the dog food..since he wasn't eating it anyway..and gave him..at her suggestion..a plain McDonalds cheeseburger. Also because if he had swallowed anything he shouldn't have ..and it was still in his stomach..bread would be the best thing to sort of grab it and help move it along. They did an x-ray on him..and it did appear he had something..who knows what in his stomach and another piece of it in his intestines..moving on outward(so to speak). We go tomorrow morning for another x-ray to see if whatever he swallowed has passed..and for more urine analysis testing. I am very worried. I know it's supposed to have been the wet food..but I don't even believe they are telling the truth. Here we are thinking we are giving him this food that the breeder said was better. The vet said to give him something from Purina. (Actually, she said some of them look good enough to feed her own family!..wouldn't want to be invited to dinner at her house!) Anyway..just thought I'd mention that my pup is having trouble..along with the recall it's got me pretty worried. I'm not giving him the Eukanuba dry or wet..don't trust it.

[CA_POPPY]

cervri wrote:

I think I got lucky when I decided to feed my "little" Chi only raw foods or what we eat ourselves.

Dee, be real careful with the table food. We "got away" with that with our 6 lb chi/pom Poquita for her first four years and then she came down with bloody diarrhea and vomiting and was diagnosed with gastritis. The vet threatened us that she was going to die if we kept giving her table food, we had to get her on a quality dog food. This was a lot easier said than done, by the way. She had refused every dog food we ever tried. Our vet said many of his chihuahua patients are notorious for training their people to spoil them rotten and feed them what they eat. Poquita can have little pieces of lean chicken or meat, but she doesn't do well with beef. Don't let Pancho have any fats if you can help it, no sauces or gravy or stuff like that. Besides the problem of digestive issues, table food can put too much weight on a dog. We finally did find a kibble Poquita will eat and thank goodness, it is not on any haz-mat list.