Pet Food Recall After Cat and Dog Deaths

You may see dry food on the left, but the cat in the photograph is eating wet food!

using purina friskies shredded w/gravy#63421159 cat repeatedly vomits after each feeding shopping at acme and petsmart. would like this matter addressed also; appreciate any feedback.

I just spent a roller coaster of a last 8 days with my cat Simon, after taking my cat to the vet after 3 days of not eating, lethargy, and vomiting. Find out that there has been a recall of the Iams food that I was feeding to Simon. He only ate one or two pouches and became super sick. I was told by regular vet that he had severe kidney failure and needed immediate attention by the emergency animal hospital. I then took him to Frendship Hospital for Animals.

His kidney's were enlarged with levels of Creatine and another chemical that were 5 times the normal amount. He was place on an aggressive treatment of IV fluids, received an ultrasound, and blood pressure medicine. On his last night in the hospital, he had somewhat of a seizure where he urinated, defecated, and went berserk. The vet believes it is a residual effect of what has happened to his kidneys.

Many times I was told that he was close to dying and could die overnight. Simon is only 8 years old, and sever renal failure is not common for such a young cat, nor are such high levels

Fortunately, I was able to bring him home today, but need to continue with 3 different medications and a daily IV drip. And will need continue such care for about 3 months.

His total medical bill is about $3,000 so far. I have been on hold for IAMS for over 30 minutes now.

My cat is now at the hospital overnight with elevated Creatinine levels. If she does not show other symptoms the vet will re-test on Monday evening. If it is still high then the vet says that is kidney failure and there is nothing that can be done. I switched and starting feeding her the pouches of Iams and some of the other pouch brands that have been recalled along with brands not recalled for the last two months -- previously she was fed the dry stuff -- put she so loved the wet stuff that I was giving it too her as a treat -- I did not know that I was killing her.

The iams phone number has been busy all evening

This is just aweful... My heart goes out to all that have a pet that is going through this terrible ordeal. My wife and I have 7 cats and love them all as they are also family members. We can only pray for those in trouble and hope that no others get sick.

You can do a lot for renal failure (CRF), including but not limited to Lactase Ringer Solution ("IV drip"). feed your cat baby food in the meantime-- they love the stuff. My cat died of PKD, and there is much that you can do to prolong your pet's life, and prolong it comfortably.

#8: Even if we go and buy "natural" cat food, its still going to be made by the same damn company, just another brand. Remember Iams is a "healthy" and upscale brand. Shocking how pretty much there is only 1 manufacturer of pet food.

I have, wait, HAD two cats, now I have none. I had two teach my children that death is an ill favored part of life and that sometimes there is just nothing that can be done. Now I have to somehow explain to my children that the food that we were foce feeding our loved ones Oreo and Buck was actually killing them. I took my cat oreo to the vet after he stopped eating, was vomiting frequently, had yellow eyes, and other symtoms. The vet sent him home after a night of care with some meds (one was supposed to increase his appetite). My wife and I began the ritual of force feeding our sick "family member" but did not know that we were poisening him. We had recently lost our other cat Buck to unknown causes (unknown at the time) and we were determined not to let the same fate fall upon Oreo. Oreo got worse and we took him back to the vet. The vet gave us more medications but it was clear that he did not feel the Oreo would make it through his illness. The third and final time we took Oreo to the vet he died in my wifes arms on the way. I am sure that the recent recall of "special kitty" Wal-mart brand cat food came too late. The damage to my cats and the rest of my family has been done. This company should pay, but what can I do? If there are any suggestions please e-mail me at coralville4@southslope.net.

today my dog collapsed outside in the snow and he wouldnt get up, then my mom called someone and said it could be from his dog food and we check it out and turns out one of the food on recall was the brand we have been feeding him. My mother brought him to the vet this afternoon, and they sat her and my sister in a private room and soon came up to tell them he was dead.THIS SHOULD NOT HAVE HAPPENED! HOW CAN SOMETHING LIKE THIS SLIP UNNOTICED IN THE FACTORY! I AM PISSED OFF! I DIDNT EVEN GET TO SAY GOODBYE!!! THE LAST TIME I SAW HIM WAS 2 DAYS AGO AND HE WAS PERFECTLY FINE!!IV BEEN CRYING ALL DAY! THESE PEOPLE SHOULD BE SUED!

hey Carlyn Lister, this is different and i bet you have no clue what we the peop0le of sick animals or dead animamals are going through, we are having a tough time and you have to be a jerk and say something like a smart ass, well we dont care what you think.Who cares is ur 63 wooohooo. People animals who are like family have been poisoned and its not ur average poison.And we havent been poisoned for years because if our food, water, and meds iarent safe for us then the companies and government wouldnt allow it to be given to us. So just dont even shed your thoughts on this situation because you no nothing of this generation.

My heart goes out to pet lovers who are losing their pets to this situation. I think it is real bad when we cannot even trust the pet food. I think it is time for everyone to ban together and do something legal against these companies to make
them pay for what they have done to us. I myself have seven cats and one dog. I almost lost my one cat to kidney failure so I know what you are going through. It cost us over one thousand dollars even then they did not know if he would be spared, luckily he is ok, on a special diet.
Now, I heard they are changing that food, (heard this from the company). We had no Christmas that year our Casper was sick, but we have him now which is much better. God bless you out there that have went through this with your pets. You are in my prayers.

I posted late last night that our dog had been eating better the past two days after being sent home from the vet to die. Today, he's eaten nothing, and hasn't moved from the couch other than for a couple of trips outside. The "roller coaster" described early in this string of posts is a perfect description. Count me in for any lawsuits! TimintheBahamas@yahoo.com

I went through the same thing with my cat two weeks ago. I had given him some Pounce moist treats that he had not had before. That was the only thing that was different in his diet and/or environment that week. Pounce is not on the list but after several days of vomiting, elvated liver enzymes & creatin, blood in his urine and low potassium(read dehydration), the only thing that saved him was $300+ of IV fluids. Might be all the brands with problems haven't been revealed yet. Be careful everybody!!!

I have a cat thats is 6 years old and was in excellent health until the beginning of March. He stopped eating and drinking and just sat around for a whole day, took him into the vet and they said he had kidney failure. The vet was thinking it might have been some chemical he ate but wasn't sure. He spent 3 days with IV's and i now have to give him fluid injections every other day, and he still isn't eating much and losing weight. Almost $1000 in vet bills and he still might not make it.

I've only fed my cats Purina Urinary health care hard food up till october, and Science Diet adult light hard from from october to now. I Would feed them Fancy Feast moist food once in a while, Pounce moist treats and Whisker Lickins(Purina) moist treats, but none of these are on the recall list. Please everyone be careful.

If anyone gets any information on any of the brands i posted please email me at darkstarrulz1@gmail.com, thank you!

I have an 8 yr old Alaskan Husky that has been in excellent health. About 4 days ago, he started with lack of appetite followed by diarrhea. His appetite seems to have returned, but the diarrhea continues. Outside of some occasional "people" food, his diet is made up of Beneful DRY Dog Food, a Purina product, and an occasional "Al's Grill" treat; also a Purina product. Neither of these products seem to be on a recall list, but coincidentally the problems started shortly after starting a new bag of Beneful,

After seeing all of this recall info, we've started feeding him rice, mixed with some ground turkey, and a bit of diced carrot ... all people food. He seems to like it. We're waiting to see if the diarrhea stops.

Has anyone else had a problem with either of these products, or any DRY food for that matter??

I feed my cat Wellness and sometimes Wysong. So much better food, but a little bit expensive, and not entirely available in grocery stores. Whole Foods carries Wellness, but quite pricey.

My kitty was eating Nutro NC pouches but luckily it looks like my batch was manufactured before the ingredient change. I still threw out whatever I had left to be safe. I had already decided that I am taking her off any food containing wheat gluten because I suspected that she has an intolerance. She vomits somewhat regularly (not alarmingly or in quick succession, just even couple of weeks). I recommend to all pet owners that for the next few weeks until the recall mystery is solved, look for a food that contains no wheat gluten at all. For wet food, there is Merrick or Innova EVO, and for dry Innova EVO and Natural Balance. They are definitely pricier, but since these foods are extremely high in protein and low in filler grain, most cats eat less of it that they would the junkier foods. I think it's absolutely worth it to keep my kitty safe.

And I'm so so sorry to all of you who have lost your pet or are watching over sick pets now. It hurts my heart to hear about it.

on the menu foods website it states this problem coinsides with the introduction of an ingredient (gluten) from a new supplier they say the recall is only on some of thier wet foods but Im confused because I see the ingredient gluten in my cats dry food I have mutiple cats & I only feed them dry one of my cats passed away last thursday we try to do all we can to protect our animals who no matter what give us nothing but unconditional love & trust you would think when we feed them the most expensive foods with supposed all natural ingredients it would be good for them but no crap like this still happens it just goes to show no matter whether you feed your animals the $1 food or the $30 food it still comes from the same company who make all the same crap for gods sake our animals cant even tell us they dont feel well usually by then the dammage is so severe its too late it makes me so sick & so angry thank god my dog will only eat what I eat Ive had him 4 years hes always been that way hes healthy hes happy & I dont give a crap what the vet says at least Ill have a better idea what did it & what to do about it if we both get sick

elderta first of all i wasnt addressing you personally or the foods you spoke of just the huge list of menu food items on the recall list that range from chump change to big bucks as far as i can tell those all do came from the same garbage can second the lack of punctuation comes from i AINT TRYEN to impress NOBODY and third why did you single me out to pick on

My dog has also been affected. She is an older dog and is very loved. She has been deathly ill 3 times since Dec. This last time she is in both kidney and liver failure. She has spent an enormous amount of time in the vet hospital and our bills are in the thousands to try and save her. We do not know what the final progrnosis will be. She is now eating - we will only give her cooked chicken and brown rice. I will never give one of my animal companions dog food again. There should be a class action suit. I have spoken to my vet multiple times. Vets are at a loss because the company has not released the toxin so we cannot treat if it is treatable. I know of 3 other dogs in our immediate area that are having the same issues.

Please know my cat was affected by Hill's Pet Sc Diet, Ocean Fish Savory Cuts...first visit to vet on 2/14 (blood in urine)and after multiple visits to the vet, blood work, urine checks, meds, X-rays, ER vistis and 1 night hosp stay, she finally recovered (after 4 wks). Whatever it was, it was bad, as she only drinks the juice of 1/2 can a day. No appetite, diarrhea, urine prob, fever ?, but mainly the vomiting, got everyone scared and confused. We were lucky we did not loose her. I don’ have lot #, but I am trying to retrieve invoices as proof (buy at PetSmart and PetCo in Vernon Hills, IL 60061). My fam vet and ER vet can attest to all this. We really almost lost Kiara. I really felt safe about buying this brand, as I thought paying the higher price would protect us and provide the best and safest nutrition.
Sincerely, mq

To everyone who is suffering in one way or another from this horrible recall I want you all to know my heart & prayers are with each of you & each of your pets. Some of the comments I have read above are absolutely heartbreaking. Nothing I can say to any of you will ever heel or bring your pets back, however I just want you all to know I understand & I care very much because I too am just like you. Unfortunately I have lost some of my pets. It feels as though part of my heart & soul has been taken away. Its so unfortunate to say but hopefully in some sort of way this will mean better knowledge, protection, ingredients & sanitation towards the food we will feed our future pets. I know that one pet will NEVER replace another. I also know they are so kind, loving, understanding & forgiving that I will never be without one & the ones of the past will be in my heart forever. Again my thoughts & prayers are with all of you.

my mom called me this AM to tell me of the recall. My 11year old cat has all of the symptoms of Renal Failure and is at the vet right now. I'm very worried that the Iams people aren't going to pay for the vet bills that are just now accumulating. What if she makes it(God I hope so)and has problems for the rest of her life, are they going to pay for treatment forever? I highly doubt it!!! Good luck to you all.

My cat ate the food on Sunday and Monday of last week and Friday he died of renal failure.
Let's hope all whom are responsible will own up to it.

