Posted on 04/16/2007 6:03:26 AM PDT by Milwaukee_Guy
Itchmo has confirmed an email from Natural Balance that they are removing two products from sale:
Venison and Brown Rice Dry Dog Formula Venison and Green Pea Dry Dog Cat Formula
These products do not contain wheat gluten. No deaths or serious illnesses have been reported and no recall warning has been issued. The warning applies only to products sold in the last week, according to Natural Balance.
"Please know that at this time we are removing this product from the shelves, as we have had some phone calls indicating gastric upset after eating this formula. At this time, we are unsure if this could just be a particular batch problem, or simply customers switching diets too fast. However, in the meantime while we are looking further into this matter, we are not recommending to feed this formula, and are suggesting to feed our Potato and Duck or Sweet Potato and Fish Dry Dog Formula."
(Excerpt) Read more at itchmo.com ...
So that tells me they don't make their own stuff. Kind of curious if this isn't another Menu foods thing with some cross contamination going on.
I was able to exchange the 30 pound bag without any problems!
Picky eater?
I feed Natural Balance too (the “gourmet” meat loaf) and I think that most of their foods don’t have wheat gluten in them.They don’t contain corn, wheat, soy, and several other things. Check the bag. It should say on it what is NOT in the food.
When our dog was younger, we added a vitamin paste that comes in a tube. (Nutri-Cal) We have since quit because the supplement was an "extra energy" formula that our dog did not need. I would consult with your vet to see if you need a supplement. You can get treats that are vitamin enriched. IMO, if your dog is healthy, you won't need a supplement.
The scary thing about this is that animals are suffering from kidney failure from these Natural Balance products, and none of them contain wheat gluten, ostensibly the culprit of the earlier recalls.
So......what’s going on?
I’m asking the same question.
BTTT
With all the strange stuff in the food we're lucky there's no Green Pee Formula.
Dachsunds are the coolest dogs. Smart, friendly, and always up to a game of chase. We had a miniature black and tan too growing up, and I noticed our dog was way friendlier than the brownies. What’s up with that I wonder.
“pork shoulder, cooked rice and canned vegetables”
Got a recipe? or should we just make it up!
Got a recipe? or should we just make it up!
2 pound pork shoulder, roasted to well done.
1 1/2 Cup (dry measure) white rice cooked. (Or equivalent amount of pasta or barley.)
1 each regular size can of Lima Beans, Peas, Carrots and Green Beans. We avoid corn because it gives our dog room clearing gas. You can mix up the vegetables and see which your dogs prefer.
I run all the ingredients through a meat grinder. We store it in the fridge in a tupperware and feed our Boston Terrier ~3/4 cup twice per day.
Depending on your dogs age and nutritional needs, you may want to get treats that provide the supplemental vitamins.
If pork shoulder is on sale, that is what I use. If it is not on sale, we use ground beef.
The whole lot costs us about $8 and feeds the dog for an entire week. Let me know how it works if you decide to give it a go..
I believe my complaint was the first if not one of the first when I called them on Thursday, April 12 to ask them if it was normal for my dogs to be gulping water after eating their Venison and brown rice formula. I purchased the bag on Tuesday, April 10 and started feeding that evening and my 5 dogs went into the pet hospital on Friday morning, April 13 with varying drgrees of kidney failure. I called the company again on Saturday and at that time they told me they had had several other complaints about the product. I let my feed store know about the tainted product and on Monday morning, April 16, they went to the Natural Balance website and it showed the company was voluntarily recalling the dog & cat food. I then called the Dallas office of the FDA(which oversees a three state area) to file a complaint and the man told me that I was the first to complain on that particular dog food , dry kibble. I called Texas A&M and spoke to someone in their diagnostic lab of the small animal hospital and she read me an in-house memo(her words) that they(?) were still developing a diagnostic test for the dog food and were only accepting tissue samples from the kidneys and livers after a necropsy but not accepting any of the dog food itself because I wanted to have my own testing done on it. The veterinarian from Natural Balance contacted my vet yesterday and spoke to her about my dogs’ conditions and it seems to me they are doing everything they can to find out the cause of the problem although I don’t think I will ever use their product again. Anyway, one of my dogs came home yesterday but I still have 4 others in the hospital so be very careful.
http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/press_release.html
Another pet food crap shoot. They don't make their own food, but farm it out and slap their label on it.
What a ripoff.
My kitties are still looking fine, but making cat food at home is looking inevitable. Tomorrow I'll start locating the necessary ingredients.
Fat lot of difference it makes when you job out all of your product to a supplier who uses products from China.
Hopefully I've not killed my three Bostons by feeding them the NB Venison can food that is being recalled. I've still got two cans in the cabinet.
I feel sick.
Yeah, I changed to NB for my kitties too. I’ve been trying to get them to eat some chicken liver or stew beef with little luck. THey just aren’t used to it. No more NB for my girls. I’m absolutely sick over this. The news just keeps trickling out, and there’s no end in sight. The kitties are going to have to get used to some new foods very quickly. I guess I’ll try some cooked chicken, people tuna, sardines, etc. It may not be balanced at first, but they need to eat something.
I think I got this on Itchmo (i’ve been on so many sites) but Natural Balance co-partners with Diamond dog food to make their dry food. So they are lying when they say they make their own products at their own plants. Also, inositol, which is in all their foods is soy yet Natural Balance says their foods contain no soy. I sent them a letter regarding these two little known facts and they haven’t sent me a rebuttal of any kind. If they can lie twice, what’s keeping them from lying some more. And how are we to be sure that it’s only the Venison dry food that’s tainted? After my dogs die/get deathly ill eating their chicken food will they THEN recall the chicken, let’s say? My dogs will be trying the B.A.R.F. diet or a facsimile (Farmore has also been reccommended to me).
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