Pet food recall: Late night update, open thread
By Christie Keith
May 1, 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 information on recalled foods).
- If you want to report a sick or deceased pet, click here.
The USDA website just posted a transcript of today’s FDA media conference (liveblogged here on PetConnection with a backup link here). This is a section I was particularly interested in seeing again, an exchange with Karen Roebuck (or, as the FDA calls her here, “REPORTER”) of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, who has done exemplary work on this story from the beginning:
REPORTER: Hi. Regarding the April 27 import alert, it said that about 750 samples of wheat gluten and products were tested, and 330 were positive for melamine-related compounds. Are those all pet food samples? And have any human food samples in the surveillance to date, I mean even a single one, tested positive? And also, it seems contradictory to say that you have to put down the pigs because they are not safe enough to be slaughtered now and go into the market, but yet it’s safe enough not to recall the ones that have already been slaughtered.
MODERATOR: Let’s start with Michael Rogers and then maybe we could go to Dr. Sundloff.
MR. ROGERS: I’ll comment on the first part of the question. I’m not going to get into the specific numbers. Certainly when this import alert was published those potentially represented the numbers at the time, but this is an ongoing investigation, and we continue to analyze samples and receive additional data that would alter the positives and negatives. Having said that, the import alert, which is detention without physical exam, is a proactive opportunity by the agency to take a look at these vegetable protein products. But it’s certainly important to reference that all of the positive samples for rice protein concentrate and wheat gluten have been associated to two primary sources in China.
Did anyone detect an ANSWER in that response? Back to the transcript, and a follow up question from Roebuck:
REPORTER: But were they all pet food, or were any of them in human food?
MR. ROGERS: There is no evidence to suggest that any of the bulk products went to human food manufacturers.
And speaking of transcripts, here’s another one, from a report on Anderson Cooper 360 last night:
JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The FDA says 38 poultry farms in Indiana received contaminated feed from China in early February, and fed it to poultry within days of receiving it. Thirty of the farms raise broiler chickens for people to eat. Eight farms raise chickens for breeding.
The FDA says all of the broilers, which are believed to have eaten feed contaminated with melamine, have since been processed into human food.
The agency adds, the likelihood of illness after eating those chickens is quote, “very low.”
When melamine first showed up in tainted pet food, it appeared that this might have been an isolated incident. But Chinese business officials have told the “New York Times” that melamine has been routinely added to various types of animal feed there for years. Why? To make buyers think that the protein levels were higher than they actually were, increasing market value.
So why did melamine suddenly start killing pets? Scientists now say it was combined with another chemical.
ALAN WILDEMAN, UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH: Well, I think we’ve identified what we feel is an important and likely underlying causative agent of why the animals are getting sick.
JOHNS: Scientists from Canada and the U.S. believe they may have unlocked a mystery. They’ve learned that melamine, combined with another contaminant found in the pet food, cyanuric acid, forms crystals in the kidneys.
WILDEMAN: What we’ve done is experiments that show, if you take cat urine and you add melamine to it, and cyanuric acid, the crystals will form in the cat urine in a test tube as you’re watching them. So it happens within a matter of hours.
JOHNS: It’s the crystals that are suspected of killing the pets. The ASPCA has seen a case that suggests that’s exactly what happened.
DR. LOUISE MURRAY, ASPCA BERGH MEMORIAL ANIMAL HOSPITAL: We actually had a case recently where the cat’s kidneys were completely obstructed. And when we went to surgery, to try to relieve the obstruction, there was no normal stone. Instead, the aortas were completely full of these melamine-type crystal.
JOHNS: And now the pet food investigation has turned into scrutiny of the human food supply.
CAROLINE SMITH DEWAAL, CENTER FOR SCIENCE IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST: We see the pet food recall as a warning sign for the government that they need to do more to protect the food supply. It could easily happen to an ingredient used in human food as well.
JOHNS: The FDA has already announced that 6,000 hogs in several states may have eaten tainted pet food and should be destroyed and not put into the human food chain.
Meanwhile, the FDA investigation into China continues. A lawyer for one of the U.S. companies that received tainted wheat gluten from China confirms that his client received a search warrant for documents and computer files that was served last week. And FDA inspectors are expected to head to China to continue the probe.
They’re promising an update from their reporter in China for Wednesday’s show. I’ll post if I get any more information.
David Goldstein at Huffington Post wrote about this afternoon’s FDA media conference, in a post provocatively titled “BREAKING: Americans Ate 3 Million Melamine-Tainted Chickens!”:
In a conference call with media this afternoon, USDA Assistant Administrator Kenneth Petersen revealed that as many as 3 million chickens, contaminated with melamine from a single Indiana feed mill, have already been slaughtered, distributed and eaten. An additional 100,000 breeder chickens are currently being voluntarily quarantined by farmers.
Usual nighttime warnings: Please play nice or play somewhere else. We won’t tolerate racism or hate speech on this blog, or death threats. And if your post doesn’t show up right away, it got caught in our moderation or spam filters. Don’t re-post it. Just be patient. I stay up late. Ask anyone.
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Oh Thank you Christie - I was just about to blog about this.
Comment by Kim — May 1, 2007 @ 9:40 pm
Kim, do you ever feel like this story has eaten your life?
Comment by Christie Keith — May 1, 2007 @ 9:45 pm
So, anyone else notice that USA Today changed the title of their article on the FDA BS today?
It went from
FDA: Risk from tainted feed low
to
FDA: Feed no human threat
Infuriating.
Comment by Kim — May 1, 2007 @ 9:50 pm
Oh yeah Christie, I sure do.
BTW, here’s that USA Today link…
http://tinyurl.com/ysu7vb
Comment by Kim — May 1, 2007 @ 9:51 pm
I’m noticeably crankier today, and really don’t give a bleep about what I post on my blog now. Today’s FDA thing was just so ridiculous I can’t stand it. (Thank you SO much for blogging it!)
Comment by Kim — May 1, 2007 @ 9:53 pm
Rock on, CNN! Joe Johns is tonight’s hero.
Guess there’s really something to be said for having 24 hours of news to fill - that is, they’re covering this story when other folks don’t have the newscast time for it. Whatever the reason, God bless ‘em for doing it.
Comment by Laura — May 1, 2007 @ 9:53 pm
Kim - no didn’t catch that. Another changing news article.
Man, this gets more surreal with each passing day.
Comment by Ally — May 1, 2007 @ 9:53 pm
I think they, the baddies, are counting on wearing us down.Maybe we should worry in shifts or something?
And I second the pet food crisis chewed up my life. And spit out my soul.
I swear, every time I hear the word melamine I can FEEL my kidneys cringe.
Comment by E. Hamilton — May 1, 2007 @ 10:00 pm
As a media-type, I’m just embarrassed by the USA Today double-step.
First, we reporters believed what we were told about Iraq. (Remember the NYT’s mea culpa?)
Then there was Katrina. We bought what FEMA was selling there, too - not for long, maybe, but for too long, still.
And now, the FDA. Because if the FDA says it’s 16 dead pets, who are we to argue? And, oh yeah, about that risk to humans….
Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. That would be un-American.
It’s just sad. Paging Upton Sinclair….
Comment by Laura — May 1, 2007 @ 10:01 pm
So Kim and I would discussing this today.
Is it okay that the FDA doesn’t reveal the names of the farms that sent out the millions of chickens to be consumed? Is it because it’s too late and there is nothing people can do? If they say it’s safe then why NOT tell people the name of the company that feed the tainted feed to the chickens and then processed it and sent it out to humans?
This should be a very easy thing to find out.
I called two of the major companies today to ask them. So if hear that THEY are the owners of the 38 farms that sold the chickens to fast foods places, schools, grocery stories should I tell everyone or should I do like the FDA and hold back that information?
Comment by spocko — May 1, 2007 @ 10:09 pm
Huh, looks like USA Today might have had 3 titles for today’s article - here’s one from 6:35pm that said “FDA: 3 million chickens ate melamine, but risk to humans minimal”
It’s not from their site, but has their byline.
http://tinyurl.com/34wc6j
I know, I need to give it a rest.
Comment by Kim — May 1, 2007 @ 10:14 pm
I think if you pee in a cup and add pool chemicals and achieve orbital velocity in the resulting explosion then your local poultry may have gotten some of the tainted feed.
Sort of a homemade EPT thing.
A EMT, which is short for holy bejeebers, I am going to die!
Which is actually what I would scream if I ever found myself two weeks up the stick, our little shorthand for “in pig”, but I digress.
What the ethics of that situation might be, the pee pool chemical thing, your guess is as good as mine.
Comment by E. Hamilton — May 1, 2007 @ 10:17 pm
Spocko - I’m even more ticked now than I was earlier. So you tell me and I tell everyone. That work?
Comment by Kim — May 1, 2007 @ 10:24 pm
There is a post on itchmo that you can get urine or pet food tested for melamine, how hard would it be to do it yourself, so to speak, and label it Fluffy tinkle?
Comment by E. Hamilton — May 1, 2007 @ 10:25 pm
3 Million Chickens eaten by Americans? They were fed in Feb and processed and eaten by the general public? Thanks alot USDA, where were you to prevent this from happening? What other tasty little extras can we expect in our chickens, pork, and beef?
Comment by SL — May 1, 2007 @ 10:30 pm
E - I have to laugh - I was talking with Therese at thepetfoodlist.com earlier about just that very thing!
Comment by Kim — May 1, 2007 @ 10:38 pm
I had baked chicken & Del Monte Organic Peas tonight for dinner… and my stomach is buring!! ugh! I found grit in the peas too!
I bought them the other day because none of the frozen listed the country of origin & the Del Monte was the only canned (which I rarely buy anyway) that had Certified Oregon Tilth Organic.
I take that first response as a positive. Too much hedging on the answer. Too bad it isn’t audio/video cast.
Comment by Kat — May 1, 2007 @ 10:40 pm
Did we ever find out the 3rd purchaser, who bought direct from China? That’s still concealed, right? I still have my theories.