Here is a site with infomation on renal failure in pets.

www.marvistavet.com/html/chronic_renal_failure.html

Message for Michelle Bernard:

I checked on the Purina website, and they state that they are only recalling the Mighty Dog pouches. They specifically state that the Mighty Dog canned dog food was not affected by the recall. Keep a close eye on Molly, but it sounds like she'll be fine.

www.purina.com/company/press/2007/MightyDog.aspx

My cat was tortured and killed by Menu Foods. She was poisoned and finally lost her fight on 2-26-07. She ate packets of food with gravy more often than anything else. Her foods were on the recall list, but this list was too little too late for us. She became ill SUDDENLY, she was vomiting yellow frothy stuff and showed signs of neurological problems, from being poisoned. She was on I.V.s and sub q fluid. She seemed to actually improve, being away from the foods and on ivs for a few days, but then I decided to puree the tainted food and force feed her, thinking she really needed to eat something. She took a shocking turn for the worse, had a siezure of sorts, SCREAMED, and had to be put down. She had irreversable renal, kidney failure.
I am suing!!!!!!!!! I am trying to get a class-action law suit going. I just know my ads on craigslist are being flagged and deleted by people representing the stores and manufaturer's interests. We have to collective unite to get justice (what little it may be) for our beloved family members. Why were these recalled items ON CLEARANCE BEFORE THE RECALL!!??
Please also post your stories at the myspace group "petfoodrecall"...Sorry I don't have the specific url right now.
Email me at juliekramer@fastermail.com

My name is Paula and I have been feeding my english bulldog Nurto and nutromax because I was told it was good for allergies. Also she was pregnant and is a very picky eater so to get her to eat i would mix the wet food with the dry. Unfortunatly what I though was good for her may not have been...I am very upset and I hope my baby girl doesn't end up sick. I am also worried about the puppies she has been nursing. Hopefully this will not affect them. I am very sorry for those of you have lost your beloved pets, I do not know what I would do if I lost my baby girl. These companies should pay.....

My four-year-old cat is currently hospitalized and on IV fluids after eating only three pouches of the tainted food. While he is eating again, appears healthy, and has stopped vomiting, his renal values have continued to rise despite SQ fluid therapy over the weekend. They plan on re-checking the values Wednesday, but it is not looking good at this point.

I could kick myself.. I purchased this food on a whim as a treat for my cats, who aren't generally allowed wet food- particularly the cheap stuff. I'd filled my cart with a different food (not implicated in the recall), but noticed the "Duck & Rice" food as I was pulling away. Knowing the cats would probably prefer that flavor, I swapped the foods and returned home.. where I immediately whipped out the pouches and proceeded to unknowingly poison my three (very) elated cats.

Two of my other cats ate a single pouch of the affected food Wednesday evening, but turned it down the two subsequent times I attempted to feed it to them. (The third time I offered the food, one cat inspected it, then yowled at me until I removed the food and offered her something else. The second cat- never one to refuse wet food, which they rarely get- attempted to dump the bowl and bury it.) Both of these cats have survived unscathed.

That said, both cats have become extremely wary of other foods after having consumed the tainted stuff. Though they're eating normally, they carefully inspect all food before eating it, and pay close attention to whether or not the other cat is eating. Nicholas (once a total chow hound, who would've gladly wolfed down both his and the other cats' food if they weren't present) now refuses to eat unless Alex tries the food first. He checks the stuff out, then waits by the bowls for her to arrive before eating- this is not like him at all. What the heck was in that stuff?

Someone mentioned that this may just be the tip of the iceberg, and I fear they may be right.

I am furious!!! I keep seeing and hearing this number "10" pet deaths. Just read this blog. 10 is not even the tip of the iceberg.
I lost two beloved family members,(Cats-Paxton and Kinkton),and have one more in the hospital since last Wed. They tell me that she may not survive. I took a huge bag of food into my vet last Thur. and told them it was the food. On Friday night I heard about the recall. My cats have never set foot outside and there are no chemicals they could have gotten into in my tiny house. I started with 7. They all got varying degrees of sick. One died before my eyes at home. I can't even describe how angry I am.
WBIR TV news in Knoxville, TN did a story about my cats on the 17th. It's a good thing I was not this angry when they taped the story.
So, what are we going to do???

My dog was diagnosed with acute pancreatitis at the end of December. Up until this recall was announced, my vet nor I could determine what my dog could have eaten to cause this illness. Since it was a couple of months ago, I do not have any of the food left, however she was regularly eating both wet and dry formulas of Nutro Natural Choice Lamb & Rice Formula. This may or may not be connected, but it is all too coincidental. Acute pancreatitis required 48 hour hospitalization, blood plasma transfusions, various medicines and a total vet bill of $1800. If anyone else has had an animal diagnosed with this, please post a response. My dog only eats Nutro Natural Choice dry lamb and rice formula. She hasn't been lethargic lately, but has thrown up the past 3 days. I am going to Trader Joe's to buy some new food today, just in case. This is terrible and count me in on any class action lawsuit!

I got two packets of Nutro (possibly) tainted food as a freebie from a decent pet supply store. Fed one packet to them a few weeks ago, have been wondering why my cats have all gotted bad moods and acting strangely. The second packet of course will not be fed to them.

Other health issues in the past for one of my cats (high BUN/creatinine levels) suggested kidney issues, so I researched what all could be done to help her. This kitty is my only real suspect in "who ate the bag of green tea??" -- very bad for cats & their kidneys! The vet we had at the time offered a drug that inhibits vomiting, which sounded wrong to me, if they're puking they're trying to get rid of stuff!

Three things that worked to help my kitty are Renal Essentials ( www (dot) vetriscience (dot) com/renal-essentials-cats.php ) which seems to be what has reduced her BUN/creatinine levels. Her new vet suggested keeping her on this vitamin supplement, which she eats like a treat, no fussing.

And second, activated charcoal. Not specifically implicated for kidney failure, but very few issues contraindicate the use of activated charcoal. Read up on those contraindications here:
drugguide (dot) com/monograph_library/additional_monographs/activatedcharcoal.htm
www (dot) luhs (dot) org/depts/emsc/poison.htm

The gist is to put the recommended dose of activated charcoal into the pet and then half an hour later feed some fatty foods, to cause the liver to push out its bile/products. This gets put into the intestines about when the charcoal is coming through, allowing the charcoal to pull the toxins from the liver dump out with regular feces expulsion.

Third thing that helped, mixing a tablespoon or two of filtered water into her high-quality wet food. Not enough to make thin soup, more like super-chunky chili. Gives her some needed extra hydration.

I am absolutely *NOT* a veterinarian! Please DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH, talk to your vet about these suggestions. I wanted to offer this info as a point of departure for your own research.

Best of luck to you all!

Did anone else's cat have blisters in its mouth? My 7 year old otherwise healthy cat died 2 weeks ago of kidney failure. The vet said it looked like she drank something poisonous. But now that we have seen the recall we are wondering. We fed her IAmS pouches and it came from that plant. We dont have the box she ate, but we have a box we bought at the same time and it was from there.

We believe this is nothing more than a continuance of this January, 2006 outbreak. Same bug, same symptoms, same old story. Check this out! www.news.cornell.edu/stories/Jan06/dogs.dying.ssl.html We still believe our dog is sick from DRY IAMS in the green bag, lamb and rice. The symptoms are the same, after eating her food for 2 days, she became tired and would not eat or drink at all. Next am she could not walk and vomited on herself and so on. Have been getting some liquids down but they come right up. The vets advice was to keep her warm and comfortable, continue liquids and if she makes it through the night to bring her in. This is nearly breaking my heart, now the kids are home and we are trying to get them involved in her treatment, it seems to comfort her greatly.

MikeKeen - I'm not sure I understand why the vet would tell you to wait until morning to get medical help for your dog. If she is not keeping liquids down and is vomiting, she could suffer severe dehydration. It's not something that I would think was a wait and see situation. Is there a 24-hour emergency animal hospital in your area? At the least they can give her IV fluids to prevent dehydration. If you are in NYC, I would bring her to the Animal Medical Center. If it is renal failure, death can happen extremely quickly, you don't want to waste time.

Thank you cat, we live in the woods in northern cal. I am disabled and my dog weighs about 100 lbs. The vet is only about an hour away but I have no way of getting her there. I do have a friend from the hospital bringing up an IV and another friend is coming to hook her up as I understand that dehydration at this point can be lethal.
Again, thank you for your time and concideration.

Just a note to everyone...both my doxies have taken ill. One is recovering nicely but the other is still in critical but stable condition. They can have blisters in the mouth. It is a result of vomiting. They are from the stomach acid. Say a prayer for my puppies and good luck to everyone

This is a good site for information also:
http://catmanager.wordpress.com/

There have been reports that Menu Foods got complaints of pets dying as early as Feb. 20. They test their products on live animals (see PETA site for more information on their live animal testing conditions) and at least one in six test animals died between Feb. 20 to the 28th... and yet, the recall didn't take place until March 16. Menu Foods should be forced to eat the food themselves. ugh.

I had to put my cat to sleep last Monday 3/12/07.
She began urinating with blood in it about 2 weeks previously. When I took her to the first vet he said she had a bladder infection. A couple days later I took her to a vet that specialized in cats. They did blood work and found she had elevated ALT levels and put her on Zenaquin, and Buprenorphine for pain. At this time her ALT levels were around 200. 2 Weeks later her levels had increased to around 900. All she ate was IAMS Wet and Dry Food. She was 14 years old and beautiful I really miss her. If anyone else had elevated ALT and a suddenly ill cat please post blog.

Has anyone had their cat get sick from eating the nutro food-wet or dry? according to the nutro website, they are "voluntarily" recalling their food and that no reports of illness stem from their brand... while i would like to believe that as my cats have eaten the pouches and seem fine, i'm not so sure i believe it...

Lacy, so far the recall is only for wet food in some pouches or cans. Dry food is not included... so far.

I had to put my cat to sleep last Monday 3/12/07.
She began urinating with blood in it about 2 weeks previously. When I took her to the first vet he said she had a bladder infection. A couple days later I took her to a vet that specialized in cats. They did blood work and found she had elevated ALT levels and put her on Zenaquin, and Buprenorphine for pain. At this time her ALT levels were around 200. 2 Weeks later her levels had increased to around 900. All she ate was IAMS Wet and Dry Food. She was 14 years old and beautiful I really miss her. If anyone else had elevated ALT and a suddenly ill cat please post blog.

Sheila ~ I hope I am doing this right as I have never posted before. The fact that your cat had elevated ALT enzymes alerted me. Our Misty, a small breed dog (11 lbs) ended up in the hospital on Wed. 3/14/07 with Alt enzymes of 1400. She had her check up in Jan & bloodwork for dental surgery with everything perfect. Now less than 2 months later her enzymes were off the chart! We spent over $1000.00 last week .. vet & specialty ultrasound testing to find out her liver was "assaulted". She came home on Sat with mega meds & having to eat Hill's Prescription Diet I/D. Prior to that she ate Iams both wet & dry only. Her wet food is on the list. I actually spoke to someone at Iams today (1-800-882-1591) & was told my info would be given to the "team" & someone would get back to me. I was just wondering if anyone else had pets experiencing liver damage? Our girl's liver is functioning at 33% & we just pray it will regenerate. She has been very healthy & this just came on so suddenly. I just find it very odd that we would get the word of the recall on the day she came home. They are suggesting a needle biopsy under ultrasound ... still undecided. Thanks for all input! Carol

You are right about the dry food. This happened to my "puppy" a few years ago. A kennal owner latter told me that Bandit was the first dog she had ever heard of that survived. It was dry food! What is scarry is the FDA doesn't even know what the cause is.

NUTRO LAMB AND RICE DRY DOG FOOD is what we feed Kira our dog. She fell ill on 3/3/07 did not eat for 3 days with lots of other symptoms then two trips to the doggy ER in one day,after blood work an EKG IV all night and a steroid they sent her home telling us she has Addison's disease She is around 7 to 9 Years old. No health problems prior in the 4 yrs that she has been with us. Only eating turkey and rice. She started eating her Nurto about four days ago now I have learned about the recall on wet food, should I be worried about her dry food Could it be poison and not Addison's??????She is still so thirsty. can these meds be helping if it is Kidney failure? They got her on Florinef & perdnisone. Energy level good but not normal HELP.............. PLEASE!!!! LISA L

This is also from the South African papers and concerns dogs being fed tainted food:
March 09, 2007>>

SPCA issues alert over dog-food scare

February 23 2007 at 01:53PM

By Natasha Prince and Murray Williams

The SPCA has warned pet owners who may have fed their dogs with
contaminated dry dog food to visit a vet immediately.

A local pet food manufacturer, Aquanutro, warned this week that
ethylene-glycol had been found in a limited number of batches of some
of its dog food products. The substance is a type of coolant,
popularly known as anti-freeze.

One of Aquanutro's biggest customers is Woolworths, which pulled the
products from its shelves this week and warned the public in an
advertising campaign.

Aquanutro said it had first been alerted in late 2006 by dog owners
and a veterinary surgeon that some of its products had allegedly
caused kidney failure within dogs.

"Extensive tests were conducted by accredited laboratories within
South Africa and were initially found to be negative, until an in-
depth and very intensive … analysis tested positive for the presence
of ethylene-glycol," the company said.

The company had already alerted its customers that it was undertaking
the tests and confirmed the traces of the substance this week.

The SPCA's Cher Poznan-ovich said they had received many calls and e-
mails about animals that had died or were showing signs of poisoning,
but she could not say how many reports they received.

