original post date 03/18/07
This blog has been created in order to make a centralized site for people to report illnesses or deaths of pets as a result of eating tainted pet food. Add your story by commenting on this post. (click the comment link below, word verification has been added to decrease any SPAM posts)
Please report your case to the FDA
The phone number to reach the Food and Drug Administration is 1-888-INFO FDA and the webpage is http://www.fda.gov The AP is reporting to throw out the food, however the FDA has suggested hanging onto the unused food, in case testing is needed
A link to Pet Connections website has been added to the list at the right. They are creating and maintaining a database of pets/owners affected by this recall, but please still leave your story with us, as well.
Check the front page of USA Today on Friday 03/22/07. They told us that our story would be on the front page.
3/31/07 this blog was mentioned in The Chicago Tribune
Additional posts will be made as information is gathered.
146 comments:
My Lil Fella died from kidney failure March 9th, something my vet told me was extremely rare for a cat not quite a year old. He had never been sick a day in his short little life, so I took my Lil Fella in when he first began vomitting. My vet put him on antibotics, a medicine for the vomitting, and a special diet for three days. In that time period, he seemed to improve but then I began feeding him the Special Kitty Gourmet Food again and in three days he had to be put down.
I have two other cats. Buddy seems fine, but Maks has been vomitting off and on since this same time period. It may not be related. I'm seeing our vet tomorrow and hopefully will have some more answers then.
On March 12, our cat Max died after sudden renal failure. One week prior, we had purchased a new supply of Eukanuba Cuts with Savory Chicken in Gravy, a mainstay of his diet. (This product has since been recalled.) Shortly thereafter, he became very sick. We took him to the veterinary emergency hospital on March 9 and to our regular vet the following day where we discovered his kidneys had begun to fail.
Only two weeks prior to his death he had been a happy, healthy cat chasing snowflakes outside our window. We deeply grieve for our lost companion and are troubled to believe his end was anything but natural.
My family lost our baby Sidney to this on Feb 15th. She was having trouble eating hard foods so she ate the special kitty food. She went from fine one day to gone the next due to this food.
This company has to be held responsible for their not giving pet owners a fair warning. From what I have collected on the internet they knew in December they had these issues. Now there are alot of families without their baby that could have been warned in time.
My (otherwise healthy) four-year-old male cat, Tyson, is currently undergoing treatment for kidney failure related to consumption of three pouches of tainted 'Special Kitty' Duck & Wild Rice food. I purchased the food as an afterthought Wednesday night, thinking it'd be a nice treat for the cats, who generally only receive premium dry foods. (Was I ever wrong!)
Tyson began vomiting on Thursday. I figured the food just hadn't agreed with him.. but when he stopped eating and was still vomiting (small quantities of foamy liquid) the next day, I started to become concerned. That night, the local news ran a report about the recall. When I heard that Wal-Mart's food was among those suspected to have been contaminated, I had a bad feeling. When they mentioned that the symptoms included vomiting and kidney failure, I knew we had a problem.
Saturday morning I rushed Tyson to the vet, where bloodwork confirmed my fears- that he'd been poisoned by the food. At this point he appears to be showing signs of improvement. Tomorrow, he is going in for more bloodwork, which should hopefully give us some sort of idea as far as how he's progressing.
Two of my other cats also ate the food. However, unlike Tyson, they pretty much refused to consume it after the first feeding. Both appear to be healthy at this time. Five-year-old Nicholas ingested a significant amount (entire pouch) at the first feeding, as well as much of the gravy from another pouch at the second, so I am planning on having his renal values checked tomorrow if the vet is willing. If evidence of kidney problems is apparent, I will have eleven-year-old Alex (who ate only about 1/3 pouch and appears fine) checked as well.
The food in question is Special Kitty's Duck & Wild Rice, with a sell-by date of 12/22/08. This particular batch was not initially implicated in the recall, but appears to have been added to the Menu Foods site as of this afternoon. I purchased the food at our local Wal-Mart Supercenter on the evening of 3/14.
Our dog Morgan had to be put to sleep on February 24 at the age of almost 17 years because she was in renal failure. Thinking of her age, we just assumed this was a natural course for her. Now we find out that it was due to the 'Ol Roy pouches of dog food that she ate. She was at the vet for several days to get fluids, but not with positive results. After not eating for two days, we decided it would be best not to let her suffer as the vet said it was not a very comfortable way to go. It troubles me to think that all this was caused by dog food.
We are sad to report that our 7 yo Toy Fox Terrier “Pedro” has been at the vet since 8am 3/15. He has Acute Renal Failure. He ingested about (6) 5.3 oz packages of affected “Hill Country Fare” dog food. His second set of tests Saturday showed some improvement, but the results remain toxic. We’re hoping that we have better news in the morning, but our vet is not optimistic. After calling the Menu Foods Recall hotline I have this to report: They are only “Taking Messages for Menu Foods” and cross-referencing the “list” Menu Foods provided them. BTW…that list has changed several times since it was first released late Friday but the date on the lists still show the original 3/16 date (which wasn’t posted until 3/17). It just seems the have moved way too slow to diagnose the cause of this and are providing absolutely NO information to pet owners. I think it’s too little…too late.
Also pet owners BEWARE…they are saying if your pet’s food is not on the list then to continue using it. Well that list has changed so much that we have unopened food that according to the list for over an entire day it was “ok”. Today’s list shows they are on the recall list! If you’re feeding your pet “wet” food made by this company you are at risk…they seem to be clueless. Switch to dry food or one of the few (Purina is one) that have their own plant.
Karen and Brian, I am deeply sorry for your losses. My mother's cat, who was at least 16 years old, died of kidney failure a month ago and we assumed it was his age.
My wife and I have four cats and we have been feeding them Iams as we were under the assumption that it was the best out there. So far, they are still healthy. Not only do I discover that I was potentially putting them at risk, but also that I have been paying double for what is probably the same cat food as a store brand.
I am disgusted with the heartless, capitalistic society we live in.
hi karen - my beloved and very healthy cat red went into sudden renal failure - the vet was surprised and confused until we saw the news - he has been eating packets of Nutro Natural Choice within the affected dates - have no idea if he will make it - he is my baby - we have spent $2000 in the past four days. i am anguished and i want answers...
I bought 10 pouches of Ol Roy from Wal-Mart between 1/12/07 and 2/03/07 and fed them to my Cocker Spaniel, Freedom. She became deathly ill, stopped eating and wouldn't stop shivering. She had to be hospitalized for 5 days. Her kidney enzymes went through the roof. My vet gave her massive amounts of fluids and antibiotics but the antibiotics didn't seem to help at first. We have paid over $2000 to save her. Freedom also lost part of her tongue due to the kidney problems. It died and fell off.
My heart goes out to all pet owners who have been affected by this tragedy. Please contact the FDA with your story. I did and plan on emailing them a timeline of what happened along with all Freedom's records. Please contact the FDA! They need to know how bad this really is.
