I can't imagine what would happen if this was people food. Say Bread. About half the loaves in the grocery store I go to come off the same truck. I have no idea how many are baked in the same plant. But it is realistic to expect everything off the same truck could be baked at the same plant. It *could* happen.

I am lucky, I think, in that it's just people I know and not my pets. But I'm still absolutely horrified.

Georg March 20th, 2007 01:48:00 PM

The minute a problem was suspected and testing begun, a cautionary warning should have been issued so that the feeding of these products could be stopped until the testing was completed. Just another example of big business looking out for their profit margin instead of the welfare of their customers' pets. This has been a real wake up call for me. I know realize how stupid I have been to believe the advertising hype of these companies. I had no idea that Eukanuba had outsourced the production of the their foods.
Peace-
Linda (Isabella's Human)

Isabella March 20th, 2007 01:55:00 PM

I hope my comment regarding this issue wasn't taken out of context on your last post about this.

I was asking if you as a vet had the power to perhaps cram a proverbial fist down the throats of these people, instead of me blaming vets for their lack of knowing as that certainly wasn't what I meant.

I had to bring Angel in for a weigh in this morning and her clinic is getting bogged down with calls regarding Hills diets. People that have their pets in prescription diets like C/D want answers and rightfully so.

I'm not sure where my vet stands on this as I haven't talked to her, but I will be speaking to her about it when I bring Oreo in for his X-rays.

If my post did cause any confusion, I'm sorry. I am on all vets side about this and I do think that vets as well as pet owners should get together and give it these people.

Stacy March 20th, 2007 02:24:00 PM

The Food Industry is out of control. The deregulation of the 1980s and 1990s has done nothing to improve safety. As a matter of fact, our food supply has become less safe in many ways from the heyday of the 1960s and 1970s.

Centralization of growing, production, and distribution have caused major profits, but the food companies have only reaped high rewards while pushing for more deregulation. Their mantra is "trust us, we know best" when their practices show anything but that they should be trusted.

Pax,

MLO

MLO March 20th, 2007 02:28:00 PM

typo alert - you said "t = 25 days (Friday, Feb 16): "

I think you meant "Mar 16"

Laura March 20th, 2007 02:50:00 PM

I used to work at contract manufacturer that made shampoo. They made Suave and Alberto V05 on the same equipment as high-priced salon shampoos, and it never ceased to amuse me (although brands of shampoo NOT made at that plant seem to make a difference in my hair, beside the point..) So I wasn't particularly surprised or confused by the sheer number of brands affected, as it seemed some people were. I was, however, downright pissed at how badly information was disseminated. The list on the Menu Foods website was incomplete, and some people thought only Iams was recalling food! Why should I have to educate all my friends on this? It's not my job at all!

Like some others have said, I'm most dissapointed in Hill's, Eukanuba, and these other "high-end" brands. I'm angry that they claim to be so amazing and fantastic and better for your pet, yet the food is made at the same plant as Old Roy?! I will not be recommending these foods to my clients when I'm a vet. I plan to keep feeding my kitty the same Purina Indoor Cat and Fancy Feast I've been feeding her, since I do believe this was one stupid mistake and overall things will be ok. But I will never again see Science Diet the same way again.

Julia March 20th, 2007 03:34:00 PM

These companies need to get serious about our pets. Better yet, if they don’t care enough to understand the importance of our pets, they should get out of this business altogether. >>>>

********

AMEN! Dr. Patty - I am glad to see you are as pissed as I am over this whole issue. I am feeling so terrible for all the pets who have lost their lives over this and I hope these companies go out of business all together - serves them right!

I was interested to see the comments in the last post about this recall too. EVERYONE who owns a pet should be in an uproar over this. Most people are just like "hmm, I don't feed those foods, I have nothing to worry about" - but what about the people who do? I feel terrible about this.

I am also glad I feed a home prepared diet.

Judi March 20th, 2007 03:45:00 PM

I've been considering switching our Serenity kitty to a homecooked diet. She eat Purina Indoor Cat (dry) and does well on it but even though her food isn't on the list, this is the kick I needed to change her over. She's a little puzzled by the new foods appearing in her bowl but hasn't turned her nose up yet.

MeriGray March 20th, 2007 03:46:00 PM

Making food for the cats who are still alive, two were put down on Saturday, is going to be a royal pain.
But I just do not feel that I can trust any of the pet food companies again.
And I know I could not survive another week like the last one.
I hope the pet food companies know what they have done- slit their own wrists.
I spend a lot of money on my pets, I won't be sending any of it to the pet food companies anymore.
Since the pet food companies value me and my dollars so little, well, I will return the favor.

Elizabeth Hamilton March 20th, 2007 04:15:00 PM

From another angle (I always seem to have those, don't I?)

Think about what this event has looked like from the other side of the fence. Not the corporate side but from the public health side. How does information flow, and how does the puzzle unfold?

How many days does it take the veterinarian to notice a pattern? "Hey! That's the Nth cat in here who looks too young to have kidney failure". How long to go from there to checking whether neighboring clinics are noticing it, too? And from there to seeing a broader problem?

Now, to complicate things further, without casting aspersions on any brand or the people who buy them, think through this: people who buy more expensive brands may have more disposable income, and thus be more prone to taking to a cat to the vet sooner. If each vet is seeing, say, 6 ill cats over a 3 week period, and didn’t catch on that a pattern was emerging until week two, what will the commonalities between the cases be? If the vet sees 6 cats from 6 owners, 4 of whom like spending money on their cat and 2 who are more frugal, the answers to “what have you been feeding” may all be different, and several cases may have reported brands that have only been “grocery store” foods for a few years. It may not register that Hills, Iams, Eukanuba, and the non-store brands listed in the recall have anything in common.