Friday Woolworths spokesperson Dorothy McLaren said: "We have no
evidence, whatsoever, linking our product with the death or illness
of any animals."

Despite already pulling Aquanutro's products from its shelves, it was
continuing with extensive in-depth tests to establish any risk to
pets.

Aquanutro said the supplier of the ingredient had been notified and
the company had cancelled all orders.

SPCA vet Miles Penfold warned: "If you have fed your dog this food
and even if they are not showing signs of poisoning, it is best to
take them to the vet to be checked.

"Once the symptoms are visible, it is often fatal."

Symptoms include excess drinking and urinating, vomiting and looking
off colour.

This article was originally published on page 5 of Cape Argus on
February 23, 2007

April 2006 research paper on the creepy, nasty things that go into "meat by-products" and petfood, including euthanized dogs and cats:

leda.law.harvard.edu/leda/data/784/Patrick06.html

Our 14 yr. old cat, Zelda, ate this food every day, and was in perfect health. On Feb. 7th, she lost her appetite quite suddenly. By Sat., Feb. 10th, we had her hospitalized for a kidney failure diagnosis, as tests strongly indicated. By Mon., Feb 13th, we faced the painful decision of having her euthanized. She died of renal failure. We spent over $1,000 on tests, hospitalization, etc. Only five days had elapsed between the day she lost her appetite and her last living day on earth. It was devastating. We loved her so much, and she was my son's best friend. I am still in possession of 38 pouches of "Special Kitty" brand food, with codes and dates that match ones on the recall list. I have no doubt in my mind now that this food is the cause of her death. Now it all makes sense. I'm still waiting for a call back from the PA state FDA complaint coordinator's office. I still cannot get through to MenuFood's posted phone numbers to call, and I have tried several times already. I purchased this food from Walmart in Erie, PA.

Perhaps not gluten, per se. Genetically Modified grains (which have been modified to include a pestacide in the grain DNA itself) have caused deaths in sheep.

Who knows what the source of this wheat is?

My Dog was eating Lamb and Rice dry dog food from Trader Joe, only She has kidney problems....She is very sick vomiting shivering. We paid the vet 600....to try and help her. I dont know if she will live.

Cathy, Trader Joe's food isn't listed on the Menu Foods site as part of the recall, but the list was updated last night. However, I would save the food cans that you still have just in case. Also, you can contact Trader Joe's corporate offices and ask them about it too.
www.traderjoes.com/about_tjs.html

Blue Buffalo is a holistic dog/cat food brand which uses no corn or wheat in it's ingredients. This brand has come highly recommended by my vet in light of this scary pet food recall. It's available at PetsMart. checkout www.bluebuff.com for more information on this great pet food manufacturer.

Lacy, personally, I would stay away from both the dry and wet food on manufactured on the lists at the moment. Cats are very finicky eaters, and to change them abruptly from one food to the other will be quite tedious for all involved. However, cats much eat within a 24-48 hour interval or they can develop a liver disease called hepatic lipodosis.

That being said, I feed my cat Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance wet only (those without the fish cause my kitty is a little allergic to fish), which can be found in small quantities at Petco or at specialty food stores. NB comes in dry formula also. There are several higher-grade, natural companies including Wysong, Merrick's, Nature's Variety, Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul, among other. The biggest problem you may find is that your cat may not eat the food because they are just damned picky. Usualy you have to introduce new foods very slowly by mixing the new with the old and gradually increasing, thereby tricking the kitty.

There are also raw, frozen foods you can buy at high end stores. I would suggest, if you're in NYC, to go to a store likes Whiskas on 9th street and talk to them. They should be up and aware on what's happening with this recall. In addition, someone posted a great webstie about food here:
http://www.catnutrition.org/

My heart goes out to those who has lost a cat or a dog. I give my dog majority of the time dry dog food and sometimes some in a can. I just found out yesterday that the can that I gave her was tainted. This is making me so mad, cause when I went to the website the serial number was not listed, but when I called the hotline number they said that it was one of the brands that was contaminated!!!!! The brand was Ol' Roy, hearty cut in gravy. She has not been having any of the signs from eating it, but today I took her to the vet just to be on the safe side. They did a blood test and it came back normal, so for now she is fine. How could something like this happen??

I'm the admin for itchmo.com and we've been covering the recall for several days. We're looking to test DRY pet food for the presence of ethylene glycol, which is a hard-to-detect chemical that causes rapid kidney failure in pets.

We read several comments that suggest a link to pet deaths from DRY food. If your pet died from eating what you suspect is contaminated dry food, we would like a sample for testing by a third party.

Please let me know if you are interested in overnighting your suspected DRY pet food to tip@itchmo.com

On February 28, 2007, I decided to have my 9 1/2 year old cat Mao put to sleep after sudden kidney failure. I was heartbroken, but felt it was the best option as the vet felt the situation presented was too severe for him to survive much longer.

I fed Mao Iams Select Bites in Gravy daily along with hard food. I thought that by purchasing this higher priced brand, I was taking good care of my cat. Anger replaced grief when I heard about the brands and symptoms involved in the pet food recall on Saturday.

I am an art student and artist as well. I began working on a painting of my cat, but was motivated this weekend to make something more activist in nature. It may be viewed on my blog at the following link:

maryjeanmassie.com/wordpress

My condolences to everyone whose dear companions and families have had to suffer through this. It's really heartbreaking to see how many lives this is affecting.

I'm so very very sorry to all of you who are affected by this. My prayers to you and your furbabies. There is NO excuse for this to happen. I can't begin to imagine what you're going through... I'm crying with you. My thoughts and prayers continue..

To everyone that may have had a problem with the Iams dry: please see benhuh's comment #107.

I have been feeding my cat Nutro dry food but I have had a bad feeling for two days now and we are switching him to Wellness tonight. Truth be told, if I were not going out of town Thursday night, I would start making my own cat food, and will start looking into this when I get back.
My cat is fine, drinking and eating and acting normally, but right now I do not trust any of the brands affected by the recall.

to the poster of post #115:

Wellness is made by Menu Foods. Just found out today. I've been calling all the "premium" brands companies and asking them if any or all of their pet products are mady by Menu Foods. Wellness' telephone rep said that, yes, Menu Foods, makes their food but that they consider their (Wellness) food safe because it doesn't contain any wheat gluten. As for myself, that's not good enough, considering the FDA has not conclusively determined wheat gluten to be the problem. Besides, there is always the possibility of cross-contamination between different formulation batches if they are made in the same manufacturing facility. So here's what I have so far...

Foods made by Menu Foods that are not on the recall list:

--Many if not all of Nutro's Natural Choice products that don't have wheat are made by Menu Foods (the Nutro Ultra holistic line IS on the recall list)
--Wellness (the parent company, Old Mother Hubbard, makes treats that may also be made by Menu Foods)
--Castor & Pollux (Organix line and Natural ULTRAMIX line) (I have a dog and a cat eating C&P food and they are coming off it today)

These foods, so far, are not made by Menu Foods:

--Natural Balance (manufactured by Diamond) – available at Petco

--Blue Buffalo (not manufactured by Menu, but don’t know who does make them) – available at PetSmart

This list is a work in progress. I hope to have a larger list on www.howl911.com later today.

My cat is 15 years old. Three days ago she stopped eating, became dehydrated and lethargic. I brought her to the Vet today and was told she had severe kidney failure. Three days ago she was chasing he tail. The Vet says it's probably due to old age. This cat has never been sick up until about 6 months ago when she had a urinary infection. I think it's a huge coincidence that she has all of the same symptoms of the animals that have ingested the tainted food. My cat eats Fancy Feast. Six days ago I doubled her intake as she looked like she needed to gain a few pounds. If anyone out there is feeding there cat this brand of food please contact me.

I have multiple pets that live inside only & have been feeding them only nutro max dry. Last thursday my cat Lucky of 16 yrs died. Stoped eating, liver problems, vomited & lathargy. I also have another cat that is not eating & not interested in any of his usual rituals. I know nutro dry is not on the list but I took it away from them anyway. I am now feeding them blue buffalo & royal canin. Before the recall everyone assured me nutro was one of the best. I have been doing feline rescues for 20 yrs & for the 1st 11 been known to have the healthiest, biggest cats around. About 9 yrs ago I started having problems with my cats mostly diarria, vomiting & urinary infections. After $1000s at several vets could find nothing. Finally a holistic vet suggested I switch from hills science diet to a healthier food such as nutro I did. Three years went by I had no problems then problems started again. The past 5 years have been hell I have lost several very loved & very pampered cats .My cat Darryll was 21 in excellent health til the day she passed. Fluffy was 20, Ricci was 8, Red was 4, Krysti 2, Rachell 6, Brittany 9, Pooffy 12, Boo Boo 7, Gizmo 2,Katie 7, Sylvester 5 & Toby only 1.Sitting by thier sides sometimes day & night, force feeding them & holding them in my arms til the end. No matter how many deaths you go through it NEVER gets any easier. This has just been hell. I have spent $100,000 in vet bills over the past 8 yrs & been told all sorts of things such as diabetees, hyper thyroid, hypo thyroid, cancer old age, liver failure & even chemical poisoning. Fairly soon after all diognosis & recomended treatments they all died. All this time Ive been beeting myself up, having my heart & soul eaten away. Blaming myself, wondering what I could possibly brought into my house. Ive driven myself crazy testing & retesting, taking shoes off before I come in, using natural cleaners NO toxic chemicals, washing hands & basically trying to keep my "kids" in a bubble. After having my heart broken beyond repair I gave up rescues last yr. I think this has been going on for years , its just been swept under the rug.

PURINA Added to the List....
I read today in two different reports that Purina has been added to the list of dog and cat foods recalled, yet there is no mention of the styles or flavors which are recalled. What piss-poor reporting not to have complete information to pass along.
Does anyone know what Purina products have been removed from the shelves?

I switched my cat C.C. to Nutro pouches in September after the vet diagnosed her with VERY EARLY STAGES of kidney difficulties. They suggested a wet food with lower protein levels. Since September, she has been eating Nutro pouches everyday and is now full blown into renal failure. She has to have fluid therapy every week now and her urea and creatinine levels have doubled in the last two months. How long has this tainted food been on the market???? I have 3 other cats who pick at her leftovers and now I am going to have to have all of them tested. C.C.'s treatments since September have been well over $2000. I can't bear the thought of losing her or any of my other cats. My heart goes out to everyone that has lost their pets due to this. There is a woman in San Diego (I think) who is suing and trying to make the case a class action suit. Believe me, I WILL BE THERE and I sure I'll see all of you there too. This whole thing makes me sick.

We have 4 cats, 1 is fine-he only eats hard food-and won't go near soft food. The other 3 have been ill-1 is very sick. We live in a small town where Kroger and Walmart are the only 2 stores. I buy 90% of the cat food at these 2 places. 3 times in the past 2 months we made a 150 mile drive to Petsmart to stock up on some of everything! All the recalled items. We had received some coupons in the mail from Petsmart we just had to use. People are right who say some of these foods were on sale-I actually bought 5 cans of a recalled item for 10 cents each-along with a couple hundred other cans and packets. Now you never see 10 cent cans. The Iams packets were also on sale around here-so I grabbed a bunch-what a deal I thought. For people worried they can't prove they bought this recalled food-if you use the small store scan card when you shop-they can track what you buy-they know exactly when and what your buying. I am very upset that the company did not put out a better warning to people when it recalled this food. All I heard on the news at first was Menu pet food was recalled-well I said to myself-I don't have to worry-I have never heard of Menu pet food-I don't use it. That same night I fed all my cats the tainted food. The next day the news said Menu makes several DIFFERENT KINDS etc. Then I checked the website. I have one cat who had kittens 10 days ago, this cat ate almost nothing but Special Kitty packets from
Walmart-she loved them-a few days before she had her kittens I gave her nothing but Iams packets-I thought I was giving her the best food before she had her kittens-she is the one we are worried about-she is very sick now-she seems to have trouble walking and is having bowel problems. We are worried and don't know if her kittens will be ok. Please say a prayer for Gypsy!
She was a stray nobody wanted-we took her in and she was fine and healthy-seems like she was better off a stray-hope we didn't kill her with this food. I called the numbers to ask about the kittens but could not get through. We are on the way to the vets. God bless all the cats and dogs and their owners who are going through this nightmare.

CORRECTION: If you are interested in helping us with looking into the dry food possibility (see comment 107), please email us at tips@itchmo.com (email address was misposted).

Thanks!

I wanted to add:

For those who have lost a loved one and are looking into legal action, there is a lawsuit filed already here in Chicago. Her suit, filed by Chicago attorney Jay Edelson, seeks class-action status.

See article:

biz.yahoo.com/ap/070320/pet_food_recall.html?.v=1

Even though purina cat foods is not on the recall list, my cat has thrown up twice in the last two days, once being this morning shortly after eating dry food. I am worried that the recall list is not complete. Is anyone else having these symptoms with purina??

