Pet-food recall: Notes for a Saturday afternoon
By Gina Spadafori
April 7, 2007
- If you have a sick pet or a question on your pet’s health, call your veterinarian.
- If you’re new to the site, please check out our general information page (includes links to recalled foods).
- If you’d like suggestions on what to feed, click here.
- If you want to report a sick or deceased pet, click here.
- If you want to know what you can do, please read our call to action
- If you want to read all our recall-related blog posts, click here.
OK, I admit it: I was being a lazy blogger, putting all those updates into an earlier post. A serious breach of blogging protocol, I admit. Mea culpa.
So … I’m giving the short items their own post:
Pet-care columnist Steve Dale is also host of a radio show on pets out of Chicago. Sen. Durbin will be his guest tomorrow night … Author, radio-show host and holistic veterinarian Dr. Shawn Messonnier puts his thoughts on the recall up on You Tube. … Pet Connection contributing editor Christie Keith writes on her personal blog, Dogged, about why as a pet-owner who has been preparing meals for her pets at home for more than 20 years she doesn’t feel like taking the opportunity now to suggest everyone else do the same. … CNN interviews retired University of California, Davis, professor of veterinary nutrition Dr. Donald Strombeck about the sudden success of his book on feeding at home — a book first published in 1999.
And a great catch from reader Steve, this site for the Americans for Country of Origin Labeling. Be great not to have to re-invent the wheel on getting country of origin on all food labels, pet food included. Here’s his full comment.
I’m editing these short items out of the previous post, so they appear just once. Forgive me?
Go to the latest blog post | Go to the PetConnection home page
|Technorati Tags: pet food recall, dogs, cats,veterinarian, veterinary
Lazy? How about exhausted?
There’s nothing to forgive!
Comment by Christie Keith — April 7, 2007 @ 4:48 pm
Gina and Christie, thanks so much for everything you are doing for all of us, Im not sure you really know how much we are all truly appreciative and thankful. The true facts of this pet food recall would not be out there right now if it were for you and this website.
Comment by Sandi K — April 7, 2007 @ 5:32 pm
This is important to read and the first place I’ve seen this information about the possible cause for aminopterin and melamine being found sometimes together in differeing amounts:
http://tedeboy.tripod.com/drmichaelwfox/id74.html
Site also have completely balanced recipies for home made dog and cat food.
(don’t know where to post this, sorry)
Comment by Rose L — April 7, 2007 @ 5:44 pm
This has potential cause for 2 poisons to be found together and worth reading since news media haven’t even begun to think in this direction and should be:
http://tedeboy.tripod.com/drmichaelwfox/id74.html
Comment by Rose L — April 7, 2007 @ 5:47 pm
Yes, thank you! Can you imagine if we had to rely on the FDA for our information? We’d still be at a point of mild concern about the 16 pets who died…
Comment by slt — April 7, 2007 @ 5:47 pm
This is amazing to me. Hope it isn’t a duplicate on this site, but it’s the first time I’ve read where Xuzhou and Dr. Lijun Mao claim what they produce. Hasn’t he indicated that Xuzhou is merely a ‘middleman’, buying from producers and selling to distributors?
From the URL displayed at the bottom:
“Description: we can supply 小麦活性蛋白（小麦谷朊粉） Here are brief introduction of our company: As a non-governmental enterprise dealing in production, research and development of biochemical products, micro zoological agent and biologic feed. New sells to Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, and Malaysia and so on. The Main Product：ESB Biologic Protein Powder、ESB YiShengSu Yeast Powder、Multiple Protein Powder”
Name: lijun Mao
URL: http://www.xzay.com
Phone: 0516-89741888
Address: Wangdian Country fair Pei County Jiangsu, XuZhou /Peixian, JiangSu, 221623, china
Expires: Oct 22, 2006
http://tinyurl.com/22pywm
Comment by Maureen — April 7, 2007 @ 6:32 pm
Speaking of FDA, it’s apparently confident it can take on the policing of generic biotech drugs, according to the NYT.
http://tinyurl.com/2ygyt3
So let’s see. Wheat gluten = too much to handle. Generic copies of bioengineered drugs = no problem. Riiight.
Comment by Laura — April 7, 2007 @ 6:45 pm
I know I saw this somewhere before, but is there a link to ALL the recalled foods, that list both brand and dates, etc. all on one page. The last one I saw was maybe four pages long, and I can’t remember who put it together.
