Story Behind Pet Food Recall — Is It Bigger Than We’ve Been Told?
Thanks to Corene Kendrick for barking in this article from SFGate.com.
The author is a contributor to the Pet Connection site. That site has done a great job of staying on top of the recall.
YOUR WHOLE PET
Bigger than you think: The story behind the pet food recall
By Christie Keith, Special to SF GateThe March 16 recall of 91 pet food products manufactured by Menu Foods wasn’t big news at first. Early coverage reported only 10-15 cats and dogs dying after eating canned and pouched foods manufactured by Menu. The foods were recalled — among them some of the country’s best-known and biggest-selling brands — and while it was certainly a sad story, and maybe even a bit of a wake-up call about some aspects of pet food manufacturing, that was about it.
At first, that was it for me, too. But I’m a contributing editor for a nationally syndicated pet feature, Universal Press Syndicate’s Pet Connection, and all of us there have close ties to the veterinary profession. Two of our contributors are vets themselves, including Dr. Marty Becker, the vet on “Good Morning America.” And what we were hearing from veterinarians wasn’t matching what we were hearing on the news.
When we started digging into the story, it quickly became clear that the implications of the recall were much larger than they first appeared. Most critically, it turned out that the initially reported tally of dead animals only included the cats and dogs who died in Menu’s test lab and not the much larger number of affected pets.Second, the timeline of the recall raised a number of concerns. Although there have been some media reports that Menu Foods started getting complaints as early as December 2006, FDA records state the company received their first report of a food-related pet death on February 20.
One week later, on February 27, Menu started testing the suspect foods. Three days later, on March 3, the first cat in the trial died of acute kidney failure. Three days after that, Menu switched wheat gluten suppliers, and 10 days later, on March 16, recalled the 91 products that contained gluten from their previous source.
Nearly one month passed from the date Menu got its first report of a death to the date it issued the recall. During that time, no veterinarians were warned to be on the lookout for unusual numbers of kidney failure in their patients. No pet owners were warned to watch their pets for its symptoms. And thousands and thousands of pet owners kept buying those foods and giving them to their dogs and cats.
At that point, Menu had seen a 35 percent death rate in their test-lab cats, with another 45 percent suffering kidney damage. The overall death rate for animals in Menu’s tests was around 20 percent. How many pets, eating those recalled foods, had died, become ill or suffered kidney damage in the time leading up to the recall and in the days since? The answer to that hasn’t changed since the day the recall was issued: We don’t know.
We at Pet Connection knew the 10-15 deaths being reported by the media did not reflect an accurate count. We wanted to get an idea of the real scope of the problem, so we started a database for people to report their dead or sick pets. On March 21, two days after opening the database, we had over 600 reported cases and more than 200 reported deaths. As of March 31, the number of deaths alone was at 2,797.
There are all kinds of problems with self-reported cases, and while we did correct for a couple of them, our numbers are not considered “confirmed.” But USA Today reported on March 25 that data from Banfield, a nationwide chain of over 600 veterinary hospitals, “suggests [the number of cases of kidney failure] is as high as hundreds a week during the three months the food was on the market.”
On March 28, “NBC News” featured California veterinarian Paul Pion, who surveyed the 30,000 members of his national Veterinary Information Network and told anchor Tom Costello, “If what veterinarians are suspecting are cases, then it’s much larger than anything we’ve seen before.” Costello commented that it amounted to “potentially thousands of sick or dead pets.”
The FDA was asked about the numbers at a press conference it held on Friday morning to announce that melamine had been found in the urine and tissues of some affected animals as well as in the foods they tested. Dr. Stephen Sundlof, director of the Center for Veterinary Medicine, told reporters that the FDA couldn’t confirm any cases beyond the first few, even though they had received over 8,800 additional reports, because “we have not had the luxury of confirming these reports.” They would work on that, he said, after they “make sure all the product is off the shelves.” He pointed out that in human medicine, the job of defining what constitutes a confirmed case would fall to the Centers for Disease Control, but there is no CDC for animals.
Instead, pet owners were encouraged to report deaths and illness to the FDA. But when they tried to file reports, there was no place on the agency’s Web site to do so and nothing but endless busy signals when people tried to call.