Comment by Kat — May 1, 2007 @ 10:43 pm
Kat - you mean the Rice Protein Importer? Haven’t heard a word. Would love to hear your theories. ;-)
Comment by Kim — May 1, 2007 @ 10:51 pm
I came up with theory when the hog farm in NC with a supplier in SC. I started searching the renderers in SC. This is what I came up with: (gotta go retrieve it)
Comment by Kat — May 1, 2007 @ 11:01 pm
I found the first (?) article written about the NC hog contamination with an undisclosed SC source:
http://www.charlotte.com/295/story/97410.html
which now does not exist - replaced with this article:
http://www.charlotte.com/112/story/98015.html
The research started at that point. Based on reviewing these websites:
http://www.renderers.org/Membe.....ectory.pdf
http://www.clemson.edu/LPH/ren.....shment.pdf
http://www.valleyproteins.com/
I have come to the theory that Protein Valley is most likely (my quess) one of the “unnamed” recipients of the rice protein concentrate, or even the 2nd recipient from China direct.
There are reasons for them “hiding”, if this is in fact, the other recipient.
The following are on the Board of Directors of the National Renderer’s Association:
1) Mike Reiser, Valley Proteins is First Vice Chairman of the National Renderer’s Association
2) Michael Smith, Valley Proteins is President of the Eastern Region;
3) Mike Reiser, Valley Proteins is Secretary of the Eastern Region
4) Valley Proteins manufactures these coded products:
BFP - Blender - Fat & proteins
TG - Tallow & grease
FGAF - Feed grade animal fat
MM - Meat meal
EX - Exporter
HI - Hide
SF - Stabilized animal gats
OT - Pet Food Meat Products
They are located in NC & divisions in SC (see Clemson link). They are also throughout the eastern & central states, for a total of 12 plants. This makes them a good source for distribution.
Their website states they do dead animal removal, restaurant service, supermarket service, poultry processing, slaughterhouse…
Here is their “About Us” page:
http://www.valleyproteins.com/aboutus.asp
It’s been in the family for nearly 50 years.
“Recycling. The Nature of our business”.
They are your “one-stop-shop”!
~IF~ THEY ARE THE ONES — this is BIG!
Comment by Kat — May 1, 2007 @ 11:02 pm
My post got blocked :(
Comment by Kat — May 1, 2007 @ 11:04 pm
ah, it showed up.
Comment by Kat — May 1, 2007 @ 11:04 pm
I posted that before, sent it to Durbin & Karen Roebuck. It’s probably nothing, but I the time I thought it was sumthin’
Since it’s still a mystery who knows who it is — but it’s probably big, or they wouldn’t be staying as quiet as they have been.
Comment by Kat — May 1, 2007 @ 11:06 pm
They also do dead animal removal —
Comment by Kat — May 1, 2007 @ 11:08 pm
My cousin’s grown daughter is having kidney stones removed tomorrow in OKC. I told him to have them check for melamine & cyanuric acid. He probably won’t tho. His daugther’s about 27? not sure, but near that. I sent him an eamil, but I think I’ll call him in the morning. He’ll think I’m nutzzz.
Comment by Kat — May 1, 2007 @ 11:26 pm
‘The FDA says all of the broilers, which are believed to have eaten feed contaminated with melamine, have since been processed into human food.
The agency adds, the likelihood of illness after eating those chickens is quote, “very low.”’
Am I the only one that is noticing the USDA and FDA keep bringing up the fact that the melamine in the livestock carries a very low risks of illness to humans?
WHAT ABOUT THE cyanuric acid THAT IS IN THERE WITH THE MELAMINE???? HELLO!!!!! The combination of the two is what is most worriesome but they don’t even bother to bring it up. They just keep talking about melamine like it is the only threat. NO! And what about the 3rd chemical they found?
I personally don’t want my kidneys to turn to diamonds. I’m more concerned about the melamine AND the cyanuric acid together than just the melamine by itself.
I wonder how this disaster has changed the way the idgits at the FDA and USDA grocery shops. I doubt they would be willing to feed the pork and chicken to THEIR kids. But it’s alright for the rest of us. We’re just collateral damage.
Sure is nice too that the government is reimbursing the farms for their losses and offering ZILCH to the pet owners who have lost their dear friends or had to pay excessive vet bills.
I too wanna know what is going to happen to the livestock that is destroyed. I also wanna know where all the recalled pet food has gone.
Comment by Tammy — May 1, 2007 @ 11:35 pm
I imagine them pulling some formula for the pet owners like they did for the Excise Tax telephone reimbursement this year. Did you do the long form on that, by chance? You’ll know what I mean, if you did.
Comment by Kat — May 1, 2007 @ 11:44 pm
No censorship please. Seems like my posts disappear from the screen :{{
Play fair!
I hope we can keep this blog discussion always free from political drama that favors one branch of the government over another. Favors one party over another.
Truth is this filth has been thrust upon us for years.
All players to the table come to it with dirty hands. Let’s hold all to the standard to come away clean for our animals.
Admit sins of omission and commission are all of our problems from the past. Shall we all now come up with solution together!
Comment by Pat — May 1, 2007 @ 11:47 pm
ie: total up your pet bills, x the number of pets who were sick, but did not die, x the number of months they were sick x .00000000072547 = your refund.
If that pet died x .00000000967827859 = your refund.
Not to exceed $250.00
That’s what I predict.
Comment by Kat — May 1, 2007 @ 11:47 pm
We could form a sick/dead pet march, like the million-man march years ago. That’ll get their attention. Evidently, the cards no the city group around the country wasn’t enough to impress or even make it to the news.
We complain to deaf ears! Except a very select few.
Comment by Kat — May 1, 2007 @ 11:51 pm
No censorship please…
Now to politicians… both sides of the aisle, both branches.
Who are the pet lover politicians?
I have two Scotties so naturally I wonder what Barney and Miz Beasley were fed and what they are now? Are they well?
My Scotties have an out of range AP level I put to the years I believed Nutro. I will forever blame myself for not investigating further. My male kept telling me he didn’t want the crap I was feeding him. Why didn’t I listen?
Both of mine are happy as clams eating people food. My next job is to find US people food without non-US ingredients free from additives of ??? knows who.
Did you know that Senator McCain has 22 pets?
Who on the other side of the aisle has pets?
I noted in the subcommittee hearing that one Senator, I am sorry I forget who said he had a dog. He did his own family’s shopping. He, like me are wondering what foods we can eat now. Could someone please identify this Senator? I wish I had noted who.
Let’s highlight politicans who have pets.
I sure hope that COOL truth in labeling finally is enacted and enforced. We deserve to know where all ingredients are from, who owns the product, and who actually makes it.
So any thoughts on politicians with pets? Any of theirs coming up sick or who have died?
How can we find out?
Comment by Pat — May 2, 2007 @ 12:12 am
well, if anyone ever needs a lesson in non-answers, the FDA can give a Master Class.
%^&*()@#$%^&*( %^&*()!@#$%^&*!!!!!!!
self censoring here ;)
Comment by straybaby — May 2, 2007 @ 12:18 am
You may be referring to the elderly man, Sen. Robert Byrd. He is the Chairman of the Appropriations Committee:
http://appropriations.senate.gov/members.cfm
They probably all have some sort of bio up on their site. You can email them thru a webform.
Glad your doggies are better.
I don’t know how you would find out who has animals. Either the bio or maybe something on their state sites.
nite!
Comment by Kat — May 2, 2007 @ 12:27 am
What a bunch of side-stepping. I posted awhile ago that my cousin’s daughter, who is about 27? not sure, is having surgery tomorrow to remove kidney stones! I am having a hard time believing that…at her age. He sent me an email telling me; then, I sent one back telling him to have them test for melamine & cyanuric acid. That is freaky!
Comment by Kat — May 2, 2007 @ 12:31 am
With you there straybaby… FDA needs it’s @$$ kicked… but they have been underfunded for years. AND they are part of the government… nothing ever happens until there is a crisis. Crisis management is how our company operates!
Obviously other Presidents and Congresses dropped the ball… if you will… the tail wagging the dog. Always a story to replace others.
I was pleased to see Senator Durbin on Fox who really had a large segment of time to speak about our pet crisis. He readily admits our legislation is far behind the times. He aims to change that! Great!
Here’s something interesting I learned. The FTC if enough complains are lodged against company X then they have the DUTY by law to investigate. This costs us nothing to call and email and very little to write.
My feedster on pet recall had a late durn it tip off that Nestle, Swiss Co, who owns Purina now with 5 new plants in Pakistan home of bin Laden the week of April 11th bought the last American baby food company, Gerber.
I have friends out of desparation are feeding themselves and their pets baby food hoping it’s safe. Now what?
I have a question… whatever happened to the laws on monopolies?
For instance, non food co. but a good example of a Monopoly we all know and don’t love…
How did AT&T get to buy out Bellsouth (BS was happy, sweetheart deal)? I used to work for a company that did their tech support and had to lie we were BS. I am very familiar with BS. BS now outsourced to Phillipines. Full of terrorist there. It give me no pleasure to know all poor people on now AT&T can get their identity stolen.
Whatever happened to AT&T being busted up into baby bells and they are now recombining…???
Now back to foods…
How can we stop in the future more and more Proctor and Gambles and Nestles from monopolizing foods?
Can we get the FTC and FDA to investigate how the dominator of foods Nestle was allowed to buy out our last remaining babyfood co.?
Comment by Pat — May 2, 2007 @ 12:34 am
I cannot believe they’re not issuing a recall! I kept waiting for one after the hogs. Not everyone in this country is in tip-top shape. People battle kidney disease every day & have dialysis. Eating something that could worsen the disease would be awful! Esp, if it COULD have been prevented!
Going to bed.. I’m yammering to myself anyway. nite me!
Comment by Kat — May 2, 2007 @ 12:37 am
No censorship please…
Nope it wasn’t Byrd. I really did like him coming by the first hearing tho. He loves his baby doggy. Shih Tzu I believe.
It was another Senator… anyway it’s on tape on the Committee hearing. Another pet lover, Senator. Nice guy you could tell.
Anyway it was caught on tape LOL!
I sure am prone to support a pet lover!
