Rat Poison In Menu Pet Food
So much for that wheat gluten excuse. Notice that the Menu Pet CEO admits to delaying the recall until it couldn’t be delayed any frurther. Wow, this is a guy who really inspires me to trust him with my pets’ health. Think its time for a new job for this guy? Every day he delayed the recall (and now there is strong suspician and evidence that he may have delayed it by MONTHS) was another day untold numbers of furbabies sickened and died. Unforgiveable and hopefully prosecutable!
Thanks to Daphne, furmom to Dogsters Zeb, Butch, Friend Lea and Grace for barking this in from Yahoo News!
Rat poison found in tainted pet food
By MARK JOHNSON, Associated Press WriterALBANY, N.Y. – Rat poison has been found in pet food blamed for the deaths of at least 16 cats and dogs, a spokeswoman for the State Department of Agriculture and Markets said Friday.
Spokeswoman Jessica Chittenden would not identify the chemical or its source beyond saying it was a rodent poison.
ABC News reported it was aminopterin that may have been on imported wheat used in the pet food. Aminopterin is used to kill rats in some countries but is not registered for that use in the United States, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. The chemical, also a cancer drug, is highly toxic in high doses.Officials from the agriculture department and Cornell University’s Animal Health Diagnostic Center would not immediately confirm the ABC report but scheduled a news conference Friday afternoon to release laboratory findings from tests on the pet food.
The Food and Drug Administration has said the investigation was focusing on wheat gluten in the food. Wheat gluten itself would not cause kidney failure, but the common ingredient could have been contaminated by heavy metals or mold toxins, the FDA said.
State and FBI officials said they knew of no criminal investigations in the case.
The pet deaths led to a recall of 60 million cans and pouches of pet food produced by Menu Foods and sold throughout North America under 95 brand names. There have been several reports of kidney failure in pets that ate the recalled brands, and the company has confirmed the deaths of 15 cats and one dog.
Menu Foods last week recalled “cuts and gravy” style dog and cat food. The recall sparked concern among pet owners across North America. It includes food sold under store brands carried by Wal-Mart, Kroger, Safeway and other large retailers, as well as private labels such as Iams, Nutro and Eukanuba.
Menu Foods is majority owned by Menu Foods Income Fund of Streetsville. The company also makes foods for zoo cats, but those products are unaffected by the recall.
The company’s chief executive and president said Menu Foods delayed announcing the recall until it could confirm that the animals had eaten its product before dying. Two earlier complaints from consumers whose cats had died involved animals that lived outside or had access to a garage, which left open the possibility they had been poisoned by something other than contaminated food, he said.
Follow this link to read the rest of the article.
We knew Angel was poisoned and to think this was the cause, inexusable in my book. I would like to spoon feed them some of the same stuff that killed my Angel
Is Pedigree on the list of foods that they recalled? If so let me know soon. Thats what I eat (sometimes). Thanks Lilly
Pedigree is not on the list, Lilly Marie.
I watched the news conference and the president of the company said they were doing taste tests to make sure food was safe… not for the animals having to eat it…
Please contact the FDA in your state if you have any concerns about the pet food for your fur kid. My cat died of acute renal failure in Jan. He was eating Hills’ Prescription c/d dry food–he NEVER ate wet food–hated it. We had purchased a new bag three days before he became ill. I had wondered if there was a connection when he died, but did not think any more about it until now. I contacted our state FDA and they are going to test the remaining food. I fear dry food is also involved. I do not want any other pets to suffer like ours did. He was on IV’s for a week and home for 5 days before he succumbed.
Tiffany (Lilly’s mom) We feed our cat the mijgers brand wet cat food.
I’d like to start seeing some honest numbers of the number of dogs and cats affected by this. Dogs like my Winston have survived the poisoning, only to be left with a compromised renal system and a life of prescription diets. What are the numbers that have been reported to the FDA? The testing done by the University in NY resulted in 2 out of 3 samples were contaminated. Why aren’t we getting all the facts???
I feed my dogs ‘Pedigree’(dry)small kibble,no problems yet
I’m saying prayers for the dogs, cats & their families that
are victims to this ‘freak incident’ ——– hope it NEVER
happens again !
Pet lover in ILL.,
Lori W.
That’s terrible!!! What are we doing getting this wheat gluten from China anyway? There’s PLENTY of wheat in the United States! I live in KANSAS. Drive on any one of the interstates, and I assure you, you will see plenty of wheat and wheat factories. Why do we have to import wheat when we have plenty right here in our heartland?
I gave four of my dogs some of the recalled food. Luckily, they haven’t shown any symptoms of having kidney failure. I bought a whole case of some of the recalled cat food, too. I just thank God I didn’t feed any of it to them. I discovered the recall before I did that.
One good this has came out of this for my family . We have decided we’re going to switch the dogs over to Canidae, and the cats over to Felidae. I’ve heard their plant is very strict on regulations. We’ll see how that goes.
My thoughts and prayers go out to the animals, and the families of the furbabies that are either suffering right now, or have passed away due to this horrible, horrible incident.
for the real numbers (which are horrific) go to
http://www.petconnection.com
warning this information is not suitable for children
It’s juWe have just been made aware that Menu Foods has expanded the date range
of their recall. No New Products are being added and we ask all Nutro
customers that have any wet “cuts & gravy style” pet foods product,
regardless of the “best by date,” to no longer feed these products to
their pets and to return them for a full refund. This action is being
taken to avoid customers’ confusion in reading specific “best by dates”
on individual cans and pouches.
This may apply to all Menu foods, too.st getting worse! Read below:
This is horrible. What’s sad is that the “supposed” premium dog food manufacturers ie Iams, Eukanuba use the same crap as Ol’ Roy in their food, yet people THINK they are getting a quality product for their pet. Even more awful is that while people are alarmed and pets are dying due to the rat poison, people poison their pets every day when they feed the inferior products allowed in the pet food industry. Check out http://www.shirleys-wellness-cafe.com or google “what’s really in your pets food”. I am SO glad I feed raw and Innova EVO.
Good luck to everyone who has babies affected by this. I will keep you in my prayers.
What about all the dogs that don’t get vet care? There are lots of dogs out there on the edge fed nasty foods like Ol’ Roy and similar junk whose owners may not even take them to the vet. They would just have died in pain and suffering. I am not against lower income people being dog guardians, but I do feel that if you can’t afford to take proper care of a dog then you should wait until you can afford to do so before you take on that responsibility.
My heart breaks for all the doggies who suffered horrible deaths. And maybe we should think about these poisons. Is it right to kill living creatures in this manner? I think those glue traps are horrible as well. What a cruel world we live in, based upon death and suffering.
MY HEART IS HURTING FOR ALL…. I HAVE BEEN MAKEING MY FURBABIES FOOD FOR QUITE A WHILE. BUT THEY DID EAT “OLROY” BRAND FROM WALMART BACKIN EARLY FALL. THANK GOD I STARTED MAKING THEIR FOOD. SANDRA
PS IT IS A SHAME THAT COMPANIES CAN DO STUFF LIKE THAT.
this is why i only buy organic, holistic food for myself and my animals. today’s foods contain so much uncontrolled “crap” that you cannot trust a corporation to care about anything other than profit! try products like merrick, solid gold, innova, wellness, california natural, etc. your pets will thank you.
We are sad to hear about the #s rising so rapidly, and hope it doesn’t get spread to dry food to. For every family that lost their beloved pet to this, you have our concerns. We are sad to hear about every pet getting this, and wish the madness would just stop.
We feel so sorry for every family that lost a dear family member to this accendemic.
To Agaore’s Mom–Be careful with the Innova Evo–It too is manufactured by Menu foods–Innova’s wet foods are that is–this one I know of for sure because I called the number on the can when I was looking for a new brand of food for my pets that was NOT processed by Menu foods. Both Innova and California Naturals which are made by Natura, process their can foods by Menu foods.
howl911.com now has a list of what foods are NOT manufactured by Menu foods, and we should all-to play it safe-not feed any foods that use Menu foods in their manufacturing process.
There are also reports on howl911.com of other animals getting sick after eating dry foods–
I just don’t want to see any more furbabies die from this tragic crime!!
Cindy-Roxy’s mom
P.S. Roxy’s bloodwork all came back ok, and she is doing much better today and eating again–so that is a HUGE relief for me. Thank you all for your care and concern…
Cindy
What brands does Menu Foods manufacture? I feed my furbabies Innova dry dog food and Innova Evo dry cat food. I have a can of Innova Evo wet cat food..
I REFUSE to buy any product made by Menu Foods. Ever.
Our Mom feed us Friskies and the Dog get Pedigree, and so far we are all ok. We are very sorry to hear of the loss and the sick. we Pray that the Pet God will help all our friend and there friend get over the hump and that the people that make the food we eat make it save again for all.. God Bless all
The reason why they are importing the wheat from China is because it is CHEAPER. ALL THEY WANT IS MORE MONEY> THEY CARE NOTHING ABOUT THE PETS!!!!
So these dog food companies have their prospective products made from one manufacturer, who appears to get its wheat gluten from a factory in China. My inkling is that they have a major rat infestation, and upon trying to take out the rats with this poison, and of course, somehow the poison ends up in the wheat gluten which they use for over 100 brands of wet dog food, among others.
Conspiracy theory, maybe. But it certainly seems plausible.
my Zona was diagnosed with kidney failure when he was only a little over a year old; the vet said it was so rare to find it that young. And Im so upset with this recall, because when my mom prepared his food, shed mix in the iams gravy pouches, because zona liked the flavor better.
Hi Apollo and Ares!!!!
Do not use the Innova wet cat food–Inova which is made by Natura is one of the foods processed by Menu Foods.
Here is a list of safe foods–none of which any part of their product is manufactured by Menu Foods…
Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover’s Soul
Canidae/Felidae
Breeder’s Choice/Pinnacle (except for Chicken and Oats formula which is made by Menu)
Natural Balance
Solid Gold
Triumph/Evolve
Merrick
Kal Kan (Pedigree, Cesar, and Whiskas
Hugzzzzz-Roxy
My Airdale Terrier became very sick after eating IAMS MiniChunks With IAMS Savory Sauce Beef GRAVY. HE HAD VOMITING, HE WAS NOT ACTIVE NO APETITE AND THEN HE FINALLY HAD TO BE PUT SLEEP DUE TO CHRONIC KIDNEY FAILURE. I CALLED IAMS AND MENU FOODS THEY TOLD ME THE WOULD HAVE A REPRESENTATIVE GET BACK TO ME, IM STILL WAITING. I FOUND A LAB THAT WOULD TEST MY FOOD, THEY TOLD ME THIS FOOD HE ATE WAS NOT ON THE RECALL BUT DON’T FEED IT TO MY NIECE’S DOG NOR GIVE IT TO A SHELTER. WHY DON’T THEY CALL ME? IF THIS TEST’S POSITIVE FOR RAT POISION, DO YOU REALIZE HOW MANY SAVORY SAUCES AND MINICHUNKS ARE STILL OUT THERE. MY AIRDALE WAS A HEALTHY 6YR OLD DOG. IT JUST SEEMED LIKE HE WAS POISIONED.
