What do you feed your pets? The debate will never end
By Gina Spadafori
April 21, 2009
We took a lot of heat for our coverage of the pet-food recalls two years ago. The pet-food companies and the FDA didn’t like it very much, and thought we were picking on them while they were doing the best they could to deal with imported materials deliberately tainted by rogue operators overseas. And they surely didn’t like us reporting that not a few but thousands of pets had been killed by the tainted products — numbers later confirmed by the independent Veterinary Information Network.
On the other side, we heard criticism from those who insisted that we use the recall to push for the home feeding of pets. We argued that it didn’t matter if you bought the cheapest generic commercial pet food: The minimum that was required was that it not kill your pet. Nothing else was on point, as far as we were concerned.
Within our own ranks. we’re all over the map. We have raw feeders, and we have others on the Pet Connection team who feed supermarket or discount chain food and think their pets do just fine. Others feed a high-end commercial product, and still others blend commercial and home-prepared (raw or not) meals, just the way we people do.
In her latest Creature Comforts column for MSNBC.com, our blogging colleage Kim Campbell Thornton looks at raw diets — and if some of the people she quoted seem familiar, you’re reading too many blogs. From the article:
BARF. It’s what’s for dinner. Your dog’s dinner, that is.
The acronym stands for Biologically Appropriate Raw Food, which is not so much a diet as it is a movement among pet owners who believe their pets will benefit from eating the same kinds of food their furry ancestors gobbled: bones, raw meats and veggies. Just as a raw food trend has turned more mainstream among people, a small but vocal community of pet owners is using the same quality ingredients they buy for themselves to create homemade raw meals for their critters.
But most veterinarians are wary about the trend toward raw food, or even meals that are cooked, but homemade. The idea of feeding pets raw meat, which has the potential to be contaminated with salmonella or E. coli bacteria, or a home-cooked meal that may not be properly balanced, gives them the shudders. “So many of these people are just trying to make their pets happy and have no concept of nutrition,” says Dr. Patty Khuly, who practices in Miami.
Although no studies have been conducted to assess the benefits of a raw food diet for cats and dogs, believers in the raw pet food movement say the evidence speaks for itself: Their pets have shinier coats, stronger teeth, fewer ear infections and improved weight control.
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Food-related: ConsumerAffairs.com is reporting that the FDA is investigating Nutro:
Consumers have been complaining for more than two years that their pets have become ill after eating NUTRO products; many have recovered when they were switched to other foods. The company has steadfastly denied that its food is to blame.
Until now, the FDA has been mum about whether it was actively investigating the company. Today, the FDA’s Division of Freedom of Information confirmed the agency has an ongoing investigation into NUTRO — and said that investigation could be criminal or civil in nature. The office did not elaborate on the nature or focus of that investigation.
In 2007, at the cat recall time, I vowed never to return to buying Nutro cat food.
If it made my cats so sick at that time, then it might again, I reasoned. Am I glad I stuck to my decision.
However, my heart breaks for all those pets that are suffering because of any unwholesome food that is out there and they have to eat the stuff.
Comment by Colorado Transplant — April 21, 2009 @ 5:13 pm
Nutro is all over Twitter right now rebutting this — says the FDA has not notified them about an investigation nor contacted them in any way.
What I find interesting is the difference between how Nutro is reacting and how Amazon did last week — which is doubly interesting since the Nutro allegations didn’t originate in social media, but on a web publication, while the Amazon ones were being spread on Twitter, and Amazon still never responded there!
Public relations and damage response have changed utterly in the last few years. Even since the pet food recall! We were on the hard edge of that one, communications-wise!