Personally, given how much I’m scratching when it’s warm out right now, I’d be thinking about a mosquito-borne disease right about then, and several days would be lost.

The central point of this episode, Menu Foods, is a business that makes foods for other companies. (So, in fact, it's not true that Iams == El Cheapo's Deluxe Moist-- each brand would be made to its own specifications, and probably with some common ingredients and some that are only in one brand or another.) There are many companies like this in the county, making many contracts at many times with many brands.

Let me move away from the names involved so as not to spread misinformation.

What is FoodCo, a company the produces foods for 20 brands, and ships them to Hublix, Broger, PetObsessed, Trashet, and SmallMart, and 40 other regional and national grocers, discount stores, and pet stores across the country. Let’s say 5 of FoodCo’s rivals make an overlapping and similar range of branded products and sells them to an overlapping and similar group of stores, and that which producer ships to which particular distribution hub isn’t strictly decided by which is closest, but rather on complicated brand-by-brand negotiation, so that RecipeCo. of Key Largo ships to Seattle and BlechCo. of Albuquerque ships to Atlanta. Once it has become clear that there’s a problem, you’re going to have a heck of a time figuring out which of the several possible producers is involved. It’s going to take time to figure out which foods are involved, and even more time to figure out whether they unambiguously point to any one producer. By this time, too, the producers will be testing their own products and talking to their brands, and all the brands—not just the ones known to be affected but everyone…are going to be planning strategies for communicating about this with the public.

The point is, the calendar could have been far worse.

Another interesting point is that Menu Foods say in their press release that their testing hasn’t turned up anything, but a new ingredient was used in the same time frame as this incident.

Now, someone made the ingredient, and may have saved it far and wide. Some other producers may have used it too. That’ll sort itself out, epidemiologically, in pretty short order. But what happens if they’ve fallen on their swords but weren’t, ultimately, the plant involved?

It’s interesting watching the uproar around this incident. Did people think pet food was exempt? Spinach, raspberries, EHEC. It’s a brave new world out there. Even for cats and dogs.

Thing One March 20th, 2007 06:38:00 PM

This whole pet food recall has made me ask questions about things that I have, until now, taken for granted. A prescription diet for kidney patients, a food for G.I. patients, cancer patients, etc., etc.... Are each and every one of these foods really necessary? Or are we creating food products for diseases that are fundamentally linked to just these sorts of foods?
While I'm no tofu-eating granola crunching tree-hugger, I think that advances in veterinary nutrition will soon allow us to look back and say, "what were we feeding these dogs and cats?"
As with raisin toxicosis, I look forward to finding out the culprit in these foods....

www.tovet.blogspot.com

TorontoVet March 20th, 2007 09:00:00 PM

Well I am a tofu-eating granola crunching tree-hugger, but no offense taken. I am also a long-time skeptic of the "complete and balanced" kibble offered up to our pets as the only food they will ever need. As I researched the ingredients included in most kibble, I was amazed that the big pet food companies that claimed to care about the health of our pets could include poor-quality meats & cheap fillers in their products.

I am so sorry so many animals and the people who love them are suffering due to the tainted pet food. I can only hope that people will be more open to questioning what they feed to their pet from now on.

Susan March 20th, 2007 09:29:00 PM

Thankfully all the people I know who have cats and dogs apparently don't use the brands affected. And thankfully it doesn't affect bird food. Which raises another question - in anticipation of a case like this, is feeding your pet multiple brands a bonus or a bad thing? Will using multiple brands expose them to more possible problems, or will it dilute any problems that one brand might have?

zandperl March 20th, 2007 10:05:00 PM

You can just bet my dogs will never have to eat that crap again. I switched to RAW long before this fiasco but still wonder if my own pets could have been affected before the change. As for the animals and their owners, I truly feel for them, as it is hard losing a pet, especially when you realize that someone is responsible for making them ill and possibly killing them. My advise to all pet owners, switch to raw or barf diet. You will always know what you put into your dogs mouth instead of wondering if the next bag or can you buy is tainted.

Claire March 21st, 2007 12:11:00 AM

One of my coworkers told me that her cats were both in serious condition from this recall, and it makes me just sick.

I just want to know how long this food has been on the market before the companies even realized it was doing damage? How much do the pets have to eat before it is lethal? How do they know which batches were bad when, as far as I know, they don't even know what is wrong with the bad food? I won't be able to trust these brands again. I love my cat more than most of the people I know.

Amy March 21st, 2007 12:42:00 AM

And let's put some blame on the media as well, who waited until TUESDAY in my local area to even mention the symptoms of acute renal failure. Here are hundreds & thousands of pet owners realizing they've fed their pets affected food - on a weekend, no doubt, when vet offices aren't open and they have no one to call - who have NO idea what they should be looking for in terms of symptoms!

Thank goodness our local newspaper has a "Citizen News" section where readers can write their own articles to be posted, because the first thing I did was list the symptoms of kidney failure so I could hopefully reach some of our local residents. So few people understood that the symptoms can look like so many other things. At least I know that the word is getting out, because my little article is the most read article of the year on their website... so someone is finding out!

But the fact remains that Menu Foods and any other pet food maker who uses them surely thought this was something they were going to sweep under the rug. But at what price? The lives of countless innocent pets, owned by people who trusted that foods that were on the shelves of their local stores were, at the very least, SAFE...