2 out of my 6 cats were vomiting & lethargic for 4 days last week.They did recover I think because I only fed them "Special Kitty" brand food from WalMart once and some of the cats didn't eat it. I only realized it was the food when I heard about the recall a few days ago. BUT the Special Kitty they ate is NOT on the recall list and I think it should be. It was "Prime Entree Dinner" not a gravy dinner. I wouldn't trust ANY of Special Kitty canned cat food. The bottom of the can is dated Dec. 12 09 which is in the time period of the other recalled products. My heart goes out to all those whose pets were sickened and died. Kris
Our dog, a Mini Pin, got sick all of a sudden last week. He was vomiting and had diarrhea. In one day he got from being healthy to being extremely thin and sick. Three days later, he was taken to the vet where they presumed it was Parvo. We knew it wasn't that because we have had dogs die of Parvo and the symptoms weren't all there. By the end of the week, he was taken to a different vet where he was given vitamins and antibiotics. He was tested for worms and came out negative and they ruled out Parvo because he was consuming some food and the diarrhea was gone, it was only vomiting. The vet did not understand what was wrong with the dog, who is just 3 months old. Now he is back to his normal self and today we find out that it was indeed the food that got him sick, he was given Eukanuba meet cuts with gravy. Now, with the vitamins he is back to his normal self and now we know that it was the food. He won't be eating that for a while.
Petconnection is asking that those animals who have been affected by the food to put their names into a database at their site.
I'm so sorry that your animals have passed due to this. My sincerest condolences to you all.
Well, I'm back from the vet with my other 2 kitties. Just like I thought - Buddy is fine (he shunned the food), but Maks is having kidney problems. The vet has kept Maks and is going to flush his kidneys 2-3 days. His prognosis will depend on how Maks responds to the treatment.
Please keep us in your prayers as you are all in ours.
To Karen and all those who have animal's suffering...our prayers are with you.
Jordan our dog of 17 years had been in fairly good health considering her age. She had become sick on 2-20-07, and had been eating Ol' Roy Gourmet brand from Wal Mart. After taking to the vet and discovering she was suffering with kidney failure,and because of her age had to be euthanized on 2-24-07
Much like Shawn's comments on this, we also thought it was nature taking its course, but after researching the list of recalled UPC codes from Menu Foods website, it is apparent that the food she ate was part of the recalled packets, as I still have the packets here that were left over.
I will be contacting the FDA with my story and urge all others affected by this terrible mistake to do the same.
My 9 month old puppy, Lucy died on March 9th of renal failure after two excruciating weeks in ICU at the best veterinary hospital in the region. I suspect with strong evidence of support that the renal failure was the result of the dog having consumed dog food which has been recalled. I have contacted the company, but I was treated rudely and they took my phone number saying someone would call me back. They have yet to contact me. My dog was a purebred Toy Fox Terrier who I purchased from a highly respected breeder in July of 2006 for $1200. I am now in debt over $5000 in veterinary bills as a result of trying to save her life. I feel I have a right to be compensated for my losses because this company failed to ensure the safety of their product and because they waited 3 months after they received reports of deaths before issuing a recall. I purchased the tainted food just 4 weeks ago. Had the manufacturer acted with more urgency in recalling the product, my dog would still be alive. Lucy was my baby and my best friend. Losing her was the most difficult thing I have ever experienced. I want for this company to pay severely for what they have done to our pets.
We had a puppy that died, but she ate Pedigree food in a pouch. We have no explaination as to why she died. Is there a possibility that this food is included in the recall?
I wanted to let you know about some additional information we've been
uncovering on itchmo.com about the Menu Foods pet recall.
http://www.itchmo.com/go/tagged/safety/
We did some legwork to figure out that:
1) The mortality rate is anywhere from 14% to 25%. A staggering number considering that the FDA estimates the recall affected 1% of all pet food supply in the US
We think tens of thousands of pets could be dead since early December from this problem
2) The company may have been not forthcoming about the true first date (early Dec) it learned about problems with its food. It was actually more than 2 months before what Menu Foods claims (Feb 20).
3) The company acted very slowly in announcing the recall. To the tune of more than 2 weeks after clear evidence that there was a fatal problem with the products.
4) The company could ill-afford a recall of this magnitude.
Feel free to draw your own conclusions about our analysis.
My Bob got sick a month ago - he stopped eating entirely, and was vomiting repeatedly, and when there was nothing left in his system, he was having dry heaves. I took him to the vet right away, because he's never sick, and has never vomited so much as a hairball. The vet ran a complete blood panel on him and found elevated levels of Creatine, along with other things that I don't remember the names of, and told me that he was suffering from kidney failure, and, from what she could see, it looked similar to a cat that's been eating antifreeze. I was mystified - this is an indoor cat that's never been anywhere near any antifreeze.
Since then, he's been on three medications taken twice daily, and he went to the vet DAILY for a system flush (read, "kitty dialysis") for two weeks, and then three times a week since then. On Friday, the vet told me that he can cut back to a monthly flush, which he'll need for the rest of his life, and he will need to be on a prescription cat food diet for the rest of his life.
Now let me tell you about Bob - he's not even three years old. Until now, he's never been sick, not ever. And his favorite food was the Natural Choice in the pouches.
He's such a sweetheart, and I can't even describe how FURIOUS I am about this - I'm beside myself that because of this company's negligence, I've fed him what amounts to POISON. Every time I think of how this wonderful pet has looked to his human to take care for him, and I wasn't able to protect him from this, and now he has permanent kidney damage. I'm in tears over this.
How "wonderful" that this company wants to monetarily compensate the owners of the pets that died - as if money's going to ease the pain of the families that lost a dear friend. I've seen nothing where they're offering to help those of us who are left with years of major veterinary and dietary bills ahead of us.
My Lily had been my best friend for 16 years. She had actually been doing well and had just started to regain some of the weight she had lost due to the stress from a recent move and seemed healthy and happy in our new home.
On March 8th, I bought a case of Iams Salmon in Sauce and Tuna and Ocean Whitefish in Sauce. After eating five cans, she threw up, and stopped eating. She lost weight,even though I tried to tempt her with everything, and when she started to hide in the back of the closet we called the vet and took her in as fast as we could.
He diagnosed her with kidney failure, and we thought, ok, she's older, maybe it was just something that was going to happen eventually anyway, though it did seem rather sudden. We did try to rehydrate her and get her toxin levels down, but by then it was too late. We put her down on March 16 when it became clear that her toxin levels were still sky high and unlikely to come down. Neither the vet nor myself had seen the recall notice at that point.
When I did see it the following day, I checked the remaining cans in the case and the used cans. All of them had the recall numbers, and I was horrified. I started caling all of my friends with pets, many of whom had not seen the recall notices. The word is spreading.
Lily had been a wonderful cat for 16 years. She was always there for me, a half siamese cross with rabbit-soft fur, and china blue eyes. She had seen me through so many things, and my fondest wish for her was that she could go peacefully in her sleep. Instead, she has died due to some unknown ingredient in a brand of food that I have trusted for years.
Menu Foods has stolen her remaining years away. Had they posted this recall when they first became aware that there was a problem with some of their foods, she would still be alive today, purring contentedly by the heater. Instead, I am waiting to get her ashes back from my vet, and am stricken by the loss of my beloved Lily.
A note about the Menu Foods Hotline. They provide a number for someone to contact at Menu Foods, and that number directs you right back to the hotline number.
The people at the hotline number (they are an outside group hired to do this, so you can't really yell at them) DIDN"T KNOW that the number they had been given out all day directed people right back to them. Isn't it great that Menu Foods is taking such responsibility for their mistake?