HEARTBROKEKN AND FURIOUS
This is terrible…all these dogs dying because of some stupid company having rat poison in their food! I’m fuming!
Is Fromm Four-Star dry food made by Menu Foods? On the web site is says that canned isn’t made by Menu Foods, but doesn’t say anything about dry. That’s what Mika eats, as well as raw meaty bones.
Well-We certainly missed that one—fed some “Mighty Dog ” foil pack food in with the dry a while back(thank God) and no bad results-will start cooking our own again–it’s much safer and not hard to do–our prayers are with you all!!!!
I am so sorry for the lost of our dogs and cats..
I am worry now …There’s any dog food that is safe and Natural? I think that i will start giving human food to my dog!
Please of someone knows any dog food that is totally natural email me:
klalmoon@yahoo.com
Thank you..and God bless our pets!i
You know, aside from all of the innocent pet owners losing their beloved children, the worst part of this will be that Menu Foods will probably get nothing more than a slap on the wrist for literally killing possibly thousands of dogs and cats. Had this been tainted people food, and that many babies or people had died from it (and thank God is wasn’t), they would be looking at criminal charges. But since it’s just “animals”….well, I’m sure the punishment will be consierably less.
I would like to express my heartfelt sympathies for anyone and everyone who have been affected by this henious crime. Every time I see that picture of that Yorkshire Terrier Pebbles, my eyes well up with tears. I really can’t imagine the hurt and anguish that so many loving pet owners are enduring right now. But I can say that my prayers are with you all.
God Bless.
Is Hills’ Sciense Diet on the list? I feed Gizzy the Senior diet in chicken or beef. I asked my Vet and they said no, but I just want to double-check.
My heart goes out to the animals that have suffered and it leaves me worried about my cats and what I feed to them.
On a more positive note, I do use a safe and effective supplement that safely removes heavy metals and other toxic substances from the body and it is perfectly safe for animals as well as babies and children. Once the heavy metals are removed the body is more able to heal itself.
I do give my cats a drop of this each day.
Best wishes Anne Groom
Bes
MAN……….I am soooooooooo glad that my mommy gets me dry food………I am still hanging on so their must not be rat poisen in IAMS!!!!!!!!!!!! I feel horriable for the dogs that were killed=[[[
my friends’ 8-year old Airdale developed kidney failure around Christmas time and died right after the Super Bowl in Ferbruary. she hadnt been eating well so her parents were giving her wet food to get her to eat. she would only eat a little of it…
now this comes out and i am thinking that Lill might have eaten some of this food!! i am crying just thinking about it, as they spent all kinds of money trying tofix it and she only got worse, probably cs of the food!!
so glad we feed Canidae dry.
Louie was sick back first part of February and we could not find the cause of him heaving and heaving..plus he would fall sideways and then get up again…took him to the Vet’s twice and they could find nothing wrong…but I recall buying some of that Mighty Dog stuff from a pouch to mix with his kibble…and usually I don’t give him any wet…but just this once I saw this cute package of Mighty dog and bought it. I don’t remember when I gave it to him..I know it wasn’t the day he got sick…but could have been a few days before…so I don’t know if this caused him these symptoms or what…but it could have been. I guess we will never know for sure. He is fine and has recovered from that bout he had. But you can be rest assured, he will never get anymore wet food. Right now we have him on EaglePack Holistic dry kibble. He seems to love it!
and it seems alot of things come from China…we had SARS in Canada..which hurt the tourism in Toronto area. then you have the avian (bird) flu from China…and now this! It’s like the husband says…when you contract things out…you go for the lowest bid…and that is what they did.
Louie’s mom,
Debbi
This is a nightmare. Yesterday when I read that it was rat poison I just started to cry. I see everyone trying to find something safe to feed their animals and so many “Natural” foods being processed by Menu foods. Who would ever know that this evil empire had its fingers in so many different brands!!!!!
I want to remind everyone that 5 years ago when the animals rights activists were boycotting Iams, that it was Menu foods that was doing all of the experiments on animals. I just think that it is obvious that this company has always been more interested with the bottom line and not with the health and wellbeing of animals. I hope that we can put our energies into making changes in the pet food industry and start to support companies that are morally conscience. I understand that some people cannot afford to feed expensive foods and I do not believe that these people should have to suffer the horrible death of their animals as a result. Regardless, if their animals die from rat poisoning or from diabeties from poor nutrition.
Personally, I cook for my girls, I have been warned of the ills and dangers. I have been told that they are not getting “complete and balanced nutrition.”. I am willing to take that chance because I know what they are eating. I trust that fresh foods are better than processed foods for myself and my little girls.
God bless those who have suffered, human and non-human. I pray that the pet food industry changes and works for healthy animals and not the bottom line.
This makes me so angry. I read yesterday that Menu knew about this in February but kept it a secret. Look how many have died because of their lies and greed. Why am I not surprised that it would come from rat poisoning in wheat from China. Chaina hates cats and dogs and they kill most of them. Without cats and dogs the rodent population grows. I was hoping they would get the plague. But we fund out thaey use a rat poison that is banned in the United States and it is in their grain and coming here to kill our pets. Why buy wheat in China, the US has plenty of wheat? Canada clubs baby seals, why do any animal business with them. My 4 cats eat Friskies and it is not on the list. My doctor wanted 1 of my cats on Hill’s Prescription cd. But all 4 hated it and refused to eat it and refused to eat the wet or dry. I got a free bag Goodlife Recipe and they love it. Be careful if you are using a non national company. It may not be on the list but small companies don’t have the volume and may be buying fom a supplier why is getting their supplies from China. Don’t eat at the Olympics that are going to be in China. I am not ever going to buy Chinese food anymore. I am so upset and sad about the poor animals who have died and suffered.
After reading all these comments, I am really worried. My cats have been on Hills Prescription Diet C/D (both wet and dry) for years. My vet put one cat on it because he was prone to uninary tract problems. Well, my 11 year old cat was diagnosed with acute kidney failure in July of last year and he died from it on Sept 1. It was advancing so quickly, he did not respond to and sub Q fluids or anything. Now I am wondering if the food was to blame? The vet said he was most likely born with bad kidneys….but now I don’t know and my other 2 cats still eat the C/D but have never shown any signs of illness. I don’t know what to do……
I can’t believe this! Never expected the outcome to be rat poison. I would like someone from Menu Foods to explain to me how exactly it even got in the building. I hope everyone affected brings a lawsuit against them and they won’t be able to continue doing business. They need to evaluate their employees and when they find out how it happened fee the guilty ones “a little of their own medicine!!” My heart aches for all of those companions invovled and their familes!
this is unexcusable the numbers they list on the news and the real number listed on pet connections.com are light yrs away from the truth
god bless all us pet owners. my trixiemae was sick the vet said her labs look ok, but her elecroylites were way out of wack turns out that this recall concerned me enough to make her a vet appt asap. good thing because she has a very bad case of phenomia .we do not know viral or baterial but we do know that we ran out of her canin rx dry dental and in an emergency case we fed her half a can of little friskies cat food and next mourning went right to get her dry food, then she became ill, thank god i brought her to vets,her is the current # s of animals
Update 3/24: More than 1,3oo pets have been reported as deceased to our PetConnection database.
Get the recall list
This is beyond disgusting. When Diamond Foods had the recall a few years ago, they stepped right up and admitted it right away. They put in full time Veterinarians to speak to pet owners. Their company was devastated – they were a family owned business and huge pet lovers. They updated their website daily.
Menu Foods has the most limited information possible on their website. Rumor has it that they knew as far back as DECEMBER that animals were dying or sick eating their foods. They kept quiet and how many more innocent animals became sick or died? Their press conference was colder than ice. AND they kept the two plants still going on full operation even after this was made public!
So who knows what is still out on the shelves or will be coming out?
We buy Sophisticat for the Feral Cats sometimes. We had bought some of the recalled cans a few weeks ago. The strange thing is – I didn’t like the smell. They refused to touch any of it. The racoons eat the leftovers at night – they left this food too! But they attacked the cans of Friskies.
At this point – all the cans we have left whether on the list or not – will be returned.
We sincerly hope that when this is over – Menu Foods will be bankrupt and unable to come back. They are lower than low.
We are checking all our foods with the manufacturers to see who makes them, and we will never let Menu Foods back on our shelves.
Another interesting thing we realised is no pet food labels show the manufacturer. They only show the company who sells it. That is something that should be changed!
Does anyone know anything about newmans own pet foods.
I checked their website and they claim to add no wheat at all. Also we can get it at the grocery store here (although it’s very expensive there)
My heart goes out to anyone who has lost a pet. This is so scary. We do the best we can for our pets to keep them healthy and safe, and then find out they have been poisoned by something we thought was good for them. I have just heard about a pet food called Life’s Abundance. Has anyone had any experience with it or know anything about it?
My heart goes out to everyone who has lost a loved one. I know I would just want to die if anything happened to my Scotia. She is the love of my life.
Try using Eagle Pack Foods. Thats what I feed My Girl. It is Holistic /Natural. I have had her on the dry since she was born. I have tried a lot of the recalls in the past to give her a variety. Stupid me. I had some of that Ultra. I mix a half can in her dry. Never again only Eagle Pack dry and canned.!
I am in UK and I think we are alright at the moment here. But it breaks my heart to think of all those dogs and cats dying because of negligence in the food company. I have two dogs, Max and Ben and I feed them vegetables with Webbox, which may not be available in USA so not mentioned but I still worry
I hate the thought that our huge pet industry is putting money in the pockets of China. China, being a country that has recently taken up the policy of bludgeoning their own citizens’ dogs, sometimes ripped right out of their arms and performed right in front of them! All for the sake of “cutting down on the rabies potential”. No dog is spared, not even the vaccinated ones! And we buy wheat gluten from this country, when we have millions of acres of it right here?! This infuriates me! I will never purchase a pet or veterinary product that has any connection to China again!
I read somewhere today that Newman’s is also made by Menu foods. Best bet is to e-mail the company directly.
This whole situation makes me so angry. When they first thought it was in the gluten in the gravy of the wet and packs of food and they said dry was OK. But now that it is the rat poisoning in the wheat and wheat is used to make dry food, I think a warning should be out to not use any dry food from those companies. If my cats were not eating Friskies whch Purina said is OK and they use there own Plant and not Menu Foods, I would also stop using any dry foods or any foods from those companies. Who knows if they don’t put wheat in as a filler in canned foods. And as far as small companies, I would be very weary of and not use their pet food because they may tell their customers that they are not using wheat from China, but they may not not the sources of the supplys that their supplier uses. All of my cats eat the canned Friskies special diet for urinary tract because my one cat had a problem a year ago and refused to eat the Hills prescription cd dry or wet that the vet said he had to go on. I had to throw away 4 cans because none of my 4 cats would touch it. And I have a full bag they won’t eat. If there is any change in the status of Friskies, I might just cook chicken and give tuna until this problem is gone. I hate China, because of the way they treat cats and dogs. And I am mad that Menu in Canada the killer of Baby Seals is making so much money from US Manufacturers. We have plenty of wheat in the US. Any pet owners in Canada should be suspicious if another Canadian Company says they don’t buy from China. Do they grow wheat in Canada? They are not going to buy from the US because it would be too expensive or Menu would have bought from them. It is killing me that they knew about this so long before it became know. My heart breaks for all the animals and their owners.