Comment by Christie Keith — April 21, 2009 @ 5:40 pm
my cat who lived with me for 15yrs , was slowly killed by this garbage(nutro) it was’nt until the recall,2007 that i realised , what a great cat, it’s a shame. she’s the only cat i’d ever had who would hitchhike?(i’l explain)
she was a stray who earned her dinner by mouching from tourists (tinker st.cafe, woodstock,ny)i found her living the life of a
bum. at the time i wasn’t far from the same condidtion? together, my cat and i traveld thru
5states until we found a home(you’v probably never seen a cat stand by the road ona leash while the human hitchhiked?) it’ was a sad end
when she passed, but a wonderful 15yrs.
to those who make money from selling toxins,
your day comming…
Comment by johnypaycut — April 21, 2009 @ 5:59 pm
The collie boy’s fairly regular loose stool cleared up when we switched him off Nutro kibble, first to Merrick and now Canidae. Hummmm. Coincidence? Don’t think so at this point.
I keep coming back over and over to something Gina said, was it last year? To paraphrase: It shouldn’t matter if you buy commercial food that is the cheapest stuff out there. You shouldn’t have to worry about it killing your pet.
So, what’s Nutro’s excuse? I’m sure you’d love to hear their side of it and will about the time they allow roosters in Sacramento.
Comment by Susan Fox — April 21, 2009 @ 6:13 pm
Come on, FDA… press release time. What’s going on, details PLEASE. If animals really are getting sick, people have a right to know. If the product really is defective in some way, people have a right to know. And if you’ve found nothing and Nutro is in fact not under investigation (um, just because the police haven’t phoned you doesn’t mean you’re not on their radar, does it? One can assume the same of the FDA, if in fact this statement is true) then the public and Mars has a right to this information being released ASAP.
Failure to react quickly (the hallmark of the FDA!) will lead to either a) illness among pets eating Nutro or b) loss of business to Nutro due to unfounded claims.
Ever since 2007 I feel like I’ve just been wandering around screaming “will someone just tell me what’s REALLY going on!!?” And I’m fairly connected in the commercial pet food industry…
Interesting to note they’re also one of many defendants in the class action lawsuit in Florida for misleading advertising on their packages and signage.
Gonna be another interesting year in pet food. Wish it wasn’t.
Comment by Kim — April 21, 2009 @ 6:33 pm
I have two Pr folks from Nutro tweeting me with a denial and wanting to know if I have any questions. So I asked them publicly on twitter why had I had 4 dogs puking orange when I fed Nutro. Should get interesting.
Can’t wait to see how they answer
that in 140.
Comment by Nancy Freedman-Smith CPDT — April 21, 2009 @ 6:55 pm
I stopped feeding Nutro at all shortly before I discovered they’d been bought by Mars, which was some time after the fact.
I could see and smell a difference in the food, and was wondering, and the dogs were getting a lot of digestive upsets.
Too bad. Used to be a great product. We fed it to both cats and dogs for decades. But then, so did a lot of other name brands that were bought out by the Big Boys, who just mined the name recognition and logos while putting whatever crap in the bag.
Comment by H. Houlahan — April 21, 2009 @ 6:55 pm
Thanks Gina. You’re great.
Comment by VJ — April 21, 2009 @ 8:31 pm
I posted a similar article on my own blog this morning when I heard this terrible news. I fed my pets Nutro for years. In late 2007, both of my cats suddenly began vomiting every day. When I changed their food, the vomiting ended.
One of them had chronic diarrhea, as well. That persisted until I tried raw, and the diarrhea ended within 24 hours. Raw is amazing for dogs and cats.
Comment by Leigh — April 21, 2009 @ 8:46 pm
I guess I think Twitter would be a good idea IF they were actually going to answer questions instead of sending people to the links at their site. More of the same robotic PFC responses…we did nothing, we know nothing…ho hum.
Comment by Sandi K — April 21, 2009 @ 9:08 pm
Oh, yes, I agree that the CONTENT of your response matters, regardless! It was just the contrast with Amazon, the two things happening so close together, that struck me.
