If you feed private-label pet food, read this

[jmowreader]

http://www.menufoods.com/recall/index.html

Menu Foods Income Fund, the largest maker of private-label pet food in the Americas (it's a Canadian company), reports that the "chunks and gravy" cat and dog foods it's made for the last few months were adversely affecting pets' renal health. They claim the problem stems from a new ingredient vendor.

Anyway, go over there and see if any of the pet food you've got in the house is affected.

[AndyTiedye]

1. Not Just Private Labels! List Includes Some NUTRO, IAMS, EUKANUBA

Not the ones I have been feeding our cat, fortunately.

[SharonAnn]

21. When Iams was sold to P & G about 10-12 years ago, I was afraid of

something like this. Both Iams and PRoctor & Gamble are near where I used to live, in Southwest Ohio.

Iams was a privately held company based near Dayton, OH with impeccable research, manufacturing, and marketing. They were the best of the best.

Then, they sold to P & G in Cincinnati. P & G had already destroyed some of my favorite consumer product brands (Oil of Olay moisturizer, several shampoo and conditioners brands) when they bought those companies and switched to cheaper ingredients, and I expected they would do the same thing with Iams. The difference is, it is the brand of food I gave my cats for their health and anything that debased its quality could injure or kill them.

So, they went price-shopping to a cheaper manufacturer who went price-shopping for cheaper ingredients.

Not unexpected, but what a disappointment.

Iams was a top quality brand and they would never have done that kind of manufacturing outsourcing or price-shopping of ingredients. I'm sure they were tough negotiators but they demanded top quality.

[1monster]

2. I use mostly Purina cat food products. I did see Iams listed ... Imagine,

spending that much on supposedly extra quality pet foods only to learn that it was poisoning the furry memeber of your family.

[Arkansas Granny]

7. Like you, I feed Purina cat and dog food, almost exclusively, and

I have for years. Glad to see that none of the foods I use were on the list.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

12. Me too. But my spoiled brat turns her nose up at whatever I feed her.

Cats. Go figure.

[Arkansas Granny]

14. Luckily, my cats aren't picky at all, but that may be due to their

early lives. The female was a feral kitten that my daughter rescued when she was about 6 weeks old. I've had her for about 5 years now and she's turned out to be a sweet little companion. The other is an old tom cat that was abandoned about 5 years ago in the neighborhood and went back to the wild. I've been feeding him for about 4 years now and have gained his trust enough that he comes in the house to eat and he will let me pet him, but he's not what you could call a tame cat. He knows where he can always find a meal and a dry place to sleep when he wants, but I can't really claim him as my cat. I guess you could say that we have an arrangement.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

16. Oh, it isn't the cat. It's me. I have spoiled her totally rotten.

When she was little, if she didn't like something, I'd give her something else until she was happy with it. I had a whole cupboard full of different dry foods and wet foods and treats. She figured it out quickly and made hay with it. When the weather was hot she refused her water unless I put an icecube in it. Not two cubes, just one. When we had shrimp or tuna, she always got the first bite. Now she's fifteen years old and both of us are totally hopeless. :)

[blossomstar]

33. I was so relieved too! I use only Purina ONE along

with fresh cooked food that I make for one meal a day.. it made me almost want to stop commercial food for them altogether. My confidence is shattered. But then again, look at all that is happening with the human foods! God only knows what goes on with dog foods that we don't hear about!

[Mabus]

8. Actually it is what saved her life

I've got a lhasa apso. They have a propensity for forming bladder stones. My little girl was has already had surgery once and was being scheduled for a second when a friend suggested I switch her food to something organic. It worked. Less than four months later and she's no longer straining to urinate, her UTI is gone and so are a couple of lumps that had appeared in the last few years. In addition, my shih tzu no longer smells like an old rug and my German Shepherd's coat is shiner than I ever thought possible and has more energy, something else I didn't think possible.

It may cost a little more but it has been worth it.

[southerncrone]

3. Thanks, had one of the brands, but luckily not any of the bad dates.

[Bitwit1234]

4. Thanks my cats eat Iams

But they like the dry kind. Iams says it is not affect. I had to put one of my cats to sleep in February. She ate WalMart Special Kitty because she liked the juice. The vet said she had tumors,but she keep swelling up and had to have the fluid removed. I had her cremated and did not check. But now I am worried that she might have had liver failure. The vet said he felt myraid tumors. Which I had not detected before, so as I said I am worried.