FYI, I was at Trader Joe's last night and they have pulled all of their Trader Joe's branded canned dog and cat food from the shelves. This is the note from the store and it's also posted on their Web site.

According to the FDA, Trader Joe’s pet food products are NOT the same pet foods that are currently being recalled by Menu Foods. However, since safety is of the utmost importance to us, as an extra precaution we have voluntarily pulled all canned pet food items manufactured by Menu Foods from our shelves until we can test the products and be 100 percent sure they are safe for your pets. The products voluntarily pulled are: Dog Food Chunky Beef 22 oz., Dog Food Chunky Chicken 22 oz., Dog Food Lamb & Rice 22 oz., Cat Food Turkey & Giblets, Cat Food Premium Fish/Salmon/Rice and Cat Food Premium Chicken/Turkey/Rice.

If for any reason you would like to return Trader Joe’s canned pet food products, please bring it back to any of our stores for a full refund or exchange.

I was feeding my cats the canned food, so I'm a little concerned. I wish there was a list of all the brands that Menu Foods distributes to so it would be easier to avoid these brands. I switched their food to the Bench & Field Dry from TJ for now and will search for something better this weekend. They love canned food but I'm not sure I trust any brand right now. I've been giving them some roasted chicken as a treat.

Dry food, everyone is asking about dry food. I have something to share about that. I had a mixed lab dog named Buster. He was my child, my companion, and my friend. I loved my dog with all of my heart. I took him to the vets in Sept 06 for annual testing and all was good (his kidneys were functioning normally). But on Dec 17 he became lethargic and sick, I took him immediately to the vets that monday and on Tues they got the results back and he was in kidney failure. 80% of his kidneys not functioning. The vet was shocked and began the conversation with 'Chris, I didn't expect this and don't know how to tell you but...' Buster died that Saturday, December 23rd. As I write this, I am crying. So, you are wondering what he ate? Beneful dry food. You can't tell me there isn't more to this story! Coincidence? Maybe, but I don't think so. My dog was running around Dec 16th and one week later he died. If ANYONE has any info regarding this, please let me know...it's tearing me apart.

Hi
Its was two months ago that our two cats that we brought all the way back to Canada from Romania. We had been feeding them IAMS dry cat food with a side of tuna (yes they are spoilt).
For no apparent reason the male started vomiting and had diarrhea and was in obvious distress. I let it go thinking he would get better, but the next day the same happened to the female. As they are inside cats they could not have been poisoned but it was apparent that this is what it was. I checked out the IAMS bag and it said "original" with extra omega 3 added...give me a break!! ORIGINAL!! I took the to the Vet and she concurred that they must have eaten something and that I should switch the cat food as other problems apparently were cropping up with IAMS. I switched.
A month ago the male cat need his teeth descaled and during the blood test the Vet noticed that he had some problems with his kidneys, he was dehydrated and had problems with UTI, After a couple of nights at the hospital which is no walk in the park for this cat he came home and seems to be doing fine. My question is...IS HE?
In my opinion these people that cause so much grief all over greed should be shot and PiXXXd on.
or maybe better still send them to me and I will put them on a diet and it wouldn't be Atkins.
All the best to the other cat owners that have been affected by these hopeless individuals.

John Clarke

I just switched my cats dry food from Nutro to Blue Buffalo Spa Select thanks to all of you guys' advice. Does anyone know if Blue Buffalo outsources their dry food or do they manufacture it themselves? Is it a safe choice?? Thanks!

Lacy, the number to Blue Buffalo is:
(800) 919.2833. Just give them a quick call and ask them specific questions about their manufacturing process. I don't think they outsource, but with this situation, asking them directly is probably the best way. Good luck!!!

STAY AWAY FROM POUNCE!

As a couple of others have mentioned here, even though Pounce treats are not on the recall list, I think they directly led to our cat Taeki's death. We only feed him Hills Science Diet W/D mixed with M/D dry food, and Pounce Treats. He was healthy and doing great, but lately, because of situations in our lives, we'd been "spoiling" him by giving him more treats than we normally do. Now all I can think is that we were poisoning this awesome cat who just loved us. I still tear up thinking about it. He died on March 16th, 4 days before his 12th birthday.

He woke me up with an unusual meow, laid down on the floor on his side and stretched out. I laid down on the floor next to him, encircled him with my arms, and held on to him and talked to him quietly as he passed on. I had no idea he was so sick. He had not been eating, and seemed lethargic, but...

I don't know what the answer is, but PLEASE watch ALL your pet food, even if it isn't on the recall list (yet). If you see ANY abnormal behavior from your pets, get them to the vet quickly. Don't assume it's just a stomach virus!

Such loss...I'd hate to see anyone else lose a treasured member of their family to this.

If you are in mourning, this has been around for a while, but you might want to see this: Rainbow Bridge Poem

Taeki, wait for me over there, and I'll see you on the Rainbow Bridge...

Lacy, I feed my kitty Halo Liv-a-Littles treats. They are $12.00 a container (yikes!) but they last a long time are made of dehydrated real beef, chicken and fish. My Paikea loves them.

Hi Lacy, the Pounce treats we were feeding him were the "Tartar & Plaque Control - Crunchy Chicken & Turkey Flavor." I called Pounce today, and they say none of their brands are affected by the recall. Hummm...

I guess it could have been the dry food, but he has been eating the Hills Science Diet regularly, the W/D for a couple of years, and the M/D for about six months. We were approaching the end of the bags of Hills, and it was just in the last week or two that he got sick and stopped eating after working on that bag for several weeks. Of course, we tried to make him feel better with "treats." We gave him probably 30-40 treats over the course of a couple of weeks, almost all of them prior to him showing any symptoms, since he wasn't very hungry afterward. WAY more than we usually give him, but the bag says they can be used as "food replacement" so we thought we were indulging him without doing any harm.

Still trying with that link:

http:// indigo.org/rainbowbridge_ver2.html

(Remove the space after //)

jenne, from what I have read, the symptoms seem to happen pretty rapidly, within two-three days or less. This is only anecdotal, so take that for what you will, since the company seems to be too chicken to release more information about the onset of symptoms, I can only say that from what I've read. (I'm not a vet or vet worker, though, so...) Don't forget with the cooked food, that they also need supplements like taurine and such. catnutrition.com seems to be a good source of information on making your own cat food. When switching cat food, it's usually recommended that the change takes place gradually, by mixing in the new food with the old... but can't really do that right now, I guess. Hope this helps.

My almost 15 year old healthy cat Martin suddenly got sick. I took him to the vet and his ALT levels with over 1000. I did not understand what happen but he did eat the small IAM wet turkey slice food that is on the list. Most of the time, I was feeding him the loaf type of IAMS moist food, just because it is cleaner, but I specifically remember feeding him the gravy style food. I had to put him to sleep.

SO YOU ALL KNOW, MENU FOODS DOES NOT MANUFACTURE DRY FOOD. END OF STORY!

Second of all, if you think that people who work for Menu are negligent and don't care for pets, then you need a reality check. Most, if not all people who work for this company OWN pets (dogs/cats/rabbits/lizards), and use Menu product to feed them.

What gets soooooo much under my skin is people who JUMP TO CONCLUSIONS without any facts.

I have read almost 150 posts, and most have a avengfull message. People please get this though your heads.... Menu Foods recall was timed right. You really can't expect a big manufacturer to recall millions of dollars worth of food if it doesn't have anything supstantial as proof. There are too many variables in manufacturing pet food and thus making it very difficult to isolate the cause.

THIS RECALL WAS A PERCAUTINARY MEASURE TO ENSURE THAT IF THERE ARE/WERE DEATHS RELATED TO A CERTAIN SUBSTANCE IN THE FOOD, THE DEATHS WOULD BE MINIMAL.

You really have to have a clear head before you can grasp this concept.

As I stated before... recalls happen all the time. Sometimes too late to help those affected. And I am not even talking about things relation to pets. Human consumables (DRUGS, FOOD, SKIN CARE, ETC) have been recalled for many many reasons, and are unfortunatelly being recalled as we speak. PEOPLE DIE every day from products which have been recalled, but nothing ever gets done from a legal point of view. Now a select number of pets died from a controlled testing, and we have thousands of people THINK that they can relate.

I will finish with this example:

My pet chameleon died recently. She was 4 years old. I have been breeding and loving chameleons for 8 years, and have encountered almost everything known to them. I have seen them get born, and I have seen them die in my hands.

When she died, I felt hopeless, speachless, and vulnerable. But I wasn't irrational. I tried to find the cause for her death, but couldn't isolate one thing. It could have been her food (crickets eating bad food, contaminated fruit), could have been bad water, could have been deydration, could have been that she accidentelly ate something, could have been stress, could have been anything. Even if I could zero in on the cause of her death, it would be impossible to accurately know the measures to undertake to avoid such death.

To relate this to your current experiences with pets: you will never know for sure if the food is the direct link to your pets health. There are way too many things that can be attributed to the decline in pet wellness. Maybe you should start monitoring what your pet does, licks, eats, touches, scratches, etc, etc.

I have to say that I have not found people at this site to come across as vindictive. People are understandly upset when a pet which is often like a family member takes ill suddenly and dies. I think the real lesson of this poisoning and recall is that it is horrifying to know what goes into many dog foods and that a manufacturer would not be able to test it's product to find out what the contamination is. We have access to the best science in the world and Menu Foods and the FDA cannot find what the contamination is. I can find no link to wheat gluten to kidney failure. It is also disturbing to know that one has only the illusion choice when buying products and services.

to taekis friend my best friend leo my cat was fine the night of jan 17 and that early morning leo started to meow and howling aronud the house. later he started to have focal seizers too him to the vets we spent over 5 grandon him and the vets still didnt know anything we had to put leo down jan 25 2007 it is so hard for us. we gave him hills diet w/d dry and chicken flaver. i read the poem all the time, if any body else usesit. so sanfrancisco cajust reading everyone story it so hard not to cry

One thing to keep in mind is that it is not known what is causing the renal failure. So far Menu Foods products have been implicated, but this does not mean that other products are safe. I think it is better to use caution rather than to risk the life of our pets. There is no way for us concerned consumers to know if other pet food manufacturers may have received tainted ingredients. Until the source of this contamination is isolated I think it is best to either make your own pet food or to purchase an organic brand like Newman's Organics.

Recall Sheds Light on Pet-Food Industry's Little Secret
www.adage.com/article?article_id=115660

As to the accusation that I work for the company..

Let it be known that I have absolute no ties and have never worked for the company.

I just have a reasonable and rational point of view. Like all, I do too have pets, but dont jump to conclusions.

I do agree that the PR for the company was non existent. They failed miserably in informing the public correctly.

Taeki's Friend: Thank you for letting me know what kind of treats you had been feeding your kitty. We had fed ours The Tartar and plaque control crunchy cheese flavor. They loved them and ate soo many also. I hope this hasnt affected them. So far they seem fine, but its only been a couple of days. I am so so so sorry for your loss. I know how attached you can be to your pets. I have been on an emotional rollercoaster ever since this thing started.

Edit" to that post. I also have contacted a local new station to try to get this message out there.

Bridget said
"I am very saddened that a food industry has been poisening us and our animals for years and years. There is nothing worse than loosing a loved one (pet or human)due to stupidity of the government. My heart goes out to all pets and owners who are experiencing hardships and I truly hope there is a lawsuit against Menu Foods regarding this. It's the only way companies will learn and possibly take more care about what they put out there for people and animals to put in their bodies."

Why do you hope that there is a lawsuit? What would you sue against? What would your evidence be?

Please read my previous post. Please, before you add to the mass hysteria.

We have always fed our dogs Alpo.
Never had a problem with that brand. I do know that a lot of poor people eat canned Alpo. So I sure hope they have the sense to test their ingredients, sounds like they do. They are not in this recall at all.
The supplier of the contaminated ingredients, should be brought to task, and put right out of business.

While the brands I feed my dogs are safe, for now, this makes me rethink feeding them any "pet store" brand and buy a couple of doggy cookbooks on Amazon.com and cook for them myself! I was always a sucker for buying them treats, but since my dogs will eat anything not nailed down, and human food is such a big treat for them, I think they will be just as happy with sliced apples as with buddy bits!

I agree with Angela that it is mind-boggling that they cannot figure out what is so toxic in the food that it kills 50% of the cats that eat it.

This is not the Russian spy case where they slipped someone a radiation pill. We are talking about probably hundreds of dead animals and tons and tons of dog food they could crumble into bits and test.

If my dog could talk, he would probably be able to tell Menu Foods what the problem is. I had to hand feed the poor guy his Iams lamb and rice kibble-by-kibble before he would eat it. He looked at it like it was... poison. Then came illness and damaged kidneys. (He was lucky I started phasing out dog food after I got his kidney tests back because I suspected his system could not process it anymore.)