The people at the hotline were surprised to find this out. they thanked me for the info and suggested that I give them a day to try to get another number, and were very apologetic in the process. I felt bad for them. Menu Foods set them up as the fall guys, and is not returning calls to the hundreds if not thousands of irate customers trying to get some recourse for their losses, which are, in some cases, tragic.
Lily was a good cat. Her [resence added something to the home. At first we hated each other when I moved inot the apartment in Lowell 11 or so years ago but we came to respect and befriend each other.
She was a bright cat that was capable of the occasional limited bit of speech. I kid you not: Once when Deb was away for three days Lily looked at me and said "Home Now" , granted not super clearly, almost sorta spooky as her throat wasn't built to say it but when I replied "WHAT ?!" she struggled on and repeated "Home now", I told her somnething along the lines of "don't worry Deb was going to be home later that night or really early in the morning go wait on the bed and it'll seem like no time at all" and she trotted off to the bed.
For a time we had 4 cats and the food bowls could be enptied in seconds and a more gentle and elegant cat like lily could miss out . She however learned to remedy this sissue by stanidn by the bowl and saying "Food...Food Now?". Again in a strained I really shouldn't be doign this sort of cat voice but the message was of course pretty clear.
She was a sweet old cat who survived a couple of boughts of really bad health over the course of her long kitty life. She was a member of my home for years and I take small comfort in knowing she is no longer in pain and much more knowing that she was loved to the end.
My dog Mitch had to be put down on Feb.19 due to kidney failure. We only had him for 4 years, but he was about 13-14 years old, and had a history of kidney problems, but never anything serious, we just had to watch his diet. He had been on Nurto senior dry for the last couple of years and was doing fine. On Jan. 31 he had to have 2 teeth pulled, so we began mixing some wet food in with the dry to make it easier for him to eat. He had several different kinds of wet food because I was trying to find something he liked. He had at least 2 of the kinds that are on the recall list. On Wed. Feb. 14, just a few days after he finished his antibiotics from his tooth extraction, he began vomiting. It wasn't unusual for him to vomit from eating too fast, so we didn't think much of it at first. On Thursday, he didn't eat much at all, so on Friday, my husband went to buy some Prescription Diet at the vet. We were already concerned at that point that he was having kidney problems, but we thought it was just because of giving him too many different foods, and we thought switching the Prescription Diet would take care of the problem. He never really ate more than a few bites of that food because he was already too sick. By Saturday afternoon, I was pretty sure he was dying. He vomited at least once an hour, and didn't eat anything on Saturday or Sunday. I took him to the vet on Monday morning and had him euthanized. The vet said from his clinical symptoms that he was in kidney failure. I declined blood tests and supportive care because it was obvious that he was suffering and I didn't want to see him suffer anymore. I'm so glad I kept my cats away from the dog's wet food that they were trying to eat. They eat only dry Prescription Diet and are fine, but I will be watching the recall info very closely for any additions to the list just in case.
We brought our Bengal cat, Frasier into the vet back on March 2, 2007 because he was lethargic, not eating, losing weight, and vomiting (bile only and I thought this was due to hairballs).
Frasier had lost about 2 1/2 lbs. since his last check up 1 year ago and was severly dehydrated. Vitals OK and gave him an IV to rehydrate and took blood sample. Blood tests showed acute renal failure and the vet thought they could try to treat and subsequently worked on this for 3 days but in the end recommended euthanasia. Frasier was put down on March 7, 2007.
We were heartbroken as all of you who have posted are but did not think too much of it as Frasier was almost 12 and we were simply chalking it up to "old age" although he, and his sister Lileth, have always been very robust. Comments from our vets over the years typically have been "whatever you are doing, keep doing it".
Well, we found out about the recall on Saturday March 17 and to our horror found that the food we have been feeding our cats was on the list - Special Kitty pouched varities from WalMart. We had been feeding them this food for years...literally and never would have suspected. Frasier loved that stuff and it was the only cat food he would eat. Fortunately, his sister Lileth preferred dry food and would only eat a little of the wet.
Well, rushed our remaining Bengal cat, Lileth, to the vet on Monday March 19, 2007 for a complete physical including blood and urine tests. Lileth has lost about 1 1/4 lbs. since here last check up or about 10% of her body weight.
Overall her behavior and condition seems to be OK. However, the urine was very clear and our vet immediately expressed concern although primarily for diabetes. Just received the blood results and it shows eleveated kidney functions. Our vet recommended change in diet to a special dry food "KD" for cats with kidney issues and to return for more blood work in a month.
I'll keep the post updated should there be any changes good or otherwise to our remaining cat's health.
Our thoughts and parayers are with all of you who have lost a loved one.
I have no idea if our cat's death was related to the pet food recall, but you never know. It's just too coincidental.
Our Peugeot had to be put to sleep in late January from acute renal (kidney) failure. She was only 4.5 years old. Our vet was dumbfounded as to why she had this when she had been so healthy. At x-mas time she was an energetic cat, leaping around the house with her new toys, and by Jan 7, she wouldn't leave the bathroom, she was vomiting, and she lost weight and she wouldn't eat. We had her hospitalized, put her on fluids, nothing could be done.
Her sister, Mini Cooper, seems to be fine. We got her checked out just in case and so far so good. She's eating Iams hard food. should I continue that?
Sorry for writing so much, but she was our baby and we miss her tremendously. I am so sorry for everyone who's had to go through this, our hearts are all breaking.
My own blog has what happened to our cat: http://crazyrosie.typepad.com/crazy_rosie/feline_friends/index.html
Our 12 year old mixed breed dog, Lady, had to be put to sleep on Thursday, December 14th, 2006 due to complications from liver failure. We did not know what caused the problem then, but we suspect that it is related to the current pet food recall.
Just by chance, we still have six cans of the Iams dog food left over. We bought 6 cans of the "Chunks with Chicken in Gravy" (product code: 60834197w2) and 6 cans of the "Chunks with Beef & Vegetables in Gravy" (product code: 61824197w2). We have three cans of each remaining, which means we feed Lady three of each flavor before she stopped eating. (These product codes are before the currently listed recall codes.)
The interesting thing is that we also have the sales receipt for the purchase of the dog food. (It was in the same plastic store bag as the dog food cans.) We bought the dog food on December 3, 2006. I wanted to point this our because this would suggest to me the problem ingredient was in the dog food before the currently listed recall dates.
In summary, I have six cans of Iams dog food left from a 12 can purchase. My dog died after just six cans. Probably because she was an older dog. These cans are from just before the recall dates. This leads one to conclude that the new supplier of the wheat gluten is not the cause of the problem. If these cans would be of any use to find a resolution, please let me know.
Reed Peters
pethen2@yahoo.com
Sonoma, Ca
I am writing this as concern to a food that is NOT listed on the current recall list. It is unknown to me whether or not Purina Moist & Meaty is produced by Menu Foods and I have had no luck trying to reach either of them.
Last week my 3 year old Chihuahua was acting strange, as well as vomiting, and not eating. After taking her into the vet, I was informed that she was very near kidney failure. I was told that her kidneys were 75% not functioning, and her levels were 140, when normal ranges from 6-20. After 5 days of hospitalization she was finally sent home. The vet was unable to give me reason to what had caused this. I was also told that it is very rare for such a young dog to experience kidney problems like this.