Both of my 2 Scotties VOTE!
Check out my black babies! Love em to pieces!
http://scottishterrier.wetpaint.com/
Nope it wasn’t Byrd. It was another Senator… anyway it’s on tape on the Committee hearing. Another pet lover, Senator.
Anyway it was caught on tape LOL!
I sure am prone to support a pet lover! I am an independent voter. I owe my allegience to neither major party.
Comment by Pat — May 2, 2007 @ 12:41 am
I got this idea from posters earlier in this thread. I have just sent the following email to everyone I know…please feel free to copy it and let’s get this message out through email until the internet is clogged with the message!
——
You all know how much I love my pets. That’s why I’m writing. There’s something very disturbing going on that isn’t hitting your nightly news. Everything I’m about to say can be verified by checking the FDA.gov website or doing a simple search on the internet.
Since February, more than 4,000 pets have died because of contaminated food. Some of the ingredients of the pet food were imported from China, and deliberately tainted with fertilizer and swimming pool chemicals to boost profits. The exporters in China say they’ve been doing this for years. But it gets worse.
Those ingredients were also used in hog and chicken feed so that the chemicals have entered the human food supply. The FDA isn’t very concerned that tons TONS of the contaminated ingredients are “unaccounted for” but have been presumably sold to companies that manufacture baby formula, health food bars, and other products manufactured here in the USA using imported tainted ingredients.
So far, the FDA has estimated that over 3 million MILLION chickens, and 45 hogs, that had eaten the contaminated feed has already been consumed by humans. The FDA’s own tests have shown that these contaminants remain in the tissue (the part humans eat), but the FDA and USDA are playing this down, presumably to avoid a national panic, or perhaps to protect the big corporations.
There are no studies to determine the short or long-term effects of these chemicals on humans, although the FDA says that the risk is “very low.” The pet communities around the world are horrified at this down play by our government. Canada and other countries have already banned these products from China and have stopped importing them. It took the FDA 3 months to finally get around to temporarily putting a “hold” on these shipments of more tainted products that are sitting at dock in the US ports.
The FDA is saying the risk to humans is “very low” but these same chemicals have killed 4,000 pets and sickened countless others. There is no reporting system to track the overall deaths and illnesses of our dearest friends. If it killed our pets, it can kill us. It’s that simple. Call it the canary in the coal mine.
I am writing you because the major news networks are NOT covering this, although it is a major story in other countries and around the world. Use the “Google” translator function and read this same information from other countries. But, strangely, when the US food supply has been compromised, our own news networks aren’t even covering the story. Can we all say “Katrina” together now?
For every email that is written, by us who love pets, we are trying to get the story out…as a memorial to our lost furry friends, and to let YOU know what is going on. The corporations, the FDA, and our government MUST have a way to assure that our food supply is safe. There is no such system in place at this time.
The public has a right to be informed, and the FDA has refused repeatedly since last February to let the public know what products have been involved and where all the contaminated ingredients have gone. They say they know, but refuse to tell us. This is outrageous. Do you want to unknowingly eat a little fertilizer with your bucket of Kentucky Fried?
I am asking you, please contact your senators and let them know that this must change NOW. Please feel free to forward to everyone you know…in fact, I’d be grateful if you did.
Thanks for listening.
Comment by Cheryl Hansen — May 2, 2007 @ 12:50 am
Pat, I do realise they are underfunded, but we have gone beyond exceptable in poor performance. most of us would be thrown out on our a$$e$ if we handled a botched job in this manner.
Thanks for mentioning Nestle’s new plants. i remembered the plants, but not who’s they were. you saved me some digging!! :)
i’m taking myself off the grid as much as i can even though i live in the city. only natural products for cleaning and self (been that way for sometime) CSA and farmers markets for most food needs and only small farm meats and poultries. i’ll do just fine until my big move to a quiet place in a year ;) i’m beyond over it and i don’t need to be poisoning myself or my pets while the government figures out which end is up.
Comment by straybaby — May 2, 2007 @ 12:52 am
Pat, please stop putting “no censorship” on your posts. As we have stated numerous times, we only delete posts that contain hate speech, racism, death threats and profanity, and we sometimes have posts get hung up in our moderation and spam filters until we get to them. This happens because something about the posts triggers our SOFTWARE to flag those posts as needing review. It has to do with things like multiple URLS, and has nothing to do with your opinions.
I truly, deeply resent the implication that Gina or I would CENSOR you for your opinions or beliefs. It’s 1 AM. I’m still here, clearing comments and watching the news. Do you know how it makes me feel to get accused of censoring you? Do you somehow think I wouldn’t rather be in bed, sleeping?
We have NEVER pulled, held back, or deleted anyone’s comments because of their opinions, and we’ve seen all kinds of crazy things with which we completely disagree get posted here.
So get over your persecution complex. Really.
Comment by Christie Keith — May 2, 2007 @ 1:03 am
OH please… did I point fingers on censorship?
Nope. I just observed correctly some posts get posted and then disappear.
I keep a log of what I post.
So let’s not get our fur on our necks scruffed up.
I wasn’t singling anyone out.
I am pretty clear on letting the fur fly on right from wrong…
It will settle out on who it deserves to settle all in the wash and sometime light of day. Maybe not in our lifetimes but secrets eventually come out.
So let’s not feel persecuted. I don’t.
Calm and peace please.
Just because I present an independent view doesn’t make my comments any better or worse.
Mom taught me daughter, you are just as good as everyone else. Not better, but just as good. I live by it and treat others how I wish to be treated.
This is how I live. It has not let me down.
I miss my momma very much.
Comment by Pat — May 2, 2007 @ 1:26 am
ALL govt agencies are *(_*Yed up… it’s called crisis management. My poor husband has to do war everyday w/ a branch of the brain dead.
Constantly having meetings… of which he is somewhere right now away from us… my citizen soldier as I type… actually in bed probably getting his strength back LOL…
Lots of problems from govt and no solutions.
It’s up to the citizen soldiers to fix stuff.
This would be you and I fellow citizen soldiers on this killer crisis of foods for animals and now humans.
Comment by Pat — May 2, 2007 @ 2:05 am
We are about to poop out here in KTown… but… one last thot.
Now really Moose is a happy chap so we do have some GOOD news to report!
Moose and Neyll worked tirelessly with our direct Representative Congressman John J. Duncan Jr., Transportation Committee to see that animals must be included in all municipal and state evacuations.
Don’t tell him but we didn’t vote for him but rather a nice chap we knew that worked with Momma on her tech support stint.
However he did get Moose and Neyll’s vote the next election cycle because he personally gave a rap to represent we the people and doggies of his district.
Actions speak louder than words.
Duncan and Tom Lantos (both sides of the aisle) worked tirelessly to get the evaculation legislation passed. So this time around we did vote for him.
Now the two Senators from our fine state were not responsive however we can roll the tapes on Moose’s bulletin board if anyone is interested… the Honorable Duncan and us Dunlaps had via email and the USPS.
We stay on our direct representation doing my duty for our clan. We pick the fights only when our domestic tranquility is rocked… our fortress, the muddy hill…
Sooo if anything ever gets done for the better it’s bipartisan or it just doesn’t represent we the people.
I congratulate both Duncan and Lantos on their job well done!
Our best hope always as the framers of the Constitution wisely gave us was the re-election every 2 years of our Representatives. They must hold open meetings in their Congressional District and they are well aware of this.
So wanna’ light a fire under your politicians? Let them hear from you. Hit those Representatives most especially but always pick your fights. Know the facts first. Tell a true story, make them cry!
We are going to bed now even tho. it’s almost day break.
Thanks for this opportunity to expose the turds. And also give a sweet flower for all to smell!
Nice to smell the flowers isn’t it?
Best,
Pat, Moose, Neyll Dunlap Clan
Comment by Pat — May 2, 2007 @ 3:03 am
My 4 yr old dog was killed because of Natures Own dry food, lamb and rice. Renal failure, she died in my fathers arms. Its not right that they continue to get away with this
Comment by Edward Smith — May 2, 2007 @ 3:47 am
Where are the criminal indictments?
None of this smoothing over and tugging heart strings routine and bullsh*t.
None of this crap. . . “the Millers console each each other, thinking of the heartbreak, tears form in the corner of their eyes, as they think, “how could they have betrayed us and pet parents”… Across town Duane Ekedahl, takes a morning stroll, head down. . .”my god, what have we done, we trusted china, and”. . . . sobbing, he sits on a park bench, a woman walking a dog, the dog comes over to Duane, “hello boy, you aren’t mad at me are ya.” the dog licks Ekedahls hand….
Comment by Steve — May 2, 2007 @ 5:27 am
Comment by E. Hamilton — May 1, 2007 @ 10:25 pm
Please don’t submit human urine falsely labeled as animal urine to a lab for testing. The employees surely take different precautions when handling human bodily fluids than they do for animal bodily fluids. It would be unfair to place them at risk under false pretenses. Maybe talk to your physician about having a urinalysis done if interested.
Comment by slt — May 2, 2007 @ 5:27 am
What were the Chinese doing, just dumping in anything white?
Right now I don’t believe we can stop this spiking and right now I don’t believe anyone who is making money off our pets will tell the truth.
Comment by Terry — May 2, 2007 @ 5:32 am
It’s true “they” are going to try to wear us down now.
Make us go numb and comfortably numb.
Comment by Steve — May 2, 2007 @ 5:41 am
Here is all you need to make them sweat.
Who supplies your ingredients?
Where do they come from?
Where is your food made?
If any brand isn’t willing to honestly answer those questions in a straight forward manner don’t BUY IT.
Comment by Steve — May 2, 2007 @ 5:53 am
Comment by Steve — May 2, 2007 @ 5:53 am
I have been asking these questions of human and animal food companies. I know others have as well. I searched for a Yahoogroup devoted to “safe food” but couldn’t find anything. It would be great if there was a central location where those of us who are asking these questions can post responses. Would save others from asking the same companies and serve as a reference.
Comment by slt — May 2, 2007 @ 5:57 am
Well look here.
