FDA Confirms Dry Pet Food Complaints:News conference tomorrow

[cal04]

FDA Confirms Dry Pet Food Complaints; PETA Calls for Emergency Expansion of Recall to Include Dry Products

With the FDA now confirming that consumers suspect dry pet food may have sickened or killed their companion animals, PETA will hold an emergency news conference on Friday and call on the FDA to immediately expand the pet food recall to include all dry varieties subject to complaints until they are chemically tested for safety. PETA will also ask the FDA to investigate Iams in order to find out if the company knew about the contaminated food before calling for a recall. Pennsylvania resident Yvette Faulkner - whose cat Sassafras suffered kidney failure and had to be euthanized and who states that Sassafras ate only Iams' dry food - will speak at the news conference.

Date: Friday, March 30

Time: 12 noon

Place: National Press Club, 529 14th St. N.W., Murrow Room

PETA will also explain its call for an investigation into whether Iams may have known about the contaminated food. Reports indicate that Menu Foods, Iams' manufacturer, may have known about the contaminated food as early as February 20. The recall did not go into effect until March 16.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnw/20070329/pl_usnw/fda_confirms_dry_pet_food_complaints__peta_calls_for_emergency_expansion_of_recall_to_include_dry_products

[burrowowl]

1. Interesting

I know IAM's and others have used an herbicide beginning with E as a preservative.

[Critters2]

2. Ethoxyquin? nt

[burrowowl]

129. Yes that

IAM's stopped using it for awhile, I don't know if they started again.

I have seen it in other pet foods, I would advise people to read the long labels and if ethoxyquin is in it don't buy it. I think it contributed to my German Shepherd's eplilepsy that she developed at the age of 4 after coming back to the US. I had to put her down at the age of 9 because the sizures would not stop even with induced coma. She was healthy otherwise and could have easily lived to 14 like her father in France.

[Liberty Belle]

3. Keep this kicked so everyone will see. I won't buy IAMS again after reading this.

[leftyladyfrommo]

87. Me either. I just switched my dogs over to Dick Van Patten's Allergy Food.

I'm afraid to buy any more dog food from any company involved - I was feeding my dogs Nutro Natural - and they have been fine. But I'm not risking it anymore. No Iams, no Nutro, No Eukanuba for us.

[Guaranteed]

4. I knew it.

Our oldest cat was diagnosed with renal failure a few weeks ago. One of our other cats has been puking and peeing in weird places. We've been feeding them all dry food. Purina.

This is unbelievable.

What can I feed my cats?

[jobycom]

7. One of my cats started peeing on the couch a few weeks ago.

I had run out of their normal food, and had just bought a bag of dry food from Walmart until I could get their regular food. After a couple of days of eating this food, my older cat started peeing on the couch, and looked a little lethargic to me. I figured the cheaper food was giving her a urinary tract infections, so I quit using it and bought her normal food again (Science Diet, the Nature style, or Natural, or whatever it's called). The problems cleared up in about three days. Just after this the Menu story broke, and I wondered about it.

Still don't know. This cat has gotten urinary infections before from cheap foods, but never that quickly. My other cat didn't get sick at all, that I could tell, but she's just a year and a half old, and the other cat is over eleven, and has had several dances with death. Either way, I'm glad I switched back to the old food so quickly.

[133724]

22. 3 cats & Using Science Diet. No Problems...(yet)

[Cetacea]

125. Hills is recalling some dry foods

I am not positive, but I am fairly certain I read it earlier.

[kestrel91316]

23. Walmart dry is generic/housebrand just like their canned. The WORST

food available. They often have fish (it's a cheap ingredient), and the ratio of plant protein to animal protein is wrong so you can get urine too alkaline.

You were VERY wise to switch back (though personally I think the Science Diet Natural is a little gimmicky). But if it works and you are happy, no need to change.

[jobycom]

33. Not sure it was Walmart's house brand

Just a brand at Walmart. I compared ingredient lists and liked it a little better than the Purinas and Iams and such (forget why, but I believe the amount of gluten and grain was lower). I only bought food from Walmart because I got home at midnight and my pet stores weren't open.

As for SD Natural, I agree, it seems gimmicky to me, too, but the ingredient list is better than their regular food, and better than many of the brands I looked at. I was using Nature's Recipe, but it made my youngest cat sick. I tried a couple of other high-end brands (forget the names, but the usual culprits), and either they made my younger cat sick, or my older cat wouldn't eat them. My older cat had recently had a urinary tract infection, so I had switched to a prescription diet, and she just refused to eat it, and quickly developed Fatty Liver Syndrome. After about $3K in treatments, and three months of force-feeding her three times a day, I wasn't going to risk even a day of her not eating. So that's what food I settled on. My younger cat responded well to it, too.

The Walmart food was called Natural Life. I've looked at their web page, and can't find out if they're made by Menu or not. They were the same price point as Purina One, so not expensive, but not bottom of the barrel, either. (And it's not my fault that "nature" and "natural" are marketing buzzwords now. :) I've tried foods without either in the title, too, those are just the ones I've mentioned here.)

[kestrel91316]

51. Hepatic lipidosis is NASTY. The risk of it as a sequel to anorexia is why

we always recommend a gradual transition onto new foods. If they boycott, you can wind up with a dead kitty.

I tell my clients: NEVER try to starve a cat into submission with a diet change.

[jobycom]

59. My vet wasn't so good.

She warned me vaguely of the danger, but not in any way explicit enough for me to recognize the danger. Since I had two cats, I couldn't tell that she wasn't eating, and since my vet had said she needed to lose weight, I rather assumed she was just progressing along as the vet expected.