The recall list was updated as of yesterday.
Please check it carefully.
Recall now includes ALL Cuts and Gravy and Additional Cans have been added.
http://www.menufoods.com:80/recall/
What can we do about the recent dog food poisoning? If this was people’s children dying, I think there would be a bigger uproar about it. There has to be something we can do to change the laws that govern pet food, isn’t there? Does anyone have any ideas? Today it is this company, what happens if it shows up elsewhere. We have to stop this from ever happening again, but how?
I would just like to know if it is fair now to talk-down on Iams, Eukanuba, and other related brands? Most of the time, people want to be politically correct and not say negative things about a company or manufacturer who produces terrible kibble, simply because someone else may feed it and think it is the best for their dog. Is it not fair now to bash these companies who care not to make their own products, but send away to another overhead company, not knowing where the ingredients are coming from, maybe not even what goes in to the food, such as rat poison of all things!!
I am sure that now most everyone in America and beyond has heard this, and will use their own common sense to not only boycott any company which uses Menu Foods, but to do their own research in to manufacturers who actually care enough to make their own kibbles and products, and then feed those to their beloved dogs.
We all love our dogs, right? So let’s take a stand against such brands as Iams and Eukanuba, and let them know we are not happy with their process of producing essential canine nutrition.
I would hate to think about how many of my colleagues in conformation and professional breeding use Eukanuba, the number one sponser of AKC events. Sure, it may now be only wet food, but there is always that “what if” factor to think about.
Dare I say to the critics of those who denounce such brands, told you so. Nobody could have predicted this catastrophe, outside of the company at least, but those of us who reserach fervently in to kibble and manufacturers, and see the negative ingredients in the food, as well as the terrible histories of some companies, know that something like this or totally different/worse was eventually going to happen.
When you as a company do not care enough to produce your own product, and leave it to someone else to take care of, how do you earn the respect and business of pet parents anywhere??
I feed my 2 yr. old Chocolate Goldendoodle Dog Chow. She eats only dry food, but I’m still concerned that the poison is also in the dry food. Does anyone know if the aweful poison has been found anywhere in Dog Chow, wet or dry food? My prayers go out to all the families that have lost their pets. Take care!
Our mom is worried enough by the recall that she is cooking our food. It’s a pain but worth it if we’re all OK. Check online and with your vet for pet safe food recipes, there are a lot of human foods that are dangerous to dogs. with proper research and knowing what you can feed your dog, it can be a very safe alternative. If you know what to feed, it costs no more than a good brand of food, just takes a little more time. Our sincere condolences to anyone with furkids hurt by the recalled food.
I have a hard time believing that even though Innova’s canned products are processed by menu food that they’d actually allow the quality to be comprimised. As far as I know they only make pet food right? Big commercial companies like Iams and other brands affected by the recall seem to pretty much have a company to fall back on. All are fairly easy to come by and inexpensive. Innova on the other hand is not so easily gotten or cheap. With no big parent company to fall back on a recall involving them resulting in tons of settlements for owners of affected animals, they would probably go belly up. With so much at stake they cannot afford to be negligent on quality. They get their ingredients within the states which means better quality control less chances of unwanted chemicals. So companies actually check the ingredients for toxins either before using them or test a sample of every batch for quality control. They should be asked how often their foods/ingredients are tested for quality that are processed by menu foods and what they are doing to prevent such a fiasco from happening to them. Maybe they provide the ingredients to menu. We can’t condemn them without knowing all the facts about their relationship with menu and how their products are handled. Since innova costs alot more it is highly likely that in addition to using good ingredients that they are paying for better quality control. Also it should be found out if the evo line is processed by menu too. Remember they say these foods are processed by menu they are manufactured by the individual companies and must suit each companies standard. The companies control what menu uses in their foods. Yes menu procrastinated in the recalls but I bet you the individual companies contributed to the delay. Remember when you call the numbers on the cans they lead to the brands not menu foods so the companies would be the ones getting the complaints not menu. They are just as guilty as menu is.
BTW I only use innova evo dry right now cause our pet store hasn’t gotten evo cans in yet. So for now I’m feeding canidae platnum canned. Unfortunately canidae do not have very much variety. All I can get are lamb and rice and the platnum which is chicken, lamb, and fish. Lamb and rice do not agree with my dogs tummy so it kind of narrows it down. Luckily she could use to lose a couple pounds. Surprisingly the canidae costs me less at $1.75 per can. It is something I’d like to stay with but need more variety sometimes. I also will feed my dog raw instead of canned. It is just when I don’t have something ready for her or am stayings at a friends that I give canned. So ususlly she’ll get canned approx 2 times a week instead of her regular raw chicken. It tends to vary with me. I only buy 3-4 cans at a time and give half the can a day at night in addition to 1 cup of evo in the morning. So it goes to show how fast I tend to go through them. I feel fairly comfortable feeding from companies that have lots to lose from one screw up. They saw what happened to diamond and wouldn’t want it to happen to themselves. Diamond is stillfighting to recover but their former loyal customers just don’t trust them anymore.
Also any of you that have sicken dogs or cats that survived, DO NOT accept a settlement to reemburse your vet bills and make you agree to things like not suing and “keeping your mouth shut” clauses. Get the money that will cost all costs past, present, and future for care as a result of the food. DO NOT agree not to sue later for more if the bills go higher than expected or complications arrise later in life as a result of the poisoning.
If you have lost a pet as a result of the poisoned food please sue the company for the total cost of care, cremation, and research how much it would cost to get another dog or cat like the one you had, remember to include the cost of fixing, shots, and training. If your animal was a mix pick a rescue and go with the one that charges the most for mixed breed puppies or kittens and bring the documentation to court to prove the cost of another animal. I know the money doesn’t matter cause it won’t bring them bac but the idea is not to reemburse you to replace you pet but to hurt them as much as you all can financially. Sure the judge will choose what costs are relavent and award you with what is fair. Also there is the possibility to add in emotional distress damages in some places if you have it documented by a dr. In emotional disress you could include lost wages as a result of the distress. As I said the idea is not replacement of to reemburse you for you pet it is to hurt the companies. If you feel bad about accepting the money then still go after it, pay your legal fees and vet bills (or credit cards used to pay for those bills), and donate the rest to various rescue groups in memory of your pet. I’m sure they’d be more than greatful for such a donation and you’d be helping to save innocent lives.
TO CINDY(ROXY’S MOM)
tHANKS FOR THE HEADS UP…. I think it’s time to make the switch to total raw…..
My heart goes out to everyone who lost their precious fur babies because of this travesty.
I honestly don’t believe that all pet food manufacturers put as much care into their products as they should because they are thinking profit and don’t really care about the four-legged end consumer. We feed our baby Purina Pro Plan and fortunately it didn’t make the list; plus the bag we had during this terrible incident was purchased long before this happened. Still, I know what it’s like to worry over your fur baby just like she’s one of the kids, because Britta got very sick and the vet couldn’t figure out what was wrong until he opened her up and found something she swallowed blocking her intestine. She’s okay now, but still it scared me to death.
I agree that anyone and everyone who lost a pet due to this unforgivable negligence should sue the pants off the food manufacturers!!! It won’t bring their babies back but it may wake people up that need it!!!!
Rat Poison in Pet Food. Menu Foods is located in Streetsville, near Toronto, Ontario Canada and is Owned by Proctor &Gamble. I would suggest that anyone who had a sick pet join the class action lawsuit launched in the USA.
I for one want to know why Menu Foods imported Wheat Glutten from China……Canada is the Wheat Capitol of the World. This is just another instance of both Governments in collusion with other countries to line their own pockets with money and to hell with the average Joe Citizen and his family! Get on the your politicians and fry their butts….the only thing they listen to or care about. Proctor&Gamble….how about a boycott of all their Products?
I think the FDA should regulate Pet Food! Alot of humans consume it. Has anyone checked into if any people have become mysteriously ill?
Hi i feel so sorry about all the people that lost there animals because of that dog food thing.but who ever did that will regreat it.Thats how he or she will get there peace of it.I put my dog in human food intel everything settals down.
We lost our 4 1/2 year old labrador retriever on the evening of March 16, to kidney failure and pnuemonia. The night before learning of the recall. We had purchased cans of Ol Roy, Pedigree, and Alpo while on a trip. She sometimes went off of her dry food when we traveled so we thought we’d spruce it up for her with some canned food. We were so bewildered (our vet included) about how she got so sick so fast……..after reading about the recall it was quite obvious that the Ol Roy we fed her was responsible. There was no other reasonable explanation.
We miss our Sally Gal so much. She was our lovable companion since she was 7 weeks old.
We have contacted Menu Foods but are still waiting for a call back.
Mom is switching us (and the cats) to Natural Balance. They make their own stuff (wet AND dry) in house and have NO association with Menu foods.
Mom is boycotting Innova, since they make their wet food at Menu foods plants.
Humans should get their priorities straight. Everyone is only after the almighty dollar these days, looking out for number one. If this had happened to humans, the problem would have been resolved a long long time ago. In fact, it probably would have been avoided. We feel everything humans do, and we have souls, personalities, and feelings. We are family.
Vote with your pocketbook, People. If you are really outraged write a letter to Menu Foods CEO Paul Henderson demanding his resignation.
Menu Foods Income Fund
8 Falconer Drive
Streetsville, ON
Canada L5N 1B1
I need help, my cat died 1 day before Christmas due to renal failure at 4 years old. Now my pomeranian is ill and the vet has charged us $1000.00 so far in tests and still says she doesn’ t know what it is. He is very ill, has been on fluids, and antibiotics, blood tests have been sent everywhere. I am not sure what to do for him and he ate the recalled food but I can not get her to say that is the issue. Any suggestions anyone? Thanks, Jane and Snoopy.