Veterinarians didn’t fare much better. They were asked to report cases to their state veterinarian’s office, but one feline veterinary blog, vetcetera, which surveyed all official state veterinarian Web sites, found that only eight had any independent information about the recall, and only 24 even mentioned it at all. Only one state, Vermont, had a request on their site for veterinarians to report pets whose illnesses or deaths they suspect are related to the recall. And as of today, there is no longer a notice that veterinarians should report suspected cases to their state veterinarians on the Web site of the American Veterinary Medical Association.
The lack of any notification system was extremely hard on veterinarians, many of whom first heard about the problem on the news or from their clients. Professional groups such as the Veterinary Information Network were crucial in disseminating information about the recall to their members, but not all vets belong to VIN, and not all vets log on to VIN on the weekend (the Menu press release, like most corporate or government bad news, was issued on a Friday).
But however difficult this recall has been for veterinarians, no one has felt its impact more than the owners of affected dogs and cats. While the pet media and bloggers continued to push the story, the most powerful force driving it was the grief of pet owners, many of them fueled by anger because they felt that their pet’s death or illness wasn’t being counted.
Many of them were also being driven by a feeling of guilt. At Pet Connection, we received a flood of stories from owners whose pets became ill with kidney failure, and who took them to the vet. The dogs or cats were hospitalized and treated, often at great expense — sometimes into the thousands of dollars — and then, when they were finally well enough, sent home.
For some, the story ended there. But for others, there was one more horrifying chapter. Because kidney failure causes nausea, it’s often hard to get recovering pets to eat. So a lot of these owners got down on their hands and knees and coaxed and begged and eventually hand-fed their pets the very same food that had made them sick. Those animals ended up right back in the hospital and died, because their loving owners didn’t know that the food was tainted.
To many pet owners, the pet food recall story is a personal tragedy about the potentially avoidable loss of a beloved dog or cat. Others have a hard time seeing the story as anything more than that — with implications beyond the feelings of those grieving pet owners. Which brings us to the bigger picture, and questions — not about what happened but about the system.
How did this problem, now involving almost every large pet food company in the United States, including some of the most trusted — and expensive — brands, get so out of hand? How come pet owners weren’t informed more rapidly about the contaminated pet food? Why is it so hard to get accurate numbers of affected animals? Why didn’t veterinarians get any notification? Where did the system break down?
The issue may not be that the system broke down, but that there isn’t really a system.
There is, as the FDA pointed out, no veterinary version of the CDC. This meant the FDA kept confirming a number it had to have known was only the tip of the iceberg. It prevented veterinarians from having the information they needed to treat their patients and advise pet owners. It allowed the media to repeat a misleadingly low number, creating a false sense of security in pet owners — and preventing a lot of people from really grasping the scope and implication of the problem.
And it was why Rosie O’Donnell felt free to comment last week on “The View”: “Fifteen cats and one dog have died, and it’s been all over the news. And you know, since that date, 29 soldiers have died, and we haven’t heard much about them. No. I think that we have the wrong focus in the country. That when pets are killed in America from some horrific poisoning accident, 16 of them, it’s all over the news and people are like, ‘The kitty! It’s so sad.’ Twenty-nine sons and daughters killed since that day, it’s not newsworthy. I don’t understand.”
In fact, Rosie didn’t understand. She didn’t understand that the same government she blames for sending America’s sons and daughters to die in Iraq is the government that told her only 15 animals had died, and that the story was about a pet “poisoning accident” and not a systemic failure of FEMA-esque proportions.
Think that’s going too far? Maybe not. On Sunday night, April 1, Pet Connection got a report from one of its blog readers, Joy Drawdy, who said that she had found an import alert buried on the FDA Web site. That alert, issued on Friday, the same day that the FDA held its last press conference about the recall, identified the Chinese company that is the source of the contaminated gluten — gluten that is now known to be sold not only for use in animal feed, but in human food products, too. (The Chinese company is now denying that they are responsible, although they are investigating it.)