It is UNCONSCIONABLE that Menu Foods or any of the other makers let this go on this long, without warnings to vets, without warnings to pet owners, and without pulling these products from the shelves IMMEDIATELY! How many pets have to die?

Now, if someone will just take my own local veterinarians and smack them up a bit - they reported in Tuesday's newspaper that local vets had seen NO cases of affected pets. Yeah. Right. And I've got a bridge to sell you - cheap!

Tammy March 21st, 2007 04:43:00 AM

Er, me again.

Tammy, it's likely that no food from the plant involved shipped to your area and that your local veterinarians have truly seen no cases. One downside of massive recalls of this kind (or, say, of spinach a few months ago, or Tylenol a couple of decades ago) is that people have the perception that they, individually, have been in danger-- after all, *their* shelves were cleared!

Predictably now the episode will be over-reported. Many animals would normally have gone into renal failure in the upcoming month. But for a while now, many (most?) of their owners will be "sure" that the cause is the pet food, even if the deceased is a 37 year old cat with a serious salt tooth. Once the dust has settled, it will become clear what foods were involved, how it moved across the country, what cities the food ended up in, and how much real disease and death did it generate. It's not even 100% nailed down yet which plant was involved, though one could easily believe that it is. (is it really the one the company that saw some correlations between the disease and a change in how they do things? Or have they just destroyed themselves by trying to do the right thing and get the food off the shelf?

The unfortunate thing is that it takes a while for dust to settle-- by the time this event is understood, it won't be news, and most people will never hear a reconstruction of what really happened.

The Public-health Minded Thing One March 21st, 2007 07:26:00 AM

And the name of the company, "Menu Foods" a tad of a euphemism...

TorontoVet March 21st, 2007 07:33:00 AM

Thing One - thanks for adding some objectivity to what has become a very emotional discussion. You aren't leaving the culprit off the hook, but you are allowing for a realistic POV of what happens.

Deanna March 21st, 2007 08:24:00 AM

My 8 yr old Kitty was diagnosed with acute renal failure on Feb. 26. Prior to that she ate Iams pouches exclusively. Of course at the time no one even thought her food could be responsible. I was questioned by the vet about antifreeze and lillies both of which she had not been in contact with. As per the vet we switched her to prescription cat food mixed with a little Fancy Feast to get her to eat. Of course by the time the recall was announced last Friday we had none of the Iams cat food left therefore no numbers to prove that she actually ate tainted food. At this point both vets who have treated my Kitty firmly believe that her food caused her illness.
Much attention has been paid to the food being pulled off of the shelves but what about those of us who are spending much time and $$$ trying to keep our beloved pets alive not to mention those who lost their pets before the recall?

Marc March 21st, 2007 08:41:00 AM

I can only imagine how awful it must feel to have your babies getting sick because of what you've unknowingly given them to eat, especially if you had made a conscious decision to give them a really expensive food.
My deepest sympathy to the people who have lost their animals to this.

jcat March 21st, 2007 10:33:00 AM

THANK YOU, THANK YOU! I completely agree with you. We have 2 cats that have been undergoing treatment since Saturday. We caught it early and they should both make a full recovery to the tune of $5,000+ in vet bills. We have all the needed documentation to litigate and my husband is a claim rep very familiar with the process.

I also argue...how can they report it's only the wet food when they still do not know the source??? If it is wheat gluten, it can be from massive silos. I've seen it reported that the supplier distributes to other companies besides Menu Foods. How are they so sure dry foods are not impacted? My vet knows a dog who suddenly died from kidney failure on Sunday night after eating Iams Dry. They didn't treat the animal but it belonged to the parents of an associate.

I've added our information to your database. THANK YOU for trying to get the media to report the true urgency of this story. I sent emails to CNN and FoxNews on Monday because they had pulled all their reporting.

Sherry March 21st, 2007 11:32:00 AM

I have been a veterinary technician for 9 years mainly as an Emergency Critical Care Tech. Our hospital is flooded with calls and sick patients. One of my big concerns is that many of the hospitals in MA require that the client leave 75% of the estimated bill as a down payment prior to treatment. I know that animals have been euthanized simply due to the cost of diagnostics and treatment. These company should immediately make a fund that the client can call and get money for the treatment of these animals. I have emailed some of the companies to inform them of this, I urge you to do the same. Some of the medical bills easily make it into the thousands of dollars. Who has $2000? Not a lot of people. The last thing these folks need to worry about is where to get the money!

Melissa March 21st, 2007 12:10:00 PM

I just want to add one other thing because I read some posts that seem upset at the animal hospitals. Pets come into the hospital for renal failure all the time, especially cats. Until this was announced who would have looked iinto the food? I know that I would not have considered it. Trust me when I say that no one at your animal hospital could have predicted this. Most of them are closed on the weekend unless they are an emergency hospital. Your animal hospital wants nothing but the best for your animals. We are very upset with this whole situtaion. We are also pet owners, and I feed Iams to my pets. We understand!!!

Melissa March 21st, 2007 12:17:00 PM

Sherry: We're so very sorry for your situation. Two kitties in kidney failure at one time--and they're still wondering if there's truly a link? Please.

And Marc: 8 years old? Sounds like you've suffered the same. I have two cases now--potential cases, alleged cases--whatever we're calling them. Five days and still no contact from anyone in the pet food industry. Don't worry...I'm counting.