I tried the link on the recall page here, but some of the pages were gone or down.
Thanks, if anyone can find it.
Comment by carly — April 7, 2007 @ 7:27 pm
I’ve been looking at food security issues for a number of days. COOL applies currently to fish and shrimp only. It is said it will take 2 billion to implement - US has to do it also. It does not cover everything.
Repost: http://www.ams.usda.gov/cool/
Country of Origin Labeling
” On May 13, 2002, President Bush signed into law the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002, more commonly known as the 2002 Farm Bill. One of its many initiatives requires country of origin labeling for beef, lamb, pork, fish, perishable agricultural commodities and peanuts. On January 27, 2004, President Bush signed Public Law 108-199 which delays the implementation of mandatory COOL for all covered commodities except wild and farm-raised fish and shellfish until September 30, 2006. On November 10, 2005, President Bush signed Public Law 109-97, which delays the implementation for all covered commodities except wild and farm-raised and shellfish until September 30, 2008. As described in the legislation, program implementation is the responsibility of USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service.”
The 2002 Farm Bill expires at the end of this year. So does Public Law 109-97 (the last delay in implementation) still apply once the bill it’s tied to is gone? Just askin’….. There will be another Farm Bill, as always. Oh and NAFTA expires at the end of 2008 (don’t know if there’s food regs tied to current trade agreement or not).
COOL Q & A: http://www.ams.usda.gov/COOL/Q&A.htm
“The COOL provision of the Farm Bill applies to all imported and domestic covered commodities. Moreover, the law specifically identifies the criteria that products of U.S. origin must meet. The law further states that “Any person engaged in the business of supplying a covered commodity to a retailer shall provide information to the retailer indicating the country of origin of the covered commodity.” And, the law does not provide authority to control the movement of product. In fact, the use of a mandatory identification system that would be required to track controlled product through the entire chain of commerce is specifically prohibited. “
Testimony 2006 by head of FDA:
http://www.hhs.gov/asl/testify/t060314.html
“Improve our Emergency Operations Network ($1 million) to allow FDA to conduct more sophisticated incident tracking for food-related emergencies.”
American Society of Microbiologists want more $ for FDA:
http://www.asm.org/Policy/index.asp?bid=41959
“The Administration’s FY 2007 budget request of $1.95 billion for the FDA includes $1.55 billion in budget authority and $402 million in industry user fees, a total increase of $70.8 million or 3.8 percent over the FY 2006 budget. Despite the proposed increase, the FDA’s budget continues to be constrained, especially in view of the increasing demands on the FDA related to food safety, pandemic influenza, new and emerging infectious diseases, such asWest Nile and Mad Cow Disease, drug safety, and initiatives to advance innovation in medical product development”
FDA 2007 Budget - Food Defense
http://www.fda.gov/oc/oms/ofm/.....nseBCP.htm
The failure to adequately fund food defense research, conduct vulnerability assessments, biosurveillance activities, support FERN and critical Field food defense operations, and upgrade the agency’s emergency crisis/incident management capabilities will limit FDA’s ability to shield the food supply and provide adequate laboratory capacity to rapidly analyze food samples for the presence of threat agents. In short, the failure to provide this funding will compromise FDA’s awareness of, and effective response to, an attack on the food supply.
2006 budget CVM - 2 points are:
http://www.fda.gov/oc/oms/ofm/.....ry/CVM.htm
“Continue developing more efficient rapid analytical methods for screening imports at the border;
Work with CDC on a bioterrorism surveillance system for companion animals that can be used as an early detection mechanism”
FSIS initiates FERN (Food Emergency Response Network) in 2005
Training is ongoing, labs are being certified continually.
http://www.fsis.usda.gov/News_...../index.asp
OR use http://tinyurl.com/3zk7d
FERP - Food Emergency Response Plan, Version one - 2/9/06
located at NASDA (National Assn of State Depts of Agriculture)
website: http://www2.nasda.org/NASDA
Click on food safety - it’s 89 pages long. The gist of it is that each state is responsible for setting up it’s part of the network. There are cooperative agreements with each state: http://tinyurl.com/32pfx7
USDA budget 2007: http://www.fda.gov/oc/oms/ofm/budget/2007/TOC.htm
FDA - (CFSAN) Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition - drop in budget dollars over the years:
http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/cfsan506.html
Comment by CathyA — April 7, 2007 @ 7:27 pm
Carly - I think you’re talking about the one at my site http://www.petfoodtracker.com . Well, there are 2 now, both about to be updated with yesterday’s additions. :-)
Comment by Kim — April 7, 2007 @ 7:40 pm
Melamine
Here are some other Names for this chemical (http://tinyurl.com/27te6q) listed below.