I now come to hear of these pet food recalls which are causing kidney failure. Due to the fact that all the products on this list are either canned or pouched foods, my concern has grown that this product should immediately be looked into further, in order to confirm whether or not it could have been the cause of the problem with my dog. If this product is toxic and not safe, pet owners should be notified as soon as possible.
On February 28, 2007, I had my cat, Mao, of 9 1/2 years put to sleep after sudden severe renal failure. I was heartbroken, but felt it was the best option as the vet felt the situation presented was too severe for him to survive much longer.
I fed Mao Iams Select Bites in Gravy daily along with hard food. I thought that by purchasing this higher priced brand, I was taking good care of my cat. Anger replaced grief when I heard about the brands and symptoms involved in the pet food recall on Saturday.
I am an art student and artist as well. I began working on a painting of my cat, but was motivated this weekend to make something more activist in nature. It may be viewed on my blog at the following link:
http://www.maryjeanmassie.com/wordpress
My condolences to everyone whose dear companions and families have had to suffer through this.
I just spent 177.00 at vet to check my dog for this as she has been fed 3 of these brands in the last two months. Anypone filing a class action law suit?? I will join.
Bob
bbrown@tnics.com
One of the lawyers who is discussing a class action suit...
Michael David Myers
1809 Seventh Avenue, Suite 700
Seattle, Washington 98101
1(206) 398-1188 ex 101
They are looking for owners who have lost animals or whose animals have gotten sick
I am quite sad to report the deaths of both my cats within the past week. They were elderly cats (17) and the first to die, Sistercat, was ailing for some time. She had trouble keeping down her dry food, so I did what I thought would be a kind thing and bought her the Iams Select Bites. Neither cat liked the food much, and pretty much just licked the gravy off...but I refused to switch thinking they were just being fussy. Imagine my guilt now.
Sistercat tanked within days, wasting away before our eyes and thinking it was just old age, we put her down humanely on Friday March 9th. Her brother Vasco was doing relatively well at the time, but did vomit once before she died and seemed out of sorts, but I attributed it to grief, actually, as naive as that may sound.
I left Vasco with my ex-husband for company when I left for vacation on the 14th, and upon my return discovered that he had passed away in our absence sometime around Friday. The speed with which he died shocked me until I heard about the recall.
I spent some time digging through my trash to find a pouch, which matches the recalled codes.
What a rotten way to die. I hope whatever lessons are to be learned from this experience keep other best friends from dying prematurely in the future.
Our 14 yr. old cat, Zelda, ate "Special Kitty" brand wet pouch food every day, and was in perfect health. On Wed., Feb. 7th, she lost her appetite quite suddenly. By Sat., Feb. 10th, we had her hospitalized for a kidney failure diagnosis, as tests strongly indicated. By Tues., Feb 13th, we faced the painful decision of having her euthanized. She died of renal failure. We spent over $1,000 on tests, hospitalization, etc. Only six days had elapsed between the day she lost her appetite and her last living day on earth. It was devastating. We loved her so much, and she was my son's best friend. I am still in possession of 38 pouches of "Special Kitty" brand food, with codes and dates that match ones on the recall list. I have no doubt in my mind now that this food is the cause of her death. Now it all makes sense. I'm still waiting for a call back from the PA state FDA complaint coordinator's office. I still cannot get through to MenuFood's posted phone numbers to call, and I have tried several times already. I purchased this food from Walmart in Erie, PA.
Last week I had to put my dog down due to what the vet called as kidney failue. I was extremely upset because he was perfectly healthy and within a months time became very lethargic, wouldn't eat and kept urinating around the house which was very unusual for him. I tried to take him for a walk one day and he his stool ended up being mostly blood so we took him to the vet to have him checked. The vet advised us that his kidney's had most likely failed, judging by the yellowness of the gums and he was put down. I wasn't aware of this recall until I came upon the story on a news site today and upon checking out left over dogfood we discovered that we were feeding him a batch of Ol'Roy dog food that was contaminated.
If anyone has any information on a class action suit taking place here in Canada let me know because I would very much like to be a part of it.
Jon. C
jmcarter04@hotmail.com
Most people choose their feline friends. Our Basti chose us. He was under our dumpster as we were remodeling. He was little and skinny, thought he was just a kitten. However, he was about ten according to the vet. He was declawed and so what could we do? We took him in. He became part of our family. He has been our little companion ever since,,, until now, he is just not well... he is dying...I know. I did not know about the recall for IAMS until my friend told me about it. I changed my food right away. My vet had warned us about the quality of Iams and such. But I thought Iams had to be so much better than Friskies or other food. My beloved pets deserved the best. I didn't think that I neeedd to go to a "human grade" food. Now unfortunately, I learned the hard way. I know better now. Basti has been to the vet twice in two days to get an IV, blood work, special food to feed him in a syringe. I plan to take him tomorrow. If he makes it. I want to hope, but there he lays on the floor with blankets around him to keep him warm. He has no strength. He can't walk or balance. I keep by him to remind him that we love him and he can get through this... I keep hoping. Life is not fair... he was abandoned and no one wanted him,. He found us and we were blessed. How awful I feel that we may have contributed to his ill health and perhaps his death. How sad there is so much pain in each one of these messages. A pain that we all share. A loss so great. I only hope that this is not in vain.
Please go to the FDA with your stories. It's so important that they find out how big this really is. Here's my story about my dog, Freedom. My name is Ann and I'm posting this everywhere I can in hopes that it may help someone else.
It's long but you may want to put a timeline together on your pet's illness. Also keep any receipts that show that you bought the tainted food.
Timeline for Freedom’s Illness
1/12/07 Purchased 4 foil pouches of Ol’ Roy chicken and turkey from Wal-Mart. (I have Wal-Mart receipts showing all of these purchases and the receipt shows the lot numbers and these lot numbers are among the ones that are recalled.)
1/21/07 Purchased 2 more foil pouches of Ol’ Roy from same Wal-Mart in Plano, TX.
2/03/07 Purchased 4 more foil pouches of Ol’ Roy from the same Wal-Mart.
Week of March 5, 2007, I feed Freedom 3 pouches of Ol’ Roy.
2/09/07 Freedom becomes very sick. She is weak, shivers constantly and won’t eat. My husband takes Freedom to our vet, Dr. Mitchell. He runs a variety of tests, trying to find out what the problem is. Her kidney enzymes are high. He gives her fluids and antibiotics. Dr. Mitchell keeps her overnight.
2/10/07 Freedom’s kidney enzymes are down enough that Dr. Mitchell let’s us take her home. I continue to administer Clavamox twice a day.
2/12/07 Jay takes Freedom in for a re-check. She is given more fluids. Dr. Mitchell runs more blood chemistry and urinalysis tests.
I feed Freedom more of the tainted Ol’ Roy, not knowing it is what’s making her sick. By the time Freedom is hospitalized the second time on March 26, 2007, she has eaten all ten pouches of Ol’ Roy.
2/26/07 Freedom becomes deathly ill again. She won’t eat anything. She shivers constantly and is weak, lethargic. I take Freedom into see Dr. Mitchell. He states there is blood in her urine. Her kidney enzymes have sky-rocketed to 150. He gives her fluids and runs all kinds of tests on her, including ultrasound. Freedom continues to weaken despite the antibiotics. Dr. Mitchell receives results from a urine culture and sensitivity tests and tells us that Freedom has an infection of a strain of E Coli that is resistant to Ampicillin and Clavamox. Freedom is hospitalized at pet clinic. until 3/1/07, when Dr. Mitchell has to go to a funeral and has us transfer her to an Emergency Pet Clinic.