Although the FDA said on Friday it has no reason to think the contaminated gluten found its way into the human food supply, Sundlof told reporters that it couldn’t be ruled out. He also assured us that they would notify the public as soon as they had any more information — except, of course, that they did have more information and didn’t give it to us, publishing it instead as an obscure import alert, found by chance by a concerned pet owner, which was then spread to the larger media.
All of which begs the question: If a system to report and track had been in place for animal illness, would this issue have emerged sooner? Even lacking a reporting and tracking system, if the initial news reports had included, as so many human stories do, suspected or estimated cases from credible sources, it’s likely this story would have been taken more seriously and not just by Rosie O’Donnell. It may turn out that our dogs and cats were the canaries in the coal mine of an enormous system failure — one that could have profound impacts on American food manufacturing and safety in the years to come.
Christie Keith is a contributing editor for Universal Press Syndicate’s Pet Connection and past director of the Pet Care Forum on America Online. She lives in San Francisco.
Follow this link to read the rest of the article.
Keep following this story Joy. The lack of any system of notification has to be addressed as does the creation of a system of pet food regulation.
What are the symptoms ?
This is just another example of the government and big business lying to us. How can they sleep at night ?
Rosie O’donnel Animal Hater..No wonder Donald hates her
most DEF. “bigger than u think” and scarier bcoz we research and think we are feeding the best possible food and look what’s happening…. our food is not affected/does not contain the contaminated ingredients……. but is that any guarantee for safety?? should we start researching how to make our own healthy and balanced meals for our pets at home???
thanks for another update….. please continue to report findings……
[...] SFGate 20070403: Bigger than you think: The story behind the pet food recall This is both sad and pathetic. The more we learn, the more it seems there are more cats and dogs who have been affected and died, and for avoidable reasons. Thanks to dee for the headsup to the source post on dogblog.dogster.com [...]
Thanks for the great article. I’m glad someon else was disturbed by Rosie O’Donnell’s comments and refuted her. Usually I agree with her, but what she said made me so angry. You’d think she’d be more concerned since she has pets as well. Her children would definitely be devastated if they lost one or had to watch one suffer and not know that the reason the pet was dying was because of the food they kept feeding it.
My sweet pupper(jack russell mix) suffered renal failure fom this and thank god after four days of hospitalization is home and doing great.
The symptoms in her case were just excessive thirst and urination. I mean, slurping up the entire water bowel in one sitting and like her life depended on it. I was filling the bowl 5 times a day. She was even trying to drink from my water glass.
The urine is very dilute and odorless and colorless.
If it is found cold, like my pup’s the first time, it is very easy to assume it is spilled water……
Found this startling info in an advisory from the FDA 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. 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…
no wonder the numbers are so low…
This whole story is so sad, and I feel so bad for the pet owners, not to mention the poor test subjects Menu killed in the labs. Both my dog and cat ate the infected food for a few days before the recall. They have now been switched over to holistic, organic foods that don’t have any by products and they seem to love their new food. It’s more expensive, but they’re like family and after this huge scare they will never eat any food by Menu again. It’s been a few weeks now since they ate the bad food and they’re both fine.
Thank God we’ve been feeding our beloved Labradoodles a raw diet all along. What a tragedy this has been for pet owners and breeders everywhere. I sincerely hope that more of them will look into the tremendous advantages of feeding their pets raw meats with fresh fruits and vegetables. BTW, we can all thank Wal-Mart for providing the only pet food on the market without any wheat gluten at all. Read the label. You’ll be pleasantly surprised just as I was. Who knew? Thanks for following this with such clarity.
Shari,
Thanks for barking in!
I have to point out though, that there are other brands of canned foods and treats than Wal-Mart that have no wheat gluten.
My pet dog ,6yrs old died March 11,07 before the recalls came out. She ate IAM’s dry food ,dog treats. If anyone else reads pet connection blogs you will see other people’s pets died from eating the dry foods. I called IAMs and they keep saying its safe but yet took all my information about my dog. I don’t believe what they say. I have talked to other people and their pets died around the same time mine did and they also ate dry dog food.
hi, does anyone know if pet food in the U K was affected. One of my dogs had a terrible sickness prob for a few days after eating one of the listed foods. He was then diagnosed with Megaesophagus & we are still having problems getting weight on him. The food concerned had probs with the packs blowing back in the summer, we only found out about this after he became ill.
