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Pet-food recall: FDA confirms Natural Balance food pull; PETCO releases a poll
By Gina Spadafori
April 16, 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.
The FDA posted the notice on Natural Balance a few minutes ago. A few hours ago, Natural Balance puts a warning on its Web site:
We are receiving consumer complaints regarding the Venison & Brown Rice Dry Dog Food, and Venison & Green Pea Dry Cat Foods. We do not know what is wrong with the food at this time, but we have heard that animals are vomiting and experiencing kidney problems. Although the problems seem to be focused on one particular lot, as a precautionary measure, we are pulling all dates of Venison & Brown Rice Dry Dog Food and Venison & Green Pea Dry Cat Food from the shelves.
Please discontinue feeding all Venison and Brown Rice Dry Dog Food, and Venison and Green Pea Dry Cat Food.
We are working closely with the FDA. We will update this website today, as more information comes available.
And PETCO weighs in on the recalls:
Four weeks after the initial recall of pet food containing a contaminated ingredient, pet owners across the United States remain concerned and confused about what to feed their pets.
A survey of 400 cat and dog owners, commissioned last week by pet goods retailer PETCO, reveals that nearly three out of every four pet parents believe the pet food they buy may not be safe, although government officials have said the public should feel secure in purchasing pet food not subject to the recall.
Consumer concerns identified in the survey’s findings are consistent with what retailers are hearing from their customers, and with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s report of receiving more than 12,000 consumer inquiries about the pet food recall — the equivalent of two years’ worth of inquiries for the entire agency.
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I truly think the company is being safe than sorry. Natural Balance is still a great brand and I think if people just don’t use the venison flavor they should be fine. If people keep staying away from every food that has been recalled there’s not going to much if any foods to choose from.
Comment by Eskie Lover — April 16, 2007 @ 7:47 pm
I’m at a loss now as to what to feed my cats. I was told by our vet to start feeding our older cats Natural Balance Venison & Green Pea Dry a few months ago, and now it too has been recalled. I took the food away this evening, but I’m just not sure what to give them now.
Comment by SB — April 16, 2007 @ 7:48 pm
I have visited the Natural Balance site about 10 times today and I am still not seeing their message. I have searched all over their site. Is anyone else having this problem? When I get to the site across the very top (not the address bar) it says “Dick Van Patten’s Natural Balance Pet Foods:1” What does the page with the message on it show?
Comment by Amy Boda — April 16, 2007 @ 7:51 pm
Also, I am trying to find out if the Natural Balance Venison and Sweet Pea wet is affected, or has had any concerns. My kitty has been eating this along with Merrick wet since the recall. Also he is eating the Natural Balance dry in the dark pink bag.
Comment by Amy Boda — April 16, 2007 @ 7:53 pm
I have to wonder if the people complaining are people who have switched from the already effected foods (meaning their pets were already sick or starting to get sick) or people who are just panicking for no reason, which is causing this recall.
I’ve been feeding this for a few months now and I haven’t seen any health problems with my cats. As a matter of fact, my oldest cat (17) was skin and bones due to IBD back in January 2007. After switching to the Venison & Green Pea Dry, he packed on about 5-6 pounds and started acting like a young kitten again. (though I have noticed lately that he’s started vomiting a bit after he eats. I thought it was hairballs) I do have faith in this food and all I can say is, I hope this is nothing and I can start feeding it to my babies again.
Comment by Sarah K. — April 16, 2007 @ 7:54 pm
Nutro was (supposed to be) a great brand and my beautiful cat is dead. We pet owners want to trust, but what is the basis for that trust?
What makes a great brand, a costly, professional advertising campaign with celebrity sponsorship? Sorry, but it is going to take whole lot more to get my trust back. Just my opinion.
Comment by MFEMFEM — April 16, 2007 @ 7:55 pm
Hi Amy, I too had that problem. I was using my refresh button many times to try to get the notice, but that did not work. Once I used the F5 key instead that did work and I could see the notice. Don’t know why because my refresh button works on other sites, but not on Natural Balance.
Comment by Marilyn — April 16, 2007 @ 7:59 pm
Thanks Marilyn I will try that.
Comment by Amy Boda — April 16, 2007 @ 7:59 pm
Huh! It worked like magic! Thanks for the tip!
Comment by Amy Boda — April 16, 2007 @ 8:01 pm
I am at a complete loss with what’s good or bad now. I trusted Natural Balance and even though I’m using Duck and sweet potato I still don’t trust it. The chinese make a sweet potato powder - and it looks white to me -has lots of protein.
They say all items are from the USA but my dogs health means so much to me that I will just cook all homemade and wait and see. Maybe after a few months the truth will come out and I can supplement with a good dry dog food source, but right now, I can’t take the risk.
Linda MS.
Comment by Linda — April 16, 2007 @ 8:05 pm
All these new blogs and comments. Man, I can’t keep up. Mind boggled, eyes blurry. Brain confused. Don’t stop bloggers. You have tons of information between all of you. Good work.
Comment by VJ — April 16, 2007 @ 8:08 pm
You can call the company that makes Natural Balance Pet food toll free at 800-829-4493 and press #1 for customer service to hear a recorded message about the recall. It says that only one lot appears to be affected and it is a bacteriological problem affecting Venison & Brown Rice and Venison & Green Pea. They are asking customers to discontinue using ALL VENISON products at this time. It would be best if you call the number and listen for yourself because I may not be completely correct… They will open for business tomorrow morning at 6:00 a.m. PST. Hope this helps.
Comment by Phyllis — April 16, 2007 @ 8:11 pm
I might trust a pet food company again when a respected, independently funded third party (e.g. Cornell University School of Veterinary Medicine, UC Davis or another respected vet school) SCIENTIFICALLY verifies a manufacturer’s claims. It’s obvious that AAFCO is a joke (one employee and a puppet of the industry), and truth in labeling means lies and deception.
Comment by MFEMFEM — April 16, 2007 @ 8:14 pm
I just bought a couple of cans of Eagle Pack wet cat food and got a sample of the dry. I had switched to Blue Buffalo a couple of weeks ago, but my cats have not been thrilled. They totally scarfed down the wet food and enjoyed the dry (which I mixed with the blue Buffalo.) The kind is Eagle Pack holistic selects and I got it from a store who is no longer going to sell Newman’s because they recently added soy to their product. I also bought a couple of can’s of wellness but I don’t know if I’m going to give it too them since they licked the eagle pack so well. Any thoughts on this brand. I considered buying felidae, but the employee said that was the lowest brand they carry so I thought I’d try something else.
Comment by Chelsea — April 16, 2007 @ 8:48 pm
I have been struggling since December to find out what wa wrong with my cat. She became sick after eating Natural Balance Venison and Green Pea. I told the vet then i thought it was the food and no one believed me. Although the vet did have me change her food to Royal Canin.
She is still very sick and even Natural Balance didn’t believe me when I contacted them last month.
We are still fighting to save my cat but at least now people believe me.
Comment by Lena — April 16, 2007 @ 8:49 pm
MY DOG DIED , I STILL HAVE THE CAN WITH THE BAD CODE NETRO FOR SENIORS IN GRAVY. I HAVE 5 ANIMALS AND HE AND THE CAT GOT SICK ON NUTRO. THE DOG DIED, THREE DAYS B-4 THE RELEASE OF THE FOOD, CAT THREW UP ALOT, BUT SEEMS OK NOW, WE DON’T KNOW WHAT TO FEED HER. SHE USED TO EAT PIECES OF STEAK AND BOILED HAMBURGER AND THE CAT WILL NOT TOUCH ANYTHING BUT HARD FOOD. SHE HAS BEEN ON ROYAL CANIN. I DON’T SEE THAT ON THE LIST. OUR DOGS ARE ON CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE DOG LOVER SOUL SENIOR. NO CANNED ANYMORE, I BOIL HAMBURGER AND CANNED WHITE CHICKEN IN WATER. CARROT, GREEN BEANS, AND OATMEAL. WE HAVE TO BRING THE CAT IN AND HAVE BLOOD WORK. THEY KNEW ABOUT THIS IN DEC. THE MENU GUY SOLD ALL HIS STOCK AND HE SAID IT WAS JUST A COINCIDENCE. SHIRLEY ANNA PEDERSEN.
Comment by SHIRLEY — April 16, 2007 @ 8:50 pm
I’m curious if complaints were coming from both cat and dog or just one or other.
Comment by Kathi — April 16, 2007 @ 9:24 pm
Regarding Eagle Pak
Eagle Pak loaf style wet food is made at Menu Foods. Apparently the dry pet food is made at their own facilities. I had e-mailed Eagle Pak a while back and I found them somewhat evasive in their answers to questions about their wet pet food.
I have some tins that my local pet store actually gave me to try, but I have not felt comfortable enough to feed it to my kitties at this time.
Comment by mal — April 16, 2007 @ 9:34 pm
Wow,.. I have been researching my little eyeballs right outta my head! I think that our beloved pets succumbed to MOLD poisoning in the wheat. There has been an increasing number of Fungi in grains the last few years called Mycotoxins. The Mycotoxins responsible for this current toxic outbreak is Ochratoxin A (OTA) and/or Citrinin. China seems to have more of a problem ,with 3/4 of their provinces containing Mycotoxins in the grains. These toxins usually aren’t fatally toxic. Bad storage, insect infestation, moist climates can accelerate the fungus concentration causing it to be toxic. Check out this website about Diamond pet foods that had toxic levels of another type of mycotoxin that caused liver failure. avmajournals.avma.org/doi/abs/10.2460/javma.228.11.1686
EVEN MORE INFORMATIVE TO OUR PARTICULAR SITUATION NOW. “Canine renal failure syndrome in three dogs” http://www.vetsci.org/2006/pdf/299.pdf
An easy read ,.. “Stored grain Fungi” by Stella Marie M. Doyungan,PH.D.
How does this tie Melamine into this? “BLENDED FUNGICIDE COMPOSITIONS” http://www.freepatentsonline.com/5468715.html
To prevent insect investation in grains a fungicide is used. Insect infestation can cause fungus to spread, as in, fungus carrying mites. In fact, somtimes, they fumigate the grain, (scarey)
WHY IS THE FDA LYING TO US? BECAUSE OBVIOUSLY THESE FUNGUS HAVE BEEN IN OUR FOOD AT TOXIC LEVELS FOR SOMETIME NOW. How many people have died of renal failure, or renal failure over a course of 10 years of ingesting this CRAP? You know they could have tested the wheat gluten before putting it in food. It is hard to get a good representative sample from dry grains, they have to take several tests at different locations in the batch to really get even close to decerning if fungus is present. There is a + or - 40% error rate with only one lab grab sample.