I reiterate, the Iams dry food changed in the past year - the texture, the color of the bag, the smell. They have no idea what caused the poisoning. Right now I trust NOTHING they tell me, including that this problem is limited to wet food. I also do not trust, as a consumer, a federal agency when George Bush is president. And I say that as a longtime former Republican. Would George Bush's FDA destroy the pet food industry over some dead cats?

Spom in Venice, CA

Does anyone know if dry/wet cat food bought from the vetrinary clinic is safe?
MEDI-CAL PREVENITIVE FORMULA?
I buy my little guys pet food strictly from the vet, as he is on a weight loss diet (and previous kidney/bladder problems)
But is it any safer buying from the vet, or would this contain the same ingredients?
any info appreciated.
And my heart goes out to you all, I would die without my baby.

Our Inside Cat died 2/26/07, He was only 2 years old. He was perfectly fine until 2 days before he died. The brand we were feeding him was Laura Lynn from Ingles grocery store. The 5 oz cans are recalled, ours are 3 oz cans, but they are the same slices in gravy varieties. He was showing all the symptoms they are giving now for kidney failure, but he died before we could get him to the vet and he was buried before we even knew of this recall. We had just recently changed to the cans as a treat and had only fed him 8 cans. It makes me wonder if the recall list is complete.

My son & his girlfriend's dog was eating Shep Dog canned food and now he's sick. This is so upsetting. They can't afford to take poor PJ to the Vet, but he has to go.
What a terrible financial burden this is going to be. That poor dog... I feel so bad.
This company will pay!!!!!

I am very saddened for what happened to my Simba, my dog. She started acting strangely, suddenly did not wont to eat, frist she would get sick and vomiting for a few days then out of the blue she had kidney failure. I thought it was her age She was a friend and very much part of my family. I took her to the vet and due to her age there was little I could do snd I could not stand the thought of her suffering so had he laid to rest, It breaks your heart when you lose any one even your pet.Then afew weeks later I see the news and the food I feed her was on recall ol roy foil pouches, I knew then that was what took her life,I called the vet and talked with him and was told with this we would not been able to save Simba due to her age,I am very upset to think I killed my dog with feeding her. Saddened in taylor Tx.

Elderta, like you, I have read all of your comments. I do must say that you have a very shallow point of view. You are trying to 'inform' people on what they should do, when you have absolutely no clue. Its like trying to give people tips on flying a plane when you are a bus driver. Just because you own a pet store, doesn't give you a permit for pet food education.

As for me, I am not being insensitive, I am just being real. I too lost pets, pets dear to me. I cry too when they die.. but what I don't do is start a rampage against the world. And that is what is happening here. People are trying to find answers for their pets, and Menu is an easy way out.

If my kid ever got sick and had a kidney failure, should I go and sue all food manufacturers? Should I action a class-action lawsuit? Its OK, take your time to answer.

Concerned Consumer, you are a troll and have nothing to offer but ignorant statements to hurt others who are already suffering. As for your simple minded post about your pet lizard..

"But I wasn't irrational. I tried to find the cause for her death, but couldn't isolate one thing."

Guess what, you self righteous little troll, these good people have not been irrational. They have taken their pets to the Vet and had tests done to find out whats wrong. They didn't just sit there and assume it "could have been anything" as you did with your dead lizard. It's not a mystery as to what they are dead or dying from.. Kidney Failure. What has caused this acute outbreak? The investigation seems to show a common thread and that is the ingestion of foods or component parts used by Menu Foods Income Fund.

"Sherri, it makes me ill reading your ignorant post. Get educated, please."

Concerned Consumer, thanks for letting us all know your true intentions. I would have been upset had I not realized you only post in order to spit your inadequacies out at people in public.

As for educated.. here are some words you posted in some language only you are aware of.

avengfull
supstantial
unfortunatelly
speachless
deydration
accidentelly

Dear Consumed Customer,
Wait... hold on... my connecting people with information from reputable sources, my comments are then shallow? Brilliant, because they were never meant to be those of an expert. I made it clear in my comments that I am not an expert, but have basically shared information where there is a lack of information and have shared with people what I've found as a means to help. I never told anyone as far I can see, what they "should" do (unlike you), but where they could find information. Oh wait... I told someone that they "should" call Blue Buffalo for more information... I guess that was wrong to do.

CC, I don't own a pet food store. What I have done over the last year since my cat, Zanzibar, was diagnosed with an adrenal gland tumor, has been to educate myself on cat health and nutrition. (Zanzi has since passed away.) From being on several cat-related lists, I've found a lot of information over the years and have determined, through much trial and error, what sites and information is 'useful' or not. I'm a librarian, it's what I do. I have only let people know what I've found over the years, and hopefully I've been of more help than hurt, I hope.

I won't bother answering your query on any lawsuits because that's not what I find at issue with you. People will do what they do, and in moments of pain, want to reach out for some restitution for that pain. (In fact, I did make at least one off the wall remark earlier in this thread, which I apologize for, as it came out anger.) What I find at issue is that you attempt to teach people a lesson with a baseball bat instead of empathy. You could share your insight a whole lot more effectively without that bat. As it is, I think you tune out and insult people who "should" be listening to what you say, because on the whole, you have some good points. But like I said before, I hope your need to educate people makes you feel better, because I can tell you, you're doing one hell of a crappy job at it. And again, good luck with that.

Have a great day.

I own a pet specialty shop in east coast USA and have a background in food safety and food science. Previous to that I used to work as a buyer for a large pet food brand. I have sold Menu Foods' products in my store for many years and am in full support of their company. They manufacture for so many brands - from big to small companies and they are chosen as the top pet food manufacturer for a reason. They are ethical, quality conscience manufacturers with the best expertise in the US. It is well known in the industry that Menu Foods is one of the "good guys" in the pet food world. I will not mention who the shameful bad guys are but don't be fools people! I have returned container upon container of poor quality product and cannot tell you how many complaints I have received regarding these other manufacturers. Menu Foods has the best reputation and has the customers to prove it. Menu Foods did the right thing and the media is making them out to be killers and I can't believe how viscous people are. What on earth does the media and public know about Menu Foods before they voluntarily recalled suspect product? It is ridiculous how fast the public will slam the company because of the media.

Remember that the media are bloodhounds for bad news and a gruesome story sells better. They have taken the truth and turned it into lies.

There are a few facts that people need to bet through their heads and understand because the media is clouding it all over:
1. Menu Foods only manufactures wet pet food, so all the complaints about dry foods is the public's panic-stricken reaction to the media.
2. As per the Menu Foods Press release and the FDA, this issue is linked to a suspect ingredient used in production from a new supplier.
3. Menu Foods issued a precautionary recall once they linked this ingredient to animal health concerns, so it is possible that not all of this product recalled is unsafe, rather it is a precaution just incase the ingredient was used in this timeframe.
4. A company cannot recall products based on one complaint, they need to validate the complaint.
5. According to the pet food brands, Menu Foods has achieved some of the highest standing ratings for health and safety inspection audits in the in US. My suppliers have always stood by them and speak very highly of this company. For this reason, I believe that:

Menu Foods' customers should come forward and voice their support for this company that has manufactured their products for decades without any quality issues.

This company will only heighten their quality standards and incoming ingredient testing now that this issue has come to light. If anything, I believe that Menu Foods will most likely become the best pet food manufacturer in the future. They have my support and many others should be publicly standing behind them.

Suzan who posted #188 makes an extremly valid point. There are many foods out there that are not in pushed on us commercials or in vet offices that are excellent and healthy without the additives that you get in the pet&food store brands.

As a whole, we all need to do indepth research on what we put in our pets bodies (as well as our own bodies). Research our pets digestive systems and what they actually process and check out the ingredients in grocery store pet foods (there are alot of unpronouncable ingredients!).

Don't let the vets push you around into buying the food they supply in their offies, they get kick backs from the company they are pushing. It is all our responsibility to educate ourselves. And in doing so, we all can live longer and healthy lives.

I just wanted to put this word out there......the pet food industry is a scary dangerous place.

Wow Lexie with that crystal ball, post 191. How many pets do you own? Have you too been feeding your pet Menu Foods? Is it still alive? Can you afford the cost of dialysis? Mabe you could help some of us out with our tragic situations. First off, you should probably apologize to these inocent people. Haven't you been doing your home work? I think maybe you should rush out and purchase yourself some of that great MENU FOODS stock, if you don't already own some. It's down now and with your assesment of the current situation they should double up and split soon.

You should post your diatribe on another site, maybe Menu Foods home page would suit you just fine. If you haven't lost a pet, then what are you doing here, trying to stir up the gluten? What's the name of that Specialty Shop you own on the coast? I'm sure we all will make a bee line to that business just as soon as we all replace our pets. Any good deals for a purebred Airedale Terrier. I look forward to meeting with you.
All we need is to be heard, later the justice will follow.

keen

Dear Friends,

I have just read and signed the online petition:

"Menu Foods Must Reimburse Pet Owners"

hosted on the web by PetitionOnline.com, the free online petition service, at:

www.PetitionOnline.com/menupay/

I personally agree with what this petition says, and I think you might agree, too. If you can spare a moment, please take a look, and consider signing yourself.

Best wishes,

Michael Craig Keen, Sr

I own a pet specialty shop in east coast USA and have a background in food safety and food science. Previous to that I used to work as a buyer for a large pet food brand. I have sold Menu Foods' products in my store for many years and am in full support of their company. They manufacture for so many brands - from big to small companies and they are chosen as the top pet food manufacturer for a reason. They are ethical, quality conscience manufacturers with the best expertise in the US. It is well known in the industry that Menu Foods is one of the "good guys" in the pet food world. I will not mention who the shameful bad guys are but don't be fools people! I have returned container upon container of poor quality product and cannot tell you how many complaints I have received regarding these other manufacturers. Menu Foods has the best reputation and has the customers to prove it. Menu Foods did the right thing and the media is making them out to be killers and I can't believe how viscous people are. What on earth does the media and public know about Menu Foods before they voluntarily recalled suspect product? It is ridiculous how fast the public will slam the company because of the media.

Remember that the media are bloodhounds for bad news and a gruesome story sells better. They have taken the truth and turned it into lies.

There are a few facts that people need to bet through their heads and understand because the media is clouding it all over:
1. Menu Foods only manufactures wet pet food, so all the complaints about dry foods is the public's panic-stricken reaction to the media.
2. As per the Menu Foods Press release and the FDA, this issue is linked to a suspect ingredient used in production from a new supplier.
3. Menu Foods issued a precautionary recall once they linked this ingredient to animal health concerns, so it is possible that not all of this product recalled is unsafe, rather it is a precaution just incase the ingredient was used in this timeframe.
4. A company cannot recall products based on one complaint, they need to validate the complaint.
5. According to the pet food brands, Menu Foods has achieved some of the highest standing ratings for health and safety inspection audits in the in US. My suppliers have always stood by them and speak very highly of this company. For this reason, I believe that:

Menu Foods' customers should come forward and voice their support for this company that has manufactured their products for decades without any quality issues.

This company will only heighten their quality standards and incoming ingredient testing now that this issue has come to light. If anything, I believe that Menu Foods will most likely become the best pet food manufacturer in the future. They have my support and many others should be publicly standing behind them.

lexie, do you think by posting the same thing over that people won't read the responses to your original two postings? Well, I guess I'll post my response again, too:

While that may be true, Lexie, Menu Foods' public relations on this has cost them with the public. I'm sure they worked their butts off, but the way the non-information is coming out and how they issued the recall (on a Friday) makes it seem like they are hiding something. There have been varying stories reported on how and when they first knew of this. I wish it were otherwise, but you only get one chance at it, and they kinda blew it. It's quite unfortunate for all concerned.

Lexie #191 --etc

Just how brown is that nose of yours? Looks like you have the menu food all over it.

Yes, pet owners are responsible for the health care of their animals. But when a manufacturer sells a bad product they are responsible for the damage caused by their bad product. Menu Foods received complaints as early as mid February --- they waited until Friday night on March 16th to announce the recall and bury the story. All bad news press releases always come out on Fridays.

I will be willing to forgo reimbursement for my Vet bills which are actually quite low at only $1,000 if in return the executives for Menu Foods will eat one packet of the food each day for every day from the first complaints to the March 16th news release -- that would be 16 to 30 days.

With the advent of the latest pet food poisoning by pet food manufacturers, and that's what it is, one strange thing has come to light.

It appears that Hill's/Science Diet brand has been using co-packing arrangements for years while at the same time using your Bull Sh*t scientific formular marketing crap as an excuse to charge significantly higher prices.

Well, your little secrete is out. Hill's uses the same crappy ingredients in their pet food that Wal-Mart, K-Mart,etc. and everybody else uses.

