Comments on: Pet-food recall: Thursday-morning numbers

By: Rhonda Oliver

Rhonda Oliver — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 07:39:52 +0000

I lost my beautiful thorough bred Maltese named Roxy Angel 3 days ago, who was the most loving dog I have ever had. She was fed Happy Tails dry dog food and within a weeks time she became quiet, she drank a lot more water(she always loved water) and she fell over when attempting to walk. I am VERY ANGRY because the super market ACME in Sicklerville, NJ sold the tainted dog food. They had to know that they have tainted food on their shelves. The manufacturer of Happy Tails should have listed it as a recall. Their list is very partial. In my research, I am finding that there are more companies that are not reporting the full ingredients on the foods and are not listing the dog food as tainted because THEY DO NOT WANT TO LOSE MONEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!HOW SELFISH AND HATEFUL IS THIS?? Every person and family in the United States that have suffered the lost of a pet or have suffered through this night mare should come together and sue the pants off these ruthless, barbaric companies!!!!!!!The Chinese do not have a respect for dogs and cats. Read on the internet what they do to torture the animals in their country to get their fur!I say let’s unite and fight back.Our pets were and are our babies. Their lives are being disregarded as insignificant because they ARE animals. The manufacturing companies, our government, the FDA and the merchants are all COMMITTING A CRIME worse than Michael Vick!I say let’s uniformingly sue the socks off for our loss, pain and suffering and bonifide deception from these ruthless, money hungry manufacturers and companies.

By: R.J. Markham

R.J. Markham — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 16:04:50 +0000

My wife and I are still mourning the tragic death of our little Shi-utz “Misty”.She ate “Happy Tails” dog treats which were tainted. Misty lasted four months due to my wife`s efforts of feeding her baby food and finely copped meat.I would not wish this experience on anyone. Everyone should write their congress rep.and demand more food inspectors for domestic and foreign food.

By: amber

amber — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 23:01:47 +0000

my boyfriend went to the store today and got some cans of catfood and gave it to my cats not thinking of the recall because there shouldnt be any recalled caned food on the shelves at a store but there was and it was gaven to my cats im pissed actions will be made if anything happens to my babies.

By: Anne

Anne — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 01:36:28 +0000

Although I am in Canada I just want to say that I fed my dog who was already battling Cushing’s disease foil pouches of President’s Choice meat and gravy dog food for the first time - (as a treat with his dry food) in December - he became very ill, throwing up, shaking, crying. He would try to pee and couldn’t. He lost his appetite. It was a struggle for him to stand up. I had to have him euthanized January 6th. I have never had to do this sort of thing before. It took me 6 days to stop constantly crying. And 2 months before I went a day without crying…and then I find out I fed my dog poison…I am devastated once again.

By: Bob Huffman

Bob Huffman — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 23:58:00 +0000

I think it’s too soon to conclude we know the cause of this tragedy. Cornell and New York State Agriculture have done the hard work of identifying the unknown toxic agent in samples of pet food as aminopterin. This news was released on Friday. Now that everyone knows what to look for it should be relatively easy and quick to confirm this chemical is present in pet food that was fed to the afflicted animals. If indeed aminopterin is the responsible agent we should soon be hearing confirming lab tests from all across the country. Menu foods has said that several of their test animals were victims, and I think it’s safe to assume they retained some of the food fed to these animals for testing. If we don’t hear some confirmations in the next few days then I suspect the presence of aminopterin in the New York samples was just a coincidence, and another troubling data point for poor food safety practices for both animals and humans.

Another feature of this story that bothers me is the quick attribution of the source of aminopterin to wheat gluten, and specifically to wheat gluten from China. If Chinese food processors are so sloppy that they get rat poison in their product why is there not an abundance of dying Chinese cats and dogs? Of for that matter, Chinese people?

One more thing – if the contaminated wheat gluten started being used in early December why did it take until the middle of March before the problem showed up?

