Posted on 04/18/2007 7:59:23 PM PDT by nmh
...
The chemical, melamine, is believed to have contaminated rice protein concentrate used to make a variety of Natural Balance Pet Foods products for both dogs and cats, the Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday.
Previously, the chemical was found to contaminate wheat gluten used by at least six other pet food and treat manufacturers.
Both ingredients were imported from China, though by different companies and from different manufacturers.
A lawmaker said Wednesday the Chinese have refused to grant visas to FDA inspectors seeking to visit the plants where the ingredients were made. An FDA spokesman later said the visas were not refused but that the agency had not received the necessary invitation letter to get visas.
"It troubles me greatly the Chinese are making it more difficult to understand what led to this pet food crisis," Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., told The Associated Press after meeting with the FDA commissioner, Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach.
A message left Wednesday with the Chinese Embassy in Washington was not immediately returned.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Please don’t hijack this thread into a pro isolationist thread.
This thread is about pets.
I'm not sure I can sell the raw diet to my wife, but home cooking could be the way to go for my two quadripeds.
There is also freeze-dried raw available from Nature's Variety, we buy that to take on vacation and when we go out for a day on the boat... dogs like it a lot, you can feed dry as a treat (with lots of water on the side) or break it up into a bowl and pour warm water over the top and let it sit for a few minutes to absorb and then feed. The freeze dried smells amost like kibble so it doesn't gross out people....
What brand of food had they fed her?
What kind of cocker do you have? We have a black female and a buff male. Best toe warmers on the planet, they’re better than rugs.
Yes, they are great toe warmers -- my husband grumbles about that every night, no matter where he puts his legs they all three want to lay on them....
The pet food is not made there, some of the ingredients are purchased from there including wheat glutin and now rice. I would imagine the pet food industry will never purchase from them again and the human food industry should not either.
I feed Solid Gold Wolf King with canned Innova Evo for some added taste.
Keep up the great work!
Thanks, you too.... I don’t know why anyone ever thought a cat — the ultimate carnivore — should eat kibble.
I just called Solid Gold and asked if they used anything that was contaminated or from China. They said they do not. WHEW!
Isn't that scary?
Thank you for the tip. Just got back from the store with a packaged of ground chicken from the meat department that I plan on testing them on later on (I tried tempting them with raw chicken and fish on a previous year) amd also will be slicing up some of the Red Salmon filet to try them on as well. Hope they like it this time as I have been worrying constantly that the furry little rascals might have eaten some of the tainted product -or might eat their regular food only for us to find out that it is one of the latest tainted ones. So, perhaps their tastes have changed and they will like the raw stuff this time (crosses fingers, wipes forehead).
We had a cat once. It was smart. It knew when it was dinner time. If he didn't hear the can opener, mom would sometimes leave fresh meat on the counter or table. When she left the kitchen, he would come out of nowhere and jump up to the counter or table and start chewing on it.
That's how he turned on the can opener. He had servants!
We have a Weimaraner who thinks we’re her servants. Give her a treat, like a Milk Bone, and she’ll just hold it in her mouth until somebody is settled in a chair. Then she comes up and drops the treat in your lap. What she wants is for us to hold the treat while she takes small nibbles off of it. Bizarre behavior...but we accommodate, LOL.
Last week, I tried putting small amounts of raw liver or raw stew beef into their customary canned food, thinking I'd gradually move them onto raw meat. They either picked around it, or puked it up. I think the change was too abrupt, so my next approach has been to cook some home-made meat meals, thinking I can gradually move to less cooked, and ultimately, raw meat, as they adjust. Tonight I cooked them some ground turkey and added in some homemade chicken gravy left from our dinner. They didn't go for it, even though I know they were really hungry. (They largely refused the Felidae can I tried to feed them yesterday). After a couple of hours, I thought of sprinkling fish oil on the turkey/gravy combo. That did the trick. The girls went for it, first licking, and then eating some of the chunks. I'm happy to know that they have enough in their bellies to be OK for the night. Tomorrow is another day.
I have purchased a range of vitamins, minerals, amino acids, etc to make a more complete and balanced cat food. Once they are eating my homemade meat meals more consistently, I'll make up a bigger batch of balanced food for the freezer. They'll just have to be a little unbalanced during the transition. Better that than poison.
I wish you luck. I can't tell you how much better I feel knowing that they're starting to eat something in which I can identify the ingredients. I wish I could explain it to the little dears; I'm sure they find it all very confusing.
They do like small amounts of raw eggs, and milk and cream (very small amounts), but they adore the Purina Indoor Cat dry cat food, and so I keep their bowls full of that plus every evening for dinner they get one-quarter can of Friskies which I vary every day... but with this new scare I now check to make sure nothing canned with gravy gets to them. I am still quite worried about them, but until I can find that combination that tickles their palates I will have continue to have that concern.
I trust Solid Gold, they've been around for a long time and were one of the first of the truely natural products. They use NO Wheat at all, and none of the rice protein.
I'm looking at my calico sleeping contentedly on a pillow. Her sister is sleeping somewhere too - probably on my son's pillow, curled around his head. Although they didn't finish everything I served them, it's obvious they had plenty to eat once they finally dug into the dinner. I've read that meaty home-made meals are more rich than commercially prepared foods. Their contentment certainly supports that idea. I'll need to feed them smaller quantities than I'm used to dishing out. I guess that tells me a lot about the quality of food they've gotten in the past. I'll need to re-calibrate my thinking to "mouse-equivalents".
Plus this one time I was really, really late and came home to find that either or both of them had jumped up to the counter and on top of the refrigerator trying to get into the cabinet where their bag of dry food was being stored and EVERYTHING (no they did not manage to get into the bag) was all over the floor! *rolls eyes* (I started putting the bag in the upper cabinet because one or both figured out how to get to it in the bottom cabinet and chewed it open one night.)
*sigh*
So, if I try to go the route you suggested then I am already shaking My head thinking of the sleepless nights and stressful days of the 'poor starving kitties' routine... rather like bein married again, I must admit. *ducks* *laugh*
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