3/01/07 Freedom is transferred to Emergency clinic at 4:15 PM. Kidney tests show her enzymes are finally dropping but they are still high and Freedom is still not eating.
3/03/07 Due to financial constraints, Jay and I decide to bring Freedom home so we can care for her ourselves. Her kidney enzymes are still dropping. Jay and I begin caring for Freedom around the clock. We are giving her 7 different medicines and administering fluids under the skin. I am feeding her chicken broth and water with a plastic syringe and do so every 3-4 hours, even through the night.
3/05/07 We take freedom back to Dr. Mitchell who says he thinks she is recovering. We continue giving her medication.
3/06/07 As I’m feeding Freedom with the syringe, I notice that her tongue is turning black and the tip of it keeps flipping up and sticking to the back part of her tongue. I have to manually pull her tongue down with my finger each time I try to feed her with the syringe. She’s having trouble eating and drinking with her tongue this way. Dr. Mitchell keeps her for the day while I am at school. He tells us that part of Freedom’s tongue has died due to the kidney problems and that she’ll lose this part of her tongue. He also tells us that she can only lose one third of her tongue to be able to keep eating. If she loses more, she may have to be put down. Dr. Mitchell feels sorry for us at this point and doesn’t charge us for the stay for the day or the fluids he gave her. He only charges for the pain meds he gives us for Freedom.
3/09/07 I take Freedom in to see Dr. Mitchell. She is having a terrible time trying to eat and still can’t drink water. Dr. Mitchell (a very dedicated vet) proceeds to feed Freedom a can of Hill’s Prescription canned food by using his fingers and a tongue depressor. It’s the most I’ve seen her eat in weeks. He also gives Freedom fluids again. He tells me to up the dose of pain medication to help Freedom with the extreme pain she is experiencing.
3/10/07 Freedom is in terrible pain, despite the pain medication I’m giving her every 6 hours. She can’t drink and foams at the mouth. The dead part of her tongue is stuck to the back part of her tongue. She has trouble swallowing food and can’t drink water. I give her chicken broth and water by the syringe every 3-4 hours. It is a struggle just for her to eat. Toward the end of the day, Freedom begins to lose pieces of her tongue. I am up at 4AM giving her pain meds and water.
3/11/07 Freedom wakes up and seems to be feeling a bit better. I’m still giving her pain meds every 6 hours. Finally, at the end of the day, Freedom begins eating and drinking on her own again.
3/12/07 After over a month of this nightmare, Freedom licks both my husband’s and my hand. We know she will make it. She is one tough little dog. I take her in to Dr. Mitchell, who tells me the dead part of her tongue has all fallen off and it won’t need to be scraped. Freedom regains appetite and energy. Still, after learning of the pet food recall, and knowing what it did to Freedom, I have to wonder about long-term effects on her.
Has anyone's pet had any problems with any of the dry food from these manufacturers?
Thank you all for posting your stories at such a difficult time. It's going to help the ones that are still here and at risk. For all the links in one easy to find place go to: howl911.com/ The itchmo blog is doing some great investigation work: www.itchmo.com/go/tagged/safety/ The Pet Connection Database and blog is here:
www.petconnection.com/index.php
Dry food, everyone is asking about dry food. I have something to share about that. I had a mixed lab dog named Buster. He was my child, my companion, and my friend. I loved my dog with all of my heart. I took him to the vets in Sept 06 for annual testing and all was good (his kidneys were functioning normally). But on Dec 17 he became lethargic and sick, I took him immediately to the vets that monday and on Tues they got the results back and he was in kidney failure. 80% of his kidneys not functioning. The vet was shocked and began the conversation with 'Chris, I didn't expect this and don't know how to tell you but...' Buster died that Saturday, December 23rd. As I write this, I am crying. So, you are wondering what he ate? Beneful dry food. You can't tell me there isn't more to this story! Coincidence? Maybe, but I don't think so. My dog was running around Dec 16th and one week later he died. If ANYONE has any info regarding this, please let me know...it's tearing me apart.
My 10 month old cat is at the vets undergoing treatment for kidney failure. We took her in on Sunday March 18, she had vomitted and had a terrible odor coming from her mouth . When the vet examined her he said she was dehydrated and needed to stay in the hospital. He also was going to take blood and x-ray her. The next morning he called and said her kidney's were enlarged and he asked if she had been on Iams or Eukanuba(this is the first time I hear about the recall). I had been feeding my two cats ( the other girl is 8 months old) Iams wet food twice a day. When her blood work came back on Monday it showed acute renal failure my vet said these were the worst numbers he had seen in an animal. Though her numbers were that bad she still was alert and urinating so with the vet we decided to keep her in the hospital another night. Then yesterday which would be Tuesday,my vet called in the morning to say her numbers are going down even though they are still way above normal. She did start to eat so last night we decided still to keep her in the hospital. Today, Wednesday her numbers have come down again the vet wants to keep her another night because she is making some progress. We are praying she is going to continue making progress, we also want her to have a good quality of life. The cost of this is right now in the ballpark of $600-$800 just for this stay in the hospital. My pet is defintely worth it, but with a family on a very tight budget this is devastating.
MY DOG, ABBEY BECAME ILL ON FEBRUARY 14 AFTER A STEADY DIET OF MIGHTY DOG POUCHES ESPECIALLY PRIME CUTS OF BEEF AND BEEF AND GRAVY. AFTER A HARD FIGHT , SHE GAVE UP ON MARCH 6,2007, I AM DEVASTATED AND WILL BE A VERY LONG TIME. WAHT NOW????
indoor cat - regular checkups
Sharing 1 pouch per day of IAMS SELECT BITES as a supplement to dry food (purina)
About early feb - her companion cat stopped eating the wet food - she thought this was great and started finishing up his portion as well
Week of 2/18 - small cat voilently vomits bile like fluids - I immed take her to vet
her renal chemistry is off the charts
Vet shakes his head - I say lets try something to give her a chance
she is hosptialised for 3 days - not much change - he suggessts maybe another couple of days on intense fluid treatments & antibiotics - we leave her in for 4 more days -
Her chemistries start to improve.
At home now for 2 weeks - on subcutaneous fluid therapy twice daily & special diet.
Vet says he is not sure how much of her kidneys are permanently damaged without more invasive procedures - but could be as high as 75% based on her intial test results.
Good news is her chemistries were almost completey normal this week - plan is to take one more set of tests and back her off to fluid therapy 1xday with a phosphorus binder and see if she can remain stable
I have bagged up all the IAMS boxes I still had left and she is now on a special diet.
I am exploring other diet options for my older (but apparently wiser) cat - although now that things are stable for the little one - he is going in for precautionary testing this Friday anyway.
Sidenote: the little cat has shown a enlarged lymph node in its submandibular area now - - it was tested and from that sample there were no cancerous cells, but the lymph node is reactive to something. Vet thinks it could possibly be as a result of all the blood draws from her neck area. So we have to keep an eye on that now as well.