02284 (CA DPR Chem Code) , 1,3,5-Triazine-2,4,6-triamine , 108-78-1 (CAS Number) , 108781 (CAS Number) , 2,4,6-triamino-1,3,5-triazine , 2,4,6-triamino-s-triazine , 2284 (CA DPR Chem Code) , 777201 (US EPA PC Code) , Cyanuramide , Cymel , Cyromazine breakdown product , Melamine , S-triaminotriazine , Tiaminotriazine
I picked 1,3,5-Triazine-2,4,6-triamine for further research, and came across this (http://tinyurl.com/2czdlz), a study done at Cornell using Cyromazine on a Dog-feeding study for 6 months with no NOEL no-observable-effects-level…daily exposure estimates to a Reference Dose (RfD) of 0.0075 mg/kg body weight/day.
Will somebody who has the background for this please take a look and see if it is relevant for us.
Comment by DeeAnn — April 7, 2007 @ 8:11 pm
CathyA,
Nice collection of articles they are very interesting indeed especially the ones about budget and the The 2002 Farm Bill. Stopping short of blaming the former congress and our current president, trying to keep politics out of it.
Nice research! Everyone just remember to vote in the next 18 months.
Comment by MonkeyKitty — April 7, 2007 @ 8:13 pm
Melamine (Getting links to work.)
Here are some other Names for this chemical http://tinyurl.com/27te6q listed below.
02284 (CA DPR Chem Code) , 1,3,5-Triazine-2,4,6-triamine , 108-78-1 (CAS Number) , 108781 (CAS Number) , 2,4,6-triamino-1,3,5-triazine , 2,4,6-triamino-s-triazine , 2284 (CA DPR Chem Code) , 777201 (US EPA PC Code) , Cyanuramide , Cymel , Cyromazine breakdown product , Melamine , S-triaminotriazine , Tiaminotriazine
I picked 1,3,5-Triazine-2,4,6-triamine for further research, and came across this http://tinyurl.com/2czdlz, a study done at Cornell using Cyromazine on a Dog-feeding study for 6 months with no NOEL no-observable-effects-level….daily exposure estimates to a Reference Dose (RfD) of 0.0075 mg/kg body weight/day.
Will somebody who has the background for this please take a look and see if it is relevant for us.
Comment by DeeAnn — April 7, 2007 @ 8:15 pm
THANKS TO PET CONNECTION
Gina, Christie, and others who work behind the scenes:
Thanks so much for all your hard work. I hope you know how we all appreciate it. In this horrible situation there are very few reliable sources I can count on: PET CONNECTION is at the top of the list. You’re awesosme.
Comment by Lynn — April 7, 2007 @ 8:58 pm
Re:Comment by Kim:
The http://www.petfoodtracker.com address doesn’t work—it says no such address. Do you know if there’s a problem with the site?
Comment by carly — April 7, 2007 @ 9:11 pm
Petforum 2007
April 16-18, 2007
Hyatt Regency O’Hare Hotel
Chicago, Illinois, USA
http://www.wattnet.com/petfoodforum/PetForum.cfm
Comment by Steve — April 7, 2007 @ 9:21 pm
Re: Petforum
Would be interesting to have a few moles go see what the industry has in store for us poor consumers.
Last time I shop at Petco…
Comment by MonkeyKitty — April 7, 2007 @ 9:38 pm
Comment by MonkeyKitty — April 7, 2007 @ 9:38 pm
Wouldn’t it though. All the big shots are going to be there. Might want to visit the CN booth.
Every move you make
Every vow you break
Every smile you fake
Every claim you stake
Ill be watching you
Comment by Steve — April 7, 2007 @ 9:48 pm
“T.W. Enterprises Expands its Nationwide Recall of Pet Treats to Include All of its Products Due to Possible Salmonella Contamination”
http://www.postchronicle.com/n.....3640.shtml
Comment by Jackie — April 7, 2007 @ 9:52 pm
Comment by Jackie — April 7, 2007 @ 9:52 pm
Wonderful. Now who are these characters?
