Food Recall - Page 1

I have read that in North America 39 000 dogs & cats got sick or even died because of contaminated food. Now i have read all the input on here, but i never thought it was that bad. It was in the newspaper today. Is it really tat bad ? Ulli Dresbach

Hi Ulli. I have not followed it very much, since I have never used any of the affected food and cannot make comments as far as any numbers. The problem is very wide-spread across the U.S.A. as all of the dog foods involved here are sold in the chain stores that supply food and goods for dogs and cats. As you know I now live in Tennessee and I am watching a class-action lawsuit in the development stages. A local (Nashville, Tennessee) attourney lost a pet due to tainted food and he is developing the lawsuit as I type this. I have learned something through this sad issue. In the state of Tennessee a dog (or cat, bird, horse, etc.) is classified as personal property (not livestock) and there is a legal limit of liability for the death of such an animal due to neglect or abuse by someone other than the owner. That limit is $5,000.00 per animal, and this lawsuit seeks to expand that amount. I think we all know that $5,000.00 is not much money at all, and if it was a V-rated SchH3 Kkl1 dog who died from this type of neglect then the dog has a value of much more than $5,000.00. This very sad issue could cause a serious change in the animal laws of some states here. Too late for the dead and sick dogs, but maybe a type of deterrent for the future concerning the thorough testing of the ingredients of dog food. Just out of curiousity I visited Royal Canin's U.S.A. website to read their comments, and there were none, save for a telephone number and website address to the parent company who manufactured most of this tainted food. I bought some dog food on Monday, and noticed the affected brands in the pet food store (Petco), and did not see a lot of warning signs about certain foods. Of course I was not looking either. Look at it this way, I guess. While the cost of the dog food alone does not guarantee a perfect or even good product, there is more than one reason Royal Canin costs more than $1.00 per pound, and the "competitor's" food costs as little as $0.20 per pound. Fifty (50) pounds for ten (10) dollars is the price for a lot of the cheap dog foods available here. And, I think it is not due solely because of the amount of corn involved! Sad, very sad. But perhaps some good will come from this. Bob-O

The dog foods involved were, for the most part, from respectable brands that people trust and sold in the big pet stores. Personally, I was not affected and do not know of anyone who was. I think this is due to the fact that the affected food was the "wet" food as opposed to the "dry" food. This kind of food is typically fed to the smaller breeds and cats. So I imagine if I had pugs or schitzus (spelling?) I would know of many people that were affected. However, it has worried me enough that I have switched to pre-prepared RAW food that is from USDA approved meat packing company.

I have a friend who lost her 14 year old sheltie. Given the dog's age, no one ever suspected it might be the food, until she heard about the recall and checked the packages. He went very fast, taking sick within 4 days of starting the food, and being PTS about 5 days after that. She was only feeding 1/2 pack of the cuts and gravy style food twice a day, on top of home-cooked dog food. The gravy seemed to help tempt his appetite, which had waned due to his age. (I noticed this with both my GSD's when they reached old age. They needed a little 'something extra' on their dry food to stimulate their appetite. Maybe dogs are just like people: our senses get duller as we get older.

Just now on the local news, Royal Canin canned cat food is being recalled. I believe it is diet or weight reduced formula. They stated it was only available at vets offices. I just went on their website, and they dident have anything say anything about it. I would be weary of feeding their dog food now, just incase.. eeekkks!

Just now on the local news, Royal Canin canned cat food is being recalled. I believe it is diet or weight reduced formula. They stated it was only available at vets offices. I just went on their website, and they dident have anything say anything about it. I would be weary of feeding their dog food now, just incase.. eeekkks!

Sorry, I dont know why that posted twice but here is the story. Canadian Pet Food Added to Recall List Last Edited: Tuesday, 10 Apr 2007, 8:40 PM EDT Created: Tuesday, 10 Apr 2007, 8:40 PM EDT By The Associated Press WASHINGTON -- The pet food recall expanded further Tuesday to include products made at a Canadian factory recently found to have used an ingredient tainted by an industrial chemical. Menu Foods previously had recalled only cat and dog food made at its plants in New Jersey and Kansas, saying they were its only facilities to have taken delivery of imported wheat gluten later found contaminated with melamine. However, Menu Foods discovered Monday that some of the tainted wheat gluten had made it to Canada. It was prompted to account for the ingredient by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which told the company that tests had detected the chemical in pet foods made at its Streetsville, Ontario, plant. Menu spokesman Sam Bornstein said the amount accounted for just 1 percent of the adulterated Chinese wheat gluten purchased by Menu Foods. It was used in pet foods made in December and January. Among the products covered by the expanded recall is ROYAL CANIN Canada's Medi-Cal Feline Dissolution Formula canned diet, made by Menu Foods and sold only through veterinarians. A single production lot contained the contaminated wheat gluten, the company said. "After being repeatedly reassured by Menu Foods, as reinforced by FDA public statements, that none of the contaminated wheat gluten had made its way to Canada, we were completely shocked to learn yesterday that this was not the case," Xavier Unkovic, Royal Canin Canada's chief executive officer, said in a statement. Menu Foods was the first of at least six companies to recall pet food and treats made with the tainted Chinese wheat gluten. It alone has recalled 100 brands of pet foods, sold throughout North America under its private and major labels. It posted Tuesday an updated list of recalled products on its Web site, http://menufoods.com/recall/. The FDA has blocked wheat gluten imports from a Chinese company while it investigates how melamine could have contaminated the vegetable protein. This week, a large veterinary hospital chain says it recorded a 30 percent increase in kidney failure among cats during the three months that pet food contaminated with melamine was sold. Those results were reported Monday by Banfield, The Pet Hospital, based upon an analysis of records collected by its more than 615 veterinary clinics. The analysis suggests that out of every 10,000 cats and dogs seen in Banfield clinics, three developed kidney failure during the time pet food contaminated with melamine, a chemical used to make plastic kitchenware, countertops, fertilizers and flame retardants, was on the market. The chemical appears to have been more toxic to cats than to dogs.

There have been some dry foods involved also. One of the special diet cat foods, sorry don't remember which one.