In the past the FDA and the Pet Food Poisoners have had smaller outbreaks that didn’t come out in the media like this latest one has. I think they all thought that we’ll just keep reporting 17 dead animals, we’ll say “rat poison,” and all will blow over, be forgotten and will just move on like we did in the past. Geez, Man tooooo bad for the consumers!!! And know my mind thinks of things like what about all the people with mysterious illness like chronic fatique, fybromyalgia…… and I’m off to do some more researching!!!!
Comment by lori anderson — April 16, 2007 @ 9:41 pm
The Salem witch trials, this happened to the people at Salem “tainted wheat, corn?”
Comment by lori anderson — April 16, 2007 @ 9:44 pm
Over on Itchmo, one poster claims that her formally healthy dog passed on Sunday after eating NB Venison and having renal failure. She’s working with NB, her vet, and the FDA to find a cause. In addition, she claims that 8 dogs in the Austin TX area have also become ill - some fatally - and all have been eating NB Venison (dry).
If this is accurate, then this is not just a precaution.
Comment by Regina — April 16, 2007 @ 9:50 pm
“although government officials have said the public should feel secure in purchasing pet food not subject to the recall.”
well first off, they say it’s only 1% of the food, so where is their list of *safe* foods and enough info on them to so people can make an informed choice? (yes I’m in a mood! GRRR!)
And they might be a tad more credible to us if they hadn’t made such a bloody mess out of this recall . . . although, they have given many people a whole new look at things. Don’t think the public will be as easily swayed as they would like in the future.
I would like to thank everyone here for all the great links, research and thoughts. I will be compiling emails on the seperate issues such as GM grains, Labeling, etc (including links for days!) and sending them out to everyone I know with a message to pass the word and stay on top of it. This site has been such a great central resource with LOTS of added extras. And very up-to-the-minute, thankfully! :)
Comment by straybaby — April 16, 2007 @ 9:58 pm
RE: comment by lori anderson:
If you compare the pictures in your posted link:
Canine renal failure syndrome in three dogs” http://www.vetsci.org/2006/pdf/299.pdf
to the ones taken from a Menu Foods victim:
http://www.animalhealth.msu.ed.....mpress.pdf
there are a lot of similarities.
Also in December 2005 Diamond Pet Food manufacturer..another pet food producer like Menu Foods had a big recall because of:
“Aflatoxin is a naturally occurring toxic chemical by-product from the growth of the fungus Aspergillus flavus, on corn and other crops. “
http://www.fda.gov/oc/po/firmr.....12_05.html
There were 19 varieties of pet food recalled. The estimates were that dozens of dogs died because of this poison. If the reporting of the numbers then was as “trustworthy” as the reporting of this latest recall/cover-up, then the numbers could have been much higher.
Another recall in June 2006 was for poor quality of tins:
Four varieties of Ol Roy canned dog food manufactured by Simmons Pet Food for Wal-Mart are under recall due to the can linings separating from the inside of the cans.
http://www.ct.gov/doag/cwp/view.asp?Q=316548
And now the recall in South Africa from ethyl glycol posioning. How on earth does anti-freeze get into pet foods?
http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.....173C307059
Too many recalls..not enough true information and very poor follow-ups.
Comment by mal — April 16, 2007 @ 10:10 pm
Wow! wish i could sit at home day in and day out bloging on this site with all the maybe this and what if that.
but most the world has a life and is not subject to being alarmists and speading hysteria, although as long as its between yourselves then i guess your not doing any harm.
Hey How about the mass killing at virginia tech, Now thats NEWS! (God rest their souls)
Comment by Joan — April 16, 2007 @ 10:10 pm
Well when I called Natural Balance they didn’t mention a bacterial infection problem at all. They said it was being investigated and the FDA and the ASPCA were going about it right then - but they thought the problem was in the wheat protein and I assume that excludes the venison - but it was a protein problem??????
I don’t know anything about it and all the scientific jargon and research papers doesn’t help much as I don’t know enough about chemistry or such to figure it out.
But I could never imagine how people that know about the chemical make-up and our delicate pet’s organs could make such a terrible mistake.
Linda MS
Comment by Linda — April 16, 2007 @ 10:37 pm
I am not a “concerned and confused ” pet owner!
I am the grieving owner of two DEAD pets and the furious victim of pseudo infomercials like this one from Petco.
So it was Petco that paid for that insulting piece of crap inaccurate Synovate survey? Well, Petco sure got their money’s worth because I am going to make sure that every day I live with this pain that they lose customers.
Every day.
I still have living pets, no thanks to the best efforts of the pet food industry, and I also have sleepless nights, a collection of expensive poison pet food that is going to put SOMEBODY in prison and a real hatred for anyone who continues this farce of lies, disinformation and cover up!
Where is the “dedicated to your pets health ” pet food industry while there is STILL poison on store shelves? They are having a party and seminars on how to cover your ass when you sell poison with a label that reads pet food, in Chicago this very night!
Are they paying for someone to go to stores, paying the vet bills for people who went into debt to get help for pets that were poisoned?
Are they doing a damned thing to HELP???
No.
What the pet food industry is paying for is lies, lawyers and a cover up!
The esteemed weasel for the PFI, Duane, now there is a fine example of a man. Makes you hope the cockroaches DO inherit the earth.
Cockroaches have more compassion and better ethics.
Comment by E. Hamilton — April 16, 2007 @ 10:37 pm
In my previous post I missed listing the Royal Canin recall in 2005 with deaths caused by excessive Vitamin D in its foods.
ROYAL CANIN has recalled three of its Veterinary Diet Canine canned dog foods in the wake of 24 reported cases of hypercalcemia in Canada and eight cases in the United States from November 2005 through February 2006. Left untreated, hypercalcemia (excessive amounts of calcium levels in the blood) can lead to bone defects, cardiac changes (including abnormal heart rhythm, or arrhythmia), kidney hypertension and possible renal failure, and, at especially high levels, death.
Lawsuits for this case are still ongoing.
http://www.dailytidings.com/20.....06c1.shtml
http://www.acreaturecomfort.co.....recall.htm
Comment by mal — April 16, 2007 @ 10:49 pm
Comment by Joan — April 16, 2007 @ 10:10 pm
Whatever, Joan. VT IS a horrific tragedy, but it doesn’t make this any less. Or are you of the FoxNews mindset that there can only be one catastrophe at a tme?
And, um, if this place is such a waste of time, why are you here?
Comment by Laura — April 16, 2007 @ 10:49 pm
JMO, but I do not believe people banding together from all over the Nation along with others from other countries on this site, are causing mass hysteria or do not care about all of the other Major World news headlines. We care deeply about our animals, our families, our own food supply. We care about those who are hurting or have lost their lives in battle, in school shootings and vehicle accidents. We care about the Education our children are receiving, and the water that we all drink. What we DO NOT care about is Anna Nicole Smith’s trials and tribulations making headline news above all of these issues, about which sports figures are in rehab or are being sued in a divorce hearing, or who is the wealthiest celebrity. We are people who exude passion for the safety of our fellow man and our animal companions. We are fighting for change within a country, that a month ago, most of us believed REALLY cared about the safety of our lives. Pet food is a for-front issue right now, as many lives (both animal and human) have been affected. Iraq is a huge issue. Terrorism is a huge issue. Our elected officials have an obligation to serve the people who elect them into office. Now as I see it, citizens demanding these officials to ACTUALLY do their jobs, is not mass hysteria or cause for us to be labeled as alarmists. We simply care about the future for ourselves, our animals and our great-great grandchildren. And together we CAN and WILL make a difference.
Comment by Amy Boda — April 16, 2007 @ 11:03 pm
Every tragedy that happens is newsworthy. Unfortunately there seems to be no end to the number of new tragedies that happen almost daily.
The real tragedy after any tragedy is letting it be forgotten, especially when the answers fall far short of being acceptable.
If the tens of thousands of people who have been affected with this latest, of an ever-growing number of pet food bungles and cover-ups, are alarmists then maybe they are rightfully so.
Comment by mal — April 16, 2007 @ 11:06 pm
The VT tragedy, well, what the heck does that have to do with THIS problem?
The victims are dead, they are not going to get any deader because of the posts here or the work we are trying to do.
There is not still poison on the store shelf killing them and no one at VT is trying to spin and lie the killers way out of it.
At least the killer in the VT incident had the guts to kill himself, spare a long drawn out trial, don’t expect that much from the pet food industry, they are not going to spare us from a moment of pain, I think they enjoy it.
But thanks for the thought!
The vision of the entire menu foods executive staff doing a hari-kari? I would like that on tape. Duane, the esteemed weasel for the PFI, doing the hari-kari? I could sell that for more than enough to cover the vet bills for every pet in america!
Comment by E. Hamilton — April 16, 2007 @ 11:12 pm
D-i-t-t-o, d-i-t-t-o, d-i-t-t-o!!!!!!!!
Comment by Kathi — April 16, 2007 @ 11:16 pm
To Shirley who had posted, ” … I BOIL HAMBURGER AND CANNED WHITE CHICKEN IN WATER … .”
Please be careful with the canned chicken in water as many brands are typically really high in sodium. I notice the saltiness myself whenever I use canned chicken in recipes for ME to eat, so I imagine it would taste really salty to a dog or cat. Look for low- or no-sodium canned chicken, and also drain all water out and rinse. Or, buy cheaper cuts of chicken at the grocery — thighs or legs — and boil those yourself.
I’m not a pet nutritionist! I’m a layman (woman!). But when I read that you were using canned chicken, which is totally understandable as an alternative right now to canned dog and cat foods, I immediately thought, “Oh that stuff is really salty.” And I don’t think dogs or cats really need much salt?
Please accept my sincere condolences on the loss of your beloved dog, and my most hopeful wishes that your cat will be OK.
Comment by JM Leong — April 16, 2007 @ 11:45 pm
About NB Venison dry dog & cat. I believe for now the number is 8, In Austin, TX area, several mentioned same Petco store. And I believe I saw either this blog or another, at least 1 more a cat. Unless the cat is counted with the 8 others. That would appear to be one connected shipment so far.
The only thing I could find on venison was salmonella T—(something) My computer was bogged and I lost the page. The salmonella T. strain can survive 12 months of freezing. But I don’t believe it is connected. Seems too remote and the process of dry food cooking would probably kill it. I also checked on tuberculosis because New Zealand changed rules on how often certain low-risk stock needed to be tested. And it didn’t seem to indicate the symptoms we know of. I understand the cat dry food doesn’t contain rice. So GM rice doesn’t fit either. Melamine, except for Bernie’s theory, whichI agree with since I first looked at the properties and chem analysis of melamine awhile back, would not seem to fit in with NB unless at the Diamond plant. But the ingredients don’t seem to fit the Menu scenario. Which is why I don’t think it’s JUST melamine. Bacteria, if that’s what this is seems remote, because NB should not have received anything from ChemNutra. And bacteria via venison seems unlikely, even though they are subject to E. Coli etc.