I agree with you, Tammy, on the media "outcry"--it's not where it should be given how important this is to so many of us. Could it be that we (like the ones reading this) have a warped sense of interest in our pets? I think not--or else my receptionists would not be losing their minds answering frantic phone calls. I'm not seeing the media respond to the crisis with any analysis or discussion. In fact, they're reporting it like a combination between a human interest and breaking news story. Now that the companies are no longer issuing any statements, will the media leave it alone?

Thing One: That's what worries me. Because this is so huge in scale *everyone* might come out smelling like an marginally-involved rose.

TorontoVet: Like you, I've instantly become more skeptical--of all commercially packaged foods, not just the ones we carry or the ones affected. Sure, I'm extra gun-shy right now. But I hope some positive changes will result from this situation. Not sure what to expect but I'll come up with a wish list soon.

Gotta run...we're so busy...I'll write more later

Dr. Patty Khuly March 21st, 2007 12:46:00 PM

I called my vet on Monday afternoon and was told to call the information line, as they had no information about the recall. It took me more than an hour to get through. at which time I was told (and very rudely, too) that they could give me no information about what might be wrong with my cat. When I asked for product codes, the operator hung up on me. The only functional phone number I could get from the website was for the press agent, whose message stated that the line was ONLY for the media, and consumers should call the information line (a message which I ignored, though I have yet to receive a call and don't expect one). If these people at least appeared to care about pets, I might even feel a little bit sorry for them; bad supplies could happen to anyone. But there is clearly a culture of denial and delay at work here, and I say they should take their lumps, good and hard. They could have posted an information page for concerned pet owners. They could have pulled their product a month earlier. They could have given everyone a heads-up. They could be searching their records now to determine how much of their affected product was shipped to which geographical regions. I see no evidence of any concern for anything other than ducking the firestorm.

Michelle Stewart March 21st, 2007 03:18:00 PM

Did you know there were 12 food product recalls last week, and about 25 so far this months? That's not counting the lingering fallout from the recent peanut butter recall, or the fresh oyster problem (which, in my opinion, ought to be a warning 24/7/365).

Careful with that Ben and Jerry's, Eugene-- they got wheat in a wheat-free ice cream this month.

I saw the California Veterinary Public Health Dude said something to the effect of "Those cats (9 of the dead animals so far are in California) died from eating that food.") In lawyeristic, technical language, that was a "boo-boo". Perhaps even a "big boo-boo". The animals died -after- eating that food. That it's "from" eating that food is not yet known.

I appreciate what you said, Patty, about diluting out the responsibility. But what if what happened was a combination of a well below defined-limits presence of a known and tested-for substance and some natural product? It's been a weird winter-- all the plants are out of synch. Not saying that there's a reason to believe this happened, but what if kidney toxicity was a combination of minor, naturally occuring food factor X-- let's say homeopathic quantities of aflatoxin, too low to be toxic alone, and cats grooming themselves of dandelion fluff? What if, in the end, there isn't blame to be parcelled out at all, just bad luck and the realities of response times when faced with complex multifactoral problems?

The apparently underemployed Thing, One. March 21st, 2007 08:41:00 PM

As a vet, I am VERY glad to see this here. Thanks!!

I've been sniffing around and digging since Friday, and I may have a few answers for some of the questions that have been raised. Not all, by a long shot--some we'll never know. But here goes...

Re all the timing. It apparently takes about 3 months for a pet food to reach the shelves after manufacturing, so the December date makes a little more sense. However, by any measure, Menu's response was tardy, and their story is chock full of lies...oops I mean holes. Their story has changed radically in the last 5 days, as has their website. There are suspicions among vets as well as consumers that this goes back farther than December, much farther.

It's amazing that anyone even knew about this on Friday, because Menu's original press release on that day was directed to Canadian Business and Financial Advisors, and specifically stated "DO NOT RELEASE TO U.S. MEDIA." (BTW, did anyone else notice that the name of the company is actually MENU FOODS INCOME FUND? Does that tell you anything about their priorities?) Thankfully someone ignored that and broke the story here. Maybe the pet food companies were caught as off guard as anyone (okay, yeah, that's probably cutting them a little too much slack). However, I agree that since they have no trouble at all faxing vets with marketing info, a little warning would have been nice. Many, many vets are pretty ticked off about it, judging from the buzz on VIN (a vets-only bulletin board).

Cases are being seen all over the U.S. and Canada, but an individual clinic may not be seeing any. Sadly, many (I would venture to say most) vets are pretty ignorant about nutrition (besides what their Hill's and Iams' reps tell them), and many don't even ask clients what they feed their pets. My nutrition class in vet school was all about feed rations for livestock, with one 2-hour lecture on dog and cat nutrition delivered by a guy from Hill's ("k/d is for Kidneys, h/d is for Heart..." Really. I was there.). There wasn't a single question about diet on the vet hospital's standard intake form, which most graduates copied. So while several unusual cases might have been seen, a busy vet might not really connect the dots beyond thinking to herself "Wow, how weird, what the heck is going on here?"

Personally, I have been researching pet food for about 13 years now. I know way more than the average bear about the industry, but this is a very bizarre situation. The stories don't gel, and there are many unanswered questions. IMHO, Menu's latching on to the wheat gluten theory is grasping at straws (oops pun not intended, but gosh it was a good one!). Wheat gluten? I don't think so, Tim. I'll go out on a limb here and bet my nickel that this will turn out to be something in the meat by-products common to all these foods--a stray antibiotic, or a bacterial endotoxin. We know they're in the food--it's only a question of critical mass.