We can now see Hill's branded products are essentially the same stuff with a higher price point and those products are coming off the same belts as the cheaper branded products, and in some cases there is very little difference

Well if it's all the same crap then we'll be buying the cheaper crap rather than fall prey to Hill's lies
and marketing hype.

Re Steve's comment on Dry dog food (i.e. Purina). "Purina One" dry dog food contains corn gluten. Gluten is toxic to animals. Some animals more than others and some glutens (wheat vs corn vs barley et c.) than others - not yet established. Other than adding a cheap but toxic filler to our pets sustenence, there is no reason why any legal commercial operation in the U.S. of A should be adding that toxic material to our pets food supply.

On a more positive and far less disgruntled note, an update on my cat (for those of you wondering whether or not attempts to treat the ARF induced by these foods have been successful):

After days of IV therapy and SQ fluids, Tyson is doing wonderfully, and his renal values have begun to plummet. No word yet on whether or not there will be any lasting damage, but at this point it appears as though he is turning the corner.

Some of these animals are indeed recovering.

Here's hoping that the rest of you whose pets are currently undergoing treatment are as fortunate as we have been.

Gwen, here you are posting away, insulting me at your will. Yet you fail to realize that you are hypocrite. If you want to engage in some meaningfull discussion, don't be a hypocrite.

Like I have stated before, I can empathize with those who have lost dear ones (pets or people). It is very hard to deal with. The pain is too much especially when you consider them a part of your family. What I can't empathize with is when people create a vandetta against a company, who sole purpose is, to provide the highest quality of food to our loved ones. I wish people would take a deep breath, take a step back and wait for this story to unfold. This is what I mean by rational thought. I know it is hard. Especially with this story out.

I have to agree with Gwen. We have no way of knowing what the tainted ingredient is and how widespread its use is/was. Iowa State University has isolated ingredients from antifreeze from their testing. This is helpful, but it doesn't answer other questions. If Menu Foods is not to blame then whoever has supplied the tainted ingredient is.

CC stands for completly confused. Anyway folks, it does indeed look as though we have two seperate problems in regards to our pets food, the wet with the toxic aflatoxins and the dry with the chemical being mixed up with some sort of anti freeze component.
CC Please you need to back off, you are constantly belittleing us for having strong feeling against a corportation that while trying to manufacture a profitalbe product, made a mistake. Maybe they tried to cut a few corners or save a few bucks to continue on their road to financial recovery. Maybe they didn't. It does seem that you somehow fine solice in maybe they didn't. No one knows the scope of this and I mean no one certainly not you CC. If you would spend a couple of hours investigating things instead of you talking off the cuff and being upset with people you don't even want to know. If people were to take your advice then maybe we would have a few less pets in the world. Go ahead CC push your views on us, post them a couple more times, believe me, we really need a laugh.

Not wanting to get personal cc. You keep us all informed of the facts and I will just sit back an listen, who knows, maybe I'll learn something from you. All of us would love to learn and be educated,
come on cc you can do it. Tell us the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth and I will remain silent. Until that time, shut up, listen and learn for a change.

keen

I have a 10 year old German Shepard that got sick in the beginning of February after I opened a new bag of Beneful dry dog food. He had the same symptoms as all the dogs and cats that ate the wet food. If the cause is wheat gluten Beneful dry has wheat gluten in it. My dog got better after a stay at the vet. It makes me very sad that some pets did not get better. I think I will just cook for my dog from now on.

Aflatoxin causes liver problems not kidney problems. It was indicated in a prior pet food recall, but I don't believe it can be responsible for the acute renal failure that is occuring with Menu Foods products. And from what I gather at the Iowa State University site - www.cvmweb2.cvm.iastate.edu/departments/VDPAM/default.aspx?id=2784 - the antifreeze components have been found in the Menu Foods products.

And please, concerned consumer, you come across as agressive and not at all sympathetic. This does not mean that you are neither, but you are not doing a good job of expressing yourself if you are.

I do not know how the pet food industry works or is regulated, but it does seem to me that Menu Foods was slow to act.

After being very torn up about the death of my Pomeranian in February, I now at least have some answers. He had all the syptoms, vomiting, lethargy, and after 3 days he lost tons of bloody urine, but then improved. I gave fluids through a dropper, stayed up nights checking on him, nursing him, fed him boiled beef. He got better and just when I thought he would make it after nursing him for 2 months, late one night he wouldn't pee and the next morning he was dead. He had been super energetic before. I had fed him a wet gravy type treat. At least now I have what may be the answer but I sure do miss him. I have no children. He was my baby.

Mike I have been following this unintenional poisoning quite closely. I have not found a link with Menu Foods to aflatoxin. There was a case a while back where corn gluten had become contaminated with the aflatoxin.

I do agree that there seems to be two distinct cases here. The one being Menu Foods wet foods and the other being numerous brands of dry dog food.

Class Action Suit file against Menu Foods

www.cnn.com/2007/US/03/22/pet.food.recall/index.html?eref=rss_us

Brenda

Regarding your post # 218. If you have not already got your answer, I would recommend getting your pet to the Vets. The truth is, the people on this board can only give opinions, not a diagnoses. And it is my opinion that you get your pet to the VETS.

Chances are if you changed your pet's diet recently with out doing it gradually, this can cause vomit, and other unpleasant stains. My pets went to the vet yesterday for testing and I had to switch food suddenly, yep I'm dealing with clean up duty.

Good luck, hope your pet is feeling better, but please get it checked out

Hi Brenda (#218),

PLEASE take your cat to the vet. Taeki got sick before the recall was announced, and he did the same thing. He did vomit food on occassion (usually hair ball related) so we didn't worry when he did it this time. He was also quiet and a little withdrawn, but nothing exceptional, so we didn't think twice about it and didn't take him to the vet, but it was serious and now he is no longer with us.

Be safe, even if you have to pay a little to the vet, it is better than wishing you had taken your cat once it is too late!

Just checking in.... my cat is seeming fine now, eating a little and walking around. i think i may have been over-reacting. I'm praying he is fine. Thank you all very much.

Response to #206,

Menu food should have issued a recall immediatly is their responsiblity as a manufactor. It would have given professionals more of a chance to know what to do. Also consumers would have a choice in what to do. I do not want to be left in the dark while lawyers plan a strategy of how to handle the aftermath. I want to know what is going on, so when my animal has a chance for recovery I can spend the money that might save its life on the correct procedures and treatment to save her. If I would have known what I know now I might have spent the money I spent on the correct diagnosis instead of treatments that caused her pain, and suffering, gave me false hope, and left me without my animal in the end. I do not feel like it is crazy or a witch hunt I feel like this would have been humane. The choice I made to end her suffering took me weeks. I wonder if they cared about all of us who have had to think about this. I can't imagine you lost a pet you probably work for the company and you are trying to do damage control.

My dog Lainey has always eaten this food - X-mas she was so sick I had to carry her to the tub to wash her up from puke & diarrhea and lethargic - couldn’t take her to the vet due to Holidays and work. Gave her rice and pedialyte to help. After that I obviously fed her less of the Iams with rice and Pedialyte each day but she was never right after that. She kept being sick having diarrhea and threw up until February when I finally had her put to sleep. At the time I assumed it was because of her age. Now I know it wasn’t her fault or her age. It’s only been about 4 weeks since I had her put to sleep, it was the most devastating thing I’ve ever had to do. She was old and had hip issues but in December she started getting real sick and had diarrhea and vomiting so bad she couldn’t even get up to walk around she just laid there on the floor and couldn’t even make it out of the house to throw up or go to the bathroom - it was the most horrible experience I’ve ever had with her. I stopped feeding her the dog food and gave her chopped up banana’s rice and pedialyte. For weeks after New Years I fed her less food mixed with rice and Pedialyte but she was so lethargic and was constanly having diarrhea that I figured she must be dying from something being wrong with her stomach so I took her to the vet finally and stopped her suffering. I never realized that it was the food I was giving her and that I was poisoning my own dog. I am totally devastated and horrified now on how she must’ve been feeling. She was my whole life.

I have 2 dogs: a 2 yr old male & 7 month old female, both Yorkies. Both are perfectly normal in everyway. Last week out of the blue, both got sick with vomitting and diarrhea that started getting bloody. Desperate, I took them to AMC in the Upper East Side at 4am and they were both given IV and antibiotics but I never got a reason why they were sick.

Later I read that Iams food was part of the huge pet food recall. Although Menu Foods website states it's only recalling wet food (the food I was giving my Yorkies was Iams dry food)I threw the food away. I figure it's better to be safe than sorry-- who knows if the recall will widen to include dry food eventually?

I have two dogs and only one has been acting strange over the past few weeks. His eyes are very red, runny and droopy; he is sluggish and weak, is eating (some of his food- very abnormal) but is literally sitting by the water all day long and drinking throughout the day. His entire demeanor has changed, but the vet doesn't see any signs that relate to kidney disorders (possibly thyroid). I don't see the UPC of their food on the list, but do you think he may be been effected by his food (Nutro Max- both wet and dry)? This has evolved over the past month.

Abby Gayle, almost 4 years old, healthy Airedale Terrier until Sunday March 18. Got home from grandma's 69th Birthday just before dark, only to find her laying in the backyard, she hadn't touched her food or water that day. Took her downstairs and put her on her doggy bed, with special treats and water near by and came upstairs and called my friend who worked for the local vet. We live in the boon docks, about 3000 foot elevation. I got on the computer and read about the Pet Food Recall, noting that it was only the wet food not the dry which we had been feeding her. I thought that she was just not feeling well. The next morning she could not walk, there were black stools on the garage floor and she had vomit all over her face. We cleaned her up that morning and my friend from the vet called, I told him what was going on and he assured me that the recall was only for wet types of dod and cat food manufactured in Canada. My first mistake was to listen to these damn liers in the first place. I was told to get some pediolite and try to get as much down her as possible. By this time her mouth and tounge were not under her control. Her eyes were milky and I believe she could not see.
I'm disabled and can not lift. I desperatly tried to get her to the vet but my friend that worked at the vet said it was to late for her that she was in acute renal failure and the local vet would not be able to help her. She died with in my sons arms at 10:05 Monday the 19th of March. If I would have know that there was a problem with the DRY food, then maybe Abby Gayle would still be here. I can't say, maybe I would have not thought she was just having a bad day and taken her to the vet much earlier.

She was about 100 lbs bright eyed and gentle. She could grab your arm with her big mouth and drag you around the house and not even make a mark on you. She was our protector, when
bad people tried to get into our yard, Abby Gayle was there to stop them. She would walk up to strainger and stick her nose up there butt, I don't know why but it sure made us laugh. She was an excellent dog to walk until she would see a deer then all hell broke lose. She would jump straight up and down reminding me of a cartoon dog, a simple pull on the leash and a no Abby was all it took to settle her down but she sure was energetic. She loved to lay in the sun in a large whole she had prepared on the highest spot on the property so she could see everything. I swere to you she could smile and show her teeth when doing so.
I don't know when I will get over losing my dear Abby Gayle, but right now with all the lies being dealt out, I can't stop crying. Now all I want to do is help someone else save their pets. It seems impossible at this point, but I will continue trying to save our best friends where ever I go.

This has been an extremely long week for me and my family. After several calls to the local newspaper, finally printed an article on the front page of the Empire news. Folks, I don't think we are doing a very good job here, the DRY FOOD is not a problem according to this article. A woman took her cat to the emergencey room late last night and the vet was to see her today. The pictures caption was a beautiful black cat being held by it's owner. It said that this cat was lucky and was saved. This paper said that 17 deaths have been linked to this pet food recall. I know of 6 people in the local area that have lost their pets. The real numbers are getting close to 1,000 deaths and thousands injured. Sounds like an explosion, a bomb blast but nothing like pet food. This is surreal, no one wants to listen or people are just plain affraid to believe that our dogs and cats are dying in large numbers from this.

Maybe someone should start a group of people who only fed their animals DRY. This may help seperate the two different problems.

keen

Sorry, that's should be sometime in the afternoon.

"A news conference is scheduled for this afternoon by experts in Albany, N.Y., where scientists at the state’s food laboratory made the discovery a week after a massive recall of 60 million cans and pouches was issued."

I thought perhaps a short cut -- buying a component from China -- by the manufacturers took caused the poisoning. Honestly, "China" passed through my mind.

This will get me on another rant about things we import from China. Yes, we get things 20% cheaper. In exchange, nothing works, nothing is safe and nothing lasts more than 6 months. This applies to everything from electronics to garden hoses.

I want whoever makes food for my dog to be as paranoid about what goes into it as I am about my own food. That is why I will be cooking for my dog for the forseeable future.