Anyone know if Pedagree dry food is on the list? So far my dog is o.k.
How do I see an updated list of foods?
What exactly can we give our dogs to eat ?…I am open to any suggestions at this point , every time my dog even looks a little strange , I am freaking out and calling the vet , I give my dog Purina Beneful dry food ,he’s a picky eater , but he seems to really like this food , but if their finding problems with dry food now , what do I do ?
It’s all very bizarre. Suddenly there’s no talk of the aminopterin and everyone is focusing on the melamine. Melamine, however, has extremely low toxicity (it may just be an incidental finding that has no relevance) and aminopterin is highly toxic. I find it bizarre that the entire aminopterin issue has suddenly been swept under the carpet just because the FDA didn’t find evidence of it. The New York State lab originally found the aminopterin and they are one of the most highly trusted laboratories in the USA. I’d be more apt to believe what THEY found, over the FDA. The bottom line is, right now nobody really knows much at all. But those in poison control aren’t fully comfortable with placing the blame on melamine.
The only reason Menu Foods went to a Chinese supplier was to reduce their cost and increase their profit. Don’t be fooled by the claims that these company’s care about your pet. It’s all about profit.
Menu Foods makes pet food that’s sold by the “top of the line” brands (Iams, Science Diet, etc) as well as by “house” brands (Wal-Mart, etc). Do you really think there’s a difference between them?
Is anyone pissed off as I am?
Tainted Chinese Wheat.
When is the US going to WAKE up & STOP importing from China?
Why don’t we produce our OWN wheat??
DO you see what cutting corners does to all of us, and now effects our pets too??
I hope Menu foods pays for what it’s done. Sold out to the outsourcing hype.
My heart goes out to all who have lost their beloved pet because of the company’s negligence.
FYI you can go to the FDA site and sign up for e-mail notifications on food recalls and other information. I did this about a month ago and find it very helpful. As for Rosie, well as my grandmother would say look where it comes from.
Kaiser, my dog was put on Rimadyl in Dec. and had his labs checked, with on kidneys problems. In Feb. when we went back for a repeat lab check, the vet noticed that his kidney function had gone up in that short time. I was giving Kaiser the canned Nutro food as a treat a few times a week. I am horrified by what is going on and I can’t believe the underreporting that has been going on. How much time has been spent on Anna Nicole Smith’s death-the autopsy reports, the thing about how the father of that baby is- and yet with real issues that are affecting millions of people- brief mentions of it. It is just horrible how this could have happened and that no check and balances have been put in place.
Also, I am a nurse and I know that sometimes elderly people with dementia and/or people who cannot afford food will eat dog and cat food. Has anything been done to check into that?
My dog Shelbie was on a prescription diet dog food, and once she lost the weight - we put her on a weight maintance from Iams (blue bag of dry food). After a few days, she started throwing up and being “not herself”. We immediately took her off of it and switched to an organic human grade dog food and she is doing much better. I am worried dry dog foods will be the next to show up on the recall lists!
FOOD SUGGESTION: I was so relieved to find out that the wet food I have been using was NOT affected by this recall. It is produced right in my home state of Texas; is not as expensive as other brands; contains more crude protein and fewer preservatives than others; and my dog (a Beligian Malinois) prefers it (even with it’s kinda cheesy label ;). “Beef ‘n More” is carried at WalMart & Sams and you can read more at their website: http://www.beefnmore.com.
Just on this issue alone, they’ve won a customer for life!!
Does anyone know if there is an extensive list of pet food manufactures and thier brands that this affects? I understand now Del Monte brand dry food, canned food and thier treats are being recalled?
Our new rescue boxers arrive today from Los Angeles Boxer Rescue. We will feed them home made dog food for one meal (there are plenty of recipes out there) and either Solid Gold dog food or Canidae dog food. These are safe foods - with natural preservatives. Although the gluten has been identified as a swift killer, the preservatives in most dog foods and the propeleyne glycol (relative of antifreeze) are slow -, long term killers of our beloved fur kids.
Read your ingredients and spend an hour researching the good dog foods!!