Same vet gave me a strict formula on how much to forcefeed my kitty, then kept trying to sell me on a throat tube surgery I couldn't afford. I stuck to her diet strictly, and after two months the vet told me I was underfeeding her and that I had to get the tube or my cat wouldn't survive (after several checkups where she reiterated that I stick to the amounts she had given me). She was actually rather rude and accusatory, though I was doing what she said. I finally quit going to her, doubled the dose I was feeding her, and had her eating on her own in about a week. I never took her back to that vet--they probably think she died.

Anyway, needless to say, I'm cautious with her food now. :)

[kestrel91316]

90. Prognosis with hepatic lipidosis is terrible without an esophagostomy

feeding tube, and fairly decent with one. Your vet wasn't "trying to sell me on a throat tube surgery" unnecessarily, she was offering the best medical care available for the disease.

Some vets are not good about offering "Plan B" when clients can't afford "Plan A".

[alstephenson]

115. My kitty died from hepatic lipidosis, too....

She stopped eating. We spent two months force feeding her and then feeding 5X a day through a peg tube. She was finally diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome which was most likely the initial cause of her problems. The IBS was treated with steroids, then she got an infection. The infection was treated with antibiotics. She died peacefully at home one night - it was just too much for her to take.

We tried everything we could to keep her going. She would rebound, then get worse again. Luckily I had the means to pay for treatment - I feel so badly for pet owners who don't and have to make a tough decision based on finances.

Kestrel - what do you think about the pet insurance programs???

[kestrel91316]

134. Some people love insurance and some grumble that it doesn't cover

enough. I'm glad it exists for those who want it but most my clients don't have it, for whatever reason. I don't push it - I think it's unprofessional to do more than provide the informational brochures and I sure don't want to to endorse someone I know little about. I have no clue how to objectively evaluate/compare pet insurance policies, lol.

[Critters2]

98. Wal-Mart doesn't carry Natural Life. It's carried by Whole Foods,

health food stores, etc. My dog started on it when she was having trouble with her egg allergy. Our vet used the vegetarian formula as an elimination diet, and my dog loved it, so she now gets that mixed with a couple of other foods with no egg product. I have to order Natural Life through a natural foods co-op, because no one around here carries it. We got it from the vet in Iowa. Their website doesn't list Wal-Mart as a dealer. Whole Foods, yes; Wal-Mart, no. It would make my life easier if it were!

And no, Natural Life products are not on the recall list. Here's their website: nlpp.com

[RayOfHope]

104. Wal Mart does carry Natural Life pet foods. I buy it there.

My dog eats their Lamaderm dry food, and that's where I buy it.

[bullwinkle428]

108. Hepatic lipidosis KILLED my cat, but she had contracted

pancreatitis in conjunction with the HL - kestrel told me shortly after her death that the presence of these conditions at the same time is basically a death sentence in cats.

[FlaGranny]

89. A question for you

My dog absolutely loves fish. I often give her some salmon or whatever fish we're eating. Is that bad for her?

Thanks.

[flyingfysh]

8. I've had good luck with Friskies canned

Our cats have been very healthy for years. One has developed hyperthyroidism, but that's because she's old. They are all very active, and show no ill effects from anything. I also give them Costco (Kirkland) dry food.

[CountAllVotes]

25. Kirkland = Diamond Pet Food

Do a search on Diamond pet foods. You'll be in for a shock. Kirkland is Costco's brand name for the pet food but it is in fact made by Diamond FYI. Diamond had a number of pet deaths a couple of years ago due to contaminated food.

:kick:

[kestrel91316]

32. Are you sure about that? I am not keen on Diamond due to the

aflatoxin in dog food fiasco. Can you prove they make it???

I have always considered Kirkland cat food extremely good, with the usual caveat about generics.

[kestrel91316]

28. Kirkland appears, surprisingly, to be an excellent food. I was

skeptical years ago, because it is technically a generic (BAD BAD BAD) - note the labeling that says "Distributed by" rather than "Manufactured by". But here is the truth: in all the years I have known my clients to be feeding it, I have NEVER seen any obvious diet-related problems associated with feeding it. I strongly suspect that Costco, which carries GREAT quality stuff in general, has the stuff made for them by one of the premium companies. I have my money on Hill's, but can't prove it.

I tell my clients feeding Kirkland that if their cats are doing well on it, there is absolutely no reason to change.

[SammyWinstonJack]

79. I feed my three dogs Kirkland Signature chicken, rice and vegetable dry food.

Also their canned chicken rice and lamb. They do fine on it.

[KaryninMiami]

124. Can you check ot see if there are meat bi-products in Kirkland food?

I use Wellness dry food (Organic, healthy but very expensive) and was using Nutro pouches for my cats which they loved and Max cat cans for my kitten because my (holistic) vet told me to avoid products with meat bi-products. Would love too find something to replace the Nutro and something less expensive would be great.

[Greybnk48]

36. We're using Bil-Jack for our dog

and friskies canned for our cat (she won't eat anything else). I haven't heard anything about these and both websites say they're ok. Anyone hear anything different?

[magellan]

13. Will your cats eat homemade?

If so, list their weights and whether they're indoor, outdoor, growing, pregnant or lactating. I'll give you a recipe for renal failure in cats from this book:


http://www.amazon.com/Home-Prepared-Dog-Cat-Diets-Alternative/dp/0813821495/ref=sr_1_4/103-0519924-9517426?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1175007769&sr=8-4@">Home-Prepared Dog & Cat Diets: the Healthful Alternative

[kestrel91316]

31. Strombeck is from UC Davis, and Iowa Univ Press did the book.

If you are going to make your own pet food, it's about the only book I can recommend. I have not yet read it (because I do NOT want my clients making homemade). But the author knows his stuff.

Way better than The Natural Cat or Pitcairn's nonsense, lol.