I do agree it’s possible to connect with Diamond via cross-contamination. But I also want to check out all the other shared ingredients that is common to all recall products. Amino acids, vitamins, minerals, proteins, etc. Any other ingredient could have been contaminated.
Comment by Kathi — April 16, 2007 @ 11:47 pm
Also: Surely there are more appropriate places online where one can discuss the VT tragedy if they so wish.
Comment by JM Leong — April 16, 2007 @ 11:48 pm
Lori Anderson
Salem witch trials. I believe that was rye.
Comment by Kathi — April 16, 2007 @ 11:55 pm
I guess Joan doesn’t realize this isn’t a current events chat room. It’s a blog that is specifically about the pet food recall. When people post about things that are off topic, they usually apologize for hijacking the thread/topic. It’s called a thread-jack.
Yes, the VT murders are a huge tragedy. Just because every post on this blog doesn’t mention it doesn’t make it any less tragic. It just means the people on this blog are capable of staying on topic, more or less, most of the time. ;-)
Comment by Sarah — April 16, 2007 @ 11:58 pm
Joan said:
Well there it is folks. The first troll!
(Maybe there were others that I missed, but this is the first I’ve seen using this style. Often we see “concern” trolls in political boards (They pretend to be on your side and tell you that they are “concerned” about some action you are going to take.)
So Joan I’ll ask you a few questions.
Why do you think that this is a site filled with “maybe this and what if that.”?
Have you not read all the very substantial information that has been posted here? Are you aware Joan that it was a blogger here, “Joy”, who actual found the name of the source of the contaminated wheat gluten? And that the release of that name most likely lead to more links in the supply chain becoming aware that they had to run recalls? lthough not fast enough).
Did you know that bloggers here have created the tools and systems that the FDA, vets and concerned people used to deal with this recall? And that this site, among others were praised by Senator Durbin and used as an example of what the FDA SHOULD have done?
Did you know Joanthat the CDC have asked one of the bloggers here to help set up a tracking system for this kind data so that in the future we won’t have a disjointed patchwork of information?
If we can track the increase in pet deaths we can spot the problem faster and protect more animals. And why is that importantJoan?
Because besides the wonderful supportive role that animals play in our lives, we missed this wheat gluten going into our human food supply by shear luck. Next time we might not be so lucky. And pets have been the key to finding it before it hits YOUR supermarket. You think that we are overreacting as “armists [sic] and speading [sic] hysteria,”
Why do you think thatJoan? Which number of dead pets are you thinking of when you say that?
16? (A number based on the ones that died weeks ago in the Menu “taste tests”.
Is that your number? You see Joanthat is the problem with the FDA pretending that they are in charge of the offical numbers. That is NOT their mandate. There is no CDC for pets. The FDA didn’t have the resources to keep track of the pets and do the necropsy (a veterinary term for an autopsy) that would prove that the “official” numbers are much, much higher.
I can understand how you might think that 16 out of millions is not that big of a deal. But if you looked at any of the other official data you would see that it is clearly more than 16 and as we have said for weeks, most likely the number is in the thousands. If you count sick pets 10s of thousands.
Now Joan I’m taking you to task here because you weren’t just ignorant, you felt the need to come here and insult people and set up a false dichotomy of human/pet. Besides your comments being pathetic, they are just cruel.
I would ask you to look into your heart, but instead I’m going to ask you who you work for.
What role do you have in this recall Joan? Are you someone who works for the pet food industry? Were you personally impacted by this recall? Is some other tragedy that you are involved with (you mentioned the Virginia Tech shootings) that you think is being ignored because of this story? Please tell us which story you see as more important that is not being covered? Is it Iraq? Is is human suffering of some sort? I can assure you as someone said above that we are very capable of talking about more than one story in our lives.
In fact, starting this week this story is OVER for most people in the press (baring another recall).
I think that you owe it to us Joan to tell us what your involvement in this story is that you felt it necessary to come here and call us
“alarmists and speading hysteria” Do you work for Menu foods? Do you work for ChemNutra? A Chinese exporter? The Pet Food Industry? A brand? A retailer?
Maybe some day you will come back and say,
“Wow! I was wrong. I didn’t understand the scope of this because the industry dragged it’s feet, and the FDA and other agencies kept reporting a very low number.” I really hope so,in the mean time Joan I’d like you to know that the people here worked to provide Sen. Durbin solid information on the timeline and response of the involved companies so that he could show the world just how poorly the pet food industry performed and just how vulnerable our Human food supply is.
Hopefully changes will be made so that those pets will not die in vain and that their deaths will provide a reason to create a better system. A system that can help Pets AND humans in this era of a global food supply in which companies put the bottom line before the best interests of their customers and their pets.
Comment by spocko — April 17, 2007 @ 12:15 am
Well said, Spocko.
I was thinking of Ms Q.
Comment by Kathi — April 17, 2007 @ 12:23 am
Joan found her way here with a little help maybe?
Not unexpected.
Predictable in fact.
On to the pet food crisis.
I do not think melamine is the ONLY problem.
I KNOW that dry dog and cat food is also contaminated, if that is the word, because the symptoms are just too close and the results too. Sudden thirst, renal or liver failure, lingering damage or death.
Sounds like just the ticket if you want to weaken an enemy.
The pet food industry sure went to war on my pets and the truth, all of a sudden it seems.
And one of the big pet food companies, Purina, Nestle/Purina, just bought the Gerber babyfood company, bad news for anyone with a human baby, but I trust the FDA is right on top of the situation. Guess I won’t be using any Gerber baby food to nurse any of my sick pets back to health!
There is more than melamine in the food, more than wet food is involved and if WE can find this info then why can’t the FDA? If WE are doing the work then why are we paying taxes and getting lied to?
I signed no consent form that allowed my pets to be part of some test to destruction experiment, and oh yeah , I got to pay for the dubious privilege. Did you?
If the second, or third, “contaminant” cannot be identified then that ought to be front page news until it IS identified!
If the FDA can’t even say what it is then how can they say it is not in human food NOW?
Nothing, not even wheaties , is safe to eat until we find out what is in the food.
Comment by E. Hamilton — April 17, 2007 @ 12:25 am
In humans, ARF can be caused by drug toxicity. More so than CRF. Frequently by antibiotics.
Were any recalls veggie diets?
Comment by Kathi — April 17, 2007 @ 12:27 am
Greetings…
I ordered books from Amazon, printed out receipes from the internet, and had a friend e-mail me hers. I’m all set up to make my own dog food and dog biscuits. I read every label carefully for company name, country of origin, and ingredients. A one-hour trip to the store took me two hours, and I hardly had enough money left over to buy my own food. That’s okay…
But, what’s bugging me now is that the can of College Inn Chicken Broth that I bought contains WHEAT GLUTEN. What if I’m jumping out of the frying pan into the fire? The people who are supposed to be protecting us, and our loved ones, can’t tell me that all of this poisoned crap was caught before it entered the human food supply. I’m still eating things that contain wheat gluten, but, I refuse to endanger my baby. So, I’ll return it and use a substitute.
The point of all of this is just to remind others to read the labels, as frustrating as it is. I’ve read the horror stories about people who switched from one poison, only to feed something that was recalled the next week. And it could be human food.
BLESSED BE.
WOLFIN )O(
Comment by WOLFIN — April 17, 2007 @ 12:29 am
I’d hate to crossover to the darkside of our forefathers. There certainly were enough “tests” done on unsuspecting groups of citizens before my birth. I would like to think we’ve past that stage of development. One thing I’m keeping in mind is communism. Idealists can say what they want, but the reality of communism is quite clear to me. People like you and I are not Reds. We actually care for one another, even the Joan’s of the world. China has been a bit po’d about our chronic rejection of their exports. And New Zealander’s, the deer farmers are not happy that they are paying 5 times as much for their TB tests. There are enough angry people in the world to do something monstrous.
I really hope we can figure out what killed and sickened our babies and soon.
Comment by Kathi — April 17, 2007 @ 12:44 am
Darn, I finished up my Science Diet my mail cat likes and he likes some of the dry Iams too. I was leery of that and went down and bought a bag of Natural Balance Venison and Green Pea and barely opened that and they have this recall. I had already fed a sample pack. Don’t think he was crazy about it and he got bad gas but I figured it was from changing the food so much. Now I’m leery of every food. Hope he didn’t get any kidney thing.
Comment by Diane — April 17, 2007 @ 12:48 am
Wait til you see what’s in ketchup. I nearly choked. And it’s in two forms, too. Bland food is good.
Comment by Kathi — April 17, 2007 @ 12:48 am
Wolfin:
When you return the College Inn, pick up a pack of chicken backs or sale chicken. Pull out your largest kettle, fill with chicken and water and simmer for an hour. You will have plenty of safe chicken broth for your pets. Just freeze in batches. I have been doing this for years for mine. Funny thing is, I always used commercial for my own meals . . . I have several cans of College Inn broth sitting on my counter. I wil be writing the company and explaining why I will no longer be using it and most other products.
For other products to home prepare for your pets and yourself, try a natural food store if you have one near you. The labels tend to be clearer, especiially if it’s certified organic. Once you get to know the products, you may notice them easier if your regular store has them. It also tends to help on the learning curve in the reg store. You start realizing that you mostly just need whole, healthy foods and not all this processed stuff with who knows what in it ;)
Comment by straybaby — April 17, 2007 @ 12:50 am
SPOCKO
You are my hero!
[Re message to Joan]
Comment by Lynn — April 17, 2007 @ 12:55 am
Kathi,
I don’t use a lot of processed foods but ketchup/mayo/mustard are part of what I buy. I found some great looking recipes online to make them myself, lol!~
(the natural foods store only had eggless vegan lite mayo when I was in. Didn’t sound appealing . . )
Comment by straybaby — April 17, 2007 @ 12:55 am
And the Natural Balance food didn’t have any grains in it. So that’s weird. To me venison is kind of weird to put in it anyway but I thought for sure it would be a safe one and its not made at Menu. Now I wonder about all the other flavors of the canned I got. I was using Fancy Feast which seemed fine.
Comment by Diane — April 17, 2007 @ 12:58 am
Natural Balance seems like it would be “out-of-the-box” compared to the shared thread of the Menu and wheat gluten ties. That’s why I’m still wondering about the ingredients below the food line. I’d thought about it for awhile when we first found out about ChemNutra and I saw all of their products as with Anying and Alibaba. Certainly melamine is in there as per UC-Davis test confirming it. But NB doesn’t fit, unless we’ve been lied to again.
I’ve never leaned towards violence before, but I don’t think at this point it would take much to move me.