Comment by Steve — April 7, 2007 @ 9:57 pm
I think they are the guys who recalled the Pizzle products a couple days ago, and must have decided to add some more products to their recall late on Saturday evening. The slow leak mentality.
Comment by Jackie — April 7, 2007 @ 10:09 pm
Carly - it’s working fine when I click on it, which probably doesn’t mean much! Here’s another option http://petfoodtracker.blogspot.com/
(the http://www.petfoodtracker.com forwards to the blog)
If you still have problems email me at pft @ playingbig.com
Comment by Kim — April 7, 2007 @ 10:15 pm
Thanks Jackie, hadn’t seen that. Yep, they’re the Pizzle folks.
Very scary item on this release though - these were sold in BULK
… in addition to the above products, the firm ships the following BULK products to distributors in boxes with labeling as follows:
HEALTHY K9
BEEF JERKY
ONE POUND
NET
HEALTHY K9
BEEF LIVER
ONE POUND
NET
Those who have questions about whether one they may have purchased one of these unlabeled bulk pet treats should contact the store where the item was purchased to see if T.W. Enterprises was the supplier.
Comment by Kim — April 7, 2007 @ 10:18 pm
Um… hang on, this might be an old recall that got picked up by mistake (from 2005) more soon
Comment by Kim — April 7, 2007 @ 10:21 pm
This is truely about money, they are just wating for the FDA to come to them and ask them to recall it or else. So much for self regulation. Sad thing is they problalby don’t even really know where there products are coming from.
I hope I wake up from this friggin nightmare sometime.
Comment by MonkeyKitty — April 7, 2007 @ 10:23 pm
Ya I wouldn’t buy JACK S**T in Bulk, they are the most suspect of all.
Comment by MonkeyKitty — April 7, 2007 @ 10:24 pm
Yup, it’s an old recall. http://www.fda.gov/oc/po/firmr.....06_17.html
Took way too long to figure out though. this is crazy!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — Ferndale, WA — June 17, 2005 —- T.W. Enterprises of Ferndale, Wash. today alerted consumers that it is recalling its entire line of dog and cat treats it markets because they may be contaminated with Salmonella. On June 8, the company recalled some of its products because of this contamination. Subsequent testing indicates that its other pet treat products may also be contaminated.
Comment by Kim — April 7, 2007 @ 10:27 pm
I would still avoid all bulk food and treats, can you even get the ingredients or origin?
Oh wait you can’t even do that now as far as origin goes on the packaging, wups.
Comment by MonkeyKitty — April 7, 2007 @ 10:34 pm
Hmm…that was the first report I saw of the expanded recall for T.W. I bet other news org’s pick up on it, and start reporting the old recall. Crazy is right.
Comment by Jackie — April 7, 2007 @ 10:34 pm
Interesting Topics. Every gimmick you can imagine but safe wholesome food.
http://www.wattnet.com/petfoodforum/PetForum.cfm
Comment by Steve — April 7, 2007 @ 10:39 pm
It’s great that T.W. manages to have 2 separate recalls for the same contaminant, less than 2 years apart. Learned a lot the first round, eh?
Comment by Jackie — April 7, 2007 @ 10:45 pm
Ya I like how to package for Walmart part…
It makes me feel like a number. They should do a “how not to kill your customers and expand your profits” series.
Comment by MonkeyKitty — April 7, 2007 @ 10:45 pm
http://tinyurl.com/3235mh has some data from The Animal Medical Center of New York City on food-related acute renal failure. “Although there is tremendous media interest in this situation, there is no medical information available to veterinarians. To provide information and guidance to veterinarians about the diagnosis, management and outcome of this form of acute renal failure, The Animal Medical Center’s Renal Medicine Service has reviewed all chemistry profiles obtained at AMC between March 17-20, 2007.”
“Dr. Cathy Langston of AMC’s Renal Medicine Service has the following recommendations for the diagnosis and management of your patients with acute renal failure from consumption of recalled pet food:
A urine specific gravity is a quick and easy screening test for acute renal failure. If the specific gravity is >1.035 for cats and 1.030 for dogs, acute renal failure is not the diagnosis. If the specific gravity is less than these values, a chemistry profile should be evaluated to determine if the pet is azotemic.” (Azotemic means an excess of urea or other nitrogenous compounds in the blood, for those of us who aren’t vets!)