P.S. Oh & Thanks Iams and MenuFoods for being such outstanding corporate citizens and reaching out to help all the victims of your negligence. Oh and by the way - I have not been able to get through on any of your phone lines to make any report! Knowing that in this day and age you could use technology on your website to gather data - but that would be taking accountability - - oops my mistake.
My cat bubba died on Nov 6 2006 from kidney failure. He had always tested negative for kidney malfucntion. Until I feed him pouches of the Nutro Max Cat. It took him quickely. Menu Foods are bullshitting with the dates that they are claiming detection of this contamination. They new long before that this was going to kill animals and they still did not order a recall. Animals are dying as you are reading this. Spread the word. Death to Menu Foods please.
IMPORTANT NOTICE TO ALL.
I thought I would mention this today I have been to 3 stores which still have recalled foods on the shelves, apparently they pulled the IAMS but nothing else. I told my local grocery store they had PAWS on the shelf that had UPC's that we on the Menu Foods site as being recalled and they were very nice and pulled them immediately and said "Oh that brand too? I thought it was only IAMS." So apparently they are only pulling IAMS I went to another store and found that FoodTown canned cat food was also still on shelf, but again they had pulled the IAMS. A local drugstore that has a small selection of pet food said they were not notified to pull anything off the shelves. So I urge you if you look at the recall list and remember seeing any of those brands check your local stores ASAP and get them off the shelves, enough animals have died and become ill let's save the ones we still can. I find it appalling and disgusting. They haven't mentioned specifically what brands are recalled on the TV and I think they just keep mentioning Ekanuba and IAMS when there are more. I told the store today when I pointed out the PAWS, that there were 53 brands of dog food and 42 brands of cat food..It is a big problem at least to me. I have been working and am working on making a printer friendly version of menu foods list including the UPC's and date codes/expiration dates or whatever so that it can be downloaded by anyone who wants, printed and distributed to your local grocery stores.. PLEASE help save as many pets as we can.. it's heart wrenching to think this crap is still on the shelves.. Thanks to all.
Printer Friendly List Available. I am looking for a free file host to make it available for DL to all but until then I will gladly E-mail it as a .doc or .rtf file to anyone interested just e-mail me @ Shandornm@wmconnect.com and put "List" in the subject line. Thank you and I Will post link as soon as the file is available.
I have my family around the computer reading the tribute to our Basti. However it is with sadness in our heart that our Basti passed away this evening. We said our goodbyes. We kissed him. See you in heaven Basti. We love you!
We are hoping and praying for the other pet owners who are going through what we just went through. I just watched Nightline and they had a short story on it. Am glad that it is still getting media attention.
Dear menu foods,
( Your name will not have capitals because I show you no respect!)
This is NOT going away and we will not allow you to carelessly poison our family pets.
We had to put our 7 year old cat (boss) to sleep on 3-21-07. Acute kidney failure do to tainted food from menu foods. We feed him special kitty from walmart. He was in perfect health until he started getting sick over the weekend. We thought it was just another hairball. Monday evening when we say the report of the recall we knew something was wrong. Took him to the vet and he wasn't getting any better. The vet told us he couldn't do anymore for him and that he was suffering. All of us that lost or is losing a Family member need to stand up and make this company feel our pain.
Our Pomeranian dog Bubbles, nearly 18yo, got sick on Feb. 15th. After 3&1/2 days in the hospital, I brought him home; his kidney #'s were about as good as they could get. We hoped being home would help him, but it didn't. On Feb. 20th, we had him put down. His kidney #'s had been perfect at his last checkup on Jan. 21st.
I first heard about the recall on the 16th. I read it with some interest, but not thinking it applied to me/us. I checked the list. All of Nutro's products except Ultra (he'd been eating that) were listed. I started to get that sinking feeling. The dates were right. I checked Nutro's website and they did list the Ultra. We have nine cans left. I have registered a complaint with the FDA and entered Bubbles into Petconnection.com's database.
Bubbles was our (dh's and mine) first baby. He may have been old and arthritic, but he still had so much spirit. He was a tough old guy, a fighter. Our kids (3y7m and 6y4m) were there when we had him put down (they wanted to stay), and this has been tough on us all. Now we wonder what age he would have lived to if not for the food...19?...20?
Our other dog, a Papillon who turned 1yo on 3/9 seems fine, but I took her in for tests yesterday to make sure...she finished the last can we had opened for Bubbles. Her Nutro Ultra is from November 2006, so we hope it's okay. She had surgery a week before Bubbles got sick and we were feeding her canned food early on in her recovery. We have three cans left over from her case. They are not going anywhere until this is all figured out.
Innocent Victims:
I live in Burlington, MA. We have also experienced a very unfortunate and unlucky set of circumstances for a beautiful 8 week kitten we adopted on Monday, March 5. I first bought a bag of dried food and 4 cans loose off the shelf when we first brought her home. On Saturday, March 10, I purchased a case of Eukanuba Kitten 3 oz. cans for my kitten. We started feeding her that on Saturday, March 10th. Within 3 days she was showing signs of illness, by March 14th she was gravely ill. Wednesday, March 14th, it was determined she was in acute renal failure.
We were faced with the horribly upsetting decision to euthanize our 9 week old kitten. At that point, it was unknown what had caused her to become so ill. I heard about the recall on Monday, March 19th. So approx. one week after I bought this food and fed it to my kitten the very same was being pulled off the shelves. Of course, when they released the codes on the tainted batch, I checked the case I had been feeding her from and discovered they were from those codes. I can’t express enough how much sadness this has brought to my family. Thank goodness we have pictures to remember a happy week with her. The last image I had (which has brought tears to my eyes and loss of sleep since that time) is her motionless body, glazed over eyes and helplessness as I had to turn her over to be euthanized after holding her and sobbing thinking “I don’t want to leave her – why can’t I just bring her home and everything be alright”. It was the most difficult decision I ever had to make for my pet.
That grave day I came home with that case of food that poisoned my kitten, I had also purchased a case for my 1 ½ year old cat (but adult food Iams) which was not on the recall list fortunately. I also bought them each the same toy
(a mouse like thing w/feathers). I couldn’t wait to get home to see if they would like them. They loved them – it was really enjoyable watching the two of them playing with them in the same manner, pouncing, rolling around with them (my 10 pound 1 ½ year old and my new 1 ½ pound kitten). That same day is the day I started poisoning my adorable little kitten with the food I bought.
It all seems so senseless, but like I started out saying this was a case of bad timing, unfortunate and unlucky circumstances. If the food had been pulled a week earlier we may not have been part of the many families who have lost pets or who are trying to save very sick pets.
I hope the full extent of this is honesty and accurately accounted for.
Has anyone heard any stories of animals becoming sick from Authority Dog Food. Its on the list and Ive been worried sick.
our friends were feeding their dogs purina dog chow, dry kibble. they had a pug and a pug/boston mix. he works as a vet tech. on march 17, both dogs suddenly became ill. shaking, foaming at the mouth, vomiting, and eventually passes away less than 16 hours later. they of course rushed them immediatly in when they noticed something was wrong, sat with them all night, but there was nothing they could do. both of the dogs were FINE just hours before symptoms showed. they had started leaving some food in their bowls, but hadn't had anyother 'obvious' changes. they got the tox report back today from the vomit...an isecticide...they weren't feeding any canned food. dry kibble only...i've heard a few others have sworn that their pets only ate dry kibble and have passes in the same manner. we also feed purina (purina one) and our great dane was sick the weekend of march 10th. he finished up the bag of food, and we bought him a new one. same brand...but he no longer is showing any signs of being sick...can't help but wonder if there's a link...if the problem is the wheat manufacture...then the chances of dry kibble being effected only stand to reason...maybe the kibble making process broke the chemical down, or kibble doesn't digest as quickly as the soft food, so more goes out than stays in...but over a period of time, who's to say damage isn't being done?