FDA jumped right on the wheat gluten bandwagon, but tests so far have been negative. Cornell is apparently doing a lot of the testing. So far, nothing concrete, but a lot of things have been "preliminarily ruled out" including ethylene glycol, cleaning solvents, some pesticides, and some fungal mycotoxins. So it's looking more and more like that's a cold trail, although FDA is breathing down the neck of the company that supplied the gluten.

Here's the bottom line: everyone involved, from the FDA on down, would MUCH rather not have the whole unpleasant subject of "by-products" come up. That's a huge hornet's nest and they know it. Most people don't really know what's in pet food, and if that little tidbit becomes widely known, many companies are heading for a big financial fall. NOT that they don't deserve it....But the hard fact is, they are in it for the MONEY and as long as they're making bundles of it and pets aren't dying, they're happy. Now that pets ARE dying...they are going to be all about covering their butts because otherwise they will lose that most precious gift, life...oops I mean loot. I got confused for a minute there--it's only the ANIMALS that are losing their lives...

Well, if you're interested in more dirt, visit my website www.littlebigcat.com, there's a link to a recall info page. I've also got dozens of articles on nutrition in the library about pet foods, nutrition, feeding, homemade food, raw food, etc. If I've missed anything, let me know!

Thanks again for providing the vet's perspective--it's sorely missing in most of the flak.

Cheers,
Dr. Jean

Dr. Jean March 21st, 2007 10:25:00 PM

I'm horrified. I'm saddened. I'm frightened. I buy top name dog food~Innova. Thankfully it's not on the recall list but I have many family and friends that did use food on the recall list. I love my extended family fur babies as much as my own. Every incident of illness and death is one too many. I hope Menu Foods suffers irreversible financial fallout due to their lack of responsible reporting.

Tammy March 22nd, 2007 09:04:00 AM

Dr. Jean. Thanks for your [beyond mine] expertise in nutrition. I agree that the vast majority of my nutrition came in my herd health coursework. Our nutrition class was not sponsored or otherwise provided by the companies--probably because the head of the medicine department (Dr. Kenneth Bovee) was staunchly opposed to the marketing of diets for specific diseases--especially for renal disease. He feels that there's still no conclusive science to prove any particular diet aids in kidney failure or perhaps in the treatment of any other disease process. We did have at least one full semester of general nutrition then another handling toxins within our pharmacology curriculum and still another detailing biological bases for disease where nutrition played a significant role. however, our large animal medicine program was *very* nutrition heavy and this is where I got the most clinical experience in that area. But I agree strongly with Dr. Jean that we vets are much in need of *clinical* training in nutrition not just book-work.

Dr. Patty Khuly March 22nd, 2007 11:14:00 AM

A pathologist-friend of mine decribed lesions of acute tubular necrosis in cats and dogs having consumed the "tainted" pet foods. These lesions are being described by pathologists from all over the continent.
Ethylene glycol is known to cause these lesions, however, some now suspect Aspergillus as the source. For now, this is ONLY SPECULATION. It HAS NOT BEEN CONFIRMED.

TorontoVet March 22nd, 2007 03:27:00 PM

Ok, what I am surprised at is why the vets do not recommend feeding raw? We all know that the wheat gluten and other grains such as corn are not good for the animals and do cause allergies. Why tell a consumer to switch bags instead of trying something that is more natural for a dog or cat to eat like raw meat? Their systems are made to digest meat, not grains and brewers yeast. For years I had my dogs on bagged food (Nutro Max, Science diet and Iams, recommended by vets of course). No matter what brands I tried, my dogs STILL had problems with allergies and continuous ear infections. I talked with vets about switching to raw and it seems that all I got was a brow beating reprimand for thinking about it and horror stories that were never substantiated. The only thing I could think of is that vets ARE NOT informed on natural foods but hail to the big corporations that feed our future vets a bunch of lies about their dog food. I'm sure if the vets were more in tune with what pets naturally eat, there would be far fewer vet bills, teeth cleaning bills and the like. Not to try to put the vets out of business, but you can bet our animals would be a hell of a lot healthier on natural foods. It seems to me that the commercial dog food companies have more clout in what our dogs eat ( due to the fact that money plays a huge part in it, you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours) and look where it has gotten us today. Our animals are getting poisoned by these moguls, many suffer from allergies that even the more expensive brands of "good" dogfood are supposed to help but don't. I've been feeding raw with the help of some friends who have done it for years and I could kick myself for not switching much sooner. Despite the horror stories the vets have tried to feed me about raw, I have yet to see a problem come about with any of my friends dogs or my own. In fact, since changing my dogs over to a natural diet, my German Shepherds' allergies have literally disappeared, their eyes are no longer weepy, no more ear infections and their coats actually glisten with health.
I half expect my comments to be ignored but as I see it, the proof is in the pudding. I sincerely hope people take a very serious look at what they are feeding their animals now that many have been poisoned and died from these commercial animal foods. If these companies cared as much as they claim to about our pets, this never would have happened.
Claire

Claire March 22nd, 2007 11:55:00 PM

Claire- Do you buy all organic meats for your dogs?

I'm not asking to provoke an arguement. I'm asking because for every person that says feeding raw is the best way to go, none of them ever discuss what is in the meat they are feeding.

If chickens, buffalo, cows, pigs, turkey, lamb, venison and fish are all being fed inproperly, eating toxic plants, live in a "toxic enviroment", being given horomones, or have thing mixed into their diets that could be considered bad or toxic, how is it that all these things are removed from the point of slaughter to your dog's food dish? They're not. So unless a pet owner can prove that what they base their raw diets on are actually clean sources of protein, I don't see how it is much different from the companies that make kibble based diets.