Comment by Kathi — April 17, 2007 @ 1:01 am
I do not want to believe this was some “test” run, by our government or a nutjob ( and at this point, what would be the practical diff?)but there is NO other explanation.
With the best will in the world, and all the patriotism I can muster, is there any other reason that this is “just a bunch of hysterical pet owners’ being the constant theme?
The poison, whatever it is, whatever combination of poisons it is, if this was a nothing blip, a one off accident, don’t you think it would be identified by now?
And they would be shouting it from the rooftops, make sure it was on the front page and using this for all the political leverage it was worth!
A blogger here found the link to the chinese melamine, a pet owner who did not believe the lies had food tested, how bad does that look?
This lack of response, this scares me worse than the pets dying because it means either the government knows and aint telling or they do NOT HAVE A CLUE and you and I ARE the front line troops on this!!! Either way this is the worst news there is.
Really great research has been done by the people here but if we are IT then we are ALL in deep deep trouble.
If WE can find it and they CAN’T then HOW SAFE DO YOU FEEL?
I think safe has left the building.
Comment by E. Hamilton — April 17, 2007 @ 1:03 am
Buying drugs and food from China is like handing an AK-47 to a two year old. I don’t like it. Outside of the large coastal cities, China is still in the Dark Ages. It concerns me enough to think they screwed something up either by accident because they don’t understand what their doing or they have a more sinister plan for us.
Comment by Kathi — April 17, 2007 @ 1:09 am
What about the bags of flour, regular and whole wheat, that I just bought, to use for the dog biscuits? I just read somewhere to avoid anything with WHEAT in it.
I’m so upset by all of this that I should be making my little baby’s breakfast and playing with him, but I’m sitting here trying to figure it all out. I’m doing something for him now, as I did all of yesterday. It was for him that I gathered information and supplies, but, he doesn’t know that. He feels neglected. I’m having trouble getting a urine sample, though I do believe that he’s okay.
This is really depressing.
And the videos on the safe food blog (someone posted it somewhere on here) had me crying. All of these stories are tragic and heartbreaking. I don’t even have time to read them all, I need to go cook him some grits and chicken, but, what do I do about the wheat? If I don’t make biscuits, what can be fed that’s HARD? He’s gnawing on my fingers lately. He’s been eating soft foods, and he’s used to milkbones and dry purina one.
Thanks.
WOLFIN )O(
Comment by WOLFIN — April 17, 2007 @ 1:10 am
I assume NB is testing for the known melamine. I would be surprised if it’s in there. I’m thinking it’s a drug of some sort. It would have to be powerful enough to cause ARF. A potent toxin, like aminoptrin. Or multiple toxins.
Comment by Kathi — April 17, 2007 @ 1:15 am
I’m a Patriot and no I don’t trust anyone. Ive never been called politically correct either nor do I apologize for it.
And yes, the silence is deafening. I watched Durbin on C-span. And I watched everyone’s eyes. It was so easy to spot the lies. People do it subconsciously.
Comment by Kathi — April 17, 2007 @ 1:24 am
NB could *just* be a batch problem. Isn’t it mostly in Tx? It could be something similar like what happened with the Diamond recall. Just REALLY crappy timing.
Unless of course the issue is in the supplements the companies are using. Trying to get to the bottom of where those came from will be a bit more time consuming. I sure hope they (FDA and Labs) are exploring them also . . .
Comment by straybaby — April 17, 2007 @ 1:26 am
Did you notice only the senators would look straight forward and not shift their eyes down left. Some try to blink rapidly to cover it but you can still catch it. Better than a lie detector.
Comment by Kathi — April 17, 2007 @ 1:29 am
I’ll allow for that except the symptoms are the same.
Comment by Kathi — April 17, 2007 @ 1:31 am
Did you visit petsitusa? JC April 15 2007 @ 2:47 PM talks about his dogs and the people lower down the page talk about theirs.
Comment by Kathi — April 17, 2007 @ 1:34 am
We can’t “hope” that they are testing anymore.
Hope left the building with safe and trust and they aint coming back.
Durbin works for the people of his state- THEY work FOR US, and it is time we all remember that.
You and I have no need to bend the knee or kiss the ass of OUR EMPLOYEES.
We have blogs and podcasts and the mainstream media can catch up when they get done with Paris Hilton.
And then there is local action.
I gave a talk to ladies after church. The patented ” 2007 Gagamaggot multimedia pet food recall talk”. Feel free to steal it.
I took a laptop, a can of cat food and pictures of my dead cats and a box of tissues.
1-This is a can of pet food, the label means nothing, a short segment of the Senate hearing made that pretty clear.
2-This what goes into pet food. various video clips and not even the worst ones. Some got sick.
Break
3-This is the recall list-from the FDA site, the fact that it was 50 freaking pages AND inaccurate was as impressive as might be expected.
4-Timeline o Lies-stock sale by menu Foods CFO- Clerical Error, etc, nah, they aint buying it either.
5- Websites that ARE doing the work, in contrast to the general do nothing but cover ass stuff by PFI.
all of them liked the “Esteemed Weasel For the PFI” label I gave to Duane. “I can tell he is a liar” and
“His poor wife, can you imagine having to kiss THAT and pretend to like it?” were popular comments.
6- Who owns what- made a big impression, they took notes,some stocks and sales figures can be expected to fall.
7- What food is safe- I read the letter from thepetfoodtracker - My Decision to Stop Buying and Feeding my Cats Commercial pet Food,
we all cried.
lunch
I have been asked to speak at several other gatherings and will.
Simple, get out there and do it.
And take no crap for doing it either.
P.S. Spocko rocks
Comment by E. Hamilton — April 17, 2007 @ 1:51 am
Okey dokey then. I just read some more “news” and I use the term loosely. The media is definitely number challenged. The number is 16 and their sticking to it. What do they think vomiting and kidney failure means? Oh yeah, they don’t think.
Comment by Kathi — April 17, 2007 @ 1:54 am
I felt bad calling my friend after she’d already gone to bed but I wanted to give her a head’s up on NB. I feel too upset to focus on chemistry tonight, I’ll let it simmer in my head for a bit then retackle it.
Comment by Kathi — April 17, 2007 @ 1:59 am
Early Monday Morning I called local pet stores that carry NB and gave them the news and NB’s phone number to verify it. And called everyone I could think of. I wish I could physically get out there and talk to people. I’d like to go in and check the shelves myself.
Comment by Kathi — April 17, 2007 @ 2:05 am
Maybe the mainstream media HAS been bought, or they are just lazy or incompetent.
Who cares?
This can be done without them.
Every TV station in the country has call in shows with questions from viewers. Talk radio, they fired some jerk I had never heard of and they have to fill the time somehow, there probably won’t be another massacre for weeks and just like you , people will be very sick of hearing about this one before the news people are so go talk, ask questions, offer to explain the pet food recall to your church, your rotary club,your hairdresser or your local whatever, the paper will have a list of meetings for the week and I PROMISE you they need speakers.
Take a laptop or a printout, there is plenty of material. Have a pet food recall party and make your friends puke.
Use my outline, use your own.
Somebody with younger tech skills than mine can do podcasts-CNET will TEACH you how-for free.
Here is a link for that.
http://podcasting-101.classes.cnet.com/
Make a video and put it on youtube.
Offer to sell your poison pet food on ebay.
Sell pictures of your dead pets on ebay because you need the money to pay vet bills.
Email Oprah, email Dr. Phil and ask for help with your stress over this situation.
We can do this.
We ARE doing this.
Comment by E. Hamilton — April 17, 2007 @ 2:16 am
We use Natural Balance Venison & Brown Rice dry dog food and so far have not noticed a problem. I just called the 800 number and the recording states that the only test results that they have back are the bacterial with no findings. The problem appears to be in one batch lot (with pet health problems surfacing in TX) but for safety all of the Venison dry dog and cat products are being pulled. The Natural Balance phone lines are open at 6AM…and I’m going to be calling! I am a Moderator on a forum for Pet’s and here we thought NB was safe. There’s not wheat in this line so we’ll have to wait to see what the problem is and hope they can clear it up quickly. I will still stay with NB as I feel it is a very good line…unless??
Comment by Moms... — April 17, 2007 @ 2:41 am
RE: Comment by lori anderson — April 16, 2007 @ 9:41 pm
“I think that our beloved pets succumbed to MOLD poisoning in the wheat.
The Mycotoxins responsible for this current toxic outbreak is Ochratoxin A (OTA) and/or Citrinin. These toxins usually aren’t fatally toxic”
It’s not Ochratoxin A. Having somewhat of a background in plant pathology, Ochratoxin A was my first thought as it is specifically nephrotoxic and one of the most reasonable assumptions in situations like these is a fungal toxin. There’s more than one test available for Ochratoxin A. The FDA tested for it. They didn’t find it. My guess is they tested for it multiple times and may even test each new sample for all the usuals just to make sure they’re still dealing with an unknown. They’ve probably even tried using different kits to test for it to make sure a negative finding wasn’t a test kit problem. And they may not even be using kits at all to make absolutely sure about the findings. The people doing the testing are scientists, not scumbags. I can’t see why people think they would have a reason to lie about it. Do you think they want this to drag on forever by hiding the contaminant? Having an answer would make it easier and faster to test food. It would make it easier to nail down how the contamination happened. Not knowing is horrible.
And I beg to differ about not being fatally toxic. That statement was about people, not pets and as always depends on the dose. There is a lot of information about the effects of mycotoxins on animals. This document covers both Aflatoxin and Ochratoxin A: http://www.inchem.org/documents/ehc/ehc/ehc011.htm
Note that it is from 1979. Ochratoxin A was isolated 40 years ago. They know it’s chemical and physical properties. They know how it’s metabolized in the body. There’s just no way in heck they would have missed this as they can find it in the urine of animals consuming it. They describe the effects on the kidneys in detail. When this tract was written they could isolate this mycotoxin through chemical tests at the 2 microgram/kg level.
It’s not a fungal toxin.
Comment by CathyA — April 17, 2007 @ 4:24 am
I do wonder if the rice, wheat, pea, corn etc has been enhanced to increase the protein level, or is in a powder that has been altered. like so many here have suggested, and that these enhancement techniques create something unusual that is hurting our pets. I wonder too about the sweet potatos as China sells a sweet potato powder too.
As far as the chemistry comments etc - that’s just beyond my comprehension as there’s many nuances come into play during analysis.
Linda MS
Comment by Linda — April 17, 2007 @ 7:43 am
Thanks Spocko, thanks E. Hamilton, thanks Steve - great words from you guys. Gratitude to all of you -every one - who are working so hard to make something good come out of something so terrible. I’m just one of those tofu-eating, organic gardening, tree-hugging environmentalists, living in the woods off the grid and without plumbing, but everything you all do is so important. Nothing will bring back my Skeeter, and only time - if we are lucky - will put Tycho back on his feet again. Not letting it happen ever again is what matters now. Getting some of these creatures - slime in human form - exposed to sunlight is a beginning.