Robert W. Luba (from Safety-Kleen and Menu Foods) has served on the Board of MDS since 1996. http://tinyurl.com/yqkflp
In January, the FDA sent a letter to companies that used MDS labs, informing them that bioanalytical analysis conducted by MDS since 2000 would have to be redone. In part, MDS used chromatography and mass spectrometry to determine if generic drugs were the same as band name drugs. This data was submitted to the FDA with applications for generic drug approval. Here are some of the problems the FDA found with MDS labs:
* Failure to conduct a systematic and thorough evaluation to identify and correct sources of contamination.
* Failure to investigate anomalous results.
* Lack of assay reproducibility between original and repeat results.
* Assay accuracy not assured under the conditions of sample processing.
* Biased exclusion of study data resulting in the acceptance of failed runs.
* Failure to demonstrate the accuracy of analytical methods with appropriate validation experiments and documentation.
Companies that used MDS have to submit results from new data within 6 months or lose generic status.
Comment by Steve — May 2, 2007 @ 5:57 am
Here’s the letter.
http://tinyurl.com/2xl2h2
Comment by Steve — May 2, 2007 @ 6:00 am
Oh and don’t forget the track record.
Menu Foods’ director Robert W. Luba, used to be the president of Safety Kleen, a hazardous and industrial waste collection company.
Check out these violations:
* Exceeding the permitted feed rate of cadmium to the incinerator
* Storing used oil fuel (VFS Distillate) from the Safety-Kleen East Chicago facility in the fuel oil tank and burning it in the incinerator when the incinerator did not meet all of the operating conditions for burning hazardous waste
* failing to record the location of each container accepted in the container storage areas, and track these wastes in real time so that their location is known at any time
* Accepting pyrophoric wastes
* Placing incompatible wastes or materials in the same container and failing to document any evaluation of the compatibility of the absorbent with the liquid
* Failing to retain the data recorded by the PI archiving system for at least three years
* Failing to maintain systems to automatically cut off hazardous waste feed to the incinerator at a pH of less than 6.2 in the second stage packed tower effluent
* Failing to retain a copy of a manifest at the facility for at least three years
* Failing to analyze the slag for methanol daily until analyses showed the treatment standards had been achieved for seven consecutive days after methanol was detected at a level above the treatment standards
* Entering the wrong generator name, address, and phone number on manifests accompanying wastes shipped by Safety-Kleen (Aragonite), Inc. for off-site treatment, storage, or disposal
That’s just a small taste of what a company under Robebert Luba’s watch does.
We will never find out what is in the pet food.
Saftety Kleen also settled with Ohio for hazardous waste violations.
Comment by Steve — May 2, 2007 @ 6:10 am
Comment by Kat — May 1, 2007 @ 11:51 pm
Kat, I think its too early to know if the postcards did anything or not. They were only mailed Saturday and you can bet alot of them didnt ship out until Monday. For us on the West coat sending to the East coast, they would only be showing up maybe today at the earliest I would think. Keeping my fingers crossed here!
Comment by Sandi K — May 2, 2007 @ 6:17 am
I would like to say that now Im not only wondering about the gluten products in pet food but now the chicken products. It would seem reasonable to expect that if chickens that ate tainted feed were processed for human food, than some had to have been processed for pet food too wouldnt it from somewhere? So in cases like ours where our pet food had wheat gluten and chicken in it, wouldnt it be a double-whammy? So I would like to know now where all the pet food companies got their chicken from….
Comment by Sandi K — May 2, 2007 @ 6:23 am
HELLO! IS ANYONE ELSE THINKING WHAT IM THINKING, IF THEY ARENT RECALLING CHICKEN AND PORK FROM ANIMALS THAT ATE TAINTED MEAT THEN SOME OF THAT MEAT MAY MAKE IT INTO PET FOOD TOO, RIGHT? I switched my cat to wellness food when this pet food scare started because they ‘use only human grade food’ but now if the FDA are saying its ok for human food to be tainted with melamine wont some of that make it into pet food, and wont some of the non-human grade ‘meat’ make it into the rest of the pet food brands? Ah i just looked above and saw that Sandi was thinking along the same lines as me!
Comment by mariet — May 2, 2007 @ 6:27 am
Comment by Sandi K — May 2, 2007 @ 6:23 am
“So I would like to know now where all the pet food companies got their chicken from….”
Even if you did know that, what would you compare it to? There is no list of farms who fed tainted feed to chickens that I know of - certainly nothing provided by the FDA. You’d have to track down the farm yourself and ask if they fed tainted feed, where they are getting their current feed from…
Comment by slt — May 2, 2007 @ 6:29 am
Comment by slt — May 2, 2007 @ 6:29 am
True, slt, but I was thinking that once again dont the pet food companies know where they are getting their ingredients from, or instead I guess the word is “shouldnt” they? I would bet that some of the farmers have actual contracts with pet food companies….
Where are the tracking records for pet food companies, dont human food companies have tracking records and if so, why dont pet food companies have tracking records? Dealing in accounting all my life says you have to have tracking records, I dont understand why that concept is so foreign (oops, a punt here) to pet food companies….
Comment by Sandi K — May 2, 2007 @ 6:39 am
The OTHER white meats:
Chick-a-mine and Mel-a-swine.
Comment by The OTHER Pat — May 2, 2007 @ 6:40 am
I meant to say pun….oh geesh..never mind (-:
Comment by Sandi K — May 2, 2007 @ 6:40 am
We can’t trust the FDA and we can’t trust the our pet’s food and we can’t trust what we buy in the stores for our family - what can we trust?
The FDA is not telling the truth and newspapers change their story to another more “proper” version - life seems too creepy lately and I don’t know who or what to believe anymore.
Comment by Terry — May 2, 2007 @ 6:44 am
Comment by mariet — May 2, 2007 @ 6:27 am
Contact Wellness and ask them if they have any comment on the integrity of their Chicken Products.
Comment by Steve — May 2, 2007 @ 6:48 am
My local news just aired a story about the chickens eating contaminated feed and the millions we bought and ate across the county and the pet food spiking. That’s a little progress at least locally.
I have read so many versions of what is happening and so many possibilities, even on here, that I really don’t know what to believe and I am totally alarmed and cautious about all of it - food, newspapers, FDA, and theories.
But at least the numbers of reported pet deaths seem to be lessening at least for now.
Comment by Terry — May 2, 2007 @ 6:50 am
Vet said: And when we went to surgery, to try to relieve the obstruction, there was no normal stone. Instead, the aortas were completely full of these melamine-type crystal.
The aortas? Really? How can that possibly be? Did they mean renal arteries? I doubt it, they wouldn’t be dissecting arteries to unblock a cat. Geez, I HATE sloppy science reporting - it just confounds the issue. I can’t watch videos, am assuming they have one of the CNN Anderson Cooper show, can anyone tell me what was actually said?
Oh and Pat, you owe Gina and Christie an apology. Way out of line. Like you said, actions speak louder than words……
Comment by CathyA — May 2, 2007 @ 6:51 am
What I expect now is the Industry will begin to use the media to slowly start trying to convince people this is really no big thing and everyone is just over reacting and being paranoid. “Experts says only 16 pets died and it still has not been proved it was caused by tainted pet food”
Meanwhile Menu will continue churning out Newman’s Own and other “Natural” Premium brands as if nothing ever happened. (If they are allowed to get away with it.
Any Bets?
Comment by Steve — May 2, 2007 @ 6:58 am
CathyA—Thanks for pointing out the aorta issue. I’d been wondering about that myself. Do you think they meant the tubules? I’m a little rusty on my renal anatomy right now, but I agree with you that they should try to get it right. Otherwise it reduces the credibility of the story as a whole.
There are already people out there who thinks that this whole story is a crock. If they can’t get the facts right it makes us (ie the people who think this is a huge problem) look nuttier.
Comment by Lisa C — May 2, 2007 @ 6:58 am
I’m not an attorney, but sometimes I like to play one, hehe. If I were advising Chicken Company X on how to answer inquiries from consumers, pet food companies, etc regarding the safety of their chicken, I would advise this: Truthfully say that the meat is safe, FDA has issued no recalls of the meat, don’t worry.
My point being that even if you were to somehow learn that Chicken Company X fed its chickens mela-feed, they have no reason to tell anyone that anything is “wrong” because legally, nothing is wrong as far as I can see. The FDA and USDA are saying it’s ok to eat meat from chickens fed mela-feed, therefore no companies have to take any action or disclose whether their feed is/was tainted.
Comment by slt — May 2, 2007 @ 6:58 am
Has anyone actually tried to read the transcript of the FDA press conference?
Its a mess, I can’t make out what they are saying.
Is there a taped copy somewhere that we can listen to?
Was the meat checked from the chicken and pork. Was it checked for cyanuric acid??? It sounds like they only checked for melamine…
They talk about some recall coming out at the end of the transcript but I can’t get what it’s for.
Comment by Peggy — May 2, 2007 @ 7:00 am
Just an observation from the earlier post about CNN’s story on the melamine and cyanuric acid. The report said the crystals formed blocked the aorta. I believe that should be the ureter.
Comment by Patty L — May 2, 2007 @ 7:04 am
Comment by slt — May 2, 2007 @ 6:58 am
Very true slt. Wonder if we will see alot of chicken farms changing their names to Chicken Company X………(-;
Comment by Sandi K — May 2, 2007 @ 7:04 am
Kat - thanks for posting all your theories last night! I had to go to bed, was just beat. It’s on my list to research today!
Comment by Kim — May 2, 2007 @ 7:23 am
Back in February 2005, Purina had a big pet food recall in Venezuela. Killed about 1500 pets,number varies depending which article/country you look at. Official version from Purina was aflatoxin. However, scientific community in Venezuela(and rest of world) still thinks there was much more to it. Possibly pesticides. 8.700 tons of pet food was recalled in that country and burned. Plant closed for 5 months. Big hush,hush. Donot want to post link since too stupid to post tiny URL. However, can be found on google, words; Purina Venezuela on the worldfoodscience web site.