I agree that chemicals and fillers are not good for pets, nor are they good for humans. Jut take a hard look at the obesity rates within people alone. It's scary, but it doesn't keep people from eating boxes of doughnuts or drinking gallons of Starbucks coffee.

With that in mind, I also think people in general are lazy. If they cannot be bothered to read and question what is on a food label that they feed themselves, why would they bother to read and or question what is in their pets diet.

Your thoughts on this would be appreciated.

Stacy March 23rd, 2007 07:40:00 AM

Hi folks. I am going to post this website to Iowa State University. It appears that they are accepting food samples and perfroming Necrospsies on deceased pets to test for possible links to the food recall. We have not use this at our hospital yet. I just found it yesterday.


http://cvmweb2.cvm.iastate.edu/departments/VDPAM/d...

Melissa March 23rd, 2007 10:19:00 AM

Dr. Jean, I just visited your website. Thank you. I found it very interesting and informative. As a veterinary technician I have to say that I am re- evaluating how I feed my pets. It also raises questions about the patients that we feed in the hospital. We have clients come in and ask us to feed their raw diets and we all secretly roll our eyes and think that is so disgusting and these people must be crazy. But this situation has changed everything. I will no longer roll my eyes. I may choose to cook the food, but I am going to do some research first.

Melissa March 23rd, 2007 10:48:00 AM

Rat poison is to blame for food recall,

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=2975912&page...

Melissa March 23rd, 2007 11:05:00 AM

Melissa: Yup, and here's the statement:

http://www.agmkt.state.ny.us/AD/release.asp?Releas...

Xtina March 23rd, 2007 02:47:00 PM

Unfortunately, we live in a world today that is polluted and yes, some ranchers do use hormones in their animals before slaughter, but if I had to outweigh the risks of my dogs being poisoned by large corporate dog food companies or feed them human grade food, I'll take the grocery store or the butcher any day of the week.
Consider the food you eat. I'll bet you a nickel to a donut that most of what you eat is not organic, but what you can reasonably afford to keep yourself healthy. I live in a real world where most of us cannot afford to buy organic meat because of the cost. Pretty much I live by " If it is something I will eat and is good for me, my dog can have it too". I'm careful about what meats I buy and where I get them. I have found a reliable butcher where I get most of my chicken and organ meat from for affordable prices. I also check wholesale meat places and split the costs on the food with friends who feed raw. I have done a lot of research on feeding raw and have personally seen the wonderful results of giving my dogs adequate nutrition. It needn't be fancy or take all day to prepare (in fact, to feed three dogs only takes 10-15 minutes including time it takes for the dog to eat it). Because what we feed our dogs is HUMAN grade food, I have seen fewer instances of worms, recycling (when the dog eats their own poop due to missing nutrients, which also adds to the problem of worms), fewer allergies and a happier dog all the way around.


If you look at a bag of dog food and notice that meat by products is the number 1 ingredient, most people think that this food is comprised of mainly animal protein. WRONG. Next, count the grain products which can be as many as 3 or more in this same bag of dog food. You then start to realize that the grains are actually the main ingredient in the dog food bag and source of poor protein, not the meat byproduct. Then when you feed this "food" to the dog, its digestive system has to work much harder than it needs to to try to absorb whatever nutrients are left after being cooked at high temperatures. Dogs were not meant to use grain in there diet to get protein. This is why there are so many unnecessary allergies and other problems in our dogs and cats. In a country where dog food corporations are allowed to make any choices they want to about what goes into kibble, I think it's pretty fair to say that a lot of people have been snowed by these companies and the vets who back them up.

People really need to do their homework and understand that there is a better alternative to commercial dog food. I will always stand by raw only because of first hand experience with it.
Claire

Claire March 23rd, 2007 03:43:00 PM

My diet consists of fruit, veggies, lean sources of protein. I do allow myself junkfood once a week, and usually I make it myself so I know what's in the junk I'm eating. While I suppose pumpkin muffins could be turned into a chemical disaster, I do try to avoid that as much as possible.

Thanks for explaining your thoughts on this, but I still wonder if some pet owners are buying stuff from places like Wal*Mart and purchasing the cheapest meats they can find, or worse, the meats that have been sitting around too long and are grey. Ick!

Maybe things will change, maybe they won't. In the meantime, I'll continue to put my faith in Fromm and Natura Pet Products to feed my mutts and my cats.

Stacy March 23rd, 2007 04:23:00 PM

From the abc news article:
Investigators, meanwhile, are looking into whether the rat poison came into the United States on an ingredient used in the recalled food. ABC News has learned that Menu Foods bought wheat gluten, the only ingredient changed in its plants, from China. That possibility raises questions about the safety of pet and other food products in the United States.

So why are they buying wheat gluten from China? Isn't there enough wheat in the US? What's going on with this game?

I've been feeding my cats dry Iams, but I'm going to look for something that doesn't have wheat at the little pet store near my house. I get a specialty dog food there that has no corn or wheat that isn't on the list. I'm going to stay away from the big companies.

LeeAnn March 23rd, 2007 11:16:00 PM

Lee Ann, try Honest Kitchen. I use it as a supplement for my dogs meals. It's a little on the pricey side but since I use it with raw, it does go a long way. What it is,is dehydrated HUMAN GRADE vegetables, fruit and meat made in a human food plant. There are several different varieties. They are, Verve which includes oats and barley, dehydrated beef with fruits and veggies, and the other two, Force and Embark which have NO grains but include dehydrated chicken or turkey with fruits and veggies. They also have one that is fruits and vegetables only called Performance. This is used with your own choices of protein and is very good. They even have one for cats called Prowl. Google Honest Kitchen and many websites will open up. What I found to be great is that they do sell to smaller businesses so you might find an organic pet food store near you that sells it. I hope this helps. :)
Claire

Claire March 23rd, 2007 11:39:00 PM

Oops, not performance, it's called Preference.


http://www.onlynaturalpet.com/products/Honest-Kitc...