I had one of my show dogs die February 1, 2006. I had a nacropsy done and she died of stomache torsion, however, I’m wondering that some of the signs said vomitting. I know that stomache tortion sometimes happens when a dog is trying to vomit. I had been feeding her several of they types of canned food, to get her extra nutrition as she had puppies. I KNOW that this is what killed her, forget the class action law suit, only the attorneys get their money… each individuation needs to send their vet bills into Menu Foods and they need to pay for their part of killing our pets, show dogs. I had to have 11 dogs tested (as they’ve all eaten these canned foods) that’s $400.00 not including pain and suffering. I also have another show dog that has the vets are not sure if her levels because of the bad dog food, or diabetes, more tests need to be ran on her. These dogs are not only show dogs, they are my kids. I’m submitting my vet bills directly to the company. They need to stand up and be accountable! My prayers are with everyone who has lost a pet or has to deal w/the on going effects of this. I know that the numbers of dogs and cats that have died has to be higher… they’ve lied to us before, they’re probably lying to us now. I also read somewhere KUTV that Purina Mighty Dog Cans were being recalled. I quit feeding all canned food. I hope that my dry food is ok.
I can’t believe where I live that all of this canned food is still on the shelves at Wal*Mart and Tractor Supply. When I asked them about it, they said, that these were new shipments, and not the product lables/numbers that were recalled. At least Krogers, had shut down several of their stores so that none of the recalled brands would be scanned to help out their customers… what the hell is Menu Foods doing??? Nothing, they won’t even answer their phones. I’m sending in my bills, if we all do this, it might get through to these freakin’ idiots….
Land of Bellehound
Home of International Champion
Basenjis & Thai Ridgebacks
http://www.bellehound.com
I’m so sick over all of this…. they killed my beloved compaion. They need to PAY!
I too feel sorry for the ones who lost there pets because of this terrible thing. I am just glad we feed our dog dry food. We don’t bother with wet food. Dry food is better for a dog than wet or canned food. But again to all who lost there best friend my heart goes out to you.
WE beleive that this is only the begining to problems that wiil occur in the pet industry. As owners, we have put our trust in these companies. They have cut corners, using contaminated ingredients, poor processing procedures and non-caring attitudes towards our pets. As stated in other posts, we need to hit them in the pocketbook. Boycott,
and keep telling the story to everyone you know.
The hardest day of pet ownership…..the last.
-rescueman
I have fed my cats Blue Buffalo since last year. They have control over their processes and do not outsource. They do not have anything artificial…its all natual…unlike Nutro who claims to be all natural…yet ended up in the recall.
check out http://www.bluebuff.com
We are all FHV kittys and our mom used “Special Kitty” to mix our L-lysine in. She would split a packet between the 4 of us each morning and evening. She said that she was lucky that we did not get any of the “tainted” food. What she does not understand is how a manufacturer of pet food would allow it “consumers” to fall ill and die a month after they knew there was a problem with the food. Menu said it was because the animals had access to the outside and their deaths could have been from an outside sourse. Then they fed it to 40-50 animals as “test subjects” all along more pets were allowed to eat the food and fall ill or die. Talk about bitting the hand that feeds you! Mom wonders if pricing for Walmart had anything to do with the new supplier of gluten/wheat. Because if they would have had to cut cost to meet the Walmart contract price China was probably the cheaper supplier for gluten/wheat .
Menu definatly needs to compensate all who were effected. It seems they were more worried about their companies bottom line then their consumers health and well being.
Our sympathy goes out to the pet parents who lost their beloved pets.
I am not a regular to your site but I have been searching all over the internet looking for info. on this horrible dog food recall…I have found a pet store that has pulled items based on association with Menu Foods… they have their list posted on their site and it is what we have gone by.
http://www.petfoodexpress.com/petfood/default.asp?pageid=78&Section=About
I see that someone asked about Peidgree so I thought I would comment.
We did NOT have any sick animals in our home (I have two dogs and 5 cats…along with a herd of feral cats that I feed) but I do believe that our Special Kitty CANNED food has some problems as my cats just suddenly stopped eating it days before the recall notice. We had too close of a call and since then I have been feeding them Mars brand kibble and homemade “wet” foods. We will never eat Menu Foods again.
Thanks!
i can’t help but wonder how many other times this might have happened and it wasn’t widespread enough to get in the news like this. my old dog cotton died of what was diagnosed as a digestive disorder. she had been eating ol’ roy. supposed it has happened to some degree before and only affected old dogs or those with pre-existing health problems? thank goodness that savvy is not a hoover like most labs. picky little girl will only eat dry food. so sorry for all of those whose pets were affected!
I have looked, but am unable to find any information about Royal Canin, in particular Mini Poodle 30. Does anyone know anything about it, good or bad? I read Cesar is alright for wet food ~ is that correct?
Sorry for coming on to this site brand new and just asking questions and not offering anything, except that I am tremedously saddened by all your furbabies who have been ill and who have passed away. This is an absolue disgrace, and if was happening to people you could be sure there would be action taken a lot faster and more thoroughly.
My friend bought her Maltese one Mighty Dog pouch on a whim (he doesn’t normally eat the affected brands)… now she has $700 in vet bills that she’s determined to make the company pay for. Luckily, the poor guy survived the ordeal, which is more than I can say for so many others…
This disgusts me.
Thought you might find this quite interesting.
Menu Foods is on the Board of Directors of the Pet Food Institute in Washington, DC.
http://www.petfoodinstitute.org
What they are:
“Since 1958, the Pet Food Institute has been the voice of U.S. pet food manufacturers. PFI is the industry’s public education and media relations resource, representative before the U.S. Congress and state and federal agencies, organizer of seminars and educational programs, and liaison with other organizations. PFI represents the manufacturers of 97 percent of all dog and cat food produced in the United States.
PFI is dedicated to:
Promoting the overall care and well-being of pets.
Supporting initiatives to advance the quality of dog and cat food.
Supporting research in pet nutrition and the important role of pets in our society.
Informing and educating the public on pet proper feeding and pet care.
Representing the pet food industry before Federal and State governments.”
My sincere condolences to all of you who have lost beloved pets. We simply cannot be too vigilant. If you haven’t heard about it, check out this web site for the gross things that are routinely put in food for our beloved pets. Warning: not intended for children or those with weak stomachs!
http://www.preciouspets.org/rendering.htm
my dog eats purina alpo is that safe for my dog? thanks
ps no dry food so much one a month is that good
Lizzzie
As far as I know, the only recall of Royal Canin food involved too much Vitamin D and that food has long since been pulled off shelves.
In general, the best way to find out what is currently being recalled by Menu is to follow the above link to their site.
This whole situation absolutely disgusts me. If it were children, the response would be completely different I think…or I hope at least. My hearts aches for everyone affected, canine, feline or human. I will add that I feed my dog Purina food and upon searching found that with the exception of Mighty Dog 5.3 dog pouches, all Purina foods (cat and dog) are not associated with Menu Foods and are safe for eating. Again, the exception is Purina Mighty Dog 5.3 dog pouches. They explain it all on their website:
Our Roy Boy, a healthy, strong, and lovingly loyal Black Lab died January 18, 2007. We fed our cat, Oso, “Special Kitty” pouch food, however, she left it in her bowl, and Roy Boy, seeing Oso walk away refusing the food, ran over and devoured the cat food. Suddenly two days after Christmas Roy Boy started not eating, was listless, etc. We took him to our vet who ran thorough blood test, ex-rayed Roy Boy from head to toe, and again conduct blood test.
Our vet determined Roy Boy was ill with kidney failure, however, he could not come to a dianosis considering the sudden onset. Roy Boy was on IVs for ten consecutive days. Our vet even tested him for the common poisons, including anti-freeze, in the event someone threw something tainted over our fence with negative results. Our vet was stumped and mystified. We brought Roy Boy home last afternoon of January 17, and we gently brushed him and soothed him just to keep contact and make him comfortable. He died seven hours later at 12:50 a.m.
Please be aware and/or let your furry friends parents know if they were unfortunate enough to have this horrible situation occur and have already buried/cremated their loyal friend, that hair/fur from their pet’s brush, comb (even under the sofa, bed, etc) can be saved in a paper bag for possible future testing.
Also, a vet who writes a column has a site petconnection.com where a survey can be filled out as to whether your furry freind has been ill (and recovered), or is deceased, etc., which does not take long to complete. I also stated in that survey about saving Roy
We are so upset about the current situation with the recall and all of the sick and dying dogs and cats. We are thouroughly disgusted with the corporation behind all of this. If the rumors are true about the CEO of the Menu Foods Company then we hope he is brought under criminal investigation and charged for what has happened. Corporations are greedy and are only concerned about the bottom dollar. They couldn’t care less about proving healthy and safe food for our animals, only lining their pockets and gutting the public. Our hearts are with all of the families suffering because of neglegance and greed.
Please sign this petition to boycott Menu Foods:
http://www.petitiononline.com/MenuFood/petition.html
My 6 year old Rot died suddenly a couple of weeks ago, he was very healthy, is there a list of the brand names the tainted food was sold under???
It is all about the money! A recall of products would cost millions. Why not purchase wheat from US farmers? It is all about corporate profits!
Processing and chemical preservatives alter the nutrients of the food, but give it a longer shelf life. All about the profits!
Hit them where it hurts, stop buying their products.
I have started looking at All Natural, Healthy and Organic Foods, but it is all so confusing.
Best of Luck.
This is from Flint River Ranch site. An alternative food source for cats and dogs.
This is perhaps ingredients we have been feeding our beloved friends. Read it and weap.
http://www.flint-river-ranch.info/articles.htm
Sirneil,
Check the previous posts for links directly to the Menu listing.
I had my cat for 12years she was born inside a boat and my bother-in-law got me her..and his son got to name her,
sassy from the movie “homeward bound”.. well I started feeding her the special kitty food from walmart back in
8-2006 till March 17th 2007..I had put her down on St.patti’sday. and that was the hards thing I ever had to do..
The day after is when the had it on the News about the food.I was even more upset and piss off because they knew it a month ago and I could of maybe still have sassy today..She was my babygirl.We also have a sherpei and he loved her so much that he is looking for her still today..
Sirneil:
Go to Menu Foods on the Internet. There you will find the name brands, dates, etc., which Menu Foods produced which have been determined to be contaminated.
***CLASS ACTION LAWSUITS
The law offices of Bonnet, Fairborn, Friedman, and Balint in Phoenix, AZ 85012, are contacting people in different states who have pets that have been affected by the contaminated pet food recall. This law office is gathering information in each in order to file Class Action law suits, and in doing so they have to have residents within a state in order to file. I reside in California and have agreed to be the State Representative in order for filing to be made.
If you and/or any one you know who has had dogs/cats either ill with kidney disorder, or ill with kidney disorder and died, please be aware of the following contact information which is applicable to anyone in any state.
Bonnet,Fairborn, Friedman, and Balint
2901 N. Central Avenue, Ste #1000
Phoenix, AZ, 85012
Toll Free: (602) 1-800-847-9094
Direct Line: (602) 776-5965
Fax: (602) 274-1199 As for Connie who is conducting all the in-take information.
Thank you, I am doing this in memory of our Roy Boy who was a victim of this outrages occurence who we miss terribly.
I know someone that feeds her dog with nothing but Innova wet and dry food . Her mini pinscher was puking blood yesterday and is now at the vet. She also has a doberman pinscher. She has shown no signs yet. My Mom also feeds her dogs Innova. They are over 80 lbs. and have not shown any signs of being affected, but she is not going to be feeding them innova for the time being.