[HockeyMom]

14. FUS?

Feline Urological Syndrome. Has your cat been checked for that? Is your cat a neutered male? I had two male cats die from that many years ago. They had the symptoms you describe, especially the peeing in strange places. They would just squat down anywhere and pass just a couple of drops. Crystals develop in the urine and block the urethra so the cat cannot pass urine. The bladder fills up with the urine and will rupture if left untreated. It is less common in female cats because they are better able to pass the crystals, though it can occur with them too.

Years ago, they said it was related to neutered male cats fed a diet of only dry food. I don't know if that still holds true today.

It is a very dangerous situation. Take you cat to the Vet immediately.

[kestrel91316]

34. The dry food only thing is oversimplification of the etiology of FUS.

CHEAP dry food with too much Magnesium per kilocalorie consumed, in conjunction with an improper plant protein:animal protein ratio and resulting alkaline urine pH is the problem.

[Hobarticus]

97. Holy cats...

You know your stuff. I want YOU in charge of the FDA.

[kestrel91316]

130. Lol, no thanks. Though when I semiretire I may go work for the

USDA keeping meat-eaters safe from disease..............

[musette_sf]

112. hard water can also contribute

my FUS boy (survivor!) gets only distilled water now.

[Cetacea]

126. ditto nt

[kestrel91316]

131. I haven't seen any controlled studies showing that.

But distilled won't hurt as far as I know.

[Guaranteed]

56. Yeah, we had him checked for that. Apparently he doesn't

have it.

I don't know what is going on with them.

[sandnsea]

19. Just bought Purina dry dog food

My husband was buying the mushy canned and I insisted we switch to dry. I was feeding her homemade food for a few days, but thought she should have better balance. Dammit. I don't even know what to do now.

[kestrel91316]

35. I fed my Great Pyrenees Purina for years before I had the money for

better stuff. She lived to nearly 13, which is ancient for a Pyr. You can do worse than Purina - it should suffice 'til the dust settles and vets get a handle on what to recommend in the new, revised world of pet food.

[sandnsea]

65. I meant the sickness

the poster referred to. My dog is ten and very healthy, not worried about that. She's akita/chow and eats leftover vegetable soups and things like that, as well as dog food. I was just worried about the self-reporting of sickness. A grocery checker here in town said she had heard of two pet deaths, and we're just a small town. But if you think it hasn't spread to the dry food yet, I'll relax and wait to hear more. You've been great through all of this. :hug:

[AZBlue]

109. OMG, I LOVE Great Pyrenees!!

They are so beautiful and have such wonderful personalities. I live in an apartment now but when I get a house, getting a Pyr is going to be one of the first things I do!

[RebelOne]

70. I have been feeding my dogs Purina One dry food

for a long time now and have not had any problem.

[MGD]

93. It's all nasty rendered offal and vegetable waste products.

I feed my dog purina one lamb and rice but the more I research, the more I'm convinced all commercial pet food isn't even fit for a dog. I think you may be right on track with the homemade food. What's your recipee if you don't mind me asking?

[sandnsea]

111. My dog eats fruit

Consequently I can give her a fairly balanced diet just by selectively feeding her our food, since we're on a heart healthy diet to begin with. I just don't think it's a good idea for that to be her sole diet. There are recipes online though. Some other DUers cook for their dogs, IIRC. Maybe start a thread and ask.

[kestrel91316]

21. Purina makes lots of cats puke. It also cause way too many cases

of lower urinary tract (bladder) disease. In both cases I feel it's due to the FISH they put in all their products. Check out the ingredient list. Then go buy them some nice Max Cat dry, lol. They'll love the flavor and I rarely see puking with it.

The one that's peeing all over seriously needs a urinalysis to rule out FUS/cystitis, which can lead to dangerous urinary obstruction. DO NOT ignore it.

[Guaranteed]

57. He's just peed a couple of times on the bed, which is

where he typically sleeps. I can't tell if he's smelling something (we are constantly washing comforters) or if he's just waking up suddenly and peeing.

[kestrel91316]

83. Get a UA to rule out conclusively any medical problem. If it's

not medical but rather behavioral, that's a whole 'nother can of worms, lol.

[pnwmom]

52. I'm so sorry. I feed my dog dry Innova, which purports to be "human grade."

They also sell a dry cat food. Unfortunately, it's more expensive than the supermarket varieties, and sold in fewer places.

http://www.naturapet.com/display.php?d=home-tab

[Maine-ah]

123. california natural.

[GreenPartyVoter]

5. Crap. I'd switch to all tuna but the mercury isn't good for them either

[kestrel91316]

16. It's not the mercury in tuna that's the problem. It's the tuna itself.

Cats are DESERT ANIMALS. they did not evolve eating fish of any kind, just as horses did not evolve eating meat, for instance.

Too many GI, urinary, and skin problems with cats eating fish.

There's also that unpleasantness about tuna's (and canned food in general's) link to oral squamous cell carcinoma:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12892308&dopt=Abstract

[GreenPartyVoter]

18. Cripes. My kitties have run out of all options. They gotta learn to catch the

mice in the bathroom walls and eat 'em.

[intheflow]

27. Try Newman's Own Organic Pet Food

http://www.newmansownorganics.com/pet/home/

I wish they had a direct shipping department. This isn't sold anywhere in Mississippi. I have to drive and hour and a half to get it in New Orleans. I've got a few days left in an Iams bag, so I'll finish that since my dog is fine, but I'm going to New Orleans on Monday to buy the Newman's stuff. I hope my dog likes it!

[Lorien]

43. That's great stuff-far, far better than Hill's Science Diet

You can find it at Whole Foods, or online (just Google "human grade pet food" or "organic pet food"). There are LOADS of new human grade and organic pet foods to choose from now.