It was my 2 dogs that died Sunday, Mar 18. My son was outside playing and ran inside to tell me that one was throwing up and foaming at the mouth and convulsing. I called my vet and he said to wait a little while and see if it passes, if not to bring her in. Well, a littlt while later my other dog, a boston terrier, not a pug, started to show signs of not being able to walk and stumbling around and convulsing. We took them both in to the vet and all of this took effect in about 2 hours time. Just because your pets may be doing well doesnt mean they cant be affected by this recall. It happens suddenly, my two dogs, a boston terrier and boston/pug mix, didnt have a chance. Im sorry to say. I stayed with them all night, checking on there progress every 30 min, never improved. Your pet food may not be on the list yet, keep watching and get immediate help. Yes, they were being fed Purina Dog Chow Dry. The cause of death was an insecticide, pyrethrin. It looked like sand or fine dirt. Please beware. Dont let this happen to your loved one.
So sorry to hear about everyones loss. I believe this is a direct result of todays political climate and lack of oversight by our federal Government. As with pets, it is with humans. Most of these brands of pet food are full of poison, by products and preservatives anyway. Good opportunity for people to research Independent alternatives like Flint River Ranch ( http://www.f-r-r.com ) or Life's Abundance . 2 foods NOT affected by the Recall.
Our first cat with its digestive problems made it through, thankfully, but our slow metabolism cat is about to die. I started filming her last night, as her situation was worsening. We brought her home from the vet the day before. She had been there for three days receiving IV fluids, but her creatinine level only dropped down to 9.6. For those of you that don't know, the level shouldn't be any higher than 0.8.
Just a little while ago, I gave her some calcium carbonate to try to increase her blood alkalinity. The AVMA had a comment on their site that the crystals that clog up the tubules in the kidney are dissolvable in alkaline solutions. Normal human blood is already alkaline, at 7.35 to 7.45, and anything higher than 7.45 is deadly. In any case, it looks like it may be too little, too late.
We lost our Doggy Sky to this pet food incident. He had vomiting lost of appetite. My family cried and cried for days for our lost family member.And our other dog was taken away because the vest thought we had poisened ou OWN dogs.But i found out about this a couple days earlier and i will fight for my justice to get my other campinion back.We lost both our dogs on the day of Feb.18,2007.Why!?bacause of this.Our family lost two family members that day and our house was filled with tears and frowns.I miss my pup and hopefully i can get back my other dog taken away from me.My babys in a better place now i just hope he lived his life happy. I wish i could have saved him earlier.I had no idea the food i was feedin him caused him to pass away.Sadly we had to put him to sleep.But he still remains in our memories as the puppy that stood from the crowd.I member the day i picked him out,with those eyes im SUPRISED no one else took him home.And Lady with that perky and wet black nose.Gosh to think they were running around the day before and the next day sick slowly dying.I miss thosee pups.ALOT.
XoXo.
We also lost are Cocker Spaniel. Great dog and a great friend
My heartfelt sympathy goes out to everyone who has lost a pet during this tragic pet food recall. I have been providing shelter to many healthy felines since hurricane katrina hit the south and fortunatly none were consuming the foods on the recall list. I know if you have just lost a pet it is hard to consider adopting another so soon ,however if any one is interested in giving a new cat a permanent loving home i would love to e mail pics of the cats i have and even arrange to get the animal to its new home. i have had some luck placing some of the cats through local pet stores in my area, all of the no kill shelters in my area are still suffering from the storm and are still so full. again my thoughts and prayers are with you all may god give you strength and comfort at this difficult time. If any one would like to see pics of cats i have for adoption or would like to send me an e mail my e mail address is rosettirebel@aol.com may the memories comfort the sadness Sincerely Raegan
We were feeding our dogs Pinnacle dry food when they seemed to develop a sudden aversion to it. The male would eat and immediately go out to vomit. He was also having problems with bowel movements and was having accidents in the house. Soon they both just didn't want to eat. This was "before" news came out about the recall. I am so glad my husband suggested that we change food, which we did. They gobbled up the new food and are doing fine.
I just learned yesterday that the chicken formula we were feeding is made by Menu Foods. Think the investigation might need to be expanded! I had taken the food to the dump, otherwise I would send some in for testing.
A Wake-Up Call to Pet Owners about Pet Food
(What you need to know about pet food and what most pet food companies will not tell you)
With increasing reports of pet illnesses and even deaths related to pet foods, pet owners are concerned over what they’ve been feeding and worried about what is safe for their animals. A more scrutinizing eye is being turned towards the ingredients and additives of pet food and for those who do their research, their findings are going to be unsettling. This article is written to help educate pet owners about the basics of what they should be looking for and looking OUT for when choosing a pet food.
“The Industry”
The Pet Food Industry is one of the largest markets in the world and the choices of products available can be overwhelming. With any industry this large, the demand is already present, and so two of the most common tactics that pet food companies use to become successful are Marketing (to increase brand name awareness) and Corner-Cutting (to increase profits per unit). The former is essential with any product that wishes to increase sales and is for the most part harmless though sometimes misleading, but the latter is a direct reduction in quality of the product itself and when that product is something as pivotal as your pet’s everyday diet, the results can be devastating.
Every pet owner should be aware that the federal regulation of pet food quality is NOT the same as with human foods. In fact, most of what is rejected for Human consumption is filtered directly into the pet food industry. These “By-Products” which are defined by the American Association of Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) as: "...Secondary products produced in addition to the principal products." include necks, feet, undeveloped eggs and intestines just to name a few, and are up to 20% cheaper than Human-Grade ingredients. While by-products can display nutrition percentages similar to a whole food source, there is definitely question as to whether it is as healthy or digestible.
Many pet food companies use by-products, fillers, additives and low-quality ingredients because they can make more profit due to reduced costs.
“Scratching the label surface: What to look OUT for”
A by-product, by law, has to be labeled as such on the ingredient list, and most educated consumers will know to leave these foods on the shelf, but as people begin to pay more attention to the ingredient list, pet food companies are re-formulating their brands so that their continued Corner-Cutting tactics are less evident. In addition to by-products, there are also low quality ingredients and derivatives which are much harder to notice.
“Fillers” are ingredients that take up physical space but provide little or no nutritional value; they are used to “fill” the food. Fillers are not as apparent on an ingredient list because the name of the filler is often preceded by what appears to be a healthy ingredient. For instance, while Human-Grade ground corn is proven to be one of the most nutrient-rich grains, you will find that many foods use corn derivatives such as “Corn Gluten”. A general rule of thumb for determining fillers is to look out for any ingredient that ends with “-gluten”, “-flour”, “-hull”, “-pulp” and/or “-bran”.