“Intravenous fluids should be administered if the pet is symptomatic for acute renal failure. Hemodialysis is indicated in pets with worsening creatinine despite adequate fluid therapy, oliguira, anuria, hyperkalememia or intractable signs of uremia.
Contact: Michael Shepley, 212-786-9064”
Comment by Sue Dunn — April 7, 2007 @ 10:53 pm
Comment by MonkeyKitty — April 7, 2007 @ 10:45 pm
Yes, my cat was complaining to me the other day about “taste”. Wonder what they are going to dream up next to trick our cats into eating some of this garbage.
Comment by Steve — April 7, 2007 @ 10:53 pm
RE: Steve’s post
Talk about an evil empire..sheesh
Wow thats an eye opener. I am still thinking about what the PFI sent petconnection.com.
I will never look at pet food the same way that is for certain.
Comment by MonkeyKitty — April 7, 2007 @ 10:56 pm
Comment by MonkeyKitty — April 7, 2007 @ 10:56 pm
Look at this. Look at the ingredients in some of this stuff.
http://www.chompinc.com/yip_yap/
Comment by Steve — April 7, 2007 @ 11:00 pm
This workshop should be a hoot.
8:00-9:30 am
General session—executive roundtable: Doug Cahill of Mars Inc., Ladd Hardy of Nutro Products, Marcel Blok of Breakthrough Consulting and Brian Connolly of Castor & Pollux share their insights on the petfood industry today and tomorrow.
Comment by Steve — April 7, 2007 @ 11:03 pm
Petforum 2007
Oh, but wait most of those speakers are Vets, problably the same vets that are telling us not to do a home diet because why?
There is no packaging or bells and whistles….We can’t market that to wal mart or Pet Co. There isn’t a “niche”
Con artists I tell you!!!
Comment by MonkeyKitty — April 7, 2007 @ 11:03 pm
Petforum2007
Wonder how long until that site goes down…
Comment by MonkeyKitty — April 7, 2007 @ 11:05 pm
Comment by MonkeyKitty — April 7, 2007 @ 11:03 pm
I was one of the Pet Food Industries biggest fans.
All these new and cool healthy products and individual brands to choose from.
Until March 16.
Comment by Steve — April 7, 2007 @ 11:11 pm
Comment by MonkeyKitty — April 7, 2007 @ 11:05 pm
LOL soon I would imagine.
Comment by Steve — April 7, 2007 @ 11:11 pm
I wonder how much effort they spend on packaging versus how much they spend on making sure their ingredients don’t kill their customers.
Would love to see that break down…
Comment by MonkeyKitty — April 7, 2007 @ 11:11 pm
http://www.regulations.gov/fdm.....onent/main
Just found this website. It says: Your voice in Federal decision making.
Comment by DeeAnn — April 7, 2007 @ 11:21 pm
Comment by MonkeyKitty — April 7, 2007 @ 11:11 pm
Less effort then they probably spend on pampering and spoiling the executives with massive salaries, perks, options, and outrageous severance packages and golden parachutes when it’s time to bail out I imagine.
Comment by Steve — April 7, 2007 @ 11:27 pm
I bet the Menu Foods CEO has some friendly neighbors right about now.
He is where’s waldo since a week ago. Must be the corporate lawyers. I bet he is on some small island about now.
Comment by MonkeyKitty — April 7, 2007 @ 11:42 pm
PET FORUM 2007
http://www.wattnet.com/petfoodforum/PetForum.cfm
Oh, to be a fly on the wall. There are three sections that really grab my attention:
- The future of petfood retailing
- New and significant global regulations
- General session—what pet owners want
I doubt any top management will be there, but it sure would be nice to humble the attendees with a press entourage right outside the meeting room, don’t you think?
Comment by Lynn — April 7, 2007 @ 11:46 pm
Oh, but wait most of those speakers are Vets, problably the same vets that are telling us not to do a home diet because why?
Actually, one of them is Sean Delaney, who runs a website and company that formulates homemade pet diets. Interesting.
Comment by Christie Keith — April 8, 2007 @ 12:11 am
Perhaps he is a well respected consultant for the pet food industry?