Here's what's in my kitties favorite, Prairie Nature's Variety freeze dried raw diet:

http://www.naturesvariety.com/content.lasso?page=1335& -...

Ingredients
Chicken, Turkey, Turkey Liver, Turkey Hearts, Pumpkinseeds, Ground Chicken Bone, Apples, Carrots, Butternut Squash, Ground Flaxseeds, Chicken Eggs, Montmorillonite Clay, Broccoli, Lettuce, Spinach, Kelp, Salmon Oil, Apple Cider Vinegar, Parsley, Honey, Blueberries, Alfalfa Sprouts, Grapefruit Seed Extract, Persimmons, Olive Oil, Duck Eggs, Pheasant Eggs, Quail Eggs, Inulin, Mixed Tocopherols, Rosemary Extract, Citric Acid, Sage, Clove

My cats also get a Wellness multivitamin to boost their taurine, though both Turkey Liver and hearts contain taurine.

And here's what in Hill's Science Diet, a favorite among heavily lobbied vets:

Ingredients
Chicken By-Product Meal, Ground Whole Grain Corn, Brewers Rice, Animal Fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid), Corn Gluten Meal, Chicken Liver Flavor, Potassium Chloride, Calcium Sulfate, Choline Chloride, vitamins (L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (source of vitamin C), Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin A Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Riboflavin, Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Folic Acid, Vitamin D3 Supplement), Iodized Salt, Vitamin E Supplement, Taurine, minerals (Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Copper Sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite), preserved with Mixed Tocopherols and Citric Acid, Beta-Carotene, Rosemary Extract.

Chicken by-product meal is leftovers from the meat industry (beaks, feet, waste, etc.) cats get no nutrition at all from corn and brewer's rice; too many carbs can cause obesity and diabetes in cats, in fact. When you pay top dollar for Science Diet and other "premium" commercial pet foods more often than not what you are paying for is their advertising, and their hardcore sales pitches to busy vets.

[Critters2]

80. Just so you know

Newman's Own Organic canned is made by Menu Foods.

[intheflow]

81. Do you have a source for that?

According to their website, none of their pet food is involved in the recall, and their site says that the food is processed in organically certified manufacturing plants.

[Critters2]

88. Here:

http://www.petfoodexpress.com/petfood/default.asp?pageid=78&Section=About


Scroll down to "available for sale on a restricted basis". You'll find a list of foods not recalled, but manufactured by Menu Foods. Newman's Own is one of 'em.

[AZBlue]

24. I have a question for you, kestrel

And, I'm not trying to give you a hard time, really - it's a genuine question (I know you sometimes get flack from anti-vet folks - believe me, I'm not one of them).

I've seen you mention this fact before and I know you think Hill's is a quality product - I feed my cat Hill's and have been very happy with it, but I noticed it contains tuna. Is it ok to keep using that one or should I switch to the chicken flavor?

Thanks so much for your help - not just with this question, but the many posts you've contributed to all us worried pet owners!

[kestrel91316]

37. This is one of their canned foods, right, with tuna?

In recent years the bean-counters have got control of things even at Hill's and we started seeing fish turn up unexpectedly in reformulated canned foods. I cannot express here how very angry this made me.

But they still know how to assemble a great product as long as you avoid the ones with fish. They even put salmon in their "turkey" adult canned, which made me go ballistic last year. So I recommend and stock the Adult chicken with liver (in SAVORY JUICES, lol). Of their canned, it's the least likely to get a kitty into GI or other trouble.

I am not personally a big fan of canned food at all in cats. Only my Boochi (last year's "Kitty" with the bladder stone I wrote of, who is a pemanent fixture here now) gets canned, and that's Hill's Prescription Diet I/D, which is a low residue food I give in addition to Hill's Senior dry to help manage his constipation/perineal hernia issues.

Canned food increases the risk of hyperthyroidism and oral squamous cell carcinoma in cats. Leads to more dental problems, GI upsets, and owner financial problems because it's an expensive way to get calories into cats.

[AZBlue]

100. Actually, they have an Adult regular dry food with tuna!

But thanks to you sharing your wisdom, I'm switching to the chicken flavor! She's a fiend for chicken anyway. I do stay away from the wet food and only use it as a very occasional treat because I figure the dry's better for her teeth - good to know I made the right choice for other reasons too.

Thanks so much for your help!

[kestrel91316]

132. "......an Adult regular dry food with tuna....."??? Yikes. Is it one with

a "flavor name" as opposed to the regular original adult? I know none of the ones I carry have fish, but I don't carry but a limited number of their OTC products (for client convenience).

There isn't a pet food manufacturer out there that does EVERYTHING right. I'm always having to reassess and change recommendations and run to the pet food store. It gets old.

It's a real shame, too. Hill's invented pet nutrition back when nobody else gave a rip - dog food was 100% horsemeat and cat food was 100% tuna. They are turning into just another global corporate entity.

Better the devil I know than the devil I don't however. Most the players out there have NO clue how to make a good product.

[yardwork]

114. Thank you! I didn't know this.

I give my 16 year old cat high-quality kibble (I forget the brand, but it costs me a forture), and also give him a small can of Fancy Feast everyday. He likes the fish flavors the best. He sometimes doesn't eat it. In this thread I've learned that

(1) Fish wet cat food is bad.

(2) It's best to avoid wet cat food entirely.

I'm going to try it. He's got lousy teeth. I inherited him as a semi-stray that wandered from home to home in our neighborhood. I adopted him and now he lives inside with me. The vet said that I should have all his teeth pulled but this seemed extreme, so I didn't do that.

[kestrel91316]

133. Fish in any cat food is best avoided. Dry included. There are times when,

to manage certain medical conditions, we may need to feed a food that happens to have a little fish. Most times we can get away with it, unless the cat's highly allergic like one of mine, lol.

