pet connection

I was shocked to get a press release from the FDA that started out with these words (emphasis mine, but the missing period is theirs):

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today issued a final regulation barring certain cattle materials from all animal feed, including pet food. The final rule further protects animals and consumers against bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, also known as “mad cow disease”)

Can you imagine them even thinking about, let alone mentioning, pet food before the pet food recall? In the very first sentence, even.

The rest of the release was the usual kind of thing… blah blah, risk of BSE in the United States incredibly low, in fact, so low it’s amazing we’re wasting your time doing this, and please don’t look at the man behind the curtain fact that we actually prohibit farmers from testing their livestock for BSE in the first place, but honestly we care about you and your pets just not as much as agribusiness.

The entire release is under the jump. (more…)

I’ve been very touched by the outpouring of sympathy and suggestions from everyone here after my recent update about my dog Kyrie’s struggle with a drug-resistant staph infection. But I was also feeling something nagging at me, a sputtering sense of “yes, yes, but,” and yet I couldn’t quite put my finger on what the hell the problem was. What was it about all these kind and caring comments that was making me feel a little head-explodey?

And that’s when I got it; apparently sometimes I’m a little slow. Because whenever I think about heads exploding, I think about the pet food recall, and that makes me think about the FDA, and of course, the FDA makes me think about drugs and science and medicine and food, and how the regulatory agencies designed to protect public health and safety have been downsized and small-governmented into a state of near-impotence.

Which is, my friends, why we have drug-resistant staph infections.

Because while, of course, right now my primary concern is Kyrie, and if someone else had this problem the first thing I’d be telling them is the kind of stuff a lot of you said to me — look for the underlying cause, try alternatives, read the research, etc. — there’s something else.

It’s exactly the same thing I said when my fellow-homemade diet feeders encouraged me to use the pet food recall as a platform to advocate for homemade pet diets, and I refused to do it. My belief was, and is, that no matter how people decide to feed their pets, they should be able to walk into the supermarket and buy food that doesn’t have poison in it.

And I also believe that this planet shouldn’t be riddled with mutant bacteria that came into existence largely due to the widespread abuse of powerful drugs, most of it in livestock feed, used because the way we raise commercial meat in this country promotes ill health and disease in those animals.

Then there’s the complete collapse of the nation’s health-care system, leading to hospitals that are understaffed and using outdated, hard to sterilize equipment, and are full of people without health care insurance flooding emergency rooms and being handed inappropriate prescriptions for antibiotics because it’s cheaper and easier than actually diagnosing and treating their illnesses — or their poverty.

Of course, there’s really nothing I can do about all that, so I’ll go back to the medical grade honey and expensive veterinary dermatologist and skin cultures and last-ditch antibiotics. I’ll check Kyrie’s thyroid and immune system, and wonder if I need to soak my entire house in bleach.

But let’s not forget the bigger picture, and the fact that the same guys who brought us the pet food recall are also bringing MRSA to our communities and MRSI to our pets. Don’t let them off the hook by allowing them to reduce this to a problem dealt with in our homes with antibiotics and herbs and guilt, because this problem didn’t start in our homes, even though that’s where it’s hitting us.

Lisa McCormick of ConsumerAffairs.com is another of those reporters who did super work during last year’s pet-food recall. Today she’s reporting that many people who lost pets aren’t too thrilled with the Menu Foods settlement:

Grieving pet owners say it’s too early to applaud a tentative settlement the company behind the largest pet food recall in United States history — one blamed for the deaths and illnesses of thousands of dogs and cats nationwide — announced earlier this week.

The Canadian-based company said it could not disclose terms of the agreement, which is subject to the approval of U.S. and Canadian courts.

“It’s a comprehensive settlement,” Amy W. Schulman, a lawyer for Menu Foods, told MSNBC. “It would resolve all the claims.”

The lead attorney for pet owners agreed and said she’s confident a final agreement will be reached.

The settlement comes a little more than a year after Menu Foods recalled 60 million containers of tainted dog and cat food.

Thousands of pet nationwide suffered kidney problems or died after eating the food contaminated with the chemicals melamine and cyanuric acid.

Thanks for the pointer, Nadine.

I’m busy frantically trying to get ready for my road trip. Christie has a miserable cold. So we’re around, just not as much today.

The Canadian press and the Wall Street Journal are reporting that Menu Foods has announced a tentative settlement deal for a slough of lawsuits filed over last year’s melamine contamination of pet food. From Toronto’s Globe and Mail:

The Toronto company also indicated in a brief news release Tuesday that, assuming the settlement is finalized, it does not expect to incur more than the $55-million estimate it already has put on its costs for the wide-ranging product recall it was forced to launch last year.