By: Lori Musselman

Lori Musselman — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 18:19:52 +0000

I have been feeding my dog the Shep Premium Chunks Chicken in sauce. He has been sick since Dec. At first I thought it was because I changed the food so suddenly. He has bad teeth and couldn’t chew the hard food. His kidneys are showing damage of BUN 31 and should be between 6-25 he shows Creatinine 2.3 and should be between 0.5 to 1.6 Lymphocytes are 600 and should be between 690-4500. Please some one help me to understand what this all means. I have him on antibiotics and an I.V. drip (doing it at home myself). He is urinating about every 10-15 minutes. He just can’t hold his urine and is going all over. Please some one tell me will he get better? He is a 12 year old poodle and loved sooooo much.
My sister was killed on flight 800, my childrens dad was killed by a druggy on the road and now the darn menu foods is killing my dog some one please help!!!!!

Lori

By: Lisa

Lisa — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 00:31:28 +0000

For Amy Boda…………

Hi Amy…my name is Lisa. I have a cat who I found on the side of a road as a VERY yougn kitten. My vet wasn’t sure if he’d make it through the weekend. He was hospitalized for 4 days…severe dehydration, malnutrition (he was a rack of bones), full of parasites (internal and ex), upper respitory infection and terrible conjuntivitus. What a mouthful huh! lol
I brought him home…did finish up his amoxi and eye meds but put him on a raw diet right away. he was weak and frail….but would eat raw ground beef, minced up raw chicken, minced raw fish, and raw egg yolk. He went back in 2 weeks for a physical and my vet’s jaw dropped. She said she had never seen a young animal bounce back like this. Now, Oliver (named as the little orphan on the street) is a hog beast! lol He eats the same as before but in large chunks now along with raw chicken wings and beef ribs. Oliver is now 7 months old (we think) and is incredibly healthy. I am doing the series of vaccines to build the immunity but will not continue with yearly (or even 3 yr) vaccines. I’ll opt to have a blood titer drawn to check his levels every so often.
I would try some raw meat (the same you would get from the grocery store for yourself). if you’d like more info….pictures of my gang, or have any questions…feel free to e-mail me privately.
ltopper30@aol.com

By: Lisa

Lisa — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 00:11:48 +0000

My heart goes out to all of you doing this hard time/ I am a breeder and exibiter of standard poodles. I think that the worst problm is that the public has been fed lies for so many years…….most veterinarians and the commercial pet food industry fool consumers by makeing them believe that commericla dog food and these special formulas from the vet are actually balaced diets….let along safe and healthy for our pets. Nonsense…………..
I feed a raw diet to my pets….my poodles and one cat. I do suppliment with a Chicken Soup For The Puppy Lover’s Soul at times. The public needs to be re-educated about canine nutrition. There are no studies that show the internal makeup of the domesticated dog is any different than a wild dog. My dogs eat a raw meat/bone ratio daily…..we have no health problems, good weight and muscle tone, no skin allergies, no ear infections, clean teeth and diet DOES have something to do with that. That, along with a limited vaccine regimen is right up there along side of good genetics in my opinion. I was a veterinary tech for many years….I saw all the dogs come inwith health problems not long after their yearly vaccines were given. i’ve seen puppies have terrible vaccine reactions from hives….to actual death.
It truely saddens me that most of the public are not informed.

By: Sanford M. Goodman

Sanford M. Goodman — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 11:59:06 +0000

I am the CEO of Nature’s Variety.

The comment from our customer service employee has been misunderstood.

She did lose a dog unexpectedly this week, BUT IT HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH FEEDING NATURE’S VARIETY CANNED PET FOOD. (The dog broke its neck in an accident.) When the caller posed the question to her, she could not answer the question as posed because she had recently lost her dog and was still emotional about it.

We sympathize with everyone who has lost a pet, whether related to the Menu recall or otherwise. But our products are not involved in the recall and are safe.

I have two wonderful, beloved Pembroke Welsh Corgis, Izzie and Grover. I have been feeding and continue to feed them Nature’s Variety canned pet food. They are healthy and happy.

Sanford M. Goodman

By: Traci

Traci — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 03:53:45 +0000

I found a list on a blog last night that gives some good info as to which companies outsource their canning (as to factories owned by Menu Foods for instance) and which do their own canning. Note that I was told over the phone by Mudbay Granary in Seattle that while Wellness uses a factory owned by Menu Foods, it is a separate facility and uses human-grade ingredients. I didn’t ask about others like Innova or Nature’s Variety but that is likely similar. I asked about Wellness moist specifically because my cats have been eating it.

http://petsitusa.com/blog/?p=210

This page seems to be good about updating in the main list as well as people adding new info in the comments section. So, keep checking back to it.