The PETFORUM 2007 agenda was set before this whole mess started so I am sure it is a fluke.
Not one to speculate.
Comment by MonkeyKitty — April 8, 2007 @ 12:46 am
Organization working to reduce the use of hazardous pesticides world wide.
http://www.panna.org/
Comment by DeeAnn — April 8, 2007 @ 12:50 am
I vote for the General session—what pet owners want
What we want is a product that we can give cats and dogs and know it won’t kill them.
So much for thinking that giving table scraps is bad. Hell these people are just trying to make a buck with the masses.
What a racket. Can’t wait to attend!
Comment by MonkeyKitty — April 8, 2007 @ 1:07 am
Re: Comment by MonkeyKitty — April 7, 2007 @ 8:13 pm
There is an incomplete system right now. The overall blueprint is there, but it depends on how the states responded and what they implemented. Michigan had numbers because they instituted a statewide program in 2004.
http://newsroom.msu.edu/site/i.....ontent.htm
EAST LANSING, Mich. – Michigan State University, the Michigan Department of Agriculture and the state’s largest veterinarian organization have come together to form the Michigan Emergency Veterinary Network, or “Vet Net,” as part of Michigan’s homeland security efforts in the animal health and protection arena
I expect they’ll be getting a lot of calls for their system blueprint. If every state had such a system we might have had a chance to nail this thing down faster. What’s your state doing?
Yes, plus the problem that the FDA has more and more to do with fewer and fewer dollars. Their plight is out in the open now though!
Comment by CathyA — April 8, 2007 @ 6:08 am
I Wonder if anyone caught this on CNN Sat there were 2 vets. on 1 at 4 pm and 1 at 5pm est,the anchor ask both vets. what they fed their dogs both said dry kibble,i was waitng for the name of pet food but neither one would give up the name of food they feed their pets. kidos to CNN they are still running the yellow ticker w/ all the recall food.it’s a real eye opener to see all this food that killed the pets and made them so sick.
Comment by Mary Ann — April 8, 2007 @ 6:36 am
I saw the female vet being interviewed twice. Near the end of her interview when she was asked what she was feeding her pets, she said that she was still feeding her pets the same food as she did before the recall. When asked if the food had wheat or wheat gluten in, the vet said, “No.”
I think the female vet should have said something about the continuing treatments for the pets that had already sustained kidney damage and, of course, the costs associated with those treatments. She also said, based on her experience I believe, that the number of pets coming in with ARF seemed to have diminished. I hope that is true since owners sbecame more proactive once the issue gained more media attention during the second week, but I don’t want pet owners to to become complacent, thinking that their animals do not need monitoring and that all is well. As someone suggested here, we may see animals with shortened lives and a lesser quality of life as a fallout effect, even though the pets survived the immediately life-threatening period once they received intensive treatment. I certainly hope not.
Comment by petlover — April 8, 2007 @ 7:07 am
I am glad that CNN has been doing some good coverage but I keep hearing reporters, vets, FDA etc making comments like, “it looks like the worst is over for pet owners”. FDA saying “we should have it all wrapped up”…..I am concerned at that because we still dont have a true cause of the illnesses and deaths yet. And for pet owners like me who lost their kitty, I dont feel the worst is over, I feel like its just beginning as I still have to adjust to life without our kitty and try to understand why it happened. Its hard to understand why until FDA and whoever can give us an honest answer on what happened and why. And for pet owners who havent lost a pet but whose pet is now ill, the worst is not over for them either as they may be looking at life long kidney damage that they will be dealing with. Im just once again getting the feeling that everyone wants to move on to more recent new stories and forget this. I hope that doesnt happen.
Comment by Sandi K — April 8, 2007 @ 9:46 am
I think a petition should be brought to Congress to begin to evaluate the status of our pet’s current ‘legal’ status of ‘property’ to provide protection for pet parents against the globalization and lack of regulation, evidenced by the current problems with the pet food industry. We have thousands of pets dying or that have died, and little meaningful response from the FDA,and some associated governmental agencies and the pet food industry itself. http://tinyurl.com/yw4u2f references Gary L. Francione, who in his book ‘Animals, Property, and the Law’ (l995) argues that “because animals are the property of humans, laws that supposedly require their “humane” treatment and prohibit the infliction of “unnecessary” harm do not provide any significant level of protection for animal interests. For the most part, these laws and requlations require only that animals receive that level of protection that is required for their use as human property. Animals only have values as commodities and their interests do not matter in any moral sense. As a result, despite having laws that supposedly protection animals, Francione contends that we treat animals in ways that would be regarded as torture if humans were involved. Lastly, Francione states that we could provide greater protection to animals even if they remain our property, but legal, social, and economic forces militate strongly against recognizing animal interests unless there is an economic benefit for humans.” I would think that there would be great economic interest for the pet food industry to begin to reeassess the status of animals.