Anyway, this is where I order my dogs vitamins and salmon oil. Have a gander at their items. I do strongly recommend Honest Kitchen.
Claire

Claire March 23rd, 2007 11:56:00 PM

I may have missed it, but has anyone compiled a list of pet food manufacturers who do NOT outsource...who make their product? It would be a great service for vets to have such a list for those of us who want to never ever again support the allegedly "better" pet food manufacturers who so flagrantly took advantage of our trust, but, most importantly, had such little regard for our love of our pets.

sharon March 24th, 2007 07:40:00 AM

So why are they buying wheat gluten from China? Isn't there enough wheat in the US? What's going on with this game?


This is pure speculation on my part, but if I had to guess at an answer, I would say they are buying it from China because it's cheaper.

The reason I say that is think about the economy in general. Things that are made here in the US are usually more pricey compared to things that are imported. Part of the reason is of course the cost of labor. Here in the US we have labor laws, unions, and have a minimum wage where other countries such as China does not. They can work somebody ( including children) for as many hours as they want and pay them in pennies.

Imported stuff usually doesn't have to meet US "standards" and if there is something wrong with it, there is little a person can do. Years ago there was problems with gel candles. The things were exploding all over the place and causing house fires. The problem was that these particular candles were not made in the States so the consumer was basically stuck with being accused of intentionally burning down their homes out of negligence because these candles were made in another country.

Candles clearly have nothing to do with dog food, but when food sources are grown here, they are supposed to go through FDA inspections and be held to FDA standards. That now of course can be argued after the whole spinach mishap and the big thing with peanut butter that happened just recently. My aunt who works for a popular grocery store chain has had more run-in's with black widow spiders than she can count because the crates of bananas that are being delivered are not being inspected either. Forutantely she has never been bit as now she's aware of what could be hiding in a banana box, but it's just one more thing that shows that there is some serious laziness going on when it comes to food suppliers. There are bans on bringing food over from the Mexican border are for these vary same reasons, although those are more about parasites than spiders. Black widows just happen to like fruit, so a crate of bananas is a perfect place to lay eggs and raise her young.

Until companies actually start looking out for their customers best interest, it is my belief that these things are going to continue to happen and will probably get worse before it gets better. Yes, business owners should make a profit, but there is a difference between running a profitable business and running a business only for the sake of profit as Menu will find out, if they haven't felt the punch in the face that comes with such thinking already. They played with their own destiny, I hope they are happy with their results along with all the companies that were playing along.

Stacy March 24th, 2007 08:03:00 AM

Claire - you might also find Dr P's previous post on what she feeds her animals interesting. Talk about good timing...it was posted on 12/03. Right before this all blew up.

jcat March 24th, 2007 09:42:00 AM

Dr. Patty said: "Our nutrition class was not sponsored or otherwise provided by the companies--probably because the head of the medicine department (Dr. Kenneth Bovee) was staunchly opposed to the marketing of diets for specific diseases--especially for renal disease. He feels that there's still no conclusive science to prove any particular diet aids in kidney failure or perhaps in the treatment of any other disease process."

WOW WOW WOW! What school is this? A guy who stands up for science instead of marketing! Yippee! Yahoo!

As far as notification goes, don't know what Homeland Security has been doing for the last 5 1/2 years, but it's not putting together a network for emergency notification of medical/veterinary personnel. I just learned the other day that in the case of a "terrorist" release of hoof and mouth that the borders of the county would be sealed for 90 days - no food in, no people in or out. With just in time inventories, who has 90 days worth of food available? Now wouldn't you think that getting a notification system up would be the FIRST thing they would have done? Sure would have come in handy right now. And I wonder about med records also. doG knows it seems everyone and his chicken has a right to look at the "data" in my medical files. Shouldn't there be a system that analyses oddities in records to alert us - animals and people? While CRF is common in cats, I get the impression that ARF isn't all that common. I'll bet there's some vets who DID pause and wonder if something was going on, but there was nowhere to check and see if this was a local or global oddity.

It's not as if it's all that hard to do either. I got a taped phone call a few months ago concerning a missing child. The Sheriff's dept has an automatic dialer that called everyone in the relevant area and when I went out to look around I saw my neighbors doing the same. I live in a small town. Time for the AVMA to get off it's butt. If not everyone belongs to the AVMA each state has licensing arms with everyone's relevant information. Time for them to wake up too. All this should have already been in place. Undoubtedly it could have saved some pet's lives.

Cathy

Cathy March 24th, 2007 01:58:00 PM

Does anybody know how long it takes for the dogs/cats to exibit signs of kidney failure from this poisin?
How do they know that this is only in food produced after a certain date?

I lost my 2.5 y/o mini dachshund to kidney failure. He was diagnosed on a Wednesday in "early kidney failure" and on Friday 12/1/06 he died. We'd periodically purchased the Winn Dixie brand manufactured by this company. They're saying the food in question was manufactured after 12/6/06. Now I'm beginning to wonder.