How to find out you have a cat hypersensitive to fish? Give him three (yes, only 3)Tartar Control Pounce Treats. Then verify it later by conveniently forgetting the horrible skin problem that took 2 months to clear up, and put him on K/D dry because the OTHER cat needed it. Yup, cat's allergic to fish.

[Throwing Stones]

6. Jeebus

I just adopted a dog a few months ago and have been feeding him IAMS dry, thinking that they were a "better" company.

He doesn't have any symptoms, but f**, what ARE we supposed to feed our pets until the FDA gets its thumb out of its ass?

[jobycom]

12. Ask your local specialty pet store.

There are some brands that are made of natural ingredients, that have low gluten content and few chemicals. There are even some brands made out of human grade food. I used to use Nature's Recipe, but it made one of my cats throw up (Not a flaw in the food, it was just something my cats didn't tolerate well), and I switched to Science Diet's higher end line. I saw that Menu made the canned Science Diet food, so I hope they don't make all the lines of SD. There are other high end foods.

Anyway, a good pet store will know. Careful about places like Petsmart or Petco--some of their employees will know what they are talking about, some won't. You might pay a bit more for the food, but you'll feel better about it, and you'll also notice a boost, often, in your pet's health. With mine, their coats became shinier and they seemed more energetic, though it's hard to measure energy levels. Also, they eat less of the better food than of the cheaper stuff.

Just my thoughts. Not a pet expert, aside from having lots of them.

[kestrel91316]

40. Relax - your concerns are unfounded:

".....I saw that Menu made the canned Science Diet food, so I hope they don't make all the lines of SD....."

Hill's makes ALL their own dry and pate canned foods. The newer cuts and gravy stuff required too much investment to build a factory for it, so they subbed out the work, but they have their own set of very strict quality control standards even there.

[jobycom]

60. Thanks, that does relax me.

:)

[myrna minx]

73. Thank you for this information.

My baby is on Hill's W/D and this new revelation made me very nervous. Thank you for making me feel better. You have been invaluable to we Duer's who are concerned about this. Thank you very much.

[Marie26]

94. Is Meow Mix OK?

Thanks for all the great info you've offered on these threads.

[dansolo]

116. Iams has made the same claim

Iams is getting a lot of criticism here, but their statement regarding the recall is essentially the same as Hill's, so either they are both OK, or neither should be trusted. Currently I am feeding my cat Iams dry. I was giving her an occasional pouch of the wet stuff as a treat. The stuff I had had a date code that was about 2 months earlier than the recall dates, though I am discarding the rest, just to be safe.

[kestrel91316]

41. BTW, it's been my experience that pet store employees tend to be

literal fountains of nutritional MISINFORMATION. They have no formal education in it. They push whatever has the highest profit margin this week.

[CountAllVotes]

15. I bought some Evo Inovo

My cats seem to like it. I also got some Royal Canin food which is supposed to be good. They are nibbling at that still. It is a drastic and sudden change in diet for them. :(

There are other brands too - I got these particular foods at the local health food store.

Try not to worry and stay proactive by changing to a brand not on the list until they figure out what the reality of this whole thing is.

:kick:

[pnwmom]

54. It's Innova EVO, it comes in dry and canned. Here's a link.

(I know you don't need this, but in case someone else sees your post . . . )

http://www.naturapet.com/display.php?d=product-detail&pxsl=%2F%2Fproduct%5B%40id%3D%271255%27%5D

I buy their dry dog food, on the recommendation of the breeder.

[TZ]

107. Inova is what my sister feeds her dogs

They have wheat allergies (genetic defect causes seizures) on the recommendation of her vet and they like it well enough. Its a little hard to find though in the past. But I bet that changes now...

[CountAllVotes]

122. thank you!

<eom>

[kestrel91316]

39. Iams dry is FINE for now. The wheat gluten suspected to behind

the poisoning is NOT FOUND IN DRY FOODS. Period.

If anybody finds wheat gluten listed as an ingredient in ANY dry dog or cat food, PLEASE PM ME WITH THE DETAILS. But I don't think it's there.

[pnwmom]

55. If an ingredient list said "wheat" that could also include "wheat gluten."

"Wheat gluten" is just the protein part of wheat. Are you saying that no dry foods contain wheat?

[kestrel91316]

84. If there is wheat gluten they will specify that. Got your PM. TY.

[pnwmom]

62. I've found wheat gluten in the ingredient list for Purina One cat foods.

http://www.purinaone.com/products_tool.asp

It's hard to find ingredient listings online, actually -- so I haven't looked any further. But I'm not surprised to find it in cat food, because it is used in the vast majority of foods processed for humans.

[kestrel91316]

85. TY. I think it (gluten)might be the plant protein in foods that makes the

for urine pH problems. It's cheaper than animal protein. I have not seen it in any premium foods yet. Thanks for the heads-up.

[pnwmom]

66. And most dry Pedigree dog foods also contain wheat gluten.

http://www.pedigree.com/dogproducts/dry/chicken+rice+and+vegetables/chicken+rice+and+vegetables.asp

[Lorien]

48. Here you go:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=243&topic_id=4388&mesg_id=4388

I hope it helps you make a choice that you are comfortable with. I know how you feel. I made the same mistake years ago when I went from feeding my cats Friskies to feeding them Hill's Science Diet-then I discovered what went into that "premium" food and felt totally betrayed! It took a lot of searching, a lot of reading, and a new vet who practices cutting edge medicine to make me feel safe with my new choice.


Congrats on your new dog! I worked in pet rescue for a while, and although I'm dead set against those commercial pet foods I'm thrilled when a pet finds a loving home where there's food (of almost any sort) and love. So many go without either!