Comment by Sue Dunn — April 8, 2007 @ 9:51 am
Comment by Sandi K — April 8, 2007 @ 9:46 am
I completely agree with you Sandi K. For my family, the worse is far from over. Yes, some of my cats that showed minor symptoms have improved but my PooPoo who spent 20+ days in the vet will have to be on subcu fluids for a long time in addition to diuretics with weekly trips to the vet for who knows how long. Having also lost two cats during this fiasco, it’s definitely hard to move on. Every time I go outside, I still expect to see those two running up to me and I get upset all over again. Poo thinks I’m crazy because every time he goes outside to romp and play, I follow him around all over the place. I’m so scared that he is going to get sick again so I am watching him like a hawk.
Anyway, it’s definitely far from over for us.
Comment by Adrienne — April 8, 2007 @ 10:15 am
For those of you who have had cats that were sickened from the recent recalled foods but have survived, I’d like to offer perhaps a little hopeful news to you. Two years ago my 14 year old neutered male cat seemed to be peeing and drinking a lot. The blood test at the vet showed some, but not alarming loss of kidney function which the vet said could be somewhat expected in an older cat. Two years later my now 16 year old precious guy is still with us and in really good shape considering. He is in good spirits, loves mealtime, and is still drinkin’ and peein’ like crazy. (Although you would not want my kitty litter bills) :)
Of course, the damage caused by the recent tainted wheat gluten may be different, or with greater toxicity to the affected kidneys and therefore have a different prognoses than what my cat has been dealing with, but I wanted to let you know that some cats can live quite a while with compromised kidneys and have a great quality of life. Good luck to all of you.
Comment by elizabeth R — April 8, 2007 @ 10:28 am
CARLY,
avma.org has clear lists and links to the recalled food and press releases and gets the information out soon.
Comment by Mike — April 8, 2007 @ 12:43 pm
Mary Ann and petlover, Re: CNN VETS
I finally found the general transcript page for CNN: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/
From what I can tell there were two women vets on CNN yesterday. One is Dr. Melinda Merck, a forensic veterinarian with the ASPCA and the link is:
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRA.....nr.05.html
The other was Dr. Diane Levitan who was on twice 11 AM and 4 PM ET:
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRA.....nr.02.html
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRA.....mn.02.html
I did a search on both out of curiosity. Dr. Diane Levitan is on the advisory board of something called VNN - Veterinary News Network. http://www.myvnn.com
http://www.myvnn.com/press.php?press=7
VNN is a FREE service for veterinarians used to help them get involved with their local news media to provide much needed expert medical advice to the public. VNN specializes in producing and distributing complete news packages for its national network of veterinarians. {…} The VNN project was made possible by an educational grant from the Western Veterinary Conference (WVC) and is currently funded by Merial.
They have a FAQ for the pet food recall that I suggest all READ as it mentions blogs (how they hate them, how they use them)::
http://www.myvnn.com/press.php?press=8
It’s run by Dr. Jim Humphries, who apparently appears on lots of radio and TV shows, not to mention had (and still may have) some commercial interests (besides his own Video production company).: Check his bio: http://www.myvnn.com/bios.htm
I ran across a collection of links about VNN, among them was this one:
http://taxi_image.advanstar.co.....3-web.html
The VNN resources, found at http://www.vetnewsnet.com, are available to all participating veterinarians. Interested candidates must meet seven qualifications listed on the site to become a veterinarian reporter, and Humphries plans to conduct telephone interviews. Once accepted, VNN reporters will be expected to develop relationships with local media outlets and receive a toolbox containing news packages of edited video, radio talking points and articles each month.
Participants who stray from the VNN-approved message will not be network supported, Humphries says.
“Should a veterinarian become rogue, they will not be sent any more information and their password will be deleted,” he says.”