So, keep this in mind if you think that INNOVA is OK to give your pets!
Was Nutro Ultra on the list? I hope not…
NUTRO WAS ON LIST. my cats ate plenty–blood in stool in one cat and drinking and urinating a lot. Other cat drinking so much water.
Very mad and disgusted with just one company menu foods damaging and killing so many of our beloved beings.
evelyn
First, I work in a vet hospital and have worked w/animals for years…Evelyn Robinson…get your cats to the vet..have them run bun,creat,phosphorus panel for your cats or you might lose them. Stay away from any and all wet foods for now, home cook something, feed them babyfood. Many of us feel this goes way past Wheat Gluten and into something much more personal. Rat poison should be nowhere near or on any products manufactured for edible purposes. This could easily be the evil works of a person or persons working in this environment! What a mess.
To all: stay away from all wet foods for a few months, your animals will eat something else before they starve:-)
My beloved dog Hunter died Friday the 23d and he did eat some of the brands mentioned. He was 12 1/2 though so it’s hard to know, but I am deeply saddened that something like this may have hastened his death.
I’m not buying anything made by Menu Foods even if they say their stuff is okay again. This is horrible. They say they don’t make any dry food which is good. But I still feel leery with everything now. I’ve been feeding Science Diet Mature dry food and other types of Purina, Meow Mix, etc. I have a bag of Iams I haven’t opened but they said they only used the Menu Foods for the canned. I’ve been using Fancy Feast cans and some of the Meow Mix canned which seems okay but they aren’t made by Menu. Neither is Whiskas.
Dear Chelsea:
The day I heard about the recall I took the food back, went with only Purina products for cats. Now I give them human chicken, human tuna, human chicken soup and some dry foods, not associated with menu foods. I am so grateful for their quick recovery, for they were two of the lucky cats.
Hard to find any dry foods not associated with menu products. Hills who makes Science diet was on the menu recall list. Glad I read this list of horror stories. I was just about the buy some more bad stuff before reading. All of you have contributed to inform me so I could have my cats still with me.
Does avoderm have any menu foods in it? They love that, along with their tuna, chicken, proplan (made by purina) dry, and royal canin.
Again, I am very grateful for all the contributors who tell me about the companies who do not use menu products I will not knowingly purchase Evelyn
Why were we here in the US buying wheat from China? We owe China a lot of money for the “War Against Terrorism” in Iraq. In return we have agreed to let them flood the market with their goods. This is a direct result of allowing an unregulated country to sell to a regulated company. This is also a constant headache for Outside food sources who use pesticides and poisons that are not allowed in the US, EU, Canada and other countries. By expecting cheap pet foods and encouraging cost cutting you are encouraging companies to buy from companies that take short cuts and do not test appropriately. This is a trade issue, and I hope any lawyers reading this will see it this way. It is not a “pet issue” it is a regulation issue. I also hope any vetrenarian people reading these posts will be keeping tabs on the statistics. From what I have been seeing on the web there are at least thousands of animals who have mysteriously come down with kidney failure since Jan or Dec. There might be a hundred times that. Remember, this could also happen to the human food chain.
I am deeply hurt with the fact that the one and only time I fed, “Elmo” my 12 year old yellow lab, canned food killed him.
I had been running low on his normal feed, which was blue seal dry food, and in order to get through the next couple of days until I could get a new bag, I went to my local Stop & Shop and purchased (2) cans of the “sliced beef in gravy” companion dog food for .99 cents each. Within 40 days, I had to put Elmo down…….on Feb. 20th.
He was a wonderful dog, he had a great personality, and he will be missed dearly………..
All dogs go to heaven…………love you, Dad
I know Elmo and our Roy Boy, as well as all the other beloved companions who have succumbed are together!
Update on Avoderm–by Breeder’s Choice–3 oz wet cans are made by Menu foods. Still trying to boycott Menu Foods products but it is very difficult to know who is contracting out. The 5 oz. Avoderm are not made by Menu Foods–per customer service at Breeder’s choice.
Evelyn
Someone mentioned earlier that this could happen to human food. A couple days ago I noticed that a large section of flavorings and sauces dissapperared from the local food store. some of these were national brands. The shelves were filled with store brands made in Mexico. There was no explanation of why the sudden change. I think it possible the the removed products may have contained wheat products as flavor enhancers and thickners. I can’t prove anything. Maybe I am just a suspicious distrusting person.
I just saw a thread on the forum with a link to a video announcement from natura regarding menu foods.
http://www.naturapetcare.com/
They explain better what their relationship with menu is. They also meantion that they are planning in the future to buy or create a canning plant for their use. Therefore staying loyal to them will help them complete this goal. Their kibbles and treats are manufactured in their own plants. They just don’t have a canning facility and menu is the only one. They are now sending people from natura to the menu plant in SD where the natura canned products are processed to monitor quality. They say where they get their ingredients. This statement makes me confident that they are doing everything possible to keep their products safe. I support what they are trying to do and I will continue to buy their products. My dog is doing very well on their kibble, I wouldn’t dream of changing it. Why boycott something if they are working on changing it already?
Fears over the recalled pet foods are justified and anyone in posession of the recalled foods should either throw it away or return it for a refund. Look at http://www.menufoods.com/recall for a complete list of recalled foods. Seek veterinary care if your pet is showing signs such as increased drinking or urination, inappetance, vomiting, diarrhea, etc.
That being said, only 1% of the foods on the shelves has been recalled and not all of the recalled food is contaminated. The remainder of the pet food supply has not shown any signs of contamination and is safe for your pet to eat. The FDA is investigating with vigor and will hopefully get to the bottom of the contamination and implement strategies to prevent it from ever happening again.
Dr. Dan, DVM
Washington, DC
PLEASE! Stay away from Hills Prescription Diet (Even Dry Food)!
Our indoor only cat was on a mix of dry Hills Prescription Diet W/D and dry Hills Prescription Diet M/D. He also had “dry” treats from Walmart- Pounce Cat Treats.
Since he was strictly an indoor cat, we feel pretty sure it had to come from the Hills or the Pounce treats, since there isn’t an alternative source of poisoning around our home.
He passed away on 3/16 after a short period of illness exhibiting what we now know to be the symptoms of ARF. Unfortunately we didn’t know about the recall, the symptoms, or anything, and just thought he had a stomach bug.
We have reported it to the FDA (Colorado), and they took a report, but did not offer to perform any testing.
Janice, have you received any results from the FDA testing of your Hills Prescription Diet dry food? While nothing can be done for Taeki now, maybe another cat or dog can be saved if we can acertain if dry food has also been contaminated.
I think the only safe thing is to stay away from ALL manufactured pet food until we know what is going on. And even then, do some research into what goes into the pet food. It is unbelievable; not something you would want to feed a family member.
Everyone,
Please look into the facts and contact the right people if you have concerns. Menu foods aren’t necessarily the right people to contact, either. They are CONTRACTED by the particular pet food companies to make and package certain products based on their specific recipes (i.e., Nutro, Hills, Ol’Roy AREN’T the same food packaged differently). Contact the pet food companies directly, particularly Iams and Eukanuba. Their customer service is working overtime to address EVERY call.
Go to Iams, Hills, Nutro, etc., web sites and call their 800 numbers if you want real help.
And FYI: Iams and Eukanuba doesn’t contract any of their dry foods to be made elsewhere.
To
Dr. Dan, DVM
My fervent wish is to know the whole truth of the poisoning of my two cats–was it just rat poisoning or in combination with other ingredients
that were harmful.
Just 1% of the food on the shelves still sickened and killed pets all over the U.S. and possibly Canada–and broke the hearts of so many pet owners.
My cats are still in the recovery phase.
Found this startling info in an advisory to vets regarding the food recall:
The FDA has provided the following case definition for field investigation/cases:
veterinary documented renal failure,
necropsy results if animal died,
food consumed within 1 week of death (illness),
and intact, unopened cans of the food.
If veterinarians suspect that a case meets this general case definition, FDA has requested that you contact them at the following e-mail
Address: emergency.operations@fda.hhs.gov
Ok, does this finally explain the discrepancy in the reported number of deaths? I think it does.
Our bulldog Winston fell ill because of the last one or two cans that he ate. Garbage was picked up on Monday, he was hospitalized on Tuesday, and I was totally out of the food. So, using the FDA guidelines for reporting, his illness couldn’t be reported because even though his vet believes he was affected by it, he had all the symptoms, and had eaten the food within the required timeframe, we had no open packaging, and no sealed cans…
Can you believe it????????????
And, taking a page from Menu Foods by announcing critical info on a Friday so the news would be buried, the FDA announced today:
The Food and Drug Administration said it found melamine in samples of the Menu Foods pet food, as well as in wheat gluten used as an ingredient in the wet-style products. The FDA was working to rule out the possibility that the contaminated wheat gluten could have made it into any human food, but was not aware of any risk to people.
But, the most shocking part of the FDA announcement was this:
In a news conference, FDA officials said that the apparently melamine-contaminated wheat gluten also was shipped to a company that manufactures dry pet food, but they would not name the company.
Would not name the company??????????
Government Bureaucracy protecting big business yet again…
I’ve heard that now the PETA is urging testing of Menu Foods’ dry dog food. I’m feeding my dog Iams dry puppy food, and am nervous I should switch. What are some quality dry foods not associated with Menu Foods?Thanks!
Last Thursday My little girl Missy was taken to the vet hospital where she was diganoised with ARF due to rat posion and they did not know how to treat it. She was eating the Special Kitty cat food from Walmart. I brought her home from the hospital on Monday of this past week she is a sick little girl but I know in my heart she is gonna get better not great but better. My other two cats Loco and RumTum Tiger were not affected but they ate the same food just less then Missy who ate everyones food. The more I here about this company the sicker I get. At first I though ok they didn’t do this on purpose but the more I read and hear the sicker I get My heart goes out to everyone who has lost there precious baby and to all the ones who are sick and still fighting for life. I PRAY with all my heart the this company will do the right thing and make a WRONG Right they can never give back my little Missy what they have taken from her. But I think that they should pay a pay dearley for all the hurt and harm that they did to our pets but also to us the pain a suffering I cried for 4 days straight and I still cry when I think about it as I watched my little girl go through so much. Again May God bless each and every one who has lost a pet and who is dealing with ARF I know that the right thing will be done.
God Bless
Alice@Missy
Sad in Arizona
I want to say Purnina foods is ok they are an independant company.
