Posted on 04/03/2007 4:34:03 PM PDT by Arizona Carolyn
The March 16 recall of 91 pet food products manufactured by Menu Foods wasn't big news at first. Early coverage reported only 10-15 cats and dogs dying after eating canned and pouched foods manufactured by Menu. The foods were recalled -- among them some of the country's best-known and biggest-selling brands -- and while it was certainly a sad story, and maybe even a bit of a wake-up call about some aspects of pet food manufacturing, that was about it.
At first, that was it for me, too. But I'm a contributing editor for a nationally syndicated pet feature, Universal Press Syndicate's Pet Connection, and all of us there have close ties to the veterinary profession
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Nestle, Hills, and Del Monte also said their foods were ok... until they said they weren’t.
Again: Everyone needs to monitor their pets, and if they notice any signs/symptoms of illness, they need to stop feeding that food and get their pet to the vet ASAP. With ARF, a few hours could mean the difference between living and dying. Better safe than sorry. IMO.
After what happened to Haitian children, I don't understand why any company would purchase food items from China. I wouldn't buy anything from China to feed to my dogs. I'm worried now about the toys.
My dog who I spoke of yesterday regarding the vaccinations had Cushings. It took me several weeks and a lot of vets here to find out what was wrong with him. We did have some good results in stabilizing him with a med called Ketaconazole [sp]
I have to say I had not heard of this “night shade” fertilizer before other than as a type of plant. I looked briefly and this item caught my eye since a lot of product from Thailand is sold in Walmart.
Check labels....I don’t buy any food from other countries. I was really surprised to see popular brands of tuna coming from Thailand. Check Walmarts frozen fish....Thailand or some other far off place. I’m limited here to one market HEB and Walmart...yuck on both of them. HEB has more items everyday that have more spanish than english on the label.
Anyway here is the night shade item I found at “first” glance in Google.
****************
In Thailand, the septic tank system is used for night soil collection. Some night soil is disposed of directly into sewers or transported and dumped into the rice paddy fields or public areas.
http://pcdv1.pcd.go.th/Information/Regulations/Engp4garbag.htm
Oops on last post, I mean night soil not night shade [which is a plant].....it’s too early.
I’m going to finish my coffee now. :)
It’s a serious problem, to be sure. But the scale of panic, and some of the specific reactions, have gone overboard. There is every reason to scrutinize the recall list closely for matches between that and what you’ve been feeding your pets, and to head of to the vet quickly if there’s a match, even in the absence of symptoms. And it’s ALWAYSa good idea to head to the vet quickly if you notice any symptoms of illness in your pets, because there are all sorts of things that can cause fast-worsening kidney failure and other life-threatening conditions. But extrapolating from the recall information to deciding that anything sold as pet food is suddenly unsafe just doesn’t make sense.
As you pointed out, the FDA doesn’t really know where the all contaminated wheat gluten went, and it also hasn’t been firmly established that the contaminant has been identified. The experts are saying that there have been studies on the effects of melamine in dogs and rats, and that it wouldn’t produce the severe kidney failure seen in a lot of these pet food-related cases (thought that it might produce it in cats, who are generally more sensitive to toxins, and for whom there is no study data re melamine toxicity). Until they’re sure what the responsible contaminant(s) is/are, there’s no reason to assume that it’s limited to things containing wheat gluten, much less limited to pet foods containing wheat gluten. What doesn’t make sense is the major panic over pet food dangers, with many people suddenly deciding to spend lots of extra time and money preparing home-cooked pet food of dubious nutritional value, while almost no one seems to be having a similar reaction re human foods. The FDA and vets have said that they haven’t seen these kidney failure reactions in any pets that weren’t fed foods on the original recall list. So why extrapolate from that, that all pet foods are dangerous, while not extrapolating that all human foods are dangerous?
What I’m afraid is not getting sufficient attention in all this, due largely to the overblown panic about anything and everything labelled “pet food”, is that this whole process — especially the FDA’s inability to quickly and clearly identify the contaminant and its source — is turning out to be a loud notice to terrorists that sneaking an unlikely contaminant into our human food supply would be a surefire way to create a huge national panic of long duration and with devastating financial effects.
I think we have passed the point of no return and we will have to continue to import foreign food. We have lost much of our farmland to development and most of our farmers to easier, more lucrative professions. My evidence is local and anecdotal but from what I read not any different than the rest of the country. In our county we have gone from over 400 farmers making a living off a farm in the early 70’s to fewer than 50. Actively farmed acreage has gone down over 50%. There is one young college aged kid who wants to farm and then the next youngest farmers in the county are two 35 yr olds. As I said, I don’t think America can meet all the needs of America 24/7/365 anymore.
Life is full of risks and we can't be protected from all of them.
Let's keep our brains on.
If something happens one time
that doesn't define
an entire country.
After Waco, would you say
it just isn't safe
to be a Christian
in America? Panic
mongering's not smart.
Ketaconazole is one of the drugs they recommend. That is good for your dog that it was able to stabilize on it instead of Lysodren. Too many dogs have Cushings for my comfort level.... just as too many children have Autism these days. My unproven suspicion is still vaccinations ie the carriers in the vaccinations.
This gets more gross by the day.... Thanks for the links... what Tuna (do you know) — a local market recently had a huge sale at .33 a can, said chunk light in water on the label, my husband says it is junk tuna in a can, the label was very mis-leading. It’s a leading brand tuna.