[Kagemusha]

9. All they're confirming is that pet owners suspect things.

That's not confirming much. So do they know something or (as it seems) this is a sop to PR to not look worse?

[kestrel91316]

42. Thank you. Suspicious owners don't count for much with me if that's all they have.

[Kagemusha]

49. More is expected of the FDA itself.

But well, they've dropped the ball a lot lately...

[kestrel91316]

53. I don't even blame the FDA, frankly. They don't make the laws,

they just enforce the ones we have.

I suspect that there is no inspection of incoming wheat gluten because by treaty (GATT) we are required to accept the certification by the country of origin that the stuff is clean and safe. And Menu Foods could not be reasonably expected to test all incoming ingredients every time for all known potential contaminants...........

Globalism - one MORE reason to hate it with every fiber of our being.

[CountAllVotes]

10. K&R

Now I don't feel like an idiot for dumping all of the pet food I had made by one of the brands that was recalled night before last!

This is going to turn into a very big mess very soon if it makes the mainstream news.

I did some calling around yesterday and everyone is in major denial about the potential for the far more extensive ramifications of this recall that will eventually come to light (how many more must die? HOW MANY!?).

The vet said that the FDA was "right on it" with this and I replied, "Right on it? It began in DECEMBER!" I was ignored and practically hung-up on when I mentioned the words "dry foods too perhaps". The vets around here as in many other places all push Hills Science Diet. :mad:

I for one would like to know the reality of this as would a lot of other people around here anyway! :scared:

:dem: :kick:

[davsand]

76. I called a couple of local vets on Wednesday.

One was pretty condescending with me about the possibility of dry Science Diet food making animals sick. This is a vet in a small town and they sell Science Diet out of the office.

The other vet I called talked to me for quite a while about it. She said they haven't seen anybody coming in sick from dry food and then made the comment that she hopes this isn't the case because she feeds her own critters Hills dry too!

We discussed home made cat food (not anything she wants to see somebody do) and we talked about "natural" or "holistic" pet foods. This particular vet practice even works with acupuncture and holistic stuff along with traditional methodologies so she was FINE with my questions. I used to use these folks pretty regularly for my elderly medium hair--who did NOT travel well AT ALL--because they will make house calls for a fee. We have all been pals for quite while now, even if Tillie(you bitch)Cat has passed on.

This vet did mention a pet food company they do sell that is "human grade" and meat that is free of antibiotics and hormones. Company website here:

http://www.canidae.com/

She was quite honest about the fact that one of her cats REFUSES to eat the dry cat food this company makes, but the cat absolutely LOVES the wet stuff. (This vet is a pretty big fan of wet food anyway--so I'm not to shocked by this, personally. She also suggests a pet fountain for ALL your animals because she thinks they they will drink more water if it is running...)

Something else the vet pointed out, is the fact that there are an awful lot of people who are getting freaked out right now, and some of these cases are animals who have not SEEN a vet for several years. In those cases there is NO WAY to determine what the state of the animal's kidney function has been for quite some time. Makes sense to me...

Anyhow, the upshot of it all is that Chaucer (my big black cat) is still eating his Hills Science Diet. That CAN change if there are more developments, but for now he's doing fine.


Regards!


Laura

[CountAllVotes]

120. same exact story different town I guess

I wonder what they think now? Total chaos for certain. I couldn't believe they way they just completely denied there was any problem whatsoever. They really do push that Science Diet there though.

[quiet.american]

11. I've never liked Iams -- it's advertised as the best, but my furries never touched it.

I can't tell you how glad I am I've recently converted the furries to Paul Newman's organic dry food, and even though my friends snickered, I'd also recently converted them over to Beechnut baby food (the pureed meat and broth flavors) for their wet food.

[Maraya1969]

26. IAMS is a part of Science Diet which tests on ANIMALS. I never buy their shit.

[quiet.american]

30. Yeah, I've read all kinds of stuff about Iams and other brands --

-- that's why I took my cats off canned "pet" food entirely.

[kestrel91316]

44. ROFL. Misinformation alert! Misinformation alert!

Iams/Eukanuba is owned by Procter and Gamble.

Hill's Science Diet is owned by Colgate Palmolive.

That's ok, we all mix up our soap companies at times.

[RebelOne]

71. All the more reason not to use Iams/Eukanuba.

It is owned by Procter and Gamble, which is known to test on animals.

[kestrel91316]

86. You want a food for your pets that is of UNPROVEN digestibility??

A formula/recipe is just that. If a food is not PROVEN to support good health in the animal it's intended for, do you really want to be feeding it?

If it's not tested for quality by ACTUAL FEEDING TRIALS, the people's pets are gonna be the guinea pigs.

Menu Foods got in trouble because they weren't doing ENOUGH ongoing feeding trials, IMHO.

Feeding trials are not inherently cruel. But they could have prevented hundreds of unnecessary pet deaths in this case.

End rant.

[donco6]

118. ? Just wondering. It's pet food. Who would they test it on?

Or are you talking about testing something else besides pet food?

[kestrel91316]

17. I'm not surprised that there are complaints about dry foods. People

have been whipped into near-hysteria by this thing. They are going to start complaining about the water supply poisoning their pets next.

Show me evidence that there is something medically unusual going on PER VETERINARIANS TREATING ANIMALS who have been eating dry foods, and I might start to think there is a problem. If this is based upon owners self-reporting, I am gonna take it with a HUGE grain of salt for the time being.

[Hekate]

64. THANK YOU, KESTREL! Othello and Betsy are fine, but this is freaky.

I'm trying to maintain a balanced attitude, but I finally took my cans of Priority dog food back to Von's yesterday; even though the lot numbers checked out okay I didn't want to take a chance.