Our four-year-old cat has been on Hill’s Prescription t/d dry food for the last three years. It is an indoor cat with no environmental exposure that would predispose it to kidney disease. On March 1st. he fell seriously ill. The blood tests and ultrasound indicated kidney failure. He is responding to subcutaneous injections, but the damage we’re told is irreversible. At the time, we wondered that the food might be tainted, but the vet seemed to agree that was a long-shot and therefore the condition was probably congenital. It doesn’t seem such a long-shot now and I’ve found a number of people on the internet with sick animals also questioning the Prescription series of foods. I’ve contacted Hill’s and the FDA, but neither are interested in testing our remaining food at the current time. Please contact the FDA if you suspect that your Hill’s Prescription diets are affecting your cat’s health. Early signs in our cat were increased thurst and micturition (peeing). Then on March 1st. repeated vomitting.
What are the symptoms of this illness. My dog has
never had stool problems but since Christmas
maybe right before she has watery stools all the
time. I thoght it could be her age but taking her
back to vet next week. What should people look for with this poison?
Thanks,
If you are worried about your current dry food, please check out their web site online and call them. Their customer service reps should be able to tell you who makes their food.
With all the confusion that is going on I think that is is best to stay away from any product manufactured by Menu (now and forever), whether it be canned or dry…I have switched to Canidae, I am not taking any chances!!!
Please be VERY careful what faith you put in PETA’s comments today, there are TWO very separate issues going on and PETA is trying to make them seem as one.
The dry food issue related to Chromium is NOT part of the recall/posioning issue and is what PETA is trying to slip into the mix. Obviously chemicals in food is a big issue, but it is NOT the same as posionings and the kidney failure recall. Dont let them abuse your fears
Given all of this overwhelming information…Should we choose to feed our precious furbabies something other than the commercially available pet foods-
What can we feed them – home made, that would meet all of their nutritional requirements? Until we KNOW their food is safe?
My new mom has me on royal canin and it tastes great. Petsmart says that it is very safe, and is strickly made for my breed.
On tv and on radio–Hill’s m/d has found to be unsafe for cats and dogs in the dry variety
My cats love royal canin and proplan, both in the dry pkgs.
Evelyn
Oh no! I can only hope that this crazed, insane madness stops soon, and I mean soon. Please, please, PLEASE be extra careful when you feed your fur babies! We’ve all suffered far too many losses here. PLEASE BE CAREFUL!
so sad……..I pray for all the furbabies out there and wish them well.
OK I’m sorry but with all these issues I just don’t know what to feed my doggie bayley! If anything were to happen to her I would be so angry! My family has had a dog for 20 years and they fed him human food: rice and chicken and veggies.
I am seriously thinking about feeding bayley brown rice, veggies and chicken from now on since this seems to happen occassionally to whichever dog food at some point.
Anyone have any suggestions on a reliable dog food I can give bayley that is seriously all natural?
Thanks,
Le
I also wanted to tell others how outraged I am at the treatment of our pets! They are our friends and family. I’m sorry but to treat them like second class citizens is not only wrong, but inhumane!
Added to list of recall is Alpo cuts and gravy dog food made by Purina–am getting sicker and sicker every day about the recalls.
Felix, age 6, exclusively indoor cat, fed Hills science diet c/d and Purina One Urinary dry food. One half can of friskies special diet.
Became ill 3/19, kidney failure, iv fluid, meds, at vet 3 days, returned home for weekend for observation. Euthanized 3/23
financial cost exceeding $350
emotional cost: immeasurable.
Felix (the cat) didn’t know that he wasn’t a dog. He’d ride our border collie like a pony, sleep with the dogs in one lump. Never bit or scratched a human. Unlike a normal cat, you could turn him on his back and he would stretch his entire self out and get a belly rub and fall asleep while fully extended in your lap. He had the grace of an elephant. He’d be on the back of the couch, looking out the window to watch birds. He’d try to reach the bird through the window and somehow move his center of gravity and fall off the couch, or off the book case, or the counter. Lucky he never injured himself. We’d wake up many a night losing circulation and the feeling in our legs, only to realize it was the cat that had not moved in hours.
Felix was a tiny little kitten that showed up in our driveway.
Bob carried him from neighbor to neighbor looking for his home. One neighbor laughed and told him: No, that’s not my cat. It’s yours!!
We miss him terribly, knowing there will be no other like him.
i need to know if olroy kibble dry is safe to feed my dog.
I hope the cheap price of wheat was worth for Menu Food’s to purchase that trash wheat from China. I hope Menu Food gets sued into banckruptcy!
Any company in the US that manufactures food products is not legally allowed to use rat poison in the factory, as to avoid accidental contamination. So why are US companies legally allowed to get ingredients for food manufacturing from countries where the rat poison isn’t illegal to use in the factories? They might as well just have the rat poison in their own factories. Is it only because Menu is producing pet food and not people food? How do we really know for sure that companies that manufacture people food aren’t at some point getting the ingredients from the other countries with lax laws too?
And either way, it shouldn’t be deemed acceptable to put our pets’ lives at risk anyway. The same health safety standards should be used whether it is for animals or humans. Animals don’t deserve higher risk and lower quality. Maybe if legislators who are uncaring, will care more if they realize that the same inferior and unsafe ingredients are fed to the animals that they the legislators use in their own food consumption. Cattle for beef, milk, and cheese consumption, chickens for meat and egg consumption. If those animals eat animal feed with rat poison in it, don’t think that’s not being passed onto the human consumer. Maybe they’ll do something about it if they think their own precious well-being is a risk. Then maybe our beautiful fur babies can finally benefit by way of the legislators’ selfishness and desire for self preservation.
Mickey had several pouches of Mighty Dog that were from the tainted batches. I’ve had him to the Vet for blood work and urinalysis…so far he has exhibited excessive thirst and urination and keeping a vigil over him. I have since put him on a Veterinary Modified Diet….I feel just terrible about this…he’s my best buddy in the whole world!
I just took Nikki, my dog, and Baxter, my cat, in to the vet for blood work. They are not exhibiting any clinical signs, but they ate Nutro pouches that were later added to the extended list. I know this because I still have 2 pouches of cat food and 1 pouch of dog food left. I stopped feeding them Nutro pouches when I heard of the recall, even though they weren’t on the original recall list.
If your dog or cat ate any recalled food, take them to your vet for blood work. According to my vet, if the kidneys are being bombarded, then you can start treatment immediately and you’ll have a very good chance that your animal will recover. If the kidneys are fine, then the recalled food that they ate was not tainted.
Jane Rummel – has your dog been diagnosed with kidney failure? If your vet can’t tell what is wrong with your dog after spending $1,000 in tests, it’s time to change vets. Some vets are better than others at diagnosing. My vet is great; however, other vets I’ve been to in the past were just terrible at it.
Anyway, I am going to get an extra copy of my vet bills and I’m going to take a picture of the remaining pouches, and I’m sending it all off to Menu Foods. My vet said that he would supply me with copies of Nikki and Baxter’s vet records if they were needed. They’re reimbursing me, I can tell you! Right now, I’m going on the assumption that my two babies are OK.
As for Menu Foods, I agree that they should have announced this MUCH earlier. And Menu Foods manufactures wet food only. For instance, Nutro makes their dry food and treats in-house, but do not have the capability to make their wet food. They give the recipe to Menu Foods and they make it. Each food line still maintains its own recipes.
However, as for the fact that they bought wheat gluten from China … well, they didn’t. They bought it from an unnamed American supplier who bought it from China.
Menu Foods did nothing out of the ordinary when they purchased their wheat gluten. Apparently, 70% of all wheat gluten – used in human and pet food – comes from Asia or Europe! I don’t understand why we don’t use American wheat gluten (except it must cost less.)
The more we use other countries for our food supply, the easier it is for our food supply to become tainted, whether by terrorists or by lax standards.
And so this tainted wheat gluten … where else did it go to besides Menu Foods?
The supplier in China needs to be investigated and we need to know where and to whom their wheat gluten was sold during this time period.
I blame the FDA more than Menu Foods (except for the slow reporting to the public.) If the FDA had more stringent guidelines in place, it is quite possible that this whole thing may not have occurred. I disagree strongly with laws that consider animals as personal property, and disapprove of government agencies that consider animals to be second-class citizens.
As for Hills Prescription Diet, the dry m/d food has now been recalled. I’m a bit confused because Menu Foods only makes wet food. Who makes the dry m/d food? Taeki’s Friend – I’m so sorry for your loss. It sounds like your cat was poisoned by the m/d food. Gather up all your vet bills and the manufacturer to at least pay for your bills, etc.
I am now worried, because Parker and my 3 other cats eat I/D, wet and dry. I’m not sure what to do here. At this time, these foods aren’t recalled, but will it in the future? They can’t eat “regularâ€? food and must be on prescription food.
I think I’ll take Joy’s suggestion and will call Hill’s to ask who makes their food.
My vet says he is now doing 50 blood panels per day to check for kidney damage, and he alone has had 10 cases of kidney failure.
Read the article on the blog entitled, Veterinarian Uses Drug to Treat Dogs Sick From Tainted Food.
Here’s the important part:
… another drug, Leucovorin, which was used in the U.S. when aminopterin was used as a cancer drug, to counter-act the negative effects of it.
Leucovorin is an activated B-vitamin and is able to get past the toxin to help the cells start functioning again,� said Dr. Campbell.
After two days of the Leucovorin treatment, Holly’s kidneys were back to normal.
The vets at Longwood Veterinary Clinic are cautious about saying this treatment is the magic bullet that could save all animals that got sick.
In fact, they believe Leucovorin is too strong for cats to handle.
I’ve been so frightened by all of the reaclls, that I switched my pug Maddie to Nature’s Variety raw diet. So far she’s doing ok on it. It’s terrible that there are so many furbabies out there dying, and all of these big companies are protecting each other, while every day more and more pets are getting sick!! When will they just start being honest and give us ALL the information?!!
Debbie, I agree with you that we need to re-examine our import/export policies. There is absolutely NO reason why this wheat gluten couldn’t have gotten into human food as well.
The food and Drug administration actually does not supervise imports and exports. That is the USDA, which also has the business of helping agriculture, or Customs, which are two separate departments. The EPA also regulates the disposal and use of dangerous substances in America. All of those departments are vulnerable to laws passed by Congress or lobbyst pressure.
I’ve always thought the USDA, already very understaffed in its customs and inspection arm, should merge with the FDA on the matter of food inspection, and have its budget increased and come under more oversight just to prevent the backscratching that allows underinspection of slaughteerhouses, rendering plants, and food factories.
The USDA’s job is actually also to license the raising of livestock, including puppy mills, according to the laws. They’re so understaffed and they have no ability whatsoever to track enough, that I do strongly feel that that inspection part of the USDA needs to be beefed up and done jointly with the US Dept of Health & Human Resources.
What the FDA does DO is investigate and verify drug and nutritional claims, nutrional content of food, track down cases of mass food poisoning (sometimes with the CDC’s help). The FDA is doing its job in this case, using their powers of chemistry, science, and epidemiology to track down what’s causing this, and getting warrants through third parties to close factories for the duration of investigation.
They have no power to shut down a factory because of sanitation infractions. That is the local dept of health OR the USDA’s job.