I hope some of these lawsuits involve discovery on exactly how this Chinese ingredient made its way into the food -- and exactly what food. I firmly believe my dog's Iams dry food poisoned him, only not enough to end his life. Being so much smaller, I think cats were more sensitive to the toxins, and many could not make it.

My heart goes out to all that lost a pet.

Spom in Venice

Since they tried to blame a Canadian supplier, this raises the question whether this was their attempt to limit the bleeding (their own). Perhaps the Chinese supplier -- if, in fact, a separate supplier from the Canadian -- was used in a wider array of foods.

They will have to explain this and pretty quickly.

Spom in Venice

Now we are talking about another foreign country responsible for our pet deaths? Sounds like the pot calling the kettle black. Is this product just in wet food, if so, how do we explain the dry food deaths and sicknesses. Yikes we are all doomed!!!

Just a quick note: Since my dog has passed of renal failure, I went to the veterans hospital in SF this Wednesday and was found to have blood in my urine, they took some exrays of my kidneys and today I go back to the doctor to get the results. Just a koinkindink...

keen

Has anyone sent their suspected bad Dry dog food in for testing?
I have about 40 lbs of the product is think killed my pet and would love to send it out. The 2lb batch I sent to Cornell came back as undeliverable, maybe I addressed it wrong. Any Ideas would greatly be appreciated.

keen

Rainbow Bridge - That was beautiful. I can sit here and cry but not help. Out in this state, I too have found recalled items on grocer's shelves in small towns, including a Wal-Mart. My ll year old dog ate a wal-mart chewy, which I found out later had false sugar in it and immediately had stroke-like symptoms. It was a horrible experience. Then I fed her nutro packets,thinking it would be vitamins and good food. Right after she had bloody urine and stools and would not eat. I almost lost her twice. She still hasn't been herself, but made it through, and was advised by the vet, who said it must have been something she ate,I never gave a thought about bad food products. I am so fortunate after reading everyone's comments about their pets. We can only pray that this country not only watch over our food but our darling companions' feed. We spend oodles of $ on high-priced pet food. And we have no guarantee of its safety. P.S. And someone wrote that nestle purina recalled soemthing, does anyone know what it is? I can't find out. All our lives are saddened enough about the world situation today and now this.

Nestle Purina recalled Mighty dog wet food, but like I said, breaking news, the chemical killing animals in pet food was Rat Poison, do not feed your animals ANY COMPANIES FOOD THAT IS MANUFACTURED BY MENU FOODS!

Catmanager.wordpress.com is reporting that Menu Foods will be holding a press conference at 4PM.

oh my god, there's an article on washingtonpost.com that says the tainted substance was rat poison. gothamist won't let me link but here is part of the article:

Pet food linked to the deaths of at least 15 cats and one dog across the United States contained rat poison, New York agriculture officials said today.

The poison has been identified as aminopterin, a highly toxic chemical that is on the Environmental Protection Agency's extremely hazardous substances list. The chemical is used to kill rats in some countries. It also is used as a cancer drug.

Denise from SD, here!!...

Why am I not surprised that CHINA could be behind this...
Within the last 6months, they imposed a law limiting the weight/size of your pet dog, and only 1 per household...You can just imagine what they wanted you to do if you didn't meet their criteria..
So why would we trust them with our pet food supply??? !!I'm outraged!! There are many articles on China/dogs....

I'm horrified!!

Iowa State University is conducting testing of pet food and (I am sorry to say) the corpses of pets that have died.

www.vetmed.iastate.edu/departments/vdpam/

They have a link to an article on the rat poison discovery made by NY State Food Lab and Cornell University.

Poop City is also requesting reports of possible dry pet food poisoning. Reports can be emailed to tips@itchmo.com

@ConcernedConsumerist ("CC")

While, in some way, I thank you for posting some of the facts regarding this case, I have to say that your tone is deplorable. The confusion and outrage on behalf of the posters in this forum is no fault of their own. From what I've seen by the media, as well as Menu Foods own temporary recall site, nowhere - NOWHERE - does it say that Menu Foods does NOT manufacture dry dog food. They simply say the recall "only applies to wet canned/pouched food". As opposed to what else??? It is misinformation by omission. The responsibility to clear up public confusion is in their interest and rests solely on their shoulders. You're pointing the finger in the wrong direction.

I really feel bad for everyone. I returned my dry nutro dog / cat food simply because Nutro does buiness with the same company as Iams. Ever since www.iamscruelty.com was out I would not touch their product. Return all food from these vendors and buy from companies that do not deal with such vendors. Eagle Pack, Acana, Wellness, Innova, etc.

just my 2 cents.

I have read through everyone's post and my heart goes out to everyone that is struggling with the loss or illness of a pet at this time. I lost my cat very suddenly on 2/2/07, and have had a hard time comming to terms with how a perfectly healthy 4 year old cat could die so suddenly of kidney failure in a matter of 2 or 3days. After the pet food recal was announced I started paying closer attention , but still thought it was unrelated to what happend to my cat. After hearing that so many animals were dying due to kidney failure I started to wonder.When the list of recalled foods came out I checked the list and found the brand name of food we have been feeding our cat. The brand was PAWS , but we never fed any of our animals wet cat food only dry food. I still have half the bag of food in my garage. My cat had a lot of the same simptoms that have been described on this site, vomiting , sluggish behavior, refusing to eat. When we took him into the vets office after he started throwing up she diagnosed him with an urethral obstruction and rushed him into emergency surgery. Before performing the surgery she warned us that his kidneys may have been damaged to much for him to be saved. She also did a full blood work up. He never woke up from surgery and she said that is system was probably in to much shock to handel the anestesia. The next day she called with the results of his blood work and what likely killed him was uremic posing due to kidney failure. After looking over his blood work , everything was out of whack. His creatin levels were off the chart and he had actually become diabetic. When I explained to the vet that he had seemed completly normal 2 days ago, and asked her what could have caused the ureathral obstruction, she explained that there could have been several causes but his diet could have played a part. He was only 4 years old. I have been beating myself up about this for the last 2 months as this event has been very truamatic for me and my family. I just can't help but think that the food he was eating may have had something to do with his death. He had only been eating the food for a month before he died.

Hill’s Pet Nutrition, Inc., Announces Voluntary Participation in Menu Foods’ Nationwide U.S. recall of Specific Canned Cat Foods.

Topeka, KS (March 21, 2007) – In response to the Menu Foods, Inc. nationwide recall of wet pet foods, Hill’s Pet Nutrition, Inc. announced on March 16 a voluntary precautionary recall in the United States of a very small number of canned cat food products that are manufactured by Menu for Hill’s. This involves less than one half of one percent of Hill’s total product line.

This voluntary recall only affects Science Diet® Savory Cuts Feline canned products sold in the United States.

Hill’s is voluntarily recalling the following feline products:
1. Science Diet® Ocean Fish Dinner in Sauce Savory Cuts® Kitten, 3 oz. and 5.5 oz.
2. Science Diet® Beef Dinner in Gravy Savory Cuts® Adult, 5.5 oz
3. Science Diet® Chicken Dinner in Gravy Savory Cuts® Adult, 5.5 oz.
4. Science Diet® Ocean Fish Dinner in Sauce Savory Cuts® Adult, 5.5 oz.
5. Science Diet® Chicken Dinner in Gravy Savory Cuts® Mature Adult 7+, 5.5 oz.

No other Hill’s Science Diet® products and no Prescription Diet® products are affected by this voluntary recall.

Hill’s Pet Nutrition, Inc., is taking this precautionary step to protect the health and well being of your pets. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has said that consumers of other pet food brands manufactured by Menu Foods have reported a small number of cases of cat fatalities or of cats who become ill with loss of appetite, vomiting, and lethargy, which are potential signs of kidney failure.
This voluntary product recall by Hill’s involves discontinuation of all retail sales and product retrieval from consumers. Consumers should stop using the effected products immediately. Consult with a veterinarian if any symptoms are present in your pet. All Science Diet products carry a 100 percent guarantee, and consumers can receive a refund for recalled products. For more information, consumers can contact the company at 1-800-445-5777 or visit www.HillsPet.com for details.

Hill’s is recalling the product codes listed below. Product codes can be found at the bottom of the can. Only relevant code numbers have been listed here (‘X’s indicate irrelevant numbers).

1. . BESTBEFORE 09 2008
M06XXXXXX 4414 5. . BESTBEFORE 08 2008
M28XXXXXX 4603
2. . BESTBEFORE 08 2008
M28XXXXXX 4416 6. . BESTBEFORE 08 2008
M25XXXXXX 4457
3. . BESTBEFORE 08 2008
M28XXXXXX 4415 7. . BESTBEFORE 08 2008
M28XXXXXX 4414
4. . BESTBEFORE 08 2008
M28XXXXXX 4601

Hill’s made the decision to voluntarily recall these products in consultation with the FDA and in accordance with their guidance. The company regrets any inconvenience to its consumers, retail customers and veterinarians.

lacy, since the recall i switched my kids to blue buffalo. what kind of bad things are you hearing about it? comments to me from anyone about this product are welcome ( except cc & lexie )

MikeKeen just read 274. i agree fully with that one too. good for you. my dog only eats my food too. he goes everywhere with me. the cats (several) unfortuneately arent that easy. but you can bet from now on they will be getting alot more food cooked cooked for them.

A friend posted this on another board. I found it comforting:

“More are coming every day. We must be prepared to show them around, and explain why they’re here.” She said quietly.
“You all know what to do. Allow them to see their loved ones if they request it. Show them to their places and, if they choose to, touch or caress their loved ones one more time. They will be confused and sad. That’s to be expected, under these circumstances. “

“But,” said another, “they are many. Will we be able to take care of them like we’re supposed to? I would not bring them more hurt and pain…to be left standing and waiting. They’ve suffered enough.”

“You forget the children, and the others who have volunteered. A lot of those coming will need the joy and innocence of the children to help them through this. Get ready, here they come,” she whispered.

They all turned and watched the new arrivals..some looked confused, some tired and sad.

“Oh, look at them,” another angel whispered. “We need to let them know they’re loved, and it will be okay. We need to tell them they’re people still love them. This is so sad. I wish this hadn’t happened. Their people will be so lost without them. I’d like to have some of the cats to love.”

"I want a few of the dogs. You all know how much I love dogs," said another.

“And so you shall. They’re coming now. Everyone, bring the children and the others forward, so none stand alone too long.

Hello little one, come with me. I’m your angel.”

In memory of all those who have crossed the bridge before they were supposed to, and for those they left behind.

God speed and safe journey, God’s newest angels.

Two weeks ago we fed our house cat from a fresh batch of IAMS dry food purchased at a Walmart ... shortly after the cat started vomiting - this continued for two days. Took him to the vet, he was examinied, re-hydrated by I.V. and sent home a day later. Today he is still lethargic and not eathing drinking much but is alive. Our cat had eaten IAMS dry food exclusively - he does not like wet cat food or table scraps. Perhaps he picked up something from the environment ..? Coincidence or a bigger problem - I still suspect the food, perhaps I should get it tested?

Here is a link for information on aminopterin from the vetenary information network. The link on community information at this site has information that should be shared with your vetenarian

www.vin.com/WebLink.plx?
URL=http://
www.vin.com/Promo/News/RecallAminopterin.htm - I have broken this into 3 sections to make it permitted on this forum. To go to this site please take out spaces and make one address.

There is no information yet as to how the aminopterin contaminated the wheat gluten. This whole tragic poisoning illustrates how the practice of purchasing foods from countries which do not have the same regulations as the US is a risky business. This applies to human food as well.

Mary, To me they seemed very nice, but through research have found that people believe that Blue Buffalo is unreliable and not trustworthy. I just dont know anymore. Im so confused. Just today I switched to Felidae which my cats like a lot more. I cant decide which one is better!! Does anyone know??

My sympathy to each of you as we all figure out what is going on. As an update to post #256…we went to the vet today. My darling Lexi has lost 5 lbs since Mon, which was our last vet trip for our current illness. I will know the blood work by Mon. She is a Rotweiller, but still, this is too much...and she didn't loose the weight by exercise. Again, my 3 angels have made it v. clear to me that they will not eat their dry IAMS... we noticed their boycott this past weekend b/c we changed from free-feeding to scheduled eating, per the recommended amounts/wt. So, have my dogs been trying to tell me something for a longer period of time? I see a dramatic difference in their energy and moods w/in only 24 hrs of food-brand change, though. Oh, today I learned that Lexi’s blood show’s diminished thyroid capabilities now. This has never been a problem. Could it be related to the great food scare? Rat poison? Antifreeze? What are the effects? I have now spent >$600 in the past 5 days. I will post with further updates.

P.S. A phone call was placed to IAMS yesterday, obvious reasons. The gentleman had to call us back. He was fortunate to get the machine when he did… ironically, when we called **** back today, he had taken the day off, and they (IAMS) would only allow us to speak to him…no cell phone number to reach him this weekend, though. No additional people to talk to. Just ****. I will never buy IAMS again. PERIOD.