You are correct. Here in the SW Desert area farmers are being forced out of business because of growing water needs for San Diego... other farmers are selling off their ranches due to the extended drought and water requirements... in the Mid-west it’s now more lucrative to grow corn for ethenol... we need to wake up as a nation in too many areas.
"The FDA and vets have said that they haven’t seen these kidney failure reactions in any pets that weren’t fed foods on the original recall list."
The FDA has said there are 16 deaths. And you want to believe what they're saying about kidney failure reactions related to the recall? Um, if they are so drastically and INTENTIONALLY wrong about the number 16, why would you believe a word they say regarding the medical ramifications of this? And I don't think the "Vets" are saying anything. There is no national clearing house for recording statistics on pet illness, so there is no "Vets" making any statements of any kind about the overall picture in this fiasco.
"So why extrapolate from that, that all pet foods are dangerous, while not extrapolating that all human foods are dangerous?"
While I agree that it's not a logical leap to say that ALL pet foods are dangerous, the fact that people are seeing illness and death in their pets who are on other foods that aren't on the recall list IS a logical leap to say that at least SOME pet foods are dangerous. My own dog (and several others that I have now read about) had blood in her urine and she was eating a non-recalled DRY product (Iams Mini Chunks). Vets couldn't find a reason/cause for the blood, and after a few months, it went away on its own.
Regarding not making the leap to assume (extrapolate) that human food is also a problem: Again, people are Lemmings/Sheep. They aren't free-thinkers. Their "government" has told them that the human food supply is safe, so they believe it is safe. But those of us who have looked into this know that there is un-found contaminated wheat gluten out there that was, in fact, shipped to human-food manufacturers... My question for the Lemmings is this: If it took them weeks to find all the pet-food-related wheat gluten, and they still haven't found it all in the pet food chain, then how is it possible that they were able to say, with supposed certainty, within just 24 hours, that none of it made it into the human food chain?
The truth is, both people and pets would be better off if they ate home-cooked meals made from home-grown real foods, rather than commercialized, chemical-ized, adulterated, pre-packaged non-foods on the market today. "Back in the day", all adults, babies, and pets ate whatever they could grow or buy from local farmers and ranchers... real food, and well-balanced diets. But today's society ain't cut out that way so it ain't gonna happen in today's world on a massive scale. The way things are going, eventually the massive scale Lemmings and their pets are going to be eating Soylent Green.
The FDA gave the 16 figure quite a long time ago. It never claimed that there hadn’t been any food-related deaths in addition to these absolutely confirmed cases. As of a few days ago, the Veterinary Information Network reported a few hundred cases of probably food-related kidney failure and fewer than 200 deaths. This contrasts with the several thousand deaths claimed by pet owners on a self-reporting website, which it’s pretty clear to me includes a lot of deaths unrelated to the food. When the first dry food recall was announced, many vets were quoted in the media as saying they hadn’t seen or heard of any cases related to foods beyond those originally recalled. I’m not trying to claim there’s no big deal here, but I think it’s worth trying to inject some reason and perspective into the discussion.
Try to understand the position of the FDA. They are not equipped or authorized to make definitive determinations about the cause of death of any animal. They can cite numbers only for specific cases that have been solidly confirmed by a well-qualified veterinarian. If they cite larger numbers than that, they need and will be asked for a specific basis for them — like where are these animals you’re referring to, which brand(s) of food did they eat, etc. Then if they cite specific cases as “presumed” to be food related, their statements will be used in lawsuits by the owners of those pets, even if it’s not really certain that food was the cause. The deaths the FDA cited were those conducted in controlled lab situations by the manufacturer, which were clearly not caused by an animal gnawing on a poisonous houseplant or lapping up some antifreeze that leaked from a parked car. Early on, before any specific contaminant had been identified, these were the only cases that could be definitively linked to the food.
How is the new puppy doing?
It was either Star Kist or Chicken of the Sea....the ones that have the pouches now with what they call tuna steak that feels like it about the size of a sardine steak.
I will look again when I’m back at the store.
CNN) — The Food and Drug Administration announced on Thursday it has identified additional contaminated pet food products — dog biscuits made by Sunshine Mills of Red Bay, Alabama.
The dog biscuits are contaminated with potentially toxic wheat gluten, said Stephen Sundlof, director of the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine. He said more details on which products are affected would be available later Thursday.
Sunshine Mills did not immediately return calls from CNN seeking comment.
The FDA also said Menu Foods is expanding its recall of a wide variety of products by widening the range of manufacturing dates in the recall. The company said it will announce the new recall dates later Thursday.
http://www.ksbitv.com/home/6890052.html
The latest Menu Food cat food recalled includes selected dates for Authority sliced chicken cans; Nutro Max Cat Gourmet Classics kitten and senior pouches; Pet Pride tuna, chicken, turkey and beef cans; Sophistacat chicken, beef, and salmon cans; and Science Diet Feline Savory Cuts cans.
The recalled dog food includes selected dates for Great Choice liver grill cuts in cans; Pet Pride chicken teriyaki and stew pouches; Springfield Prize chicken cuts cans; and Stater Brothers chicken cuts cans.
http://foodconsumer.org/7777/8888/R_ecalls_amp_A_lerts_3/040503272007_More_Pet_Food_Recalled.shtml
From above link.......
In a separate pet food alert also issued Thursday, FDA officials warned consumers to throw out any American Bullie A.B. Bull Pizzle Puppy Chews and Dog Chews they had. The products, manufactured and distributed by T.W. Enterprises in Ferndale, Wash., are potentially contaminated with salmonella.
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