All they can do is order and fine if the factory is making the wrong thing or doing it so unsafely (and is proven, as in this case). They have no inspectors to go around anywhere until something is reported.
Anyway, the reason why we can import food produced with pesticides illegal in the US is because the US has been touchy about having OUR exports banned due to GMOs or other substances that Europe, for instance, may have banned.
NAFTA actually means we can get shipments of fruit and veggies coated with pesticides that are banned in the USA. Some people are sensitive enough that they will react to those pesticides just through handling, and so some stores will actually labell where those fruit and vegetables come from, but it’s not mandatory yet.
If we all gather together and put pressure for full disclosure of country of origin of our food, it will make things much easier for us to refuse to buy from countries that we consider dangerous. Write your congressman and insist that a product should be able to state if their ingredients are 100% USA grown, and also be forced to disclose if some ingredients are or may be imported.
No more store bought pet food in our home. Never anymore.
There are plenty of internet sites that teach proper pet nutrition and have recipes.
I wonder what the pet industry would think about all of us pet guardians making our own pet food instead of killing our pets with their food?
As someone mentions above, are humans next? Think about this and how easy it is to poison our entire nation. Is this just the first step?
This is really scary ! I have a dog and three cats for whom I normally cook fresh food but they do who love treats now and then. I don’t know which brand to trust with all this recall.
Wonder where this will end. I’m really upset about all the cats and dogs affected, poor helpless babies.
I am afraid to eat any wheat products myself. My two cats are still recovering but at the petconnection.com there is a report of over 2600 cat deaths and information about what the FDA and vets are doing.
Some ol roy (don’t know how to spell it) has been tainted, especially the wet cuts and gravy.
Menu foods says it only makes cuts and gravy dog and cat food for a lot of other pet food companies.
Terrible heart break going on for animal lovers like myself.
My heart breaks for all who’ve lost a beloved furbaby. This is just further proof that Menu Foods, and other pet food manufacturers, as well as our government, doesn’t care about us, but only about the size of their bank accounts.
A boycott of any and all Menu Foods items is in order!
Yogi bear was in very good health and spirit and was eight years old. He went to Dubai to live and had a companion dog boxer and was very happy and frisky in a big big yard. He and the boxer were borded for two weeks during christmas and when the dogs came back they were not well. Yogi was taken to the vet and said becasue of his age he probably had a heart condition and put him on very strong medicine that was $5.00 a day from germany. But Yogi never dirtied in the house but this time could not control his urine and could not stand up and choked and gaged after every meal from pedigree which he enjoyed for the first 8 years of his life. he had gotten so skinny his ribs showed and the doctor said it was water in the lungs and his heart causing him to choke and throw up. I finally start cooking him minced meat and rice and after 2 days his appetite came back and he stopped chocking and vommiting, but because of the high dosage of the heart medicine and his age he was too weak to recover and we had to put him down because he just couldn’t gwt up any more. i realize that the symptoms he had were whats going on with the food now because as soon as a i changed his diet the symptoms went away. It was too late for Yogi cause of his age and the months on the heart.Yogi was loved and is missed by everyone because he was our families protector and when the boxer would get too excited yogi would bark at him and tell him to quite down. I find that when you try to give this information to the general public unless your an animal lover they look at you with skepticism. WE MISS YOU YOGI, WE MISS YOU WE THINK ABOUT YOU EVERYDAY AND NIGHT, AND YOU ARE IN OUR PRAYERS.
I feed Beneful adult and Iams puppy. All dry food. Is there a problem in these? I haven’t been able to keep intormed with all the latest. I have a Boston Terrier that is losing weight with four puppies. I have wormed her and treated her for giardia, and coccidiocis. She still isn’t gaining weight and I am worried.
Nikki wrote this in her diary today:
I’m all healthy! Isn’t that great news? No kidney problems at all. That means the recalled food I ate wasn’t tainted. Whew! Oh, and Baxter’s OK too.
The vet advised sticking to dry food for now, as the problem has been mainly with wet food. However, he believes, as does my mom, that more and more foods are going to be recalled as they work backwards to try to figure out what other companies, besides Menu Foods, received this wheat.
Checking labels to ensure that there’s no wheat gluten probably couldn’t hurt either, Mom figures.
You can add low-fat cottage cheese to your dog’s kibble to make it more palatable (but don’t add it to your cats’ food!)
Mom got an extra copy of her receipt and the part of our files that says, “ate tainted food” on it. She’s sending it to Menu Foods – they better pay her back and quick!
Charlene
Beneful had a problem unrelated to wheat gluten a month or so ago but that problem seems to have been fixed.
As for your mother dog, I seriously doubt that Beneful adult is enough to keep her healthy and able to nurse. You might want to check with some of the Dogster groups for Bostons but when we had puppies I always mixed in high quality wet food, yogurt and cottage cheese (not low fat). I made a point of giving extra feedings during the day too.
If you don’t want to feed canned food, how about getting some chicken and boiling it for her then taking the meat off the bone?
I hope that your girl starts feeling better!
Joy – please see http://www.delmonte.com. Delmonte Foods has just published a recall also for their jerky treats and some other private label treats and canned food!
does anyone have the same symptons as Yogi. When your vet says something double check it.
I saw on the news last night that Pounce (the cat treats) were now added to the list but I cannot find it anywhere on the internet. Has anyone else seen this. It also said (on the news) that Jerky Treats (for dogs) were added. I don’t give my dogs Jerky Treats, but my cats always get Pounce Moist Caribbean catch. I stopped giving them immediately. They’ve been mad at me cause they’re ‘demand’ them right before bedtime and in the morning. I’ve been looking like crazy this morning to try to find something on Pounce, if some one sees it, can you please provide the link?
I have noticed that my oldest has been puking quite a bit lately but he’s 13 and he doesn’t eat any of the foods that were on the list but he DOES get Pounce.
I found the link:
http://www.delmonte.com/petfoodrecall.html
It is Pounce meaty morsels chicken flavor cat treats, the details are in the link along with an explanation and a full list of the treats that Del Monte is recalling.
The press release from Del Monte was also posted yesterday on this blog.
yes Ruthie my Buster has been vommiting and gagging, lost alot of weight. I have always fed him dry food, but in the mornings and for treats he got the canned or the pouches.
The vet said he did not think Buster’s problem was with the food and that he has a heart murmur and has fluid on his stomach. Some how I feel that his problem is related to the food because he seems alittle better since he is now on boiled chicken and rice that I fix. I know the O’Roy brand of food was cheap,but I thought it was healthy. Now i’m learning that cheap and expense doesn’t mean a difference with dog food
It’s really sad about this pet food recall. We all would like to think we are feeding our kids the best they can have and then find out that we are getting wheat supplied by China. I’m sure alot of products are imported, but wheat? I guess that just surprised me. With everything else going on in China right now with how they are treating their animals – I shouldn’t be surprised with the conditions they are using to process food for ours. It still makes me mad.
I did look on Nutro’s website and they claim that none of their dry food has wheat gluten nor is it processed by Menu Foods. Iams and Eukubana have the same claims on their website. Still – I am seriously thinking about preparing my own food for my pups – if I did, wouldn’t I need to supplement with vitamins?
The substance in the pet food is MELAMINE. This is a plastic which contains cyanide. For more info on this, go here:(http://www.emedicine.com/EMERG/topic118.htm )
For information on antidote (injectable B-12), go here:
http://www.inchem.org/documents/antidote/antidote/ant02.htm
To make your own homecooked foods for pets, remember that they need nutrients other than what is found in tablescraps. I am making salmon for my felines….also I add fresh bee pollen, and soak chia seeds in the juice. Also adding food grade kelp.
For dog food, brown rice and chicken or chicken livers, or hamburger. Remember that meat or beans should be accompanied by rice so that it is a complete protein and these items must be consumed at the same time.
I am so sorry for all the pain and loss the dog food contamination has caused. Demon never eats dog food, and I’ve had the vet tell me that feeding him meat isn’t good for him. I’m glad I didn’t listen. I know I may be a bit cynical, but vets don’t make near as much money on a healthy dog. I think it is criminal that the dog food companies covered it up for so long. I hope they get prosecuted.
Today the FDA blocked wheat gluten from the company that produced it for Menu Foods from coming into the country.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/04/02/health/main2638477.shtml
Hi my momma just got off the phone with Menu foods she wanted to make sure my food was safe but instead of them giving her any info they gave her a number to call so she called the number & got a recording so she called an all night vet to see if my food had been affected they said no that Purina Dog Chow has not been affected but she it still worried she had just bought me a new bag last week & she is afraid to give it to me. Can someone send my momma some recipes for homemade food. Oreo
Hi my heart breaks for all the animals lost due to eating food I am just wondering how long has the tainted food been out there & we are just not being told. Mine & Oreo’s thoughts & prayers got out to all the animals lost & sickened by their food.
thankful for a blood transfusion 2-28-07 a week at her vets office she doing great
baileys 4 year old healthy lab
she had cutt her paw a week before could not get it to stop bleeding back to her vet the next monday she was in bad shape he said he didnt know how she was even standing her hemacrtic was so low did test called she has been poisioned with rat poision shes got to have a blood transfusion started 2pm the 28th she came home the 3-2-07 on vitiam k for 2 weeks so far she doing great eating nothing but cheeseburgers and french fries….
she was eating
at the time of poisioning cutts and gravy and olroy dry dog food and the cutts and gravy had became molded in its plastic container it was in i thought that was kinda
strange
hey Oreo and Jennifer if you get some recipes would you share them with me and Buster
We have been feeding our dogs Canidae for a few years (Molly is 3 and previously ate Solid Gold puppy dry food and Oscar we adopted 2 years ago is now 2.5 has been fed Canidae since the first day we got him). Yes, you do pay more for good dog food, but natural, people-grade holistic ingredients with no preservatives or dyes, which is designed for gentle digestion and pets with allergic sensitivites and which doesn’t contain fillers with low-to-no nutritional value really makes it worth it. You’ll find you pets don’t need to consume as much food to feel full because their nutritional needs are being met. Years ago I had a dog and we fed her Pedigree dry food. One day she started throwing up her food. Upon closer inspection I noticed tiny HAIRS, multiple strands, in every individual piece of food! This disturbed me so much that I decided to finally give a more expensive natural food a try and discovered that the increased cost goes toward better ingredients, quality manufacturing standards and more effective packaging so preservatives aren’t needed.
Our family is greatly saddened by the loss of your loved ones and are prayers are with you.
For all of you looking for recipes for your furbabies, check out the Dogster group Home Cooked food and Recipes. Here’s their page:
http://www.dogster.com/group/Home_cooked_food_and_recipes-779
Hey guys, don´t forget that there is Burns Pet Health, they have natural, Holistic food without any nastys or recalls and also they have a new one called Luath’s which has Spirulina, it’s low protein and natural and I have my Dane on it and he looks fabulous!