Chemical preservatives should be avoided at all costs; overexposure to these chemicals has been linked to kidney disease, blindness, pancreatic disease, allergies, hair loss, immunodeficiency and even cancer. The 3 major chemical preservatives are “Butylated Hydroxyanisole (BHA)”, “Butylated Hydroxytoluene (BHT)” and “Ethoxyquin”. There is no reason to even consider a food with any of these preservatives.
“Behind the Label. Beyond the Package: What to look FOR”
A good analogy for remembering the importance of ingredient quality is to think of two apple pies. One pie is made with apples picked fresh from the orchard, while the other pie is made with apples that have long since fallen to the ground and are decomposing. The ingredient lists on each pie will read “Made with apples”, but one of these pies will likely make you sick. Unfortunately, while corner-cutting foods are using labeling technicalities like this to their advantage, the quality foods are limited in what they can say to set themselves apart.
So how can you determine quality if not on the ingredient list? Start with marketing materials. Grab a brochure, check out the website, and call the main office. Marketing is not subject to the same restrictions that ingredient lists are, and so if a pet food has anything worth being yelled from the rooftops, it will be found in their marketing.
The most important descriptions to look for in pet food marketing materials are the quality of ingredients, balance of ingredients, palatability and digestibility. The best foods will always include key phrases such as: ‘Human-Grade’, ‘All-Natural’, ‘Holistic’, ‘Completely Balanced’ and ‘High Digestibility’. Just be sure the term is being used to describe the food, as there are tricks some companies use to imply that these qualities apply to them even though they really do not, such as including them as part of their brand name.
“Human-Grade” is the most significant and valuable phrase a pet food can use to describe its quality. However, because the end-product is not designed for human consumption, AAFCO does not allow for the term to be listed in a pet food’s ingredients. Still, any pet food that is made with ingredients acquired from Human-Grade food suppliers will be proud to recite “Human-Grade Ingredients” in their marketing as it is a sure-fire way to pronounce their excellence.
“Back to Basics: Honesty… Simplicity… Perfection”
Back to Basics doesn’t concentrate on informing the public about these issues because we hope to get ahead by putting the competition down. We do it because we put the health of our pets above all else. Do your own research, check the facts, don’t take our word for it… We gain customer loyalty precisely because our customers KNOW that Back to Basics is the best, not because we tell them it is.
And of course, our pitch would be worthless if the following statement wasn’t understood for what it truly is:
Back to Basics is a Holistic, All-Natural Food for Pets that is made with 100% Human-Grade Ingredients. Our Human-Grade food suppliers are the same that provide ingredients to recognized human food suppliers such as Kellogg’s, Uncle Ben’s and Bell & Evans because quality is at the forefront of our formula. There are no by-products, fillers, chemicals or artificial preservatives in any of our foods and we are one of the most digestible pet foods on the market. Back to Basics is available and affordable to everyone.
Please contact us directly with questions and comments by calling 1-800-219-2558. You can request free samples and literature, find a local retailer or place an order directly through us. You can visit our website at www.backtobasicspetfood.com and a copy of this article can be viewed at: www.attentionpetowners.com
Beowulf Natural Feeds, Inc.
Back to Basics: The Ultimate Food for Pets
“We Supply the Nutrition, You Supply the Love”
My dog died February 21, BEFORE the recall was issued. I checked my records and I did feed her the cans on the recall list. I'm mad as hell, I can't believe this happened. My husband gave me "Maggie" on Valentine's day nine years ago and to watch her suffer tore me up. I want some answers and not let the goverment slip it under the rug. If anyone in Arizona is having a problem with their animal, please log on. Wisconsin and California are alrerady fighting for our rights I think Arizona should also jump on board!
My heart goes out to all of you who have lost your beloved friends. My sweet Pearl won't eat canned food, so I hope her crunchies aren't affected...she still seems okay.
Although Anonymous on March 29th is obviously marketing their pet food, the information given is so right on that I can't be offended. I am most surprised and concerned to learn how many brands of pet foods, in all price ranges, have been affected. Call me naive, but I had thought Iams and other premium brands were actually more premium in their content...not just in their marketing and pricing. This has been very eye-opening to realize that so much of our pet's foods come from the same big vats.
I sincerely hope that pet owners start seeking out small manufacturers who care about their products. This event is so like the infamous hamberger recalls involving hundreds of pounds of meat, shipped to multiple states, which came out of processing plants who mixed the meat from multiple cows in big containers then packaged it. One or two bad animals can infect the whole batch.
Perhaps this event will compel more of us to turn to local providers who use less processed ingredients to make pet food, something like the organic/sustainable revolution occuring in human food production.
And, since the likely source of contamination is wheat gluten from China, I hope that we, as a country, will re-think our reliance on cheap goods from that country; Wal-Mart couldn't offer the "fantastic deals" that they do without relying, in a large part, on goods made by an underpaid and mistreated workforce. Although the foods themselves were made in Canada, we see that Menu tried to cut costs by sourcing overseas.
My thoughts are with all of you, sorry to sound preachy, and thank you for this forum.
Ouch-after investigating the PETA website on Iams, I found this page concerning Menu Foods and their teasting lab here: http://www.iamscruelty.com/
otherAnimalFoodIssues.asp
Please check it out.
On Feb. 12 our 8 year old cat started showing signs of what we later found out to be acute renal failure. She was on the verge of death before spending a week at the vet. She had creatininelevels higher than they had ever seen, yet is now recovering. Stella ate nothing but Iams dry cat food her entire life before this incident. Is the timing of this merely coincidental, or does anyone else out there think their pet has been poisoned by the dried food??
Has anyone else made the connection yet that China issues a huge ban/limitation on dog ownership in their country late last year, and all of a sudden our pets are dying on products imported from their country???? Anyone reading about the protests there, the slaughter of pets there... and NOT questioning perhaps that they did not contaminate the food supply for pets for a reason? We need to stop importing food supplies (people and pet) from countries outside - too risky. WHY do we import wheat from the outside - when we have PLENTY here - so much that we EXPORT our own??!!!!!!!
www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-11-12-china-...
I think the FDA should check the tankers that brought the gluten over from China. If they were previously used to deliver chemicals for plastic or fertilizer manufacture in China, and not properly cleaned, that could explain the contamination.
Also, I emailed Hill’s Pet Nutrition, Inc. Consumer Affairs my comments about this tragedy and the email below is their "canned" response. Clearly, they still don't get it!
"Thank you for contacting Hill’s Pet Nutrition, Inc. Consumer Affairs. I apologize for the delay in responding to your email. This is a blanket email. Please do not respond to this email. If you have additional questions, please revisit our HillsPet.com website which contains the latest information on the current voluntary market recalls and withdrawal activity.
Also, if your email is about topics other than the voluntary market recall and withdrawal related topics, we plan to respond to your original email over the next several weeks. You do not need to forward another email. We apologize for the delay in answering your original request.
If you are writing about the voluntary recalls and withdrawal, please read this email in it’s entirety to find pertinent information.
Our voluntary recall and withdrawal activity involves Prescription Diet® brand m/d® Feline dry food and all Science Diet® brand Feline Savory Cuts® canned formulas only.
If you are feeding one of these products and have noticed any adverse symptoms, please contact your veterinarian. If you have any of these products in your home, please do not feed them to your pet. Please return them to the place of purchase for a full refund of your purchase price.
Prescription Diet m/d feline dry product
In accordance with its over-riding commitment to pet health and well being, Hill’s Pe