Comment by Serijna — May 2, 2007 @ 7:26 am
“It’s The Ingredients Stupid”
http://tinyurl.com/3xrs6s
Comment by Steve — May 2, 2007 @ 7:28 am
I missed out on the postcard blitz, (not sure what it was for). But that is the correct way to get attention to the problem.
We need to get more concerted effort going—such as each day give us an action item, with talking points, to call our Senators or Representatives. Faxes work better than emails.
News media, and congress is gonna drop this and believe the USDA, FDA if they can!
I know everyone is working hard on this, but if we can coordinate our efforts it would help.
Another scarey thought——they are holding the Chinese imports from the food supply,and waiting until they get “clean” stuff for sure, and THEN will test people food and say it is OK!
Elaine
Comment by Elaine — May 2, 2007 @ 7:32 am
One thing I like about asking 20+ people at USDA yesterday about my regional alert is — they are calling me back & telling me different stories! They are similar but 3 return callers/2 reasons.
Comment by Kat — May 2, 2007 @ 7:38 am
Different stories? do tell.
Comment by Kim — May 2, 2007 @ 7:44 am
Thanks Kim! That’s just my “conspiracy theory”.
I got to tell the USDA guy in WA about the ricocheting effects on our economy when various countries start banning our products & about the known health hazards for people with kidney disorders. Then I got to tell him about my cousin who’s about 27? having surgery today for kidney stones. I have never heard of a person that age having kidney stones.
I’m not sure how old she is because that side of my family had been distanced. I was closer to the cousin my age, and this is his daughter. She has a 4 yr old, so I’m not even really sure she’s even that old.
I want him to encourage them to test the stone for melamine & cyanuric acid.
Comment by Kat — May 2, 2007 @ 7:44 am
Pilgrims Pride Corp of WVA is distancing themselves - said they don’t get chickens from the Indiana poultry farms. don’t have imported junk in their chicken feed, etc.
http://tinyurl.com/35dwkj
Looks like we are now beginning the “cross the company off the list” game AGAIN since these people have so little respect for their customers that they can’t come out with the truth.
I’m applauding any company that’s being proactive and getting the information out!
Comment by Sharon — May 2, 2007 @ 7:51 am
A statement from Hills:
Update Message to North American Consumers About Vegetable Proteins.
We understand your concern about the safety of vegetable proteins used as ingredients in pet food.
Please note that Hill’s tests the imported vegetable protein it receives for melamine. Additionally, Hill’s has eliminated wheat gluten from our product formulas and does not use vegetable protein (including rice protein concentrate) from suppliers in China.
These steps are part of our ongoing efforts to ensure the health and well-being of your pets.
Comment by Carole — May 2, 2007 @ 8:01 am
WASHINGTON, May 1, 2007 - Diestel Turkey Ranch, a Chinese Camp, Calif., firm, is voluntarily recalling approximately 6,907 pounds of ready-to-eat turkey products that may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service announced today.
The following products are subject to recall:
6-7 -pound approximate weight plastic-wrapped packages of “HERBED OVEN ROASTED TURKEY BREAST.” The label bears a “Sell-by” date of “5-28-07.”
6-7 -pound approximate weight plastic-wrapped packages of “CHIPOTLE PEPPERED TURKEY BREAST.” The label bears a “Sell-by” date of “5-28-07.”
6-7 -pound approximate weight plastic-wrapped packages of “Naturally Smoked Boneless TURKEY BREAST.” The label also a “Sell-by” date of “5-28-07.”
6-7 -pound approximate weight plastic-wrapped packages of “PEPPERED OVEN ROASTED TURKEY BREAST.” The label bears a “Sell-by” date of “5-28-07.”
6-7 -pound approximate weight plastic-wrapped packages of “Naturally Smoked, UNCURED, TURKEY BREAST WITH PASTRAMI SEASONINGS.” The label bears a “Sell-by” date of “5-28-07.”
1-pound approximate weight plastic-wrapped packages of “Uncured Turkey Breast with Pastrami Seasoning.” The label bears a “Sell-by” date of “5-23-07.”
Comment by Carole — May 2, 2007 @ 8:05 am
Last night was one filled with tears. I couldn’t stop crying for the life of me. Truely overwhelmed at how powerless we are in this country to protect ourselves, our pets, our food supply, the food supply of the animals we eat.
An image ran threw my head over and over. Standing there every morning pledging my alligance to the flag, every friday morning the entire school going outdoors to pledge and sing the our National Anthem, together. That warm fuzzy feeling I’de get standing there singing proudly and feeling safe.
Here we are half my life time later. All our canrey’s died, we ran helter stelter from the coal mine screaming, to find out too late the whole country has been touch by this toxic cloud. “Low risk to humans.” Without a shred of evidence, expect the deaths of our beloved companions.
Land of the free, free to eat this mela/cyan-chicken, pork we don’t know who is selling it and brave enough to believe statements without any proof it’s true.
I won’t stop crying today either. Hoping the CDC is doing their job, watching for that spike in kidney failure in humans. Horrid!
Comment by Maudigan — May 2, 2007 @ 8:07 am
Comment by Carole — May 2, 2007 @ 8:01 am
A step in the right direction! I’d *prefer* to have the food tested by a 3rd party and would *prefer* they disclose country of origin sources on all ingredients (just saying “not China for vegetable protein” falls short to my mind). That said, definitely a positive step.
Comment by slt — May 2, 2007 @ 8:07 am
11:08 a.m. Eastern time, Weds.
WNYC radio doing a show right now re: pet and human food contamination. Brian Lehrer show.
Listen online http://www.wnyc.org
Comment by Maureen — May 2, 2007 @ 8:09 am
Here’s the Purina / Venezuela link
http://www.worldfoodscience.org/cms/?pid=1003595
Comment by Kim — May 2, 2007 @ 8:22 am
Well at least one doctor is questioning the FDA & USDA decision:
Bad food effects unknown
By Karen Roebuck
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/.....05650.html
“[Dr.] Rumbeiha, Dr. Bruce Dixon, director of the Allegheny County Health Department, and other doctors and veterinarians said that while people and many pets are unlikely to become seriously ill immediately after consuming tainted foods, they may be suffering kidney damage that won’t be evident for years.
“Humans can function normally until nearly 90 percent of their kidneys shut down, and sometimes do not realize they have a problem until they need dialysis, said Dr. Stephen Sandroni, director of the division of nephrology and hypertension at Allegheny General Hospital on the North Side.
“It’s not unlike secondhand smoke; it’s not unlike asbestos; it’s not like aspirin and phenacetin, which affected kidneys. It’s a slowly damaging process,” Dixon said. “I don’t think anybody has the data yet to suggest it’s not a significant risk. I think it is.”
Re-quoting a second time for emphasis:::
“…suffering kidney damage that won’t be evident for years…”
“Humans can function normally until nearly 90 percent of their kidneys shut down…do not realize they have a problem until they need dialysis”
What about those who already have kidney problems?
Where is the uproar we should be hearing??
Comment by Peggy — May 2, 2007 @ 8:25 am
What’s going on with howl911?
Comment by Patricia Hill — May 2, 2007 @ 8:28 am
Comment by Maudigan — May 2, 2007 @ 8:07 am
“Hoping the CDC is doing their job, watching for that spike in kidney failure in humans.”
ditto
Comment by Peggy — May 2, 2007 @ 8:30 am
RE: Comment by Peggy — May 2, 2007 @ 7:00 am
There is a posted copy on USDA:
http://tinyurl.com/3dac5y
The reason you’re probably having trouble foloowing it — is because they side-step just about every question.
Comment by Kat — May 2, 2007 @ 8:38 am
Actually I did find that, but thank-you anyway.
It is not the same as the one posted at the FDA site. but I’m too frustrated to figure out the differences.
I’m searching for more outrage, this saying things are ‘safe’ since there is no data has to stop!!
Isn’t the deaths of our 4,000+ pets enough data???
Comment by Peggy — May 2, 2007 @ 8:43 am
Just talked to my cousin. His daughter, age 29, is out of recovery. She had already passed a couple of small stones, but had one remaining stuck in a tubule. Well, that evidently passed while she was at the hospital because they didn’t find it. There is no stone to test. I was concerned because of her age, but he said he had a stone in his 30’s.
Glad she’s doing well.
Comment by Kat — May 2, 2007 @ 8:43 am
cyanuric acid: I think I have missed a few news flashes. I see that they think the combo of mel.and Cyanuric acid caused the large crystals. When know why the mel. was added. But why was the Cyan. added?
Comment by Shawn — May 2, 2007 @ 8:46 am
I let the guy at USDA have it this morning. I’m sure he was glad to get off the phone.
I believe this falls under USDA — meat not recalled.
Comment by Kat — May 2, 2007 @ 8:50 am
Wonder where Mr. Rogers took his song and dance lessons.
Comment by Deanna — May 2, 2007 @ 8:50 am
Tks Kim,
Was afraid I would mess up the board with the longer url. Interesting that in Venezuela they had to mark everything “new production”.Wonder if the pet food companies with recalled products will do that here.
Comment by Serijna — May 2, 2007 @ 8:52 am
Re: Hills statement —- comment by Carole May 2 - 8:01 a.m.
I am not comfortable with the wording. It sounds suspect. They are worming their way out.
1.Did Hills just start testing for melamine now because they got caught along with the others? - or -
Have they been testing since they found the toxic junk last year when my dog got sick?
2.Why are they withdrawing wheat glutens from their formulas if the food was so great?
3.They say they do not buy from suppliers in China—-this does not say that they do not buy from a supplier IN THE U.S. who gets the stuff from whoknowswhere.
4.And if buying from such a reliable source, why would they feel the need to test for melamine?
Comment by Nadine Long — May 2, 2007 @ 8:52 am
Kat - Let us hope we can pass melamine.
Comment by Nadine Long — May 2, 2007 @ 8:56 am
I found the answer to my post (it hasn’t appeared yet). Cyanuric Acid is another protein booster (nitrogen rich compound). Unfortunately the combo of mel and cyanuric acid kills.http://preview.tinyurl.com/2fyg55
Comment by Shawn — May 2, 2007 @ 8:57 am
Thanks for the article Peggy - just blogged it.