Thanks.
Comment by Nancy Nielsen — April 17, 2007 @ 7:55 am
p.s.
Why are we having so many mistakes in the Pet Food Industry - Diamond last year, Iams, Royal Canin vitamin overdoses, Menu and it’s far reaching toxic poisoning including SD dry, and the dog chews and biscuits, and now we have Natural Balance and I don’t believe for one minute it is a problem with one batch -
They are putting altered proteins in the pet food and our poor pets are eating it. It’s like playing Russian Roulette trying to pick a dog food - my heart goes out to all those who have lost their pets and are struggling with their illnesses.
I hope we find some answers and some peace soon.
Linda MS
Comment by Linda — April 17, 2007 @ 8:14 am
My biggest concern is that the NB may have a problem with the venison. While that is unlikely, given that a small geographic area seems to be affected, the unlikely suspect lately seems to be the one causing the most problems. I have quit feeding the Venison and Green Pea wet cat food to my Nick, but I am keeping what I have in hopes we will get an all clear from NB. Nick actually enjoys this food, which is more than I can say for the other 15 varieties I have tried recently.
Comment by Amy Boda — April 17, 2007 @ 8:15 am
One concern, given the small geographic area, is a [very bad words] person doing product tampering.
Comment by Carol PW — April 17, 2007 @ 8:37 am
My dog got sick this morning on the Natural Balance Reduced Calorie Formula that DOES NOT contain venison. He threw up immediately after eating the food. I cannot get through to anyone at Natural Balance nor the FDA to report this. So please beware.
Comment by Jackie Wilson — April 17, 2007 @ 9:40 am
The man I spoke with on the phone yesterday just seemed to believe it was a problem with the protein form of the rice……..
I don’t believe the media and official statements - what if they are really altering the wheat, rice, corn, etc etc into this enhanced protein and it is causing problems with our pets? More of it could be sitting in a silo waiting to be dumped into large vats of pet food.
Linda MS
Comment by Linda — April 17, 2007 @ 9:47 am
How do we know what pet food to buy when so many are having big problems lately? What does a breeder do that owns many dogs ? Can a person really trust one brand - I suppose it would be wise to feed several and then if one is tainted you don’t lose all your pets….terrible thought really.
I thought Natural Balance was safe, and Royal Canin too and Nurto and what will we learn tomorrow?
Linda MS
Comment by Linda — April 17, 2007 @ 10:00 am
On thepetfoodlist.com I have found someone who lost a dog from eating NB and said they just heard from NB and that the company confirmed melamine!!!
Not sure if this is true but here’s the post and forum:
http://thepetfoodlist.com/foru.....316#msg316
Comment by Monika — April 17, 2007 @ 10:25 am
That phone conversation I had yesterday with the man that took the time to listen to my fears of all my dogs dying - he gave me a big clue.
Linda MS.
Comment by Linda — April 17, 2007 @ 10:31 am
I read the link. But the NB website is not updated and neither is the FDA.
We need to get to the truth of all this - and not some phony slick response meant to quell fears and calm hysteria -
Linda MS
Comment by Linda — April 17, 2007 @ 10:34 am
If there is melamine in a dry product with no wheat, this gives us a clue as to why other pets are getting sick from dry food only…..even those without wheat. It gets scarier by the day!
Comment by Jan — April 17, 2007 @ 10:39 am
It just maybe what some have been saying here all along, that it (melamine) ups the protein count and is put in many of these dry products - which can be the peas, sweet potatos, rice, wheat etc…..
of, course this is just suppostition and something I didn’t even want to believe - but now it seems at least worthy of real consideration. Or the melamine in conjuction with some “x” factor is at the cause and still is used in the process of upping the protein levels.
Cnn reported this - and these reporters have their sources that we aren’t privy to…..
It is such a worry though and leaves us with a big unknown. Why in the world is it taking so long to figure out?
Linda MS
Comment by Linda — April 17, 2007 @ 10:45 am
If it’s melamine, Natural Balance would do well to disclose the sources of their ingredients right away…. and what the ingredients actually are. The company has already claimed that their packaging was out of date when consumers questioned (undesirable) ingredients in the food. Now I’m wondering what else was used in that batch ithat isn’t on the label. They need to be aboveboard with consumers, or they will lose their business.
I had bought NB dry for my cats, who are finishing the bags of dry Science Diet that they have been eating since before the scare started. One of my cats is rejecting every canned food option I offer, so he will have to remain on dry indefinitely. I was ready to start mixing the NB in with their current food to start transitioning them, but it’s going back to the store now. It’s probably fine, but I’m not willing to walk that road.
Comment by CatLady — April 17, 2007 @ 10:49 am
NATURAL-HOLISTIC-ORGANIC PET FOOD:
According to the FDA there is really no set rules for using these type of descriptions in pet foods;
http://www.fda.gov/cvm/petlabel.htm
Other Label Claims
Many pet foods are labeled as “premium,” and some now are “super premium” and even “ultra premium.” Other products are touted as “gourmet” items. Products labeled as premium or gourmet are not required to contain any different or higher quality ingredients, nor are they held up to any higher nutritional standards than are any other complete and balanced products.
The term “natural” is often used on pet food labels, although that term does not have an official definition either. For the most part, “natural” can be construed as equivalent to a lack of artificial flavors, artificial colors, or artificial preservatives in the product. As mentioned above, artificial flavors are rarely employed anyway. Artificial colors are not really necessary, except to please the pet owner’s eye. If used, they must be from approved sources, the same as for human foods. Especially for high-fat dry products, some form of preservative must be used to prevent rancidity. Natural-source preservatives, such as mixed tocopherols (a source of vitamin E), can be used in place of artificial preservatives. However, they may not be as effective.
“Natural” is not the same as “organic.” The latter term refers to the conditions under which the plants were grown or animals were raised. There are no official rules governing the labeling of organic foods (for humans or pets) at this time, but the United States Department of Agriculture is developing regulations dictating what types of pesticides, fertilizers and other substances can be used in organic farming.
Although the claims of many manufacturers may sound good there are no strict rules for actually over-seeing the reliabilty or truthfulness of the claims.
It appears that caution must be used even in the “natural” products being offered. There is really no regulation of the pet food industry set up in a way that the average consumer can understand and believe.
Comment by mal — April 17, 2007 @ 10:53 am
I looked at the ingredients for the Natural balance recall and no where on the list do I see wheat gluten. Does that mean wheat gluten may not be the only contaminant?
Comment by Patricia — April 17, 2007 @ 11:10 am
It maybe associated with a protein derivative of the rice, like a protein concentrate - but this is just guesswork until something official comes out. And since it is a powder form of concentrate this could have been cut with the melamine or something may have been added that is encased in the melamine.
no one really knows right now.
Linda MS
Comment by Linda — April 17, 2007 @ 11:18 am
Hope someone has an answer. Seems that way back when info. on Xuzhow Anything..& Chem Nutra came up - didn’t they have a company or office in South America?? I’m trying to find out if Spes S.A. is connected in anyway or if they are just one of the companies who are listed with Alibaba.
Just got back from the vet with my dog and looking at her history line: the veternarian thinks the excessive water intake with dry food was a salt problem but doesn’t account for gastric upset.
On the MSNBC blog last night,someone mentioned that unusual crystals that looked like pinwheels were seen upon autopsy at her vet. school - and no one had ever seen them before. Anyone familiar with urinary crystals? Don’t know if these are new findings.
Please post if someone knows if X.Anything or Chem Nutra had offices in South America - Chile.
Thanks
Katie
Comment by Katie — April 17, 2007 @ 11:42 am
Royal Canin/Vet’s Choice recall in SA:
Traces of ethylene glycol found in food.
Comment by Eva — April 17, 2007 @ 11:56 am
Linda,
what is scary is that I feed my pups Science Diet which does not use wheat gluten but uses corn gluten so now I am wondering if gluten and protein enriched powders in genral may be the culprits.
Comment by Patricia — April 17, 2007 @ 11:56 am
I am erring on the side of caution and avoid all of it, corn, wheat, glutens etc and now I wonder about the rice and pea of Natural Balance. I’m holding my breath waiting to hear something concrete.
I just hope we can find something that is not hurting our pets, in the meantime we all worry!
Linda MS
Comment by Linda — April 17, 2007 @ 12:01 pm
Eva - that’s antifreeze - how can that be? Right?
Linda MS
Comment by Linda — April 17, 2007 @ 12:05 pm
Eva do you have the link to that? I looked on itchmo and they say a third party supplier contamination but no more -
Linda MS
Comment by Linda — April 17, 2007 @ 12:08 pm
I Feel its better to be safe then sorry. Buy only a small Manufacturer’s brand like Canidae for dogs and Felidae for Cats. I’m not concerned about not much left on the shelves. If their is nothing left on the shelves to buy that is excellent. Don’t you think their playng games with the consumer’s out there? Don’t you think enough is enough? While our pets die and become ill, they keep testing and testing until they finally decide to take everthing off the shelf. WHY DIDN’T THEY DO THIS FROM THE BEGINNING OF THIS WHOLE MESS? AS FOR THE PERSON WHO IS AFRAID THERE WON’T BE ANYTHING LEFT ON THE SHELF, THINK OF YOUR PET HOW THEY MAY BECOME ILL BECAUSE THEY HAVEN’T TAKEN IT OFF THE SHELVES YET. THEY MAY DIE. IS IT WORTH IT? THERE IS STILL ENOUGH PET FOODS THAT YOU CAN PURCHASE THAT ARE SAFE AND NOT MADE BY THESE BIG MANUFACTURERS.
Comment by Georgeann Heckman — April 17, 2007 @ 12:18 pm
All of this is terrible and I sense something is drastically wrong and we don’t know the half of it.
Last night it tooks me hours to cook up meals, as I still have some NB Sweet Potato and Duck dry dog food I was using in addition to homemade, and nothing was ready.
I boiled a pot of 10 chicken breats, a big pan of boiled hamburger, I cooked about fifteen sweet potatos and some smaller red potatos and then about ten cups of rice. I added safflower oil, some molasses, and then bone meal, also finely chopped carrots and an apple.
The dogs were biting at the bit by the time I finished.
I buy about six big bags of dog food at a time so I don’t have to shop so much and have not been using much since the recall began, but I thought I could trust NB. I trust nothing now. I was going to return the bags today but didn’t hoping to hear some good news - and then the post about the melamine - and I’m scared to death.
I have two dogs that are on nothing but homemade and the rest on a mixture of the NB and homemade -
So, I just put more veggies in a crock pot when I left for work this morning and boiled some rice while I showered and defrosted some more hamburger.