I´ve heard of that, it’s not one of the big names and prides itself on prividing healthy dog food. I have to say if I didn´t feed home cooked and raw this would be the only one that I would buy.
i would like to know if Pro-Plan with chicken and rice are on the recall list? if someone could answer this it would be greatly appreciated. i have a mini apple head chichuahua and i dont want her to die because of some recall on dog food.
Logans Mommy
My cat Samantha is dead, she was eating Hills diet c/d and suddenly stopped peeing and the vet told me she was in kidney failure . I am so hurt and angry. This c/d is not on th recall list. Why not? I know she was poisoned! If anyone can help me, please email me. Thanks
I got sick two weeks before the recall when my mom started gradually changing me over to Nutro Natural dry dog food——I vomited for 4 days straight and could not digest ANYTHING! I got lots of tests at the vet for two straight days and was treated for dehydration. Fortunately I am fine now but my mom will NEVER let me have that food again.
Starts to make you wonder where all the recalled stuff is going to end up? Pig food???
My mommy and I feel sorry for all the kids like me,
that ate food that was bad for them and passed away and did’ent know the food was bad for them, these bad people should be made to eat the bad food too
Mommy and I are sad for all you who have lost or have a sick kid
we love you my mommy and justinjake
I just found this link on about cats website. This is a link to the official release to the FDA regarding the source of the contaminated wheat gluten. It’s dated March 30, they released the source to us today April 4th.
http://www.fda.gov/ora/fiars/ora_import_ia9926.html
I’ve got several problems with the way all of this is being handled. 1st What happened to the aminopterin or whatever rat poison/menu foods? Did that all just go away? 2nd in this “import” release from the FDA it states that melamine can cause renal failure in CATS; It says nothing about Dogs I’m sorry; please correct me if I”m wrong but this seems to me like this is all some kind of sick joke to get the focus off of the fact that Menu Foods killed thousands of our pets & made thousands more deathly ill. Now that there is alledgedly all this pet food that has nothing to do with Menu Foods & it’s killing our pets too is taking away our focus! Also why the 6 day wait from the time the FDA knew the source of the melamine till the time we did? I mean seriously I can understand (I don’t agree with) but I DO UNDERSTAND WHY MENU FOODS was stalling; they had alot to lose; the FDA on the other hand had nothing to lose (or did they?) This is inexcuseable! No I’ll admit I don’t have a solution, I just feel that we’re getting ready to be “duped” & we CAN NOT let that happen
yes i think your right it was the dog food and these doctors are giving us medication for heart murmurs, they should make us change the food for a week before they give us medication.
Our animals are family members-just like our children-why wasn’t there strict guidelines in checking ingredients within our babies canned and dry foods? Losing one of these beloved furbabies is like losing one of our children. They can not be replaced. We shouldn’t have to worry when we open a can or bag of food everytime they’re hungry–that we may be accidentally feeding them something that will kill them. We go out of our way to pick out & pay extra for foods we think are safe & tasty for their consumption. Make it so!!!!!!!!
Our 1 year-old German Shepard has been losing weight, acting lethargic, and having diarrhea from time to time over the past few weeks. We thought we were safe with her food – Canidae and Innova/Evo. Tonight, Bella was throwing up multiple times. After a web search and reading your postings, I learned that Innova is made in a Menu Foods plant; it’s not one that’s been implicated YET, but who knows what’s coming? We’re taking her to the vet in the morning to get tested. She’s definitely going off the Innova canned food. Canidae appears to be safe, but I’m afraid to try anything now except what I cook.
My thoughts and prayers go out to the people who have lost pets already.
so for my boxer what food should i give him so the same thing that happened to yogi doesnt happen to him. thanks
Lucky my puppy wasn’t fed that garbage.
Who’s not doing there job ???????
Asholes!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Reminds me of “Vioxx “and all the people who died from that stuff, world wide maybe 100,000 ?
I took the Vioxx, big companies don’t care. Profit Profit Profit……………………………
I sent the following email to Iams today. I don’t know what I’m going to feed my animals, but how can anyone continue to feed their pets food from these company’s who are STILL associated with Menue foods?
“We have fed our animals Iams dog/cat food exclusively for years. I am so disappointed to see that Iams is included in the recall. This will permanently affect our choices for pet food in the future. As the recall continues to increase, why doesn’t Iams stand out from all the other brands and say they will stop using Menue foods to produce any of their products? Your company’s continued association with a company whose negligence has resulted in the deaths of so many pets is unacceptable. It calls into question your company’s ethics and causes doubts that you make product decisions based on the health of our pets. If the senate investigation uncovers the truth about Menue Foods not notifying the public when they first discovered they were poisoning pets, will your company finally take action?”
Please research and then read your dog food labels. Lots of high quality foods that don’t use poison for fillers. Eukanuba and Iams are garbage. Canidae is an Excellent food, high ratings, only a little more expensive. You feed much less with a high quality food. Look at the ratings websites and try a decent food. You get what you pay for. Hope the people at menu foods are punished for the misery they have caused. Meanwhile lets fight back by denying them the almighty dollar
Lorig:
Refer to my entry of 3/27/07 regarding Class Action suits being prepared in different states. I listed the contact information, and at the present time a Class Action suit is being filed against Menu Foods in the state of California where my husband and I are named as the Plantiffs against Menu Foods with other platiffs to follow who choose to do so. I am determined to see that NO ONE has to suffer the loss of their loving, loyal, friend as we did with Roy Boy. Not only will not purchasing any products related to Menu Foods have an affect, but punitive actions need to be ajudicated.
i reported that my dog was posioned by rat posion and the FDA says im the only case with this kind of posioning that makes the dog bleed internally and they may/maynot investagate……. said that it might have been intentional from a nieghbor???? dont think so my dog lives in a fenced in yard… no way to get to posion . i even ask vet they said as much that she had in her that 1 rat if she ate if couldnt do this much damage…IM FURIOUS!!!!!!! she is on blood clotting meds for 25 days and hanging on to her life … she still has blood coming out of her kidneys and so weak .. please give me info of any class action suit .. i want them to pay for my dogs suffering. I have spent $450.00 already on vet bills and more to come because she has to be checked so often because of bleeding. Just last night i rushed her to emergency vets….. please help thanks from Snowball in TN.
Hi Shirley
RE: Class Action you can contact the law firm of
Bonnett, Fiarbourn, Friedman & Balint
Toll Free: 1-800-847-9094
Direct Line: (602) 776-5965
Fax: (602) 274-1199
Ask For: Connie Traslvavina-Pena who is conducting all the in take information. This law firm can file Class Action suits in any state, all they need are affected Plaintiffs (pet owners) who reside in any given state, i.e., I live in Southern California, so a Class Action suit is being filed in the Southern State District Court, Southern Division against Menu Foods. My husband and I are named as the Plaintiffs anyone can join the suit if they are a resident of California. Just a week ago they filed a Class Action suit in New Jersey. For example, you reside in TN, so you can be a Plaintiff so the law firm can file in TN.
So sorry to hear about your dog, and yes, it is heart breaking and makes us feel helpless. I wish you and your beloved companion the best, and I do this in memory of our Roy Boy.
Rob
So very sorry to hear about your Samantha.
Yes, there is something you can do: See my comment to Shirley I posted 4/11/07 @ 11:52 p.m. There is legal recourse for all affected pet owners whether your beloved companion is ill, was ill and recovered, or has succumbed to this dreadful and despicable circumstance. I am determined to see this NEVER happens to anyone else as my trust in the pet food manufacturers has been betrayed.
No more imports from China – all the world should shun trade of any kind with China – one cannot trust them!!!!
luckily some brands do not have poisions in them. im not an owner of a cat/dog but my neighbors and friends have them. and i would hate to see this happen again! good thing they found the intoxicated brands.
Thanks summer i called will be signing up with the attorney form TN as soon as i get the papers in the mail.. They told me been lots of animals same as mine with rat posion bleeding etc…… The FDA fibbed to me??? UNREAL huh
since the internet is such a powerful source for the collection of data, I wanted to post this information in case others noticed the same thing but thought they were alone:
In March 2005, my cat started eating less and less for no apparent reason. I switched foods to no avail, trying everything from high end to cheapo store brands. By June 2005, she stopped eating completely, and she was diagnosed with chronic renal failure. She wouldn’t eat the Science Diet KD, etc though in desperation I started feeding her some whatever I was eating since she showed interest (chicken, tuna, cheese) and she gobbled it down. So I kept trying with the different brands and finally hit one she’d eat: Natural Balance. She’s been eating that ever since, has no CRF symptoms and has put her weight back on.
I’m not saying Natural Balance cured her…I’m saying that I think there was a contamination of the Menu food back in 2005. When the pet food recall started, I checked the FDA website. Not surprisingly, every single food I’d tried back in 2005 was on that Menu list EXCEPT the Natural Balance. I am convinced that there must have been a contamination at that time as well…enough to make my kitty stop eating, but not enough to trigger a nationwide recall. After all, my vet wasn’t surprised that my 13-year-old cat had CRF, so it didn’t get added to any database that I know of.
So I just thought I’d get the information out on the ‘net, in case others had similar experiences.
Tommy
Tommy,
Thanks for barkin in. Unfortunatley, I think you’re right. I strongly suspect that the pet food (and probably human food too) has been tainted sporadically for a long time. The more I find out about our food sources, the more I feel there is to know!
Please bark back in if you get more information!
I HAVE BEEN EATING PEDIGREE PUPPY CHOW FOR A FEW MONTHS, MOM WANTS TO CHANGE TO BENEFUL BY PURING, HAS ANY OF THAT FOOD BEEN RECALLED????
Buddy,
At this point, Beneful has not been affected by this recall. However, they had their own recall a few months back unrelated to these issues. Since I ahven’t heard anything I assume that problem was cleared up or addressed.
If 15 cats have died of poisen in the recalled cat food, please be advised that hundreds have died of poisen in flea and tick medicine, look up farnam, its on the first page, and will lead you to hundreds of people who wrote in about their pets.
i wish i could get a response from a vet, or an attorney…everything i have looked up on the net says my cat had acute renal failure, but the vet i chose said it was chronic renal failure and there was no hope, ever. he recomended euthanasia and my pet died in my arms. that pet meant more to me than any human, my best buddy for 18 years, and for 18 years my every waking moment was for his well being. i am disabled.
there are so many things i didnt know. all i knew was my pet was ill, so i took him to a vet. respond to musiqdoc@hotmail.com or 8188856687, ronnie.
I have a lab and she eat Purina Pro Plan Chicken and rice drie food. I have heard that it isn’t on the list, but my dog hasn’t eaten any of her new bag of it. She usually will eat anyhting and has always eaten it has anyone had the same problem?
Meghan,
I haven’t heard of any problems with that particular Purina food but if your girl isn’t interested in eating it, I would take it back to the store for a refund. There could be other problems with the food such as mold or having been urinated on by rodents. Trust your dog!
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MY DOG ATE CHOCOLATE LOTS WHAT DO I DO??????