Comment by Kim — May 2, 2007 @ 8:58 am
Comment by Kim — May 2, 2007 @ 8:58 am
You’re Welcome and Thanks!!
Comment by Peggy — May 2, 2007 @ 9:02 am
Even if “they” did a recall, ya think the news media would actually air it?? If it isn’t AIRED, then most people miss it.
The news media, as a whole, have violated their duty — to unbiased reporting. I ran across a whole indexed manual on media responsibility. NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX — fail !
CNN has done a good job.
The radio talk shows - FAIL! But, they are a bunch of spin-doctors anyway & not reporters. That’s the difference — reporters — not censors!
Comment by Kat — May 2, 2007 @ 9:07 am
I am so eternally grateful that I became strictly vegetarian 12 years ago. If I need wheat gluten, I can make my own, but have gotten past needing it. But wait a minute, where did these carrotts come from??China? Never mind, I can grow carrotts. Ditto spinach, tomatoes, whatever I need to eat within the limits of my small space. Maybe if we all band together, eat American organic food, we can stay alive long enough to keep our pets alive, if we play policeman long enough. It may be too late, these things have been going on for a long long time while we the American public have been too busy trying to make a dollar to pay attention. We believe what we hear in the media and decide how to vote on that basis, even though we know the politicians hire public relations people to program them and beauticians to make them look good, we even know that they all lie, most of the time. Ethics??? Well I think that concept ended many years ago, now it’s more like “just don’t get caught.” I don’t have any answers, does anyone? Yes, I can do an email blitz, postcard blitz, post photos of my dead dog in every place I can find to do so. Read the blogs, try to keep myself educated, write to senators and representatives, editors of newspapers, talk to everyone I come in contact with. Just doesn’t seem like it’s ever going to be enough, the dollar is what is ruling now, and it can’t listen.
Comment by Kathy Thompson — May 2, 2007 @ 9:11 am
Why is the media going along with this cover-up? I guess these multin-national corporations own the media also - that’s the only thing that makes sense.
I used to think we lived in the land of the “free’ but now I think we are controlled and lied to and force-fed toxic information as well as food - to keep us ignorant and stupid and spending our money to make others rich.
Comment by Terry — May 2, 2007 @ 9:11 am
Comment by Kathy Thompson — May 2, 2007 @ 9:11 am
We’re in a time of preservation. I’m planting my vegetable garden, fruit trees and grape vines over the next several weeks.
Comment by Nadine Long — May 2, 2007 @ 9:18 am
Yeah Terry, you’re figuring it out!
Comment by Kathy Thompson — May 2, 2007 @ 9:19 am
“We didn’t know”
http://tinyurl.com/33n3p3
Comment by Steve — May 2, 2007 @ 9:20 am
I guess I missed something - what is Hills doing now?
Are all their products in question including the dry SD foods that sell in pet stores?
Comment by Terry — May 2, 2007 @ 9:21 am
“All of our customers except Menu Foods understand that we were victims in this situation.”
Oh my here we go.
Comment by Steve — May 2, 2007 @ 9:21 am
Someone asked earlier about who was the Senator who shopped for pet food:
It was Senator Bennett 8)
Comment by Kathi — May 2, 2007 @ 9:24 am
Nadine, that is just what I wanted to do, sell this house and get a piece of land to do just that. But I don’t think there’s time for all that. The best I can do is a cherry tree near my dog’s grave, a few raised beds, couple of apple trees in the front, put plastic over the dog kennel and turn it into a greenhouse, and dehydrate all the edible weeds I find in my garden.
Comment by Kathy Thompson — May 2, 2007 @ 9:25 am
Hey Stern, you willing to use that victim spin under oath?
Comment by Steve — May 2, 2007 @ 9:26 am
My posts have been disappearing, so will try again!
I called Sen. Ron Wyden’s office, and Congressman Greg Walden’s office in Oregon, and asked Why?? FDA will not answer questions as to whether they have found tainted Chinese products in people food?
Both aides I talked to seemed to not know what to say, (they usually have some canned answer).
Has anyone else from Oregon contacted their Senator/Representative? I am curious to know—-are they instructed to just act like they know nothing about our food supply being contaminated cuz they don’t want to cause wide spread panic???
WE NEED widespread panic NOW!!
Elaine
Comment by Elaine — May 2, 2007 @ 9:29 am
Summary of the Pet Food Industry. Obviously their ego’s (and profits) are much bigger then their intellects.
Comment by Steve — May 2, 2007 @ 9:31 am
At Stevie Miller’s age, do you really believe he has never heard of melamine before? 8)
Comment by Kathi — May 2, 2007 @ 9:31 am
Comment by Elaine — May 2, 2007 @ 9:29 am
At the rate things are going the FDA will probably be saying next, “we all eat it”.
Comment by Steve — May 2, 2007 @ 9:32 am
Comment by Kathi — May 2, 2007 @ 9:31 am
Millers got Steve Stern (Stern and Co.) on board to do all his smoke and mirrors tricks now.
Comment by Steve — May 2, 2007 @ 9:33 am
The lab test’s done with melamine years ago were no doubt done with a purer form of it, not the scrap stuff which can contain who knows what in it. 8)
Comment by Kathi — May 2, 2007 @ 9:36 am
Senator Smith’s office (Oregon) immediately put me to a voicemail when I said “I have been following the Pet food/people food contamination” CLICK—-voicemail answered! Do I detect widespread panic among our congressional offices?!
Elaine
Comment by Elaine — May 2, 2007 @ 9:36 am
Oh, I just read Hills SD website about the veg. protein - yep, they were using it and probably from China too.
What a mess.
Comment by Terry — May 2, 2007 @ 9:38 am
Steve, yeah I know. I figure that’s so Miller doesn’t get held to any statements made by Stern in case this gets into a courtroom.
“I didn’t know he said that.”
“I didn’t authorize that statement.”
“He must of misunderstood what I said.” 8)
Comment by Kathi — May 2, 2007 @ 9:41 am
http://oliveridley.wordpress.c.....adly-pair/
Some reading material
Comment by shelly — May 2, 2007 @ 9:44 am
http://www.merckserono.net/ser.....index.html
This link is within the above
Comment by shelly — May 2, 2007 @ 9:46 am
Comment by Kathi — May 2, 2007 @ 9:41 am
Sterns ego is obviously bigger then his intellect also.
Comment by Steve — May 2, 2007 @ 9:47 am
I mean I really can’t believe these guys. Talk about idiots, it’s no wonder our pets and ourselves are being poisoned to death by this crap they are putting out.
Comment by Steve — May 2, 2007 @ 9:49 am
“Sundlof of the FDA says that a poultry farm in Missouri may have received contaminated food, as well. But he stressed that officials are “working to assure that there is no further distribution of the meat from these farms.” ?????????????????????
http://tinyurl.com/3cfpw5
Comment by shelly — May 2, 2007 @ 9:50 am
The situation the way I understand it:
Under the last many Farm Bills, USDA (we the people) subsidizes our American farmers to grow way more wheat than we can use in this country. Most of our wheat is exported—to China? I’ll be surprised if it’s not!! China is very very overpopulated, many of her citizens (victims, just like us) resort to clubbing dogs in the streets, just to have something to eat. This tells me they are desperate. When people are desperate, human life, much less animal life, has little to no value. In other words, “who cares if we kill some pets, we don’t even have those here.” The almighty dollar has taken over their mentality as well. So we ship them our good wheat, they turn it poison and ship it back. Why should they care, the whole world hates us anyway, because of the way our arrogant government treats them. Our wheat turned poison comes back to us, our government knows it is, but medical science is so busy working on cures they can’t be bothered with finding the causes of our illnesses. They’re making plenty of money feeding us poison drugs so they can feed us more poison drugs to fix the problems the first ones caused,and if that doesn’t work there’s always surgery, don’t count on that to change. Poison food????…just another drop in the bucket! The people making money off it can well afford to pay lobbyists to make sure nothing changes. We’re on our own!
Comment by Kathy Thompson — May 2, 2007 @ 9:52 am
Comment by Steve — May 2, 2007 @ 9:32 am
“At the rate things are going the FDA will probably be saying next, “we all eat it”.”
And have been for 5-7 or maybe even 15 years
Comment by Peggy — May 2, 2007 @ 9:53 am
Cool thanks for looking up Senator Bennett!
I need to look up him more. I have a neat source that tells what PACs support who.
I’m going to put on my Govt resource page who on that committee gets PAC money from who. We have a better shot at knowing where everyone stands truly vs. lip service.
Anyway I liked him and what he had to say about shopping and his dog.
Now as to kidney damage… my mother-in-law became suddenly sick from a kidney infection. We made her go to the hospital. She was going to “wear it out” with cranberry juice. That is until she had violent bowel movements and constant vomitting.
She was in the hospital getting worse and worse. Her kidneys completely shutdown the first week she was there. She got stuck on dialysis. Finally after about a month she got home for 2 weeks. She has to go to dialysis.
Got deathly ill again. Went back to hospital. Spent time in intensive care. Got well enough for 2 days to go to an assisted living. Got sick again and this time to intensive care she went. All major organs finally couldn’t take the autoimmune attack.
She died with her husband and 4 kids around the bed. Such a great mom! Her job in life was being a “professional” mother. She stayed home and took care of her kids. Lovely lovely lady I miss her so much.
She had kidney cysts for years. Got one aspirated. Was told not a good idea to keep that up. One needle oops and there goes the kidney.
It took her from July to shortly after Thanksgiving to die. I didn’t have a say of course but I wouldn’t have went along w/ more and more heroic treatment. Finally the food tube and respirator were taken away.
Not this is eerie. My husband and I went to her grave to straighten up the big spray my husband got her… her favorite colors of mauve. There was a big wind blowing the day after her funeral. We went to set the flowers up. She had a huge turn out at the memorial service and burial. Everyone respected how she always took care of her family and would help a neighbor when they needed it. Charity begins at home.
OH back to the ookie. My husband got a sharp pain in his back on a kidney all the sudden when we were standing saying our prayers at her grave.