ROGUE? Approved message? Funded by Merial? Is it these people who are helping to keep the number at 16?
VNN information for their “reporters”, in which he says Royal Canin recall was due to aflatoxin:
http://www.pavma.org/Pet_Food_.....ecall.html
I don’t expect any TV vet to tell me what to feed. Neither do I expect them to tell me I need a degree in nutrition to feed my pet. Nor will I listen to any vet who is associated with VNN. I’ll only listen to the ROGUES!
Information is good, panic is bad, but bland canned approved messages from authority figures who are not allowed to speak their mind doesn’t cut it right now.
Comment by muttcentral — April 8, 2007 @ 2:52 pm
Thanks to those posting about the VNN information site for reporters. Fascinating. They are certainly doing what they can to keep the “lid on”, aaren’t they? There is actually some useful information on the site for reporters and others to use as a resource for pet food recall stories. Unfortunately, unless reporters make the effort to dig and obtain information from multiple sources (as it appears Anderson Cooper and a few others have done) their story for readers is coming from only one point of view—the VNN’s—and hence is incomplete.
But for me what is most unforgivable, (and unbelievable) is that the VNN is firmly sticking to their legalese—-a tortured definition of the number of “official” deaths. As long as the VNN makes no effort to even acknowlege that there may be many more animal deaths beyond those 16 who died in Menu’s controlled lab test more than a month ago, anything else they say must be increasingly viewed as wholly suspect, as well. Why the VNN’s PR and media people who are probably University trained in crisis management don’t see that is amazing to me. It’s always the coverup that gets ya, folks.
Earlier in the week one of my local papers printed an article with a Q and A section that I recognozed immediately as coming from the computer of a Public Relations professional on a mission. Now I know exactly where the gullible reporter got the Q and A.
Comment by elizabeth R — April 8, 2007 @ 5:04 pm
VNN is most interesting, always reassuring when the date is “Update April 2007”, but not when in April.
“Most dry pet foods don’t routinely utilize the wheat gluten meal in their formulations.”
“A very small percentage of pet foods are involved”
Reading the foodlabels is not a prerequisite before issuing a statement like that ? There is no link between imported quantity and it’s use ? A 30% increase in visit to vets is no indication that something is not totally right here ?
“Most experts in internal medicine who study kidney disease, do not believe that melamine is truly the culprit. Little work is done in our small animals, particularly cats, on the toxicity of this substance.”
Oh my, and research on the effects in rats is no indication ?
“The good news is that all along we have been treating these dogs and cats appropriately, they are responding well, most pets that have eating recalled food are healthy and fine, and we are still looking hard.”
This would be very funny if it weren’t so sad.
How can you treat someone “appropriately” if you don’t know what is causing the illness (toxity in their words). What about longterm prognosis & wellbeing ?
Vets (or anybody else for that matter) are infallable ? Never make a mistake ? Right.
Comment by Stefania — April 9, 2007 @ 2:13 am
RE: Comment by elizabeth R — April 8, 2007 @ 5:04 pm
From their pet food recall FAQ:
Q: What about the number of cases? 16 seems to get reported now for several weeks. That seems to be low and some websites are reporting hundreds of thousands.
A: The FDA is the place to report a pet food recall related illness (,) for pet owners and for veterinarians. There is a huge difference between a suspected case and a confirmed case. Cases have to be confirmed with laboratory testing (not only to be counted but also for any legal action). We cannot speak to numbers reported on websites… as there are no reporting standards and therefore all those numbers would be pure speculation. The blog-o-sphere is interesting, but not necessarily accurate. In informal surveys of veterinary practices, we are not seeing massive numbers of deaths or illness. Reports of illnesses have dropped off significantly since owners were informed of the recall. Owners have taken our advice, stopped feeding the recalled foods, and consulted with their veterinarian. Very few pets have become seriously ill and most have responded to conventional treatment for renal failure.
WHO exactly is reporting “hundreds of thousands” affected? And surely, as you said, they can speak to the numbers reported by Banfield, Oregon, Michigan and VIN, can’t they? Perhaps only VNN approved vets are real. The VNN vet said on CNN not to feed pet food with wheat gluten, yet I don’t see that in this pet food FAQ. Has she gone ROGUE? Will her password be (gasp) deleted?
Comment by muttcentral — April 9, 2007 @ 1:15 pm