My head is swirling over this and the more I try to make sense of it the worst it is becoming.
Does anyone out there know what’s going on? Bernie tell me the short version in easy terms so I can understand this. Forget the chemistry mumbo jumbo please. Thanks. Anyone else - help!
Linda MS
Comment by Linda — April 17, 2007 @ 12:29 pm
HEARTGUARD CHEWABLES MAY BE RECALLED
I don’t know if this has been posted today as I haven’t had a chance to read through blogs yet. I just received an email from a friend who received an email from a Vet in Canada who was alerting his members. He wrote:
“I have been told that a popular Heartworm preventive medication called
Heartguard may be recalled soon as well.
These are chewable tablets, and I suspect that they also contain wheat gluten to keep them bound together.
If you are using them as a Heartworm preventive, I suggest that you stop, and
switch to another Preventive such as Interceptor.
I’ll keep you all posted as the news progresses.”
Now, I don’t know that I should post this Vet’s name on this blog without confirmation. I asked my friend to ask him how he knows this and am waiting for her reply. She did say about him: “I take classes from Dr XXXXX, he is a Vet from Canada, practices a more natural way of dealing with Dogs and Cats. I just Love the man. Have his book, and belong to the site thing.”
If this is true, and Heartguard Chewables is the next pet related item to be recalled, this is so not good!
Comment by Barb — April 17, 2007 @ 12:40 pm
http://tinyurl.com/yotsdd
http://allafrica.com/stories/200704170211.html
“The Royal Canin SA recall was because an ingredient may have been contaminated. The recall follows last week’s recall of its Vets Choice brand of dry dog food, which has been linked to renal failure in 25 dogs.
MD Gregory Watine said a batch of raw material from a third-party supplier “may have been contaminated”. The company had been running tests since last Tuesday, locally and internationally, and hoped to reveal findings by the end of the week.
. . . . .
The dead dog was found to have traces of ethylene-glycol, or antifreeze, in its system. However, Steenkamp (RC) said the company had not ruled out other possible contaminants as renal failure could be caused by several toxins.”
Comment by Stefania — April 17, 2007 @ 12:41 pm
Gina, Christie - I just sent you an email regarding my Heartguard post above hoping you will confirm with this Canadian Vet what I wrote above. I forwarded to you the email I received. Please check your emails!
Comment by Barb — April 17, 2007 @ 12:52 pm
Barb, I took a look, and it says no more than we already reported in this post - that a vet heard a rumor. We’re checking this out, as are others.
Comment by Christie Keith — April 17, 2007 @ 12:59 pm
Thanks Christie!
Comment by Barb — April 17, 2007 @ 1:06 pm
Linda MS said: that’s antifreeze - how can that be? Right?
Antifreeze was the problem with the previous recall of Woolworth food in South Africa. There is no wheat gluten in the Vet’s Choice Large Puppy breed dry food, which was the first food they recalled there. If it’s antifreeze again this time, they can tell by the kidneys, so there should be reports on that soon.
Comment by CathyA — April 17, 2007 @ 1:24 pm
If anyone is concerned about NATURAL BALANCE start bombarding actor Dick VanPatten’s fan club site, agent, etc… with demands and questions. He’s the one who developed this product. He seems like a decent man so he’s probably just as concerned as customers are.
Comment by laura S — April 17, 2007 @ 1:25 pm
OK, sorry…I was late for a doctor’s appt. and typed the Royal Canin thing on my way out. I found two references to the recall on African news site. One stated that RC was still stonewalling (officially) but had sent a notice out to vets about the EG. Another said that the one dog which had died had EG in its system.
Let me go back and find them. I emailed Itchmo from the sites, let me see if he has it up yet.
Comment by Eva — April 17, 2007 @ 1:38 pm
RE: urinary crystals.
University of Guelph posted this a while back. Pictures and lab notes.
http://www.labservices.uoguelph.ca/urgent.cfm
Can I make a suggestion that people open WordPad and copy/paste links for future reference? Saves a lot of searching later!
Comment by CathyA — April 17, 2007 @ 1:38 pm
So, I am still in pet food hell. To summarize, my dog experienced acute renal failure from his Nutro Ultra which I had only changed him to 3 months prior. He recovered from the renal failure and I continued to cook his food for another month. After much agonizing and research, I switched him to….you guessed it, Natural Balance. The cats too. He is not on the Venison formula, but I don’t know what to do next. Is it really worth it to switch, when the next quality company can have a recall over bacteria, or anything else. It is really pretty ironic, to say the least.
Comment by Joyce — April 17, 2007 @ 1:40 pm
I don’t know how to do urls. Go to http://www.iol.co.za—today’s issue, page six I think.
Royal Canin managing director Gregory Watine said on Monday that preliminary tests carried out on batches of Vets Choice in laboratories in South Africa and Europe suggest that a batch of raw material supplied by a third party to the company may have been contaminated. The tests had not yet established what the contaminant was.
But a letter from the company to veterinary clinics last week said traces of ethylene glycol - an antifreeze - were found in the dog food.
Comment by Eva — April 17, 2007 @ 1:45 pm
Sorry, just
http://www.iol.co.za
Comment by Eva — April 17, 2007 @ 1:46 pm
This from allAfrica.com:
Royal Canin has offered to cover the costs of renal profiling for dogs that ate Vets Choice. So far, said Steenkamp, 25 dogs had been reported ill and the death toll may have gone up from the one dog reported last week.
The dead dog was found to have traces of ethylene-glycol, or antifreeze, in its system. However, Steenkamp said the company had not ruled out other possible contaminants as renal failure could be caused by several toxins.
Comment by Eva — April 17, 2007 @ 1:50 pm
My dog, after he came home from the hospital, would not eat any of the foods that he had normally liked. This includes the table bits that he would wait for with hope. New kibble, hopefully ok? Nix. Right now he’s eating organic chicken, poached or roasted, raw organic buffalo, small bits of fresh (American) tuna, small amounts of chicken livers from organic chickens, sweet potato, peas, blueberries, very small amounts of white potato. A little cheese. I don’t need an animal nutritionist to tell me that it’s not a balanced diet that will support long life. On the other hand, it was one of those “well balanced” foods that killed his pal and has nearly killed him. And he’s eating! Not eating is not a great option either. I think he’s exhibiting a classic poisoning reaction in his total aversion to anything that was part of his diet prior to his collapse. Fortunately he is small, I can afford to cater to his tastes, after all, I spent a lot of money to keep him alive. Sadly, I trust no one now, not even my own (long term) vet; I’ve yet to find a vet here in Maine who is not somewhat defensive about the whole thing because of the misleading information that was put out at first and their failure to acknowledge what had happened and help with a good response.
And do read labels. There are more strange things, not just wheat gluten, where you would least expect it. Why buy adulterated chicken broth when it’s as close as tap water and a bag of chicken - natural at least, organic if possible. Ditto a lot of foods.
Comment by Nancy Nielsen — April 17, 2007 @ 1:51 pm
P.S. Spocko rocks
Comment by E. Hamilton — April 17, 2007 @ 1:51
am
Most definately, Spocko rocks! And I would add to that list E.Hamilton, you rock for holding those meetings on your own! Kudos to you!
Comment by Sandi K — April 17, 2007 @ 1:57 pm
I don’t understand why AquaNutro was allowed to get away with refusing to name the ingredient with EG, the local supplier or the original, European, supplier. I now wonder if Royal Canin is planning to keep that info to themselves as well. The pet food issue is a global concern and people deserve access to this information, so they can make their own choices about what to buy.
Comment by Eva — April 17, 2007 @ 1:58 pm
Oh, BTW, who the hell is this Joan person? She posted an absolutely inappropriate blog yesterday. In response, yes Joan the shootings at Virginia Tech are horrible, and my heart goes out to the families of the dead and injured. However, that’s not what we are discussing, is it? The occurrence of multiple tragedies in the same time period doesn’t lessen any of them. Unless of course, you only have the mental capacity to think about one thing at a time. If so, perhaps you should work for a pet food company. If the efforts of pet owners to ensure that the food we buy for our pets is safe and nutritious is mass hysteria, then fine, I’m hysterical. We are trying to make sure that our animals did not suffer and die in vain. We are trying to make a positive change. Maybe you should try it instead of criticizing others. If not MYOB.
Comment by Joyce — April 17, 2007 @ 2:12 pm
OK, one more post on Royal Canin then I’ll shut up about them. On their website I found the following about their “home” facility in France:
The Royal Canin Campus: a powerful vehicle for the company’s image, reaction capability and effectiveness.
With a surface area of 59.3 acres, Royal Canin has a unique piece of land at its disposal, as the site accommodates all the vital functions of the company: the plant, the analysis laboratory, the Research and Development facility, the kennels and the cattery, the General Management for France as well as the General Management and central departments of the Royal Canin Group (marketing, purchasing, legal department, financial department, accounting department…).
Here I’m concentrating on “central departments” and “purchasing”. Does this centralization make it more likely that the ingredient from the South African plant was also used in the US plant?
As to Joan…what Joyce said.
Comment by Eva — April 17, 2007 @ 2:20 pm
MELAMINE FOUND IN NATURAL BALANCE DRY FOODS—SEE BELOW FOR MORE INFO
AS OF 4-17-07
1:20 PM PST
By Julie Schmit, USA TODAY
Premium pet food company recalls dry foods
Natural Balance Pet Foods said Tuesday it found melamine in two of its pet food products, which the company has recalled.
Melamine is the chemical suspected of causing pet deaths and illnesses related to the Menu Foods recall, covering more than 60 million cans and pouches of wet dog and cat food from dozens of brands the past four weeks.
But Natural Balance doesn’t use wheat gluten, the ingredient contaminated with melamine in the Menu recall. Instead, it suspects that melamine was in a rice protein concentrate, a new ingredient used in the dry foods, said Natural Balance president Joey Herrick. “That was the only change in the product,” he says.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/.....lled_N.htm
Comment by Laura — April 17, 2007 @ 2:22 pm
I’ve seen something like this before - a Joan type person and she is terrified really because she’s been feeding the toxic junk and she doesn’t know what to do, maybe her animals aren’t sick yet, but she doesn’t go to the vets and have them checked out; she refuses to admit her fear and worry and thinks if she attacks others she will then remove herself from her own terror and everything will be better, that is until she opens another can or bag or whatever.
Just my five cents on it.
Linda MS
Comment by Linda — April 17, 2007 @ 2:22 pm
Please before you bash a company, do your research about the recall and the products. While it is a very scary time for those of us who do have animals, let it be known that Natural Balance is not a money grubbing, over marketed company. I personally know the history and the people that make up this wonderful company, and they are devistated that even with taking so many necessary precautions that this could have happened. The formulas and the message that the company sends is a positive one, and they are doing everything they can to assure that no more animals are effected. Please do remove your animals from the formulas mentioned, but do not be afraid to feed other formulas offered by the company. And while some of you might think that I am paid by the company to state these things, I will offer you this… I am just a long time animal lover who knows a lot about this industry. And all I ask of you is that you do your own research before you slander a decent independent company filled with very hard working individuals.