He passed a huge kidney stone 2 weeks later. I made him go to the Dr. since he wouldn’t go before passing it to take the stone to be analzed and to see if he had others. No others yet.
Now about liver damage on my Scotties … next… Break time.
Don’t forget what I clued people in on about FDA. They have sneaky cr@p they are trying to do hidden besides food… you muckrakers w/ clout tell the right folks OK?
Comment by Pat — May 2, 2007 @ 9:55 am
“We currently sell only nine ingredients.”
LOL right whatever you say pal.
Comment by Steve — May 2, 2007 @ 9:56 am
I just do not get the “dilution effect” making babies on formula safe, huh?
Soy and all sorts of proteins , all of which seems to be chock full o poison, and the kids are sucking it down how many times a day?
Then they go to baby food and yet more mela fako whatever and the FDA says this is a “dilution effect” that protects them?
I am just having a real hard time understanding any of this, do the people in charge of FOOD SAFETY really believe this stuff they are spewing? How stupid are they?
That is some scary news if they do.
Comment by E. Hamilton — May 2, 2007 @ 9:58 am
I believe HILLS Z/D killed 3 of my beloved cats. and i don’t hear anything about Hills. I did report it. But did they test it??? Trudy
Comment by Trudy Jackson — May 2, 2007 @ 10:00 am
“Comment by Pat — May 2, 2007 @ 9:55 am”
“My husband got a sharp pain in his back”
Huh?? Is that where our frigging kidney is? I’ve been having back pain for almost 2 months in my back, but it is on my lower back on both my left and right, like deep inside. I can barely walk today, my right back, hurts too much. hurts like it’s in my guts but in the back. boss says it’s stress. never thought about my kidney. where exactly is our kidney.????
Comment by shelly — May 2, 2007 @ 10:01 am
One Union / http://www.marktalk.com source, in the business of importing food ingredients from China but who would not agree to be named, told us that the way the business works is that any given US import company simply contacts a broker in China who assembles the desired materials from multiple sources throughout that country and then ships them to the U.S. The spokesman compared looking for contaminants in these imports to the Homeland Security issues involved in “…looking for a nuclear bomb in shipping containers.There is just so much coming in that nobody can look at it all.”
http://www.sacunion.com/pages/.....re_c/9038/
Comment by Terry — May 2, 2007 @ 10:02 am
Comment by E. Hamilton — May 2, 2007 @ 9:58 am
Their priorities may be the dumbing and numbing down of American rather than providing education, reliable information and safe foods at this point.
Comment by Steve — May 2, 2007 @ 10:04 am
I blame Hills R/D for the loss of my corgi last December. Can’t prove anything, dog was gone and cremated before the slop hit the fan, and I’ll never know for sure, but I’m still kicking myself for believing the “It’s a complete food, no need to switch to something else” BS
Comment by schnauzer — May 2, 2007 @ 10:04 am
The FDA is stonewalling to prevent panic. If we all knew the entire truth of it - our toxic food we eat every day - we’d vote in a new party, not an old one - but something completely new - one that cared about the health and welfare of the citizens of the U.S.
Comment by Terry — May 2, 2007 @ 10:09 am
I will post a very long explanation a Vet for Missing Link sent me. I was questioning them on their using beef and garlic. Garlic is supposed to be toxic to dogs. Said I needed something I could give my Scotties who aren’t supposed to have beef if they had a formula without both I could use as a supplement for homefeeding…
It speaks of long term damage. Of course not about supplements or dog food right?
I have heard from lots of people who wisely pulled the dog and cat food and homefed. They tried for instance putting their’s on Canidae and they dogs turned their nose up and refused to eat dry sawdust or canned goo again.
Now we have to find out what people foods are tainted we can feed all four of us.
I started a list of stuff to ask food cos. I asked for refinement on another list. I’ll hunt up the list.
I hope yall are keeping a good food list of people food.
Since the FDA is going to put homeopathics rights given to drug companies so they can make them prescription only. How can we get seeds untainted to beat the FDA for herbals?
Since my two have higher than top range AP I am giving them milk thistle.
I’ll post the very long reply from Dr. Missing Link on Moose and Neyll’s wiki Wetpaint.
It’s clear to me even if a dog doesn’t die sooner the poor dog will later because of food poisoning.
It will be a subpage of this one:
http://scottishterrier.wetpain.....sonings%21
I’ll get on it and post here where I put it on
Comment by Pat — May 2, 2007 @ 10:10 am
Shelly - that’s where your kidneys are. Might want to make a doctors appt…
http://kidney.niddk.nih.gov/ku...../#function
There’s a diagram there…
Comment by Kim — May 2, 2007 @ 10:10 am
P.S. Had a kidney stone when I was 28 or 29, ow ow ow ow ow. I’ve had a lot of pain since then,(still do) but will always remember that one.
Comment by Kim — May 2, 2007 @ 10:12 am
Kidneys are in lower back right above the waist on either side.
Go get tests run. Also an MRI if you think your kidneys have cysts, stones, or damage.
We are all probably getting kidney damage. As someone said here… kidneys can still go even tho. they are mostly damaged.
My Scotties have damage too even tho. I have kept them from all chemicals. Our yard is full of weeds but at least not chemicals. I thot I was being so careful feeding them Nutro Lamb and Rice. Supposed to avoid the allergies of wheat, corn, and beef. It was supposed to be a good feed for Scotties.
I should have listened to Moose. He hated the sawdust we had to put a 1/4 can of what I am now calling goo just for him to eat the dry.
I feel so guilty. I probably have contributed to an even shorter life than the short living Scotties have.
Anyone else cry about that? I do. I have been torn up and can’t sleep for weeks now after the first recall. I pulled mine off of dry and canned that day and it’s people food now. Now if I could just figure out what is safe ;{{
Comment by Pat — May 2, 2007 @ 10:17 am
I just read the SD ingredients for their SD Lamb and Rice dry for dogs - this is Lamb and Rice and the ingredients list: corn gluten and not rice gluten or rice protein does this seem odd to anyone else?
Comment by Terry — May 2, 2007 @ 10:21 am
I checked the NYTimes.com archive and found this article from 1997. The president attempted to get more teeth into the FDA re the safety of imported foods. Interesting…
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/f.....A961958260
Comment by Patty L — May 2, 2007 @ 10:27 am
If a country like South Africa has chosen to ban imports from China……..
What the h#ll is our problem?
Don’t “we the people” have any say over trying to protect ourselves and our pets from poisons? Seems to me the govt. might want to step up. Wouldn’t cost so much for healthcare, if what we consumed wasn’t made of plastic and swimming pool chemicals. If the Chinese want to feed that to their billions of people, that’s fine with me. I DON’T want to eat this stuff!!
In my many conversations with my vet, he said he has seen more “blocked” cats male and female over the past 9 months, than he’s seem in years!! At one point during Oct. and Nov. he was seeing sometimes as many as 4 a WEEK, between his 2 offices. The time frame fits also…….
Does anyone think maybe Bill O’Reilly might want to know about this and maybe make some noise? He did a great job rattling cages about Megan’s Law.
Comment by Peg — May 2, 2007 @ 10:28 am
STEVE:
The lulling of fears has started a while ago with mentioning only “melamine tainted” foods, which from Day 1, was said to be relatively harmless, especially to humans, according to the FDA.
The message is all in the words - the ones spoken and repeated to ingrain — and those unspoken to be forgotten.
The words meant to be forgotten are these:
CYANURIC ACID COMBINED WITH MELAMINE IN URINE PRODUCES CRYSTALS, WITHIN HOURS, THAT ARE COMPRISED OF 70% CYANURIC ACID and 30% MELAMINE, thus leading to BLOCKED KIDNEY FUNCTION. The crystals are almost insoluble.
Other chemical additives we’re eating as a result of consuming animal meat… I don’t know what additives were listed in Part A of this document - no link was given.
http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/.....FRPart=573
*****************
What I expect now is the Industry will begin to use the media to slowly start trying to convince people this is really no big thing and everyone is just over reacting and being paranoid. “Experts says only 16 pets died and it still has not been proved it was caused by tainted pet food”
Meanwhile Menu will continue churning out Newman’s Own and other “Natural” Premium brands as if nothing ever happened. (If they are allowed to get away with it.
Any Bets?
Comment by Steve — May 2, 2007 @ 6:58 am
Comment by petlover — May 2, 2007 @ 10:29 am
It’s not just the FDA it’s the FTC and others who get chem or drug company PAC money. Don’t put your full faith in the one side of the aisle on the subcommittee.
The administration and Congress don’t want a stock market sell off.
Please check into our only babyfood company we still had owned in the US… Gerber. Nestle/Purina bought them out from Novaris (drug co) the week of April 11th. Nestle is Swiss and has China and Pakistan plants.
I told friends to try babyfood on finiky pets… now I have to warn them all to get them off of babyfood.
When will this ever end?
I want our own lil place, own garden, beef and chicken. Going veggie totally is out. Vegetarian diet relies heavily on soy.
I am keeping up the passive aggressive on the other biped here to look for just a coupla acres of land.
Comment by Pat — May 2, 2007 @ 10:32 am
There’s a classic bed- switching scene in “A Night at the Opera” in which Groucho and his friends end up rushing between hotel bedrooms so frantically that everything eventually becomes a blur of slamming doors and bodies streaking down hallways. That scene is as good as any to explain how it has come to pass that thousands of pets have died, tens of thousand of pets are sick and dying, humans have been sickened, and every single stakeholder involved in the Open Secret behind all this, suddenly has no clue, no accountability, no responsibility, and are getting away with that.
And now, a new actor on scene: a pet food czar. Just remember the blueprint these ghouls use. The 9/11 health czar ended up shutting down most lawsuits from firefighters, police officers, emergency rescue workers and residents and got the courts to NOT ACCEPT ANY NEW LAWSUITS. That’s how they “manage a crisis”, same as in Katrina etc. To stop this pattern, add him to the class action lawsuit immediately. There’s legal reason to and I could write the legalese too and here’s why:
My kitty’s kibble comes from Eagle Pack Pet Foods, Inc.. I like their transparency, but did you know this?