The manager took one look and without my saying anything he simply told me to have the checker ring them back through for a refund -- the poor man must have dealt with hordes of people already.

I'm so sorry for all the people whose pets have been hurt.

Thanks for being the voice of reason and good information here at DU.

Hekate

[kestrel91316]

20. FDA appears to have a beef with Iams over their "diet food" with

chromium tripicolinate added. Due to lack of adequate safety testing, it's considered adulterated. FDA is NOT currently after Iams over renal failure issues with dry food as PETA wold like us to believe.

http://www.reuters.com/article/governmentFilingsNews/idUSN2931105120070329

I have lots of patients with renal failure. It's the most common chronic disease I see. Every single patient with renal failure is eating some brand or another - should I point to each of them as the cause? That would be completely irrational.

I still have seen no ARF cases with this recent problem. I have only seen 2 ARF cases in the last 5 years that I can recall. Most of my patients are on dry food exclusively (Science and Max Cat most common, a fair number on Iams), or supplemented with very limited amounts of canned food. NO unusual illnesses going on here.

I wish people would calm down and try to be rational about this. Don't feed recalled foods. If you have, get a blood panel and urinalysis for your pets just to make sure they are ok. Then resume normal life.

[idgiehkt]

63. Do you think there is a link between

so many of your patients being on dry food and the amount of patients with renal failure that you see? I've read that dry food is hard on cat's kidneys...is there a link?

[kestrel91316]

82. "....I've read that dry food is hard on cat's kidneys...." = misconception

Dry food is NOT "hard on a cat's kidneys". CHEAP, poorly formulated dry foods have a tendency to contribute to Feline Urologic Syndrome. They contain too much plant protein (ie wheat gluten) in proportion to animal protein, which leads to urine that is too alkaline. They also tend to contain fish, which is high in magnesium. This combination leads to increased risk of struvite (magnesium ammonium phosphate) crystals in the urine, which cause bladder irritation, blood in the urine, risk of infection, and most importantly in males, high risk of lifethreatening urinary obstruction.

Dry foods of some types are a risk factor for BLADDER and URETHRAL disease, not renal (kidney) disease.

[idgiehkt]

101. wow. I had no idea dry foods caused so many diseases in cats.

When you say 'cheap foods' what percentage of the ones in the grocery store fall in that category? Because some say foods like Purina are cheaply formulated. What about Iams (dry, not the kind that is being recalled)?

[kestrel91316]

103. Purina dry cat food is poorly formulated, IMHO. Of the grocery store

dry foods for cats, Iams is the best of a bad lot. In spite of their sneaking a little fish into everything.

If my patients are on Iams dry and not having any diet-related medical issues, I do not tell my clients they have to switch.

[idgiehkt]

105. that is really depressing

Since most people buy their cat food from the grocery store, you might as well say just about all dry grocery store foods are bad for cats. Sigh. I guess that means that probably all grocery store wet foods are bad for them too. And the other stuff is out of the price range of most people.

[kestrel91316]

106. Fancy Feast turkey and chicken flavors of canned don't make my

patients sick with any regularity, FWIW.

[Iceburg]

102. FDA finds Melamine in pet food...

FDA Testing Reveals Chemical Melamine in Pet Food (Dry & Wet)
WASHINGTON Mar 30, 2007 (AP)— Recalled pet foods contained a chemical used to make plastics, but government tests failed to confirm the presence of rat poison, federal officials said Friday.

The Food and Drug Administration said it found melamine in samples of the Menu Foods pet food, as well as in wheat gluten used as an ingredient. Cornell University scientists also have found the chemical, sometimes used as a fertilizer, in the urine of sick cats, as well as in the kidney of one cat that died after eating the company's wet food.

more ... http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=2994997

Some melamine studies...
2006 Study by National inst. health sci., div. pathology, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, JAPON
Urinary bladder carcinogenesis induced by melamine in F344 male rats : correlation between carcinogenicity and urolith formation
http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=2906317

1984 Med-line: Urolithiasis and bladder carcinogenicity of melamine in rodents.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=6695376&dopt=Abstract

more ...

[helderheid]

29. Would this be dry food of the same brand of wet foods recalled?

[nicknameless]

46. Here is what one pet expert is saying:

17. Comment by AskSusanPeters -- 1 week ago

I would not suggest feeding any of the brands on the recall list. The companies use the same stuff to make the dry that they use in the wet. The dry has other fillers mixed in an may not cause as much trouble. We'll be seeing reports about the dry food, too. (I'm sure)

http://hubpages.com/hub/Dog_Food_Safe_To_Feed_After_The_Dog_Food_Recall

And there may be other problem foods besides the ones already on the recall list.

[helderheid]

78. I feed my cat dry purina cat food

[nicknameless]

128. I'm not certain how many of their products Purina has recalled.

There are stories surfacing about pets getting sick after eating these Purina products:
Mighty Dog, Moist & Meaty, Beneful AND Purina Little Bites.

The best way I've found to locate individual stories is to google the pet food name + "sick" + "dry" (or "wet", "canned", etc.)
Cached pages show your keywords highlighted. That makes the searches go much more quickly.

[kestrel91316]

47. No dry foods have been recalled. They do not contain the ingredient

that appears to be the problem - wheat gluten.

Vets are NOT seeing masses of animals coming in sick, except for ones that DID eat recalled cuts and gravy wet food.

[nicknameless]

38. Yes, yes, yes ...

And not just Iams.

Please see this monster thread for more info.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x512700

K&R

[kickysnana]

45. Pet lovers stopped the total takeover of the US by the admin during Katrina.

Who manged to get in when nobody was getting in to help? Who manged to get their stories into the corporate media muting the false stories about Katrina victims being crazed, violent looters. They even got promises that next time people would be allowed to take their pets when evacuated. The BFEE are vengeful people.