Comment by Beth — April 17, 2007 @ 3:01 pm
Oh for heavens sake Beth, they are putting this protein concentrate in because it is cheaper - business is busniess - it is all the bottom line.
Linda MS
Comment by Linda — April 17, 2007 @ 3:09 pm
My heart goes out to everyone whose pet is suffering or worse, lost a beloved pet. I’ve used Natural Balance Venison & Brown Rice with no problem. Now that it has been recalled and in light of the other recalls, I’m going to cook my own. Whatever is going on in the pet food industry needs careful scrutiny and definite action. In the meantime I have six dogs ranging from 2 to 13 years old whose health I refuse to gamble with. My 13 year old Shih Tzu has IBD and has been stable for about two months. I realize I can boil up some chicken, rice and green vegetables but that isn’t a long term solution partciularly for my IBD boy. I would appreciate any guidance on books I could buy or trusted websites I could visit to learn more about home prepared food.
As for Joan, your posting was cruel and stupid. The senseless loss of life is a tragedy whether it is an animal or a human being. All life is precious.
Comment by Joyce J — April 17, 2007 @ 3:12 pm
I’m waiting on my tax return. I had it earmarked for something else, but I think now it will go toward the cost of an industrial meat grinder. I’ve considered the idea of trying a raw diet before all this recall crap took place and I agonized over what might happen to my cats if I botched the raw food. I scrapped the idea and bought what I thought was the best cat food I could find. Then it got recalled so I switched to something else, something they didn’t like as much as the other food. Now it’s been recalled too.
I feel that I’ve been wasting WAY too much of my money on cat food that wasn’t any better or safer than the cheap junk they make in the same damn plant right next to the more expensive “better” food.
I’ll make it at home where I can be absolutely 100% sure of where each ingredient comes from and exactly what it is. The pet food companies I’ve trusted and been duped by sure aren’t doing it any better than I could my own self.
All you Menu Foods and AAFCO scumbag liars can take your calming words of “assurance” and jam them where the sun don’t shine. I for one am not buying it ever again.
Comment by Sky Eyes Woman — April 17, 2007 @ 3:13 pm
Beth, just an observation…Natural Balance Venison/Rice for dogs lists: whole grain brown rice, rice flour and rice bran. Not one word about “rice protein”. People are simply looking for honesty from their pet food companies.
Comment by Eva — April 17, 2007 @ 3:18 pm
Natural Balance has updated the ingredients on their web page on both dry foods to now say “Rice Protein Concentrate”. It was NOT there before; I was comparing the ingredients of the Venison/Pea to their other foods last night. I really am disappointed about this Natural Balance recall; I thought I had found a brand I could trust, and my kitty really enjoyed the food. I’m moving to Kumpicat now for dry and still looking for a canned replacement.
Comment by auntie — April 17, 2007 @ 3:36 pm
I am still fighting with my kitties who still want the canned poison they were used to. It is taking a lot of time and energy to find something that they like and is good for them.
I have no problem with tuna but that has to be used in moderation. For all the per owners out there that are feeling bad about”starving” their “kids”. Would you allow your human kids to eat nothing but candy because that is what they like?? Of course not!! As hard as it seems keep at the home made, as long as you are well informed. As least then you know that whatever your furry “kids” are eating it is the same thing that you would eat without hesitation. If this is not totally healthy because of all the other issues..ie: GM heats..additives..preservatives..at least feel comfortable in the fact that what they eat you would also eat without hesitation.
At this point in the pet food scandfal/cover-up..there really isn’t another solution. If your furry friends matter then put out the extra time and energy to keep them safe.
Comment by mal — April 17, 2007 @ 4:12 pm
Just called Canidae to ask if they use “rice protein” and was told “No, absolutely not.”
Rice “gluten”?…”No.”
Rice “concentrate”?…”No, that’s added as a cheap protein source and we don’t use it.”
So, I’m staying with them…dogs thriving on their food for now.
Comment by Eva — April 17, 2007 @ 4:35 pm
While I know people are understandably upset, I wish people could see that Natural Balance is decidedly different. I am saddened that we as a nation are made to be so terrified that we cannot trust someone who is trying to do honest business. While the capitalistic society we live in has a fundamental bottom line (and anyone who pays taxes or tries to earn an living contributes to this), there are decent companies and people out there that do want to make a quality product as well provide their employees with an honest living. For example, when Natural Balance started to receive phone calls on Thursday, by today most of the food (of the entire Venison line, when only one batch has so far been detected) has been pulled from the shelves. The retailers had received personal phone calls from the managers/higher ups of the company, and all of the food is being completely refunded. With the recall involving the wheat gluten and Menu Foods, most of the retailers were told by their news stations. But you don’t have to take my word for it… please do the research yourself.
All I asked was that you continue to do the research and remove your animals from feeding the formulas involved in the recall. If you plan to do home cooking, make sure that your animal is getting the balance it needs with vitamins and with nutritional content(like the necessary Taurine for cats). But please to not add to the mass hysteria without doing the research and looking into the company history. And please don’t bash me for having an opinion, we can debate this matter without that. It really effects more than just the bloggers who read and contribute.
Comment by Beth — April 17, 2007 @ 5:48 pm
Beth
I agree with you regarding Natural Balance. I did a lot of research, and it seemed like a good choice after Rupert’s illness. I think we are all freaking out because if you remember, this is how it started the first time. In our case, our brand wasn’t recalled until the second day. We’re all waiting for the after shocks. No one knows what to feed their pets, and changing to a different food could ultimately have exactly the same consequences. I think I will start making food again temporarily, and see what happens. But unfortunately, cooking for my cats doesn’t seem to be an option.
Comment by Joyce — April 17, 2007 @ 6:17 pm
Beth—over the last 2 weeks I researched Natural Balance. I decided to switch my cats to their canned food because I liked the ingredient list.
However—NB’s website specifically stated “no rice” in the venison-based dry foods. Rice protein was also not in its ingredients list—until today. So—I bought based on the ingredient list and now I find their labeling is inaccurate.
I decided to boycott ALL food manufactured by Menu Foods because the record shows they are not reliable and honest. They withheld information that the food was dangerous; they were slow to recall; they were lax in testing; they failed to keep track of their distribution; they failed to notify other companies and customers of the problem. To the extent I can, I don’t do business with companies that are dishonest or unreliable.
Well, I’ve done the research. NB did act relatively quickly—good for them. But NB’s ingredient labels were false. Hence, the NB cans are going back to the store.
Comment by Laura — April 17, 2007 @ 6:40 pm
If natural balance changed their ingredient list overnight, then shame on them. While I very carefully chose their products, actions like that put them right up with Menu Foods in my mind. I changed to their products because of the ingredient list, and the fact that everything except the lamb was produced here in the US. I am going to contact them with my concerns for sure. All we want is to know what we’re feeding our pets. Who know it would be so difficult?
Comment by Joyce — April 17, 2007 @ 6:49 pm
So Beth you think adding rice protein concentrate in pet food and not listing it on the package makes NB better?
Really, do you work for NB? I think you do.
Linda MS
Comment by Linda — April 17, 2007 @ 7:19 pm
Just read the USA Today article in which Natural Balance stated it had found melamine in some of its dry foods. They “suspect” the rice product, as that was they only ingredient they had changed recently. NB’s own word is good enough for me - certain of their dry products contain crap that a dog should not ingest, and it wasn’t listed on the label.
Link: http://www.usatoday.com/money/.....htm?csp=34
I home cook for my dogs, since Nutro dry caused problems. And yes, I lol at the suggestions that it is so extremely complex to cook for dogs that I can’t be trusted to learn how. But I can be trusted to learn how to cook for myself, my family, small children, etc. Imagine that. You know, somebody needs to sell that story to someone who is buying it, not to me.
My issue is my cat, and her pickiness, which is making homecooking not possible. I switched to Felidae, which she is eating, but not particularly fond of yet.
That said, I would be a complete idiot to believe that a company with nothing to hide, has any good reason to refuse to disclose where they have their food manufactured. It just isn’t high level, top secret type stuff. Their continued nondisclosure will leave me no choice but to search for another cat food. I will email them myself tomorrow, and also begin looking for a substitute.
Comment by TC — April 17, 2007 @ 7:21 pm
Also, as regards the Felidae, it lists brown rice as an ingredient. Before I email, does anyone know if that MEANS whole brown rice like what I eat, or does it mean this kind of protein concentrate crap that NB used, and thus I should worry that they all bought it/used it/made it at the same place?
Comment by TC — April 17, 2007 @ 7:24 pm
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Pet food maker Menu Foods (MEW_u.TO: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Tuesday it added one additional dog food product to its recall list and two more production dates of eight varieties of tainted pet food.
Toronto-based Menu Foods has previously recalled wet cat and dog food produced with tainted wheat gluten supplied by ChemNutra Inc.
The company said the items were added after it analyzed production records at its plant in Emporia, Kansas, as part of the U.S. Food and Drug administration’s investigation of tainted wheat gluten.
The eight varieties had previously been withdrawn from the market and should already be off market shelves, Menu Foods said.
The product added to the recall list was Natural Life dog food with a date on the bottom of the can of Nov/22/09 and UPC number of 12344-07114.
Comment by Sharon — April 17, 2007 @ 7:35 pm
I can’t tell if everyone is aware of the latest so am adding this to be on the safe side.
The Natural Balance recall now includes canned and treats in the venison forumla, in addition to the dry foods earlier mentioned. The rice protein concentrate is at issue, and they say the product was produced by a U.S. vendor. I just don’t know what to make of the extent of this.
http://www.itchmo.com/read/nat.....od-and-tre\
ats_20070417
Comment by TC — April 17, 2007 @ 8:22 pm
I’m going to let you folks in on a big, very-well kept secret by the pet food cos.: if you had labels from pet foods going back 10 years or more, you would find the same toxic ingredients that seem to be a big mystery now. So now it shouldn’t be “could it be this or that?” The toxins have been there all along. The contamination news is only the can of worms that has long been needed to be opened to finally bring the pet food industry deceptions to your attention. Many cats and dogs have died in the past with the same diagnosis of renal failure and other current fatal conditons due to the unscrupulous pet food cos. Believe me, I know, I’ve experienced what a lot of you folks are experiencing now. My sincerest sympathies are with you.
My advice to end your confusion is to stick with the natural products, and to trust those cos. despite the “venison only” recall by Natural Balance. Obviously they and the other natural products are the only ones who have been upfront with you, but you probably never even realized it because they have been so unfamiliar to you.