The deal still has to be approved by both Canadian and U.S. courts, and approved by what the agreement calls “certain other parties.” And those worried over how the company would fare once it had to pay up can take heart:

Menu Foods’ battered units leapt at the news. In mid afternoon trading they were at 81 cents on the Toronto Stock Exchange, up 12 cents or 17.4 per cent from Monday’s finish, although still nowhere near their 52-week high of $4.90.

Let’s see: Menu’s stock going back up.

Thousands of pets still dead.

That about sums it up.

I live in California, the sunny part. I have never been on a snowmobile. You gotta understand that going in. But what is up with snowmobilers running into sled dog teams? One of the dogs killed in the Iditarod was hit by a snowmobile, and now Iditarod champ Lance Mackey’s Zorro was airlifted in serious condition during a race after Mackey’s sled was slammed into by snowmobilers. From the AP:

A man on a snowmobile ran into Mackey’s team, seriously injuring a key animal in his kennel. Mackey broke down in tears Saturday telling how a veteran race dog, Zorro, was injured as the animal rode in the sled’s basket.

The snowmobile driver has not been identified.

Mackey was in third place in the Sweepstakes around midnight Friday just 20 miles from the finish line when two snowmobiles came up fast from behind.

“I was flashing them like mad with my headlamp,” he said. “I was shining my headlamp right in his face, but they kept on coming at me. I jumped aside, and by 30 feet further up the trail, there was a snow machine sitting on the middle of my sled.”

The machine impaled the sled bag with its runners.

“Three or four dogs were sucked underneath and Zorro was trapped in the sled bag,” Mackey said.

The driver who hit Mackey and his partner on the other machine helped Mackey right the mess, then left as Mackey continued on.

“I would give my life for my dogs,” Mackey said. “I can’t make anyone know how important animals are to me.”

By midday Saturday, Zorro was on a commercial flight to Pet Emergency, a veterinarian facility in Anchorage, for medical treatment. Zorro had broken ribs and perhaps internal injuries.

“If he lives, I don’t think he is going to want to race to Nome again,” Mackey said.

Several other dogs had injuries, but they were not life threatening, Mackey said.

The 9-year-old injured dog has been a star in the teams that won Alaska’s two major long-distance races the last two years.

Here’s the rest. Would it be out of bounds to imagine that — as recreational boaters and jet-skiiers do down here in the warmer climes — snowmobiling is a recreation that often goes with an overindulgence in adult beverages?

C’mon, Zorro. We’re praying for ya!

[Updates are being posted on Lance Mackey’s Web site.)

***

Ben and Emily Huh of Itchmo are one of the handful of people behind the Web sites and Web blogs everyone turned to for information during the pet-food recall last year. Itchmo started out as a blog meant for Seattle-area dog-lovers, and then … things went crazy.

The Huhs have real jobs — Ben is one of the geniuses behind the great ICanHasCheezburger site — and it has been really difficult to keep up Itchmo with all their other responsibilities. Itchmo the Web log is now easing up. From the Huhs, as posted on their forums:

When we first started Itchmo in February 2007, it was just a hobby to share what we were doing with our dog around Seattle. Due to the needs of the Pet Food recalls, it quickly grew into a destination for all of us who needed information, support and each other.

Unfortunately, the time has come for us to put Itchmo on hold as we focus on the parts of our lives that we put on the back burner for the last year.

As a family, we decided that the ItchmoForums are self-sustaining and will continue, however Itchmo will no longer be updated on a regular basis. We were heartbroken over our decision, but it was inevitable as there just isn’t sufficient income to maintain the level of posts that we’d like.

On the other hand, these forums have become a wonderful place for pet-lovers to hang out. We’ll continue to support the forums. We thank all of you for visiting Itchmo, and hope that you will stick around and continue to make the ItchmoForums a wonderful place.

We will not be accepting any donations, if you do wish to make any donations to us, please consider making it to your local shelter.

Sincerely,

The Itchmos: Ben, Emily, Fil and Nemo

Enjoy the break guys, and hope to see you back soon.

***

The “F Word”: That would be “Foxtail.” There are few things in life I can say that I hate with all my heart, and the foxtail would be in the top five. Not that long ago, my retriever McKenzie picked up one in her hip. It took seven months, three surgeries, thousands of dollars and multiple courses of antibiotics to get rid of the thing.

Hate. Hate. Hate. Burn in hell, foxtails.

Over on Lassie Get Help, Luisa shares my feelings, my pain, and much much more.