[Gman]

5. 2 of our three dogs got sick week before last

throwing up. I looked at the date on the last 12-pack of canned food we bought and it was the day before one of the date shown in the list for the private brand we use. They're fine now and it only seemed to last a couple of days. Still, I'm going to stay on the lookout for the class action suit just to be safe and to get them tested if necessary.

[Kber]

38. Call the vet.

Kidney damage can be a long term problem that can be caused by one bad incident, in human's as well as other animals. (My grandmother died of kidney failure 20 years after she damaged her kidneys by letting a strep throat infection go untreated until she needed to be hospitalized.)

Even if they seem better now, they could have problems later. Take them to the vet just in case - a blood test can give you an indication if anything is wrong without spending an arn and a leg on vet bills.

Another good friend of mine just lost her dog to kidney failure - caused by undetected and untreated limes disease. He would get sick (vomiting, etc.), then get better. This lasted for 18 months until one day he got really sick and died. They diagnosed his limes and kidney problems after he passed away.

[tbyg52]

6. K&R for those who have not heard about this yet

You might also find this interesting:
http://www.amazon.com/Food-Pets-Die-Shocking-Facts/dp/0939165465/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-5428554-2951315?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1174171333&sr=8-1

Although things can still go wrong even if you try to find food with the best ingredients, no byproducts, etc. We may have lost a dog to the recalled food, although we will never know, as this story broke after she had been cremated and we had disposed of her remaining food. What she ate was the *good* stuff, as far as we could determine, and now it's no longer on the shelf at the pet store--just a sign with the recall information.

[havocmom]

9. 'nother kick

for the fur guys

[Morgana LaFey]

13. OMG. I'm really sorry to hear about your loss

:cry:

[tbyg52]

22. Thank you.

She was a great little dog. Had arthritis something awful for years, controlled with doggie Vioxx. Still happy and interested in life. The meds were hard on her system, of course, so we thought that's what was going on when she went downhill, kidney failure. Still might be that, but it's quite a coincidence. She had just been sick in the hospital, and was rejecting her previous food. (She was a very smart dog, and we figure that she assumed what she ate made her sick.) (She was even rejecting Spot's Stew....!)

We were casting about for something she would eat, which turned out to be Nutro pouches. No byproducts, not too many long words in the ingredients list, etc. And it was the only thing with those qualifications she would eat.

Well, what are you going to do? The best you can......

[AZBlue]

19. I'm so so sorry for your loss.

:hug:

[tbyg52]

23. Thank you.

One thing about DU--you can always count on words of condolence, and I appreciate it!

[Southsideirish]

10. We make our dog's food according to a Dr. Pitcairn recipe. All natural and

nutritious.

[tbyg52]

11. Link to Pitcairn book

http://www.amazon.com/Pitcairns-Complete-Guide-Natural-Health/dp/157954973X/ref=sr_1_1/102-6351378-6284960?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1174176555&sr=8-1

[Wilms]

15. Grrr!

[tbyg52]

27. Oh, cute dog!

He (she?) looks like a combination of the one we just lost (blue heeler, possibly pure, or?) and one we lost at age 20 in 1996 (breed unknown).

[Wilms]

30. He's my buddy!

I figure Australian Shepherd and then some.

Glad he touched your memories. :) :cry: :)

Peace.

[dysfunctional press]

17. i've tried a few of the "private label" cat foods...

not the cheap store brands, but the priceier, supposedly "premium" foods, and my cats generally don't like them. at all. but i have noticed that some of them look and smell almost identical to each other. (btw- i always check the ingredients, and if corn or rice is listed first, i pass...cats need meat) i've always wondered how some of these companies could stay in business, selling catfood that cats hate...?

my cats love plain old purina cat chow more than anything else, as far as dry cat food goes.

[tbyg52]

24. We also had a cat that wouldn't eat anything else

(Got him at about 6 months.) Tried to switch him to the "good" stuff (no byproducts, not too many long words in the ingredients list), to no avail.