Good luck to each of you. Again, if you haven’t already, please, have your animals tested, and furthermore, tell everyone you know about this. Be PROACTIVE!! Even more so, there are still many people unaware of the wet-food recall.

To all you cat owners out there buy the meat baby food at the store's. Until all this is over.
My friends darling persian cat died yesterday, kidney failure and she only ate 2 cans of Priority (Von's brand) . Most of the time she only gave her the meat Baby Food.
She now wishes she never bought the canned cat food afew weeks ago.
Expences incurred were almost $500 dollars. Nothing will replace her dearly beloved cat.

Please read these posts and understand that this in not just wet pet food. Dry pet food starts wet, and just because they have dried it out does not mean it no longer has poisons in it. Come on, lets get off of it and tell the truth. Why have so many dogs and cats been sick and dying from Dry Foods of all kinds? I can't sit here and listen to this crap anymore, if you think it's only wet then you too have a most important and possibly painfull lesson to learn, hopefully you won't have the learn the lesson as hard and painfull as we have. Please don't let it be your pets, don't let them eat the dry foods. I'm having a very hard time recommending any of these glorified poisons wether they be wet or dry. Keep your pet alive, feed it PEOPLE food for now at least until we know for certain what the hell is killing or most precious pets. Just because you hear it on the news or read it in your newspapers does not make it so. Remember WMD's, where has that gotten us anyway. Sorry I'm a pessimist, but you would be to if you knew you killed your 3.5 year old dog with the dry food you were feeding her.
IAMS still SUCKS!!!

To all you cat owners out there buy the meat baby food at the store's. Until all this is over.
My friends darling persian cat died yesterday, kidney failure and she only ate 2 cans of Priority ,Von's brand . Most of the time she only gave her the meat Baby Food.
She now wishes she never bought the canned cat food afew weeks ago.
Expences incurred were almost $500 dollars. Nothing will replace her dearly beloved cat.

WHY NOT JUST BUY FROM THE VET...THERE FOOD IS SAFE.. THEY MAKE THEIR OWN, EXCLUSIVLY FROM THE VETRINARIANS THEMSELF.

#269, unfortunately, both Wellness and Innova (Natura) companies do business with Menu Foods as well. I spoke with someone at Natura because my cat eats both Innova EVO and California Natural dry foods. She told me that they manufacture dry foods in their own plant, and some wet foods through Menu. It doesn't say that on their website, but she was upfront about it when I called. They don't have any cuts and gravy style foods so nothing in the recall. Of course I can't trust that cuts and gravy is truly the only thing to worry about until they actually figure out what really caused this, so I wouldn't trust any wet foods from Menu at all. I also don't want to support any company that does business with Menu, so I was very sad to find out about this, I have a lot of respect for Natura foods.

For now, I am feeding Merrick canned food and the Natura dry foods, but I am going to buy some Natural Balance dry food to transition her over. They both have no outsourcing to Menu Foods. Also, according to the Merrick website, they have a new dry cat food coming in April, so I will probably try that as well, that company seems very good and my vet really likes them.

Not in dry food??? The front page of the newpaper today had it's little articale... 86 pet deaths linked to rat poison. B.S. This is really getting me down. I have eveidence of dry food deaths from all over the country and parts of the world. Go ahead feed your pets dry food. I not going to say I told you so... but you are taking your pets life into your own hands not the pet food industry for you have been warned... No one as of yet has opted to take my dry food for testing. I will pay for the tests! What the hell is going on folks?

keen

No one knows yet what other producers bought grain from China or from this particular Chinese supplier. Why is no one asking this question? Why have all other dog foods been deemed safe?

Why aren't journalists asking more questions about who else bought grain from China? Why aren't our vets making some noise about getting to the bottom of what other producers used questionable grain?

Spom

Spom, I've been reading articles on the net from all over the country about DRY pet foods killing pets since Monday. Many different brands scattered, almost maticulously, around the world. I know, this is starting to sound like some spy novel or conspiracy theory but this is as real as a heart attack. You know as well as I do that this thing is snowballing, possibly out of control. I have read of police k9's having some problems with the dry. I've also read that the FDA and PETA are indeed calling for an investigation into the dry products. What I'm trying to say is, don't feed your dogs or cats or anything else for that matter dry food until we, the pet owners, are convinced that our pets foods are 100% safe. Until then I suggest, scraps from the table and home made kibble just to be safe. You know, I'm sure haveing a hard time even looking at Walmart, let alone to stop and take the time to shop. They sold the DRY IAMS that so brutally kill our dog. I have about 35 pounds of this poison left, you think IAMS CEO would feed it to his pets, if he has one? I wouldn't feed it to my worst enemy. This stuff is so poison the rats won't touch it.

keen

#302, Links to the articles on dry foods, please?

You can post links if you remove the h,t,t,p,:,/,/ from the front of the link. Then it becomes just text. The h,t,t,p part of most links is what makes it an automatic link.

Like this: leda.law.harvard.edu/leda/data/784/Patrick06.html -- not a clickable link, but you can c&p it into your browser.

Thanks!

I forgot something can you believe that?? Both dogs have been low on energy. And one has been so weak at times she could barely get up.

Cynthia, my blood work will not be back from San Francisco until next week. Doctor was a little concerned about the dog and now me. But honestly I have to tell you that in 2005 I had a very rare tumor removed from my pancreas. There were only 64 others world wide. So my problem, no one knows, I worked in the printing industry with a great deal of chemicals. Have spent 10's of thousand of dollars with specialist that say they have no connection.

First of all, I have a very hard time listening to poeple that have no interest in my dogs health or my families happieness. These people, or companies are driven by the dollar, and truly have no allegance to us. We have pets they have food, we have money, they have our money to use to spin this thing any direction they would like.

I have read of three seperate problems now with our pets food, be it wet or dry. These dry foods must certainly start out wet, don't you think. They dry it and screen out the excess hair, metals and plastics. I've read nothing about removeing or testing for any of these suspected chemicals before they make a new batch. First wet batch goes down the shoot, on to production, no one knows about there being a problem with it and they start the next shift and they start with another new wet batch. I'm sure this goes on many hundreds of times a year. How, why would they and when do they sterilize their equipment. That is my reasoning for recommending that we not feed our animals any food stuffs that are packaged by these manufactureing giants. If anyone can gurantee to us that their foods are safe please help us out here. I have read so many names of so many manufactures that it's truly mind boggleing. Who is to say what is safe, the only true test is to eat it, and that in itself has been deadly to say the least. If you haven't noticed, MENU FOODS may be just the tip of the iceburg and the slow manner in which this is being handled may affect us all, one way or the other. I guess the best test of all is to have the CEO's feed it to themselves or their pets and see how they react. If 1 in 6 of these SOB's passed, we wouldn't miss much.

Cook em chicken, cook em steak, just keep that pet food off their plate.

keen

HEY EVERYONE! I know you are all freaked out about this food problem, believe me I am too! I was feeding my dogs Mighty Dog in the pouch! Fortunately they seem to be doing fine and the only reason I was feeding them that is because both of them are on antibiotics! I was mushing their pills into the food. Anyway I wanted to let everyone know that there are other companies that make dogs food that is not "tainted"... I now use Cesar wet food for them in the mornings and it is made by Masterfood. You can go to there website to see a list of their cat and dog foods Masterfoods.com. I believe they make Pedigree products as well. As far as dry food my babies are still eating Purina Beneful healthy weight. It does make me nervous. I HOPE ALL OF YOU HAVE LUCK AND PLEASE LOOK AT MASTERFOODS.COM FOR OTHER BRANDS THAT ARE SAFE FOR YOUR PETS!!!!

So Blue Buffalo is manufactured at C.J. Foods in the same city, Emporia Kansas, as the contaminated Menu Foods plant. Would it be crazy to be paranoid about that? Should I switch?? Someone help please!

Yikes, you mean the Blue Buffalo could be cross contaminated just by proximity alone. Suppliers usually have routes and I'm kinda thinking... since money rules and pets are the fuel, blue buffalo would definitely be suspect at this point, in my opinion, which is only that. These are my personal conclusions but If they would expose their supply chain for scrutiny that could be of great benefit for us and them. Sharing information is really helping me with all that has transpired. We can not thank you enough, your all kinda like our temporary replacement pet x 1000.

keen

lacy
how'd you find out b.b. was manufactured by c.j. foods? when i called them they told me they could not give me that information because thier manufacturer was such a small company they were not equiped to handle publicity & calls. that made me nervous along with knowing its manufactured in kansas they did tell me all of thier ingredients are human grade & are only purchased from the u.s. on the news friday their food was advertised as safe for human consumption

lacy
i forgot they also said that they had to plants 1 for wet & 1 for dry & neither of their manufactures was in any way affilliated with menue foods

This really brings to light how important it is to monitor companies. My sister buys a dry dog food which uses organic chicken. Or I should say used to. She read the ingredients when she first purchased the food about a year ago. After this poisoning with Menu Foods she decided she had better read the ingredients again. Now there is no mention of organic chicken.

I buy mostly organic food and much of the bulk grains and beans come from China. I have to say I do not have much confidence in them now.

And I still feel that this may have a genetic engineering link. What if China was experminenting with pharma crops. They may have implanted an anti-cancer trait or a rodenticide trait into wheat. I am having a hard time seeing how such a vast amount of wheat could have been contaminated otherwise.

This article is a bit beyond my level of expertise, but it does illustrate the experimenting going on.

www.pnas.org/cgi/reprint/88/11/4572.pdf

And this one from I-SIS illustrates many of the documented poisonings from ge experiments.

www.i-sis.org.uk/GMFoodNightmareUnfolding.php

Theory on wheat contamination

There is a reference in one story I found in the NY Times that said sometimes "bait" will be placed around the perimeter of the grain to catch rodents on ships coming over from China.

My theory is that instead of just using bait, some wise guys on these vessels began using rat poison around or even in the grain.

Another theory is that the Chinese farmers were having trouble with rodents and knew their grain was not going to feed humans. To stop rodents from eating it they mixed poison in with it. They might not have realized or cared what would happen to the canine or feline end-users.

Either that, or someone sabotaged multiple food plants inside the U.S. That seems unlikely.

I feel for everyone that lost a pet. My dog may have escaped death (again). After 3 days of quality Wholefoods meals (now he eats REAL lamb and rice), he is bouncing of the walls and smiling. He is also drinking and urinating less.

Spom in CA

Spom any theory is possible on the rat poison as to how it got in the wheat. I do think they are probably all looking for the source we can be sure of that, but will probably never be 100 % sure.

My heart goes out to every single person whom has a sick or dying cat or dog, or whom has lost a animal they love. My friend is hard broken over losing her cat and just thinking of losing our little guy here, our Dog just tears me up. We use Nutro dry and wet and no small cans were on the recall but Nutro ask to send them all back in.

We are feeding our little guy Rice and Chicken right now I am afraid to feed him any thing else right now.

As for Menu or any other company out there,
their money cannot replace any of our animals.

http://
www.vetinfo4cats.com/

Please visit here Dr. Richards is wonderful!

I've cried so much over the comments on this page and I can totally empathize. :(

My baby boy sits on my lap as I type this and I thank GOD he's still with me...he's already been through so much...I made the mistake of going to the PETA website today and downloading one of their vids...BAD IDEA...ugh...they make me just as angry as the sickos abusing the animals! I wish, I WISH they'd show them RESCUING these poor babies...rather than just TAPING/FILMING them for their own propaganda/agenda...

My heart is heavy with empathy for those of you whom have lost your loved ones...

Today I pressure cooked some cheap beef roast, baby carrots together with a little bit of grey sea salt, powdered vitamin C and oregano (I hope that's okay...I've never heard anything bad to the contrary)? Then I blended some up in a food processor with the broth and my boys gobbled it up...

My baby was always on the "Wellness" brand and I have two BIG packages of canned kitty food that I refuse to feed him now until I know for sure... I'd rather be paranoid and have my baby alive rather than trust a website that says "We aren't on the recall list"...like THAT is going to make me feel okay...right! The Wellness brand cat food doesn't use any wheat products and so far the rat poison is linked to wheat from China but I'm not taking any friggin' chances...

Sorry for ranting...I'm just angry and sad for those of you that lost your fur babies...not to mention the medical bills and mental/emotional grief you're experiencing... I hate to sound overly dramatic but if this happened to me and my own little boy after all we've gone through together I don't doubt I'd feel close to suicide... Some people just don't understand how important a pet/human bond can be...and they never will unless they've experienced it for themselves...it's a true blessing when you are lucky enough to find that gift...

My prayers go out to you all that have lost your living angels...please know, PLEASE know that their spirits live on in you and in heaven...

Tearfully and Sincerely,

Cheffy