…”sources most of its approximately 100 ingredients domestically. … In our supplements, U.S. vitamin maker BASF sources some vitamins from China. Taurine and Glucosamine are also sourced from China by BASF. In most cases, human and pet food brands and supplements source these 3 items from China. Some pet food makers seem unaware of this. Again, know your sources, and we do. …
Know your Sources - Know your Stakeholders. That’s great advice, but end-to-end, those bastards at all the Pet Food Companies knew their stakeholders, including those abroad, and are playing the bed switching scene in “A Night at the Opera”.
Natural Balance said RPC had been added without permission to my kitty’s can. Whose permission? Whose due diligence? That’s a child’s excuse: “I didn’t know because they didn’t tell me. ” One hundred million dollars of 2007 profit means NB doesn’t get away with a child’s excuse. When Mack immediately started symptoms again, I communicated with Natural Balance and they lied to me. In writing, they said, we use no RPC and “our products were tested at UC Davis and came back OK.” Had I believed them, Mack would be dead. But two bites were enough to set him back in his already weakened condition from the Science Diet formulations that nearly killed him in February.
BTW I see UC Davis is offering to test your pet food for $100 plus. DON’T.
Comment by anna_2007 — May 2, 2007 @ 10:36 am
Pat my dog was also eating Nutro Lamb and Rice, contained rice gluten (what is that anyway, rice is one of the things people who can’t tolerate gluten can eat), his liver was so severely damaged the vet couldn’t even take a biopsy, was afraid he would bleed to death right on the table if he did. That was last August, have been wondering since why he died. It was very sudden, Nutro tested the food, etc. etc., I would dig him up now if I thought it would do any good. Hope your Scotties make it.
Comment by Kathy Thompson — May 2, 2007 @ 10:37 am
Comment by Kathy Thompson — May 2, 2007 @ 9:11 am
We need to watch out for the term “organic”. Numerous articles are appearing that China is going ORGANIC!! ahahahahahhahahahahahhahahaha!
Yep, I guess they think they can stick a seed into the polluted soil, irrigate it with polluted river water, NOT USE PESTICIDE, and make it organic.
Watch for it in a market near you soon.
Comment by Kat — May 2, 2007 @ 10:38 am
Re Steve’s earlier question: “Contact Wellness and ask them if they have any comment on the integrity of their Chicken Products.”
I wrote and asked, in light of the Indiana situation, where they sourced the chicken for their cat food. I got a very prompt response. No information on where they get their chicken, just that they’re aware of the news and are “investigating this matter.”
They also gave the reassurance: “Any pet food that is currently on the market would not contain this chicken meat. Several weeks/months may go by from the time a chicken is on a farm to the time it is used in one of our products.”
I don’t know that I really would have expected them to give the name of their supplier, especially at this point. I will give them credit for a very quick answer, though.
I’m still unsure about feeding my cat the grain free canned wellness I have in the pantry, in light of the fact that American Nutrition seems to have put grain in other companies’ grain-free products. I saw on another thread (somewhere!) that the FDA assured Wellness that theirs tested clean, but I’m still a bit wary. My cat doesn’t like a wide variety of foods, though, so I don’t want to eliminate something she actually seems to like.
(I had forgotten when I posted last week that their already was a Pat here. I’m varying my name to minimize confusion.)
Comment by yet another pat — May 2, 2007 @ 10:45 am
“…the dumbing and numbing down of America…”
In my opinion, that is exactly the strategy those in control are using.
I think is has escalated so rapidly…many companies have been “caught with their pants down.” They do not have time to pull them up and keep their dignity. They are doing as much damage control as they can, but it is too late.
So many of us, who were led into this by our beloved pets, are intelligent and empathetic individuals, who are willing to fight for what we believe in.
Yet…right at this moment…I am sickened…I am numbed down, but I am not dumbed down. I will never be dumbed down again…not ever.
I have always believed that “God helps those, who help themselves.” I truly believe this; thus, I will continue to do everything I can to help myself.
However, as I view this…I see a devastation that defies my human logic. I am totally numb with horror. How could those in control devalue life as they have? God help us.
Comment by Pam Williams — May 2, 2007 @ 11:34 am
“Garlic is supposed to be toxic to dogs.”
Pat,lots of us use garlic for our dogs and cats, and have done for many years.I’m not trying to change your mind,but just offer another piece of information,which is supported by people far more knowledgeable than I am.
I think it *may* be true though that garlic in large doses may become toxic,as is true with many things,even water.I imagine there is documentation in regards to large doses(not sure what *large* means)and toxicity.
Comment by Lorna — May 2, 2007 @ 11:48 am
I have lived with a kidney problem for years but have learned how to handle it. Drink lots and lots of liquid. Mint tea is good. Anyone
thinking they may have eaten the chicken and are worried about the possible damage to their
kidneys start drinking water. That is what the
cats and dogs did.
Comment by Cathy B Oregon — May 2, 2007 @ 12:30 pm
Re: Garlic for dogs
Per The Whole Dog Journal….
- small amounts of garlic act as a natural flea repellant
- can be used for it’s antifungal and antibacterial properties
- promotes production of white blood cells thus acting as an immune booster for low or compromised immunity
- may benefit dogs with diabetes by helping reduce blood-sugar levels
Comment by Ally — May 2, 2007 @ 12:33 pm
Scottish Terriers
http://scottishterrier.wetpaint.com/
are known as the canaries of the coal mine. Scotties are being studied for a variety of very serious conditions and diseases. Results of the Purdue Study which will have applicable information as an output to help the health of both canine breeds and human beings alike.
Most diseases and even genetic in utero conditions can be traced back to environmental insults and now … let’s face it, internal poisoning insults.
http://scottishterrier.wetpain.....ssing+Link
Comment by Pat — May 2, 2007 @ 12:46 pm
The Whole Dog Journal used to be what some people would site as evaluating dog food and pick the “Top Ten.” Now if you examine their picks knowing what we know now some are on recall and most highly suspect. Given what has been cited here before What Really is in Dog Food we can rule them out as any sort of credible source.
Yes, I heard garlic was good for dogs and repels fleas. After looking into it… the same by product produced to repel fleas is a toxin. So we are feeding our dogs a toxin, garlic.
I have another page I need to copy over to scottishterrier of a much more complete chart of what human foods and plants etc. are toxic.
Give me a few minutes…
Comment by Pat — May 2, 2007 @ 12:57 pm
My understanding..and I read it somewhere other than the whole dog journal, is that you would have to feed your doga several heads of garlic to be toxic. Lots of things are like that, think about appleseeds. They contain arsenic, but you would have to eat about a cup of them to poison yourself.
Comment by Joyce — May 2, 2007 @ 1:03 pm
Bil Jac dog and cat food has this update on the web site:
Updated 5/1/2007
Bil-Jac chicken ingredients are not sourced from poultry farms feeding recalled pet food.
Now it would be nice if some of the acutal chicken producers would have this information available for the people who eat chicken and for those who are now using chicken and turkey for our homemade pet food.
I was speaking to a friend who may or may not be correct but his sense of the chicken and pigs who ate the pet food as part of their feed probably don’t have high levels or prehaps no levels of the chemicals in their muscle meat. His feelings are it would be prudent to avoid organ meat from any of these animals though because the chemicals would most likely be concentrated there.
So pet food companies who originally made the poison and then allowed it to enter the human food chain are once again using the animals that were fed the contaminated feed to make more pet food. My head hurts!!
Guess for the time being I’m sticking with the Bil Jac for the cats and trying to decide what in hell I’m going to cook for the dogs :( who have been eating chicken and ground turkey as the base of the food I’m cooking for them.
I also have to decide what we are going to eat. We eat more chicken and ground turkey than any other meats. It’s my fault because I hate eating any animals and have I have for the most part eliminated beef, lamb, and pork from our diet.
Comment by Maureen (Lilly and Lucy's mom) — May 2, 2007 @ 1:05 pm
I don’t know if I’m the only dummy or not but back when I was first told I could repel fleas (about 25 years ago) with garlic powder, I used to sprinkle it on their fur. I must have missed the part about putting it in the food. It worked, so I never gave it any thought after that. 8)
Comment by Kathi — May 2, 2007 @ 1:16 pm
OK the page is up
Scottish Terrier Wetpaint
Dangerous Foods and Substances for Dogs
http://scottishterrier.wetpain.....Substances
Comment by Pat — May 2, 2007 @ 1:32 pm
OH my beloved called from Amarillo last nite. Had the usual warnings on the usual glutens and some pigs and chickens.
Here’s a new one the local station said. Arby’s Roast Beef and Cheese Sandwich.
Don’t know about everyone else I am not going to any Mexican, Chinese, or BBQ Restaurants, in fact any restaurant now.
Who knows if they are up on what is what? Heck I’m not up on what is what…
Durn I love Mexican, Chinese, and BBQs too!
Our lives have been forever altered.
Comment by Pat — May 2, 2007 @ 2:07 pm
I just was feeling suicidal, so I had a grilled chicken salad at Mcdonald’s. Probably there is rice or wheat gluten in the dressing and crutons, then there’s the melamine in the chicken, and lets not forget the e coli in the spinach. Dieting is hell……
Comment by Joyce — May 2, 2007 @ 2:15 pm
The contaminated chicken and pork, and whatever else was fed the poison food, has been in the human food supply for greater than a month before it was discovered. How and why is this coming out now? Are we supposed to believe that the chicken and pig farmers did not know where they obtained their feed from until now? Are people already getting sick and that is the impetus to slaughter the still living food products?
Just how does anyone know what levels of melamine are safe for humans? And what about the effect upon a fetus for those who are pregnant?
Comment by 2 sick cats — May 2, 2007 @ 4:10 pm
From what I’ve been reading, cyanuric acid is not supposed to be in dog food either. Why is the FDA only concentrating on the melamine? Why are they not trying to find the source of the cyanuric acid? I can’t find out what ingredients the cyanuric acid would have been added to. Does anyone know?
Elisa Law
Comment by Elisa Law — May 3, 2007 @ 10:17 am