Some BFEE group somewhere decided that they had to get the pet lovers "under control" so they put their heads together and made a plan to place some key people in key positions to make some key decisions to "accident ly" kill thousands of pets. We've been "shocked and awed" by our own administration. With Nafta a key player being Canadian means nothing.

Petty, far out, outragious even prone to backfire, I agree but not possible? Not with this administraion.

[tom_paine]

61. This is nonsense. I smell a ********.

n/t

[peacebuzzard]

50. After spending hours reviewing the updates from the menufoods recall

list and checking back every few days, I returned ALL of my Nutro Senior Dry and Nutro Ultra Holistic and cans of both and their Senior Treats. I had just hauled 70 lbs of that crap up my front stairs, and a week later I am hauling it back down into my car trunk. I have another 25 lbs of it that I dumped out of pet containers and found another box of their treats. Just went through all my receipts and found more receipts, so, tomorrow I make another trip to the Pet Supply for another refund.

I had temporarily exchanged for the Nature's Recipe (Del Monte) dry and cans. Their web site states their brands are not affected. I also exchanged for an Organic Natural Balance dry and can. I went to another store when I looked up "Karma" a poster recommended, and I picked up California Natural, Karma, Innova, Mother Nature (homemade natural ) and my dogs are enjoying a smorgasbord while I decide which way to go. They like all of the new brands.

I am really mad I spent so much money on Nutro and feel very ripped off.

[CountAllVotes]

69. me too

same story here and yes, it does piss me off! :grr:

[ruggerson]

58. This is a PETA press release

not a news item.

[garybeck]

74. it's news to me.

I don't see a rule against posting press releases in GD.

CNN, AP, PRN, and Yahoo have it on their news page, but for some reason it's not OK to post on DU GD?

what exactly is your point, that PETA is untrustworthy?

[DemReadingDU]

67. morning kick

[Trailrider1951]

68. I feed my dog and cat brands made by Pedigree

with no ill effects. However, since the poisoning tragedy, I will NEVER buy wet or canned food again. I'll supplement their kibble with home-cooked chicken and rice. For info on their food, see:

www.pedigree.com

[noonwitch]

72. I've been feeding my dog Pedigree for years, and my cat Friskies

Both dry food. I hate the smell of canned dog or cat food. Both of them were offered samples of IAMS that the vet gave me, and neither would eat them.

[kimpossible]

75. List of foods not made by Menu Foods

From The Cat Site forum's official recall facts thread at http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=120187, here's a list of foods known to not be manufactured by Menu Foods:

Here is the very short list of FOODS DOcutmented not to be made by menu...

Solid gold

Natural balence

Fromms

the Delmonte brands including meow mix

chicken soup

merrick

Kal KAn aka Mars

Evangers

Pet Promise

Proctor and Gamble

Purina

others either gave conflicting reports or vague ones
__________________

[HockeyMom]

77. Rye contamination in dry food

I had CNN on. They reported that the FDA news conference was just going on, but didn't broadcast it. CNN said the FDA could not find the rat poison contamination, but did find a different pesticide which was used to treat RYE, sometimes wheat, used in pet foods, notably dry pet foods. Once, again from China. However, the reporter said they didn't say if it was just from Menu Foods.

I guess we will have to wait until the full report comes out later.

Damn, what are we supposed to do?

[Alameda]

91. home made food for cats

I now make my own food for my cats. These sites give some good material on how to do it.

http://www.catnutrition.org/foodmaking.html

http://www.pet-grub.com/

My father had an Akita that lived a long healthy life. My dad made food using a recipe from UC Davis.

Yes, I'm one of those who was using one of "those" brands. Yes, one of my cats had been throwing up...but he seems fine now. They never got only one type of food. Normally they got a little canned, or packet, some dry and some raw along with live wheat grass.

They really loved those packet foods, fortunately they only got a few of them. They were very expensive, so they didn't get many of them. Now I'm glad. What is particularly annoying is the fact that these were expensive foods. I bought them because I thought they were balanced....no more....it's home made from now on!

It's a royal pain to make the food, but in time I hope to get used to it and streamline the process. At least I know what's in it.

[MGD]

96. I'm with you on this one. Homemade is the answer. nt

[Marie26]

92. So what are we supposed to feed them?

Is there any dry-food manufacturer that's safe to buy?

[MGD]

95. Here's an idea:

Make it yourself. That's what I'm going to start doing I have decided as of 10 minutes ago. If I can make eggs benedict, I can damn sure make dog food.

http://www.i-love-dogs.com/dog-food-recipes.html

[WiseButAngrySara]

99. great site. i'm passing it on. ....n/t

[femmedem]

110. I notice that some of the recipes use garlic. Please avoid garlic.

Garlic and onions are poisonous to dogs and even more so for cats.

http://www.healthcentral.com/peoplespharmacy/408/61174.html

[MGD]

117. I noticed that too. I certainly wouldn't feed my dog garlic or onion products

I understand that it is hemolytic to them.

[musette_sf]

113. Wysong is great n/t

[kestrel91316]

119. Hill's Prescription Diet M/D has been recalled because it has

wheat gluten in it. I suspect it has some of the tainted gluten, but I only have MAYBE 2 cats here that eat this product and no calls re illness in them, so Hill's may just be being cautious again.

[RedCappedBandit]

121. Should I trust the FDA more than anyone else?

[ProgressiveEconomist]

127. Will the next major development be HUMAN casualties? Folklore has it that

certain inexpensive pet foods are part of the diet of choice for some seniors shose pensions have been stolen by greedy corporations.

[Jcrowley]

135. Kick