Petfood Recall Attention pet owners (Recall Expanded 3/30)

[BlAcKNoVa]

^Wow, that's crazy.

I have a cat (she's only about 2 years old). I'm slightly worried, as we've fed her a couple cans of Compliments in the past (not sure when the last time was, maybe as early as a month ago, or a couple weeks even). I'm sure if she did eat some of that food, she'd have been sick already? A few weeks have past and she seems completely fine.

[HelloHockeyFans]

Originally Posted by Bobblehead

The pet food recall had been expanded.

Apparently the officials have changed their mind and it is no longer rat poison. It is a contaminated wheat gluten, so now some dry foods are affected (our cat has been sick lately, so we are concerned).

Edit: The expanded is nothing we feed our cat. Guess it is just the diabetes (which was just diagnosed).

Are you sure about it being expanded to dry foods? I've read several reports which state that those rumours were false.

We need to be crystal clear here.

Dated March 30th

Melamine has been found in the finished product that was the subject of recall and has not been found in other Menu Foods pet food outside of the recall. Menu Foods only manufactures wet pet food.

http://www.menufoods.com/recall/0703...030%202007.htm

Dated March 26th

Media outlets have reported conflicting and incorrect information, including that Menu Foods has expanded its recall to include all products produced.

To clarify, late last week, the US Food and Drug Administration (the "FDA") and various media outlets reported that some retailers still had recalled product on their shelves. In response, Menu Foods issued instructions for retailers to remove from their shelves all cuts and gravy products of the flavours listed on the recall list, regardless of the dates produced. For many retailers, this had already been completed as their standard operating procedure.

This step did not expand the recall but provided the remaining retailers with an efficient means of withdrawing the recalled product. The full recall list is available at www.menufoods.com.

http://www.menufoods.com/recall/PRES...SE03262007.htm

[FlamingLonghorn]

And people make fun of me for spending $40 a bag on organic natural dog food... It's times like this where I am happy I make that choice plus its endorsed by Dick Van Patten and if Dick Van Patten is backing it you know something like this would never happen....

[Ashartus]

I'm not convinced the melamine would be causing the pet deaths - while it appears to be present in the wheat gluten, past testing hasn't shown it to be very toxic, and the few effects observed aren't consistent with the kidney failure being observed in pets. The aminopterin (rat poison) found by the lab in New York would be more likely to produce that sort of effect. My guess is that the cheap wheat gluten from China is full of stuff that shouldn't be there. Maybe only part of the batch was contaminated with rat poison, which would explain why some labs have found it and others haven't.

[Bobblehead]

Originally Posted by HelloHockeyFans

Are you sure about it being expanded to dry foods? I've read several reports which state that those rumours were false.

We need to be crystal clear here.

I was going by what they said on the news. The news specifically that a specific type of dry food was being pulled off shelves, but it was only sold through Vet Offices. link

Melamine was also found in Prescription Diet m/d Feline dry cat food, made by Hill's Pet Nutrition and sold only through veterinarians, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Friday night.

The scary thing is more companies have announced recalls (same article):

Nestle Purina of St. Louis, Mo., said in its own statement that it was recalling the Alpo cans and pouches because it learned that it also received wheat gluten from the same company

So anyone should probably try and go to their pet food maker's website.

Here is the Eukanuba statement.

[HelloHockeyFans]

^

Okay, I wasn't attacking you (in case you felt I was).

I'm sure you can appreciate that as a pet owner (assuming you are one also), we'd like to be as clear as possible regarding which foods are affected here.

[Peanut]

I visited the Hill's/Science Diet website and they have recalled one brand of their dry cat food (so far). It's hard not to be worried since this recall seems to just keep on expanding. All the companies issuing statements about how "this is the only product affected by the recall" and "your pet's health is our most important concern", and then more and more products are added to the list. Frustrating!!

Link to the dry cat food I was talking about above: http://www.hillspet.com/menu_foods/M...2007_en_CA.htm

[Bobblehead]

Originally Posted by HelloHockeyFans

^

Okay, I wasn't attacking you (in case you felt I was).

I'm sure you can appreciate that as a pet owner (assuming you are one also), we'd like to be as clear as possible regarding which foods are affected here.

No worries.

We changed our pet food a couple months ago (at the advice of the vet) and our cat started drinking lots of water an peeing a lot (and losing weight, but that was expected because it was weight loss food we switched him to).

We got worried and took him to the vet again, and while waiting for the blood test results the food recall happened, so we've been very keeping an eye on this story. We've now been told it is feline diabetes, but it still seems very strange that this all happened at the same time.

So I definitely understand. These recent recalls seem to have muddied the water. It was easy when there was one pet food maker with a set list of problem food. Now it seems kind of up in the air again, and the info is in different areas. It is kind of frustrating.

