I didn’t say that you were crying wolf. I said that the reason why there may have been a lag in people taking this seriously is because there have been so many false reports like this in the past. I have run a dog list for 10 years now and I have had dozens of junk emails come through making false claims very much like these. You see, in the past some people have cried wolf, or out and out lied, and therefore it causes problems when there is really something to worry about.
This is the reason why I never post them until I have checked them out. I recently called Purina because we had one come through about their Beneful product that didn’t pan out.
In the 10 years I have been running a dog list only twice have these types of claims about food turned out to be genuine. One was the Diamond Food recall earlier this year and then this one.
When you run an animal related list you get dozens of these types of emails come through. I’ve had the killer Swiffer emails, the killer Febreeze emails, the clorox bleach false reports etc. Food is a very common one. Sometimes it is done maliciously by animal rights activists that want to hurt a company financially, sometimes by whole foods and BARF feeders that hate all kibble and don’t want any dogs eating it and sometimes people are looking for a company to blame with deep pockets to sue when their dogs die. Usually the cause of death in almost all of these claims is either liver or kidney failure.
When a company has to recall a product it costs quite a bit financially. While they have a responsibility to the public they also have a responsibility to their employees and shareholders not to over-respond to every hysterical and unsubstantiated claim that goes through a blog or email list.
What I was trying to say before you became personally offended, was that it is these types of false claims that may be partly to blame for the lag time. Should a company pull their products everytime some nutjob decides to have a bit of fun with a chain email that claims a dog or cat died?
These claims take time to prove out. I’ve called and emailed many a company in my time trying to get the scoop on these types of email forwards. Very few of them have ever panned out. So when I first heard about this latest one I had my doubts and took a wait and see approach.
As soon as some official word came that there was a problem and a recall it was at that time that I shared this information with the rest of my list members.
I’ve been a reader of FR for many years and the past couple of years there are a few threads where I swear I’ve stumbled onto the DU. Gheez!
I’ve seen people make those claims on other dogs lists I’m on, not to mention when people start emailing it to absolutely everyone. I always take those with a grain of salt; this is something I’m not taking with a grain and it is important and I am irritated that it was moved to chat.
No offense taken, really. I can understand, now that I read your comments, how one would be cautious about believing this until proven.
I suppose in this “get rick quick, sue someone” society we live in, added to the rumors spread on the internet, it would be best to be cautious.
The call to the vet yesterday really panicked me, since I did feed my pets some of the food on the recall lists before. I also remember the Diamond Food recall and deaths from a year or so ago, so that added to my panic.
I’m not a DUer, hope I don’t come across as such. I am fanatical about my pets, they are my family, I love them, and get protective about them, as they would for me.
Hope I didn’t offend you, I apologize if I did.
And I hope to read more of your comments, you obviously know what you are talking about.
Great post, conservativegranny. Keep up the good work. Voices of reason are few and far between on FR these days.