Comment by Christie Keith — April 21, 2009 @ 9:14 pm
#
I have two Pr folks from Nutro tweeting me with a denial and wanting to know if I have any questions. So I asked them publicly on twitter why had I had 4 dogs puking orange when I fed Nutro. Should get interesting.
Can’t wait to see how they answer
that in 140.
Comment by Nancy Freedman-Smith CPDT — April 21, 2009 @ 6:55 pm
If you get any meaningful answer, Nancy, do share on FB, Gooddogz, here and anywhere else you can think of! Inquiring minds wanna know!
Comment by Anne T — April 22, 2009 @ 3:43 am
What the heck is the Nutro Ambassador Program that the PF folks reference? Is this a fancy name for a pet food sales rep?
Comment by Carol V — April 22, 2009 @ 4:29 am
Good old Nutro. A few of you may remember, that I got into a rather heated exchange with the President of Nutro when he posted here and on the Seattle site (who’s name escapes me at the moment). This was before it was sold to Mars.
Bottom line - while they had pulled some products (including ones my cats were eating occasionally), there were others they wouldn’t provide any information about. My gut told me something wasn’t right and I stopped feeding those products. And yes, they were later recalled.
I wasn’t surprised when the company was sold to Mars and I’m not suprised that the food may be even worse now. Large companies are all about making money, if they can find a way to decrease costs they really don’t care about how it affects their customers. Even when life and death were at stake, Nutro didn’t care. Now I’m not saying that Nutro would intentionally harm animals, but its clear that $ comes first, their ‘customers’ run a distant second.
I wouldn’t care if they were selling magic food that let your pets live forever. Nutro will never, never come into my house. Ever. Think I’m kidding? Nestle’s products have been banned from my home after their dealings with powdered milk in Africa.
So to all manufacturers here’s my warning: I have a long memory and a big mouth - you screw up, and I’ll still be talking about you 30 years later. And the net, well it never forgets.
Comment by 2CatMom — April 22, 2009 @ 6:45 am
Oh yeah, the site was Itchmo (sorry, senior moment).
Comment by 2CatMom — April 22, 2009 @ 6:46 am
Consumeraffairs has updated the story—and reconfirmed with FDA by the looks of it—-I don’t twitter (yet) but if anyone here does again with the ambassador maybe pass this link along?
http://www.consumeraffairs.com.....oia02.html
Comment by Carol V — April 22, 2009 @ 1:14 pm
and Nutro is still saying no:
“Question: Are the claims made on ConsumerAffairs.com about a NUTRO® FDA investigation and dogs eating Nutro and experiencing health issues true?
Answer: On April 20, ConsumerAffairs.com posted a story claiming that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has an ongoing investigation into NUTRO® pet food. This is not true. We have confirmed with the FDA’s division responsible for regulating pet food, the Center for Veterinary Medicine, that there is no current or ongoing investigation of Nutro Products, Inc.”
http://nutroproducts.com/nutro.....ml#affairs
They definitely know what Consumer Affairs are saying.
Comment by Original Lori — April 22, 2009 @ 1:59 pm
correct that to read “and Nutro (via Twitter) is still saying no:” :O)
Comment by Original Lori — April 22, 2009 @ 2:00 pm
I love twitter:
http://www.wxyz.com/news/local.....wN3EQ.cspx
via @natalieatNutro on Twitter.
Comment by Original Lori — April 22, 2009 @ 2:05 pm
Interesting how they’re duking it out on Twitter. With Nutro saying the same thing over and over and over.
Hmmmm …. and http://www.wxyz.com/news/local.....wN3EQ.cspx
Comment by Gina Spadafori — April 22, 2009 @ 2:19 pm
I’ll bet that the Nutro ambassador program is actually what they call those who do demos of Nutro at various pet stores. With all the complaints that have been reported to ConsumerAffairs and the FDA, why is Nutro not being investigated? That’s what inquiring minds want to know….
Comment by Laurie — April 23, 2009 @ 5:39 pm