Dee March 25th, 2007 03:48:00 PM

I found an interesting article on how to grade your dog's food. I am not sure where it originated, but it does make one think about what is really in our pet's food.It uses criteria like the inclusion of by-products, grains, organic products to develop a score of 0 - 100. The ratings of many different dog foods are listed. It is not suprising that some of the premium food scored so high, and it is not too suprising that some of the most popular "name" brands scored so low. Check out the article at http://losangeles.craigslist.org/wst/pet/299415262...

Susan March 25th, 2007 06:57:00 PM

I just took it and the foods I feed scored 124 points. I wasn't surprised at how low a lot of the scores were for the bagged food which are of course very low quality. It was good to see a few like Royal Canin and Evo up there in their scores.

Claire March 25th, 2007 09:53:00 PM

Cathy: For the record, the school is the University of Pennsylvania. While I was there some of us (students) had issues on the pet food thing. I remember distincly referring to Hill's as the "Evil Empire." But we all fed their foods because Waltham didn't have a presence back then and because they gave it to us for free.

The problem with ARF vs. CRF is that in cats we wouldn't normally look for ARF because of the high incidence of CRF in the aging cat population. An ultrasound with a renal biopsy is not part of the standard of care for a ten year old cat with renal disease--even if it "came on suddenly." Most renal failure does appear to come on suddenly, unfortunately, as cats are masters at disguising their illnesses.

A further complication is that cats who might have been in the earlier stages of chronic renal disease would have been most susceptible to the toxin. A kidney biopsy would likely show the difference between what is an acute change and what is a chronic change but that's an expensive and invasive option we don't usually get into with a sick pet unless we have a good reason to--as with this recall situation.

I'm sure a lot more cats have been affected than has been reported but proving the difference between chronic and acute won't ever get teased out in their cases. especially since I've heard that some vets think this recall is much ado about nothing in terms of their own cat patients. Maybe so but we'll never know unless we can get a high-quality retrospective study on the rates of renal failure for the time periods in question. I hope someone (a university, perhaps) undertakes this.

And yes, the AVMA has been inexcusably silent in this issue. I'm more than displeased--but not surprised. Check out my post on the AVMA:

http://www.dolittler.com/index.cfm/2007/1/2/pet.ve...

Dr. Patty Khuly March 26th, 2007 10:16:00 AM

Dr. Patty:
"A further complication is that cats who might have been in the earlier stages of chronic renal disease would have been most susceptible to the toxin"

Yeah, one could assume that those with already compromised kidney function went first. But seems to me there'a an awful lot of very young cats dying. Doesn't make a lot of sense.

I'm really sorry to hear there's so many vets giving this issue the shoulder shrug. I know CRF is common in older cats, as I sent my 20.5 yr old off the planet in January with a 2 year known history of CRF.

No, there will be no definitive proof for most of these cases. But some people had just gone to the vet a few months before and had bloodwork done. Those cases will be the nail in the coffin

Cathy March 27th, 2007 11:56:00 AM

I would love to sympathize with you, as this blindsided you as much as it blindsided all of us pet owners. As you referred to in your article, pet owners who in most cases desperately love and need their canine or feline "family members". But I can't!!

Before I invested in my Yellow Labradors I did tons of research about every aspect of their care. I wanted to know everything I could to raise helathy, happy dogs. This included what to best feed them. That's why I chose a food that did not have the cheap or poor nutrition of corn, rice, or wheat. There were good dog food companies out there that were committed to making quality food with very nutrient grains such as millet, outmeal, etc. They also are committed to putting only USDA certified human quality meat into their foods. These companies and brands did not just show up in the last year, some of these have been around for 8+ years.

Why haven't vets been at the forefront of promoting some of these truly top quality brands. Is it because when it comes down to it there was no profit in it for vets? My vet insisted that Hills Science Diet dog food was the best for my labs, but things didn't add up right as I compared ingredient lists, and educaterd myself on what to look for.

There are some awesome, truly compassionate vets out there. Fortunately, I was able to find such a vet after being very dissappointed by our first vet. But I can't let you off the hook too easy if you were promoting or recommending some of the recalled brands to your clients. If I, as a member of the general public, was able to gain enough knowledge to chose a dog food that is manufactured by a family run company, committed to putting only US grown or raised products into their food, why couldn't any vet out there have done the same? If these same vets are having to "eat crow" now, than hopefully they will do better by their clients in the future. Unfortunately this change has come at too high a price.

"Sunshine" May 8th, 2007 03:12:00 PM

I am an M.D. When you, as a patient, walk into my waiting room, you see chairs and side tables with magazines and informational pamphlets. I have nothing for sale except my own expertise. You do not see a grocery store or accessories. The vets should clean up their act. Every serious breeder knows that Science Diet is garbage. Get professional. Earn your money by being a doctor, not a storekeeper.

Bob May 9th, 2007 10:35:00 PM

Kudos Clare -- and Dr. Bob--

THANK YOU!! Parents would certainly be in an uproar and suing you if you pushed
Frito_Lay Chip "prescriptions" on their children (or them!)

I run far and fast from a vet with this conflict of interest!! Doctors should be too busy just being doctors.

Shame on you vets for selling unhealthy garbage!! You helped kill your patients! Will you give refunds for the vet bills of pets who ate the stuff?! Bet NOT!
Try visiting www.dogfoodanalysis.com or www.catinfo.org.

Why are vets killing pets and profiting from it?! Why are they ALLOWED?!

Me May 13th, 2008 10:57:00 PM

Sunshine,
GREAT post!

Those food companies help fund the veterinary schools. It's a shame profit comes before health.

Me May 13th, 2008 11:02:00 PM

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