Comment by Lexy — April 17, 2007 @ 8:34 pm
Come on - no more propaganda from the Natural Balance people please. I just shelled out over $300 for Potato and Duck dry dog food in the big bags, and now I am supposed to trust NB when they have pulled a switch by adding rice protein and not listing in on their bags - what do you have to say to that Beth and Lexy and whoever else that is trying to pull a fast one here.
Do we have “stupid” stamped on our heads?
So your company is adding an unapproved rice protein concentrate and its killing our pets and to beat all you don’t list in on your bags and even put it in the Venison and Sweet Pea dry for cats without having it listed and just today post it on your website. And that makes you the good guy. It is called damage control you spin doctor.
This product is from China and you want us to believe it is so natural and wonderful and healthy and you are the best thing going since sliced bread.
Well, grow up. Consumers aren’t stupid and we will spend our money any way we darn well feel like it so stop trying to brain wash us will ya - give us a break - our pets are dying.
Apologize promise to be honest and just maybe we will forgive you but stop with the spin.
Linda MS
Comment by Linda — April 17, 2007 @ 8:53 pm
Linda MS
Do we have “stupid” stamped on our heads?
uhmm….YES!
Comment by . — April 17, 2007 @ 8:57 pm
Anyone else want to try to make sense of this?
Here is the Google cache from Apr 12, 2007 13:08:33 GMT for Natural Balance Venison & Pea dry cat food: http://tinyurl.com/2875ac
On that site, the ingredients list does NOT include ANY form of rice.
And here http://www.naturalbalanceinc.c.....enCat.html is the website for today - in which “Rice Protein Concentrate” is now mysteriously included in the first few ingredients.
And here http://tinyurl.com/3akc7o
is a Chinese website for a “Natural Balance® China partner”. And in this Chinese website, the ingredient label for the Venison & Green Pea dry cat food also does NOT list ANY form of rice.
?
Comment by Joy — April 17, 2007 @ 9:12 pm
Itchmo is now at the point where they are doing more harm than good. They are more into sensationlizing and causing a bigger frenzy among their readers with their added speculative comments in their reports. They are also heavily defaming the whole Natural Balance Co. for the simple reason that Natural Balance came forward with honesty about their venison recall. I’d hate to think that they would do the same thing with any other honest institution. What would be left for us to purchase?
Too many of the folks on Itchmo are offering baseless comments that are increasing the confusion with the readers. Pet food co. owners are adding their bias to sell their own unfamiliar products.
Clearly by this time there should have been more progression and clarification on Itchmo, but the information has gotten worse and more confusing.
This is true of what I say because the folks on here are more congenial and reasonable thinkers, yet still have a confusing fear of all Natural Balance’s products because of Itchmo’s overly hyped sensationalism that they may have read.
Comment by Lexy — April 17, 2007 @ 9:19 pm
Spocko, if you know so much about trolls then why don’t you know to IGNORE THEM? That’s the ONLY way to handle them.
OK, back on topic: I don’t see many people talking about PET PROMISE. After a few days of mind-numbing research, I decided that (other than a raw diet or home cooking) PET PROMISE was among a VERY short list of possible choices that are both safe and nutritious. It has no byproducts, no rendered meats or fats, no antibiotic-fed protein, etc. The only potential downside — and there is always a potential downside to any choice — is that it is made using the Purina facilities. It is not, as far as I can tell, a Purina brand (Purina does not even list them on their web site), but only the processing resource. Givenm all the lies and obfuscation from the pet food industry during this crisis, I also found it refreshing and creditable that Pet Promise is quite up-front about this connection on its site.
My two cats definitely aren’t wolfing it down, but they’re getting used to it (my guys have always had the exact same food; they are unaccustomed to changes or variety in their diet) and their weight has been stable. I am also feeding Eagle Pak dry.
Finally, I wanted to mention that I am cautiously optimistic that I have two survivors. After acfcute renal failure they went on three days of IV fluids and a week of sub-cutaneous and they appear to be doing very well. New test results in another day or two.
Anyone else have any experiences with or news about PET PROMISE?
Comment by Russell — April 17, 2007 @ 9:26 pm
Lexy or whoever you are - I didn’t go to itchmo - I talked to reps at Natures Balance myself before this story broke and was told the truth and then the bloggers here watched the ingredients change on NB web site today. Give us a break and do your homework.
Linda MS
Comment by Linda — April 17, 2007 @ 9:30 pm
Well I guess I was wrong about the folks being more congenial on this website. Do you have “stupid” stamped on your forehead? Probably. But it’s clearly visible from where I sit that you also have “ignorant” “sarcastic” “uneducated” “uncivilized” and “uncompassionate” also stamped, just to name a few.
Try learning from your dogs so that you might apply a nicer attitude to be a decent human being.
Listen, I’ve experienced terrible renal failure deaths with two of my dear pets. So for goodness sake, think, why would I be giving you spin?
If you want to accuse anybody of propoganda, start with the lousy pet food companies ads and FDA and the AAFCO! Fool!
Comment by Lexy — April 17, 2007 @ 9:45 pm
I’m sorry for your loss of your pets. It is obviously having a profound effect on you. I hope you didn’t feed them NB or won’t in the future with new pets since their products can’t be trusted.
Linda MS
Comment by Linda — April 17, 2007 @ 10:11 pm
you forgot ,paraniod, and obsessive/compulsive
Comment by :-) — April 17, 2007 @ 10:12 pm
I would have expected that during this time of uncertainty, a company interested in producing quality pet food and caring about our pets health would test any new ingredients, esp. those originating in China.
Instead, NB evidently choose a new ingredient, and used it immediately. The rice protein testing was done initially on our pets, and once complaints were received, NB verified that indeed pet owners were correct - this product contained a toxic substance. They did this even knowing that we as pet owners could not decide for ourselves about this new addition, because as they know, labeling laws don’t even require them to list it yet. I will give a tiny credit that they did put it on their website, so that now that we know of it’s potential for contamination, we can make an informed, somewhat after the fact choice.
That is the reality.
Comment by TC — April 18, 2007 @ 10:40 am
BTW, I don’t use this product, nor will I until they care as much about testing and quality control and quality ingredients as I do.
However, they were on my short list of products to try for my cat. And of course, they make me question the safety of what I am using for my cat, given how tricky it is to get solid information from any of them in order to make a fully informed choice.
Comment by TC — April 18, 2007 @ 10:42 am
Good morning guys; I’m going to try and clarify a few things for you, and I hope to stop the anger that I seem to be brewing rather than containing. First of all, I understand your concerns about the rice protein not being added on the label. This was a recent formula change, and AAFCO law states that the ingredient panel has six months to change, as the bags run low. While I do not personally agree with this either, it is AAFCO law, not Natural Balance law. Second, I do not work for the company. But I have worked with the company, and do know many of the people who do work there. I have also worked in the pet industry for many years, and have seen companies that I trusted turn towards mass marketing and fool the consumers by putting pretty pictures on their packaging. But Natural Balance is a good company. They have a strong history of not only being honest to the consumer, but also being there for the retailer. They are an INDEPENDENT company, not some corporate conglomerate, and they do have a strong history of providing solution rather than problems. The rice protein used in the Venison formulas was purchased in the US!!! Do not confuse rice protein with wheat gluton purchased in China… they are completely different! Also, the cans and the treats are made and packaged at a completely different plant, but as a precaution the FDA added them to the list. And finally, if you do not feel comfortable feeding your animal Natural Balance, please do not. There are many great companies out there that make balanced good formulas that stick to the same ethics (for example, you do not need a formula for every single breed; you spend more on packaging and marketing than you do the formula when you buy from these companies with 800 skus). But once again all that I ask is that you either do the research if you do plan to feed yourself or switch to another company (which it seems that many of you have, but be careful, because while a dog’s needs are very similar to ours, cats are not), and that you not slam a company who is truly trying to do the right thing and fix a horrible mistake they never intended to cause.
Comment by Beth — April 18, 2007 @ 12:09 pm
My posts contain only factual material, either released by the company itself or a logical conclusion based on the relevant facts.
The majority of posts here are not slamming NB. The majority of people here are intelligent, can read for themselves and are not likely to be swayed by things other than the facts presented by NB.
Whether this was indeed a horrible mistake is just a value judgment at this point - you can’t know that for certain. Maybe, or maybe not. To me that is not as important as my concern that quality control is lacking such that this could occur at all, esp. during a time of necessasry watchfulness, due to the bad things that have already happened.
But we do have some facts per the company to work with that are absolutes. Melamine was in a new ingredient they used. They did not test for it prior to usage. Not a slam. Fact.
Comment by TC — April 18, 2007 @ 12:16 pm
I’m going to try TimberWolf Organics and I have four large bags of the NB Potato and Duck that I am returning to the store. Why? Because I can’t trust the labels and I really don’t care about the rules - I care that my dogs live. One of my dogs is a trained S&R dog with hours of hard and tedious exercises and scent discrimination trials - I simply must know what is in my dog’s food and I simply must be able to trust the company 100%, which is why I chose Natural Balance to begin with and that same reason, a trust violation, is why I will no longer use them.
Each of us has to make our own good decision here. I also feel responsible for telling my friends to switch to NB and they used the venison and rice dry and I feel terrible about it too. They are homecooking out of fear and don’t know whom to trust anymore.
I will keep trying until I am happy and that is what America is all about.
Linda MS.
Comment by Linda — April 18, 2007 @ 12:21 pm
Further to the quality control issue, I am wondering what all pet food companies intend to do with regard to this sloppiness in quality control.
Maybe someone from the industry can explain why testing is so difficult. It makes no sense to me.
A pet food company’s level of watchfulness, or lack thereof, and what is glibly declared to be just a normal ordinary “mistake” can potentially translate to an ill or dying furkid. If actions show that testing is not a priority in cases like this, fine by me.
Just means we have way different priorities, and indeed, I move on. Mine is my furkids lives.
Comment by TC — April 18, 2007 @ 12:21 pm
I know that the people who read and post on here are educated and concerned people. They would not be here in the first place if they were not. But I also know how hard it is to read between the fine lines. Even the good formula that Linda mentioned TimberWolf Organics implies that you are getting an organic formula. But if you take a look at the ingredient panel, it really is just a regular natural well balanced formula… but NOT using organic ingredients. And it never says anywhere that the ingredients are organic, but the name leads you to believe that. But it is a good formula, using good ingredients. I’m going to stop blogging on here for a couple of days until more information becomes available from the FDA about the nature and origin of the toxin. My heart very much does go out to anyone who has a sick animal, and especially if it was due to a Natural Balance bag.
Comment by Beth — April 18, 2007 @ 12:44 pm