(MUCH) Bigger Than You Think: The Story Behind The Pet Food Recall

The San Francisco Chronicle offers you the skinny on what has killed thousands of beloved cats and dogs thanks to tainted pet food.

Yet More Brands Come Up Bad On Huge Pet Food (Dogs AND Cats) Recall List

CNN offers links to some of the major manufacturers whose lines, like the very popular Alpo Prime Cuts, are now on recall lists.

Vets: Expect Thousands More Pet Deaths From Tainted Food

[Ed. Note: OK, I'm not entirely nuts. Other people actually cook meals for their pets as well to supplement his raw meat and some packaged food diet. And whenever you give meat to your pets - or yourself - you MUST know where it's coming from along with who raises it. I would never serve raw Perdue or Tyson chicken, for example, to my dog. Likewise, the red meat is invariably is purchased from one of the local farmers who don't do bovine growth hormone, antibiotics, or anything like that. I'm also making some of my own dog biscuits these days.]

For more than a week now, the mainstream media - when they bothered to report on the story of tainted dog and cat food at al - kept tossing out the same low number of under a dozen dead pets in what now appears to be a case of rat poison contaminating other products in such food. The media also continued to cite about 45 labels long past the time when the number of affected products had grown to 100 or more. [Consult this list to see if a product you bought to feed your cat or dog is listed.]

Now vets say to expect at the minimum thousands more pet deaths.

Poisoned Pet Food: Time To Sue?

I am not a big believer in law suits and "personal injury" cases, but after spending more than a week now following my poor dog around to be sure he pees, and finding more and more foods added to the pet food recall list, I just might join in this case ("Putting a Price on Puppy Love"):

Millions of Americans treat their pets as family. Now a growing number of pet owners are taking that love to an entirely different, more litigious level.

Reports of pets killed or injured by toxic pet food are on the rise and so are the stakes for animal owners and pet-food makers.

Related: Find Out if Your Pet's Food Is on the List

The pet-food recall initiated during the weekend by Menu Foods of Canada — covering more than 100 brands — comes on the heels of food poisonings last year that killed 75 dogs.

In January 2006, Diamond Pet Foods recalled about 20 brands after pets died from a toxic fungus, aflatoxin, in the food. The cause of the latest sicknesses from Menu products are still under investigation but may be tied to tainted wheat gluten in the food.

S&M NuTec, the makers of Greenies dog chews, is the subject of a $5 million suit brought by New Yorkers Michael Eastwood and Jennifer Reiff. They allege that the green chewy treats killed their 4-year-old miniature dachshund in 2005 because the material went undigested in the animal's intestine.

Rat Poison In The Recalled Dog/Cat Pet Food?

[Update: Menu Foods will hold a press conference at 4 PM EDT to discuss the report of rat poison found in the more than 80 labels of cat and dog food they process.]

CNN is reporting that rat poison has been identified in the contaminated pet food recalled by Menu Foods which has sickened and killed far too many cats and dogs over the last three months.

Alternatives To Recalled Pet Foods That Can Kill Your Dogs or Cats

A few folks posting on the issue of the huge and deadly Menu Foods Item Fund pet food recall where many dogs and cats are dying of urinary/renal/kidney failure from a contaminant in some of the major brands of pet food, including IAMS and others, have offered some good information.

First, see Doug's comment points out that "Anger can be good" (and many of us are almost as furious as we are downright scared for the health of our pets who received such food before we learned of the latest recall; there have been MANY pet food recalls of various products in just the past year) and gives excellent links to additional information. Please read it.

Also, while I'm not big on advertising on this blog of any kind, let me point you to a dog food company that takes a far less factory-oriented approach: Robert Abady Dog Food. Rob posted here today and I was favorably impressed by some of the articles there as well as the food selection.

Why Don't We Know That Tainted Pet (Dog and Cat) Food Is Nothing New?

[Ed. note: As Ole Blue the Heretic, whose blog is here, notes in comments quite accurately: "The FDA protects large corporations esp. the pharmaceutical companies." Anyone who fails to recognize and accept this truth does so at their own peril.]

I happened to notice that I was getting hits here on the blog from various news sites about the massive pet food recall. Going backward, I noticed something rather interesting and extremely disturbing.

While currently the focus is on potentially contaminated pet food that was manufactured for and distributed by Menu Food Item Fund (check their recall list here) between January and March, there were pet deaths for other labels back LAST year. Many of them, in fact.

Here's a CBS story from December about Diamond Pet Food, for example, and here's the (ever useless *&#&(@#) FDA notice about it for containing something called aflatoxin.

A few things have struck me since I first learned of the recall last Saturday:

1. Don't EVER believe the FDA is there to protect any of us (goes without saying, right?)
2. How could these deaths go on so long with still no idea WHAT is in the tainted food that shuts down renal function (most pets are dying of kidney failure/shutdown)?
3. If a terrorist group wanted to do an excellent "dry run" of how to scare the bejesus out of the American population AND how to contaminate the human food supply, they'd do it first through pet food (and, of course, the Bush Administration would not be interested because these aren't the terrorists that help the energy companies get sweetheart deals - notice they did nothing about the Anthrax Avenger)
4. Why is the media not paying attention? And they aren't; not much. Now they report 100 dogs dead, for example, when I've heard anecdotal estimates of that many dogs dead in Vermont alonel

More On The Pet Food Recall And Deaths of Cats and Dogs

Folks:

The major media is practically ignoring this story, but last weekend's reports of possibly 10 dead pets from presumably tainted food tied to companies producing pet food under the Menu Food manufacturing network) seems like a single molecule on the tip of the iceberg. Since I wrote about it on Saturday, I've heard from literally hundreds of people who say they've either got a sick cat or dog from food on that recall list (usually from kidney damage/renal failure) or a dead pet. On Sunday, I was told that dozens of pets are dead or dying just in one area of Vermont.

Everyone needs to check the recall list at Menu Foods and make certain they do NOT feed their dog or cat food from ANY of the listed products. Check the UPC numbers especially.

If you learn you HAVE already fed your pet any of this potentially contaminated food, contact a vet immediately. I've had a pet die from renal failure, and it's most horrible. Symptoms don't necessarily appear immediately after ingestion. Your vet will likely advise you try to be sure your pet is able to pass urine, is not swollen or tender, is still eating, etc.