[SpitFire40]

I use Iams multicat, in the Blue bag. We bought a huge bag of it so it should last a good while until I have to worry about buying a new bag of it.. It should be ok though I'd think.

But man, it makes me consider feeding them boiled chicken breast's cut up for a while if this keeps going on.

[Flamesoholic]

My cat has been eating the "cuts and gravy" style Nutro food for over a year. She gets a spoonful in the morning and a spoon full at night. I bought a bunch of packages during the dates specified by the recall and by the time they anounced the food was tainted, she had eaten them all. This last year I have noticed she has been drinking more and more water. Especially so the last 2-3 months. She went to the vet on Wednesday and they are concerned about her kidneys. They kept her for the day and I'm still waitng for the tests results to come back. Since she was eating small daily doses, any damage would be slow progressing.
Her Vet mentioned the possiblity of diabetes as well, which may well be the problem.
I do however, find it a little odd that many of our pets are being diagnosed as diabetic all at the same time as this recall. Especially since both situtations are kidney related.
Now this potential expansion into dry food. I swear I darn near threw up yesterday when I came home to read that.

[Otto-matic]

I think im going to feed my dog some healthy human food until this recall is over.

[Flamesoholic]

And the fun seems to never end. Another recall of today:

http://news.sympatico.msn.ctv.ca/Top...howbyline=True

So now over just 3 days, 3 more companies, who we were previously told not to worry about have been recalled. Science Diet, Purina and Del Monte have recalled some of their lines. As of today my cat has stopped getting her Nutro dry food. She is now getting food (both dry and wet) that has only human grade ingredients and NO wheat or grains listed anywhere on the labels. Her dry food has not been recalled but I am so done with all these big name companies. Ebenine's vet bills cost me over $340 on Wednesday and there is more on the way. The money doesn't really matter, I just want my pet to be healthy and be able to sleep well knowing I'm not poisoning her. I hope I can halt the damage that has already been done.
I see that there are many natural pet food stores in Calgary that cater to dogs, but does anyone know where to find the equivalent for cats?

[Reggie Dunlop]

I switched my Golden Retriever over to a raw diet today. I've always had him on IAMS dry food since he was a pup (believing it was a premium dog food). Even though it's not the subject of the recall, I don't really want to patronize a company with such horrific lax standards.

He's eight years old and has kinda gotten lethargic over the last year which I attributed to getting older. I'll see if the switch perks him up. He's never had "people food" except for the bits that he's helped himself to or what dropped on the floor. So far he's kind of puzzled about it.

Flamesoholic: Pop into one of those dog stores and ask them about cat diets. I'm positive they could hook you up or recommend a supplier. Those smaller shops are usually run by the owner and as such, would be pretty well-versed on natural pet diets.

[Peanut]

Flamesoholic - please post if you find anything.

We got home from work today to find blood in the litterbox!! Not one of the listed symptoms related to the food recall, but of course we are worried. Our cat is going to the vet tomorrow and we will ask for some new recommended food (previously he was getting a combo of fancy feast wet food and science diet dry kibble).

They are trying to spin the whole thing by pointing out fairly large "human food" recalls recently (i.e. the spinach recall). But they didn't let thousands of people die before they recalled the spinach (as it's been estimated the pet deaths could be in the thousands).

[Reggie Dunlop]

I'm trying out (well not personally, at least not yet) these patties made by Horizon Foods based in Rosthern Saskatchewan. (Rosthern: Home of the Regehrs -- gotta be wholesome, right?). They come frozen in a big box.

They're supposed to be nutritionally complete. No buzzing organ meats in the blender or messing around in the kitchen stuff. Thaw 'em out and serve.

http://www.horizonpetfood.com/products-pure.asp

[Reggie Dunlop]

Flamesoholic:

Try the Cat House
Stadium Shopping Centre
403-228-2287

Highly recommended by a co-worker. Not sure, but I believe there's another location in the south on Crowchild Tr.

[Reggie Dunlop]

Originally Posted by fotze

My dog has been just barely "off" for the past while. I am starting to worry.

Can you imagine if it is discovered that all these sheister companies are selling the same low quality crap for different prices? The basic principles of capitalism would be out the door.

Yeah, I feel pretty bad about not wanting to mess about in the kitchen to feed my dog, which was the primary reason I never really considered a raw diet. Not that my pooch ever complained.

Had no idea there were these pattie things that emulate a wolf's diet.

[Bobblehead]

Well, this sure did spread.

Apparently some of this got into the hog feed supply and they don't know if it made it into the human food supply.
link

Food safety officials have quarantined hogs at farms in California, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Utah and possibly Ohio. The urine of hogs in some states has tested positive for the chemical, melamine, the Food and Drug Administration said.

"At this point, I don't have a definitive answer other than to say that the issue is being addressed," Stephen Sundlof, the FDA's chief veterinarian, told reporters when asked if any of the hogs had entered the food supply. A poultry farm also may be involved, he added.