[Nevernose]

26. They're usually made by the same companies that make the cheap stuff.

They're usually made by the same companies that make the cheap stuff.

The same as generic prescription drugs are, 90% of the time, made in the same factories that produce the brand-names.

[ThatsMyBarack]

18. The IAMS site is running slow....

....so I have no idea if my cats will be affected. :cry:

[Cheap_Trick]

31. go to this site

http://www.menufoods.com/recall

[SammyWinstonJack]

20. I feed my three dogs "Kirkland" brand from Costco. Both wet and dry.

Rice and Lamb/Chicken/Rice/Vegetable formula. They love it and thankfully it isn't on this list.

[Nevernose]

25. The manager of a Petco stopped me at the door and WARNED me about wet food

She said that dry food was okay, but not to buy ANY wet food from ANY brand.

She then proceeded to make me promise to call any pet owners I know and tell them not to feed their pets any wet foods, canned or "pouched." And THEN she offered me her cell phone. After I used my own cell phone, she offered me a piece of paper to list the names/numbers of anyone whom I might be too embarrassed to call.

As she was doing this, she had most of the employees, some called in special, pulling all of the wet food off the shelves. She said it wasn't limited to any brand -- they all had to go.

It's ALL affected.

Switch to dry or homemade for a while. Let's face it, ultimately our little furry friends won't know the difference: most of them eat their own shit on occasion.

[tbyg52]

28. Wow

Did she give you any indication of what the wet food (all) problem was, and why it didn't affect dry?

Edited to add:

This sounds MSM newsworthy to me. What does she know?

[Nevernose]

32. She knows something we don't, but only what the corp tells her.

I got the impression that she didn't know anything more than I did, really, except that her corporate directive was to pull EVERYTHING, regardless of manufacturer. She said that different manufacturers produce the same brand, and that the same manufacturer would produce a brand under a common name. Other than that, she wasn't too sure. Not unclear, but she genuinely didn't know. She was, however, surprised that I'd already heard about it -- thank god for Du and the Internet.

She wasn't sure WHY it didn't affect dry, just that it hadn't been shown to, yet. My personal guess is that it is cooked longer or dried longer, and is more effective at killing germs.

She also said it wasn't just dog food, but cat food as well.

It the only time I've ever been thankful for diarrhea; my dog gets the shits when he he eats anything moist.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

29. Friskies and Nine Lives only for my girl...

Hope all your pets remain safe. :hug:

[Der Blaue Engel]

34. Thanks for the heads up

My cats eat IAMS pouches. Mine weren't in the affected batch, but very close. Of course, that's just what I have now; who knows what last week's batch number was. :(

[Neshanic]

35. So...all dog food is apparently made by one company it seems. WTF?

What a crock of shit. I gave my dog dry Purina up to six months ago, and put those "Mixables" on his food so he would eat it. Then he got sick to his stomach and the vet said that it was a sensitive stomach. I stopped the "mixables" and he was put on Eukanuba "Low Residue" for 50 bucks a bag. I would pay 100 if need be, but what fucking galls me is you go to that recall site and every fucking dog food on the planet is there! Even Eukanuba..."oh this is different, this is the good stuff!"

I know it's wet food only, but if Eukanuba is using this company to make their wet food, what the Hell else are they getting from this company that makes soylent green for dogs?

[musette_sf]

36. i stopped Iams and Eukanuba a long time ago

about when i started looking into better quality pet foods to help one of my kitten pack with a food allergy.

however i am *SHOCKED* yes *SHOCKED* that Nutro is on this list of affected foods.

here i thought i was doing the right thing.

we feed Wysong dry food so no issues there, but i am just appalled that Nutro is made by this el cheapo contract manufacturer.

(sigh) and of course the little darlings are quite fond of those natural and whole-foods appearing Nutro pouches.

i checked and none of the current food we have, has those expiration dates. but it looks like i'll have to go farther afield to find some better brands of food, since i won't be buying any more Nutro.

[ScreamingMeemie]

37. Finally! A reason to feel good about shelling out huge amounts for Jessie's

prescription dog food. She's on C/D Dry.

[rumpel]

39. Eukanuba site will not load

thanks for this post