I lost my cat to kidney failure back in October….I’m still very sad about it. I’m not sure if he was a victim of the tainted food, but his illness hit him hard and fast.
What Rosie fails to consider about the soldiers that have died overseas is that they joined the military with full knowledge of the possibility that they may die in service to their country. These innocent animals have suffered and some died while their humans watched helplessly wondering what they did wrong. All because the majority of corporate America has adopted a “CYA” (cover your a**) mentality, and will go to just about any lengths to make a profit.
Shame on ABC and Barbara Walters for hiring Rosie on the View. Once again she has put her foot in her mouth. She should investigate the numbers instead of just believing the FDA.
She should hang herself upside down more often. She needs more blood to her brain. Maybe then she would make more sense. But don’t do again on TV. It was quite disgusting to see the first time.
Our pets are also our concern, they are dying and we really dont know why. And yes our troops are dying everyday and we want them back safely. There is no doubt about that.
We lost our 16 yr old Siamese in December but his problems started in November. We had to force feed him Hill’s prescription AD and KD but by mid December, he couldn’t keep anything down and he had chronic diarrhea. Two vets couldn’t tell me what was wrong with him and couldn’t give me any more treatment options. When he lost down to 4 pounds and started howling all the time, we made the decision to euthanize him. Now I’m wondering if the food killed him.
Not to go all conspiracy theory, but even the pestigous American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) is not ready to buy the melamine argument. Melamine was tested on dogs about 50 years ago, and they only found that it was a strong diuretic. If we are to fully accept the melamine theory, we need DIRECT evidence that malamine at these levels causes kidney failure.
A consistently updated list of recalled foods can be found here:
http://www.healingspringsanimalhospital.com/homepage.htm
The FDA says that more brands of pet food may be implicated than those that have been recalled. The veterinarians of Galax, VA are simply saying to check the ingredient lists on your foods and follow five simple steps. See their full advice and explaination here:
http://www.healingspringsanimalhospital.com/2007_04.htm
So what it all boils down to is that there is no real protection at all. We only learned about the wheat gluten because of numerous and tragic deaths of pets. Salmonella in the Dingo treats, and what is next? The FDA seems to be so far behind in handling any of this that they are pretty useless. The control is really ours to a great extent. Pick your brands carefully and boycott forever the contaminated foods. Our refusal to buy this junk, this poison, will cause these companies to fold up. Manufacturers need to hear from us that we will buy only foods produced in the USA and tested batch by batch prior to sale. We are fed up with the hype! And, we have certainly learned that such comapanies are in it for the profit and care nothing about the wellbeing of our pets.
We started our company after we lost our Sophie and want to extend our love to everyone who’s been affected. Luxepets is donating in loving memory pet candles to the first 50 to assist in the healing process. Please enter loving50 at checkcout. We would also like to offer 20% off all memorial products. Please enter lxp20 at checkout.
Just a small gesture of love on my part to give back…
and help in the healing process….may your pet’s spirits be close to your heart. always and forever!
peace + blessings,
Claire
I lost my 15 year old chihuahua on jan 4. She was perfectly healthy - we went to the vet on dec 31 with all of the symptoms and we chalked it up to old age. She died 4 days later. She was eating the Alpo food that was just put on the recall list. She had 2 cans of left over dog food unopened that I gave to my other 3 year old dog so they wouldnt go to waste. She ate them in january. The last week of january she started having incontinence problems and now $2000 later, she was diagnosed with Megaesophagus. She has never been sick a day in her life. Of course I dont have the cans because she ate them in january. This whole thing is sickening. She still may die of malnutrition or pneumonia because she cant keep her food down.
This is so sad and it also is so scary. It breaks my heart to read some of these stories about people who lost or had sick pets. These poor animals can’t tell us what’s wrong; we can only go by the small and few cues they give to us. I think that this also applies to vet cases as well and that’s why some cases will never get reported and what is up with the FDA and the ridiculous guideline you have to follow to report a sick or dead animal. They had the symptoms and they ate the food! It’s a simple as that! Why can I see it and they can’t? Then you put your trust in these food manufactures and then something like this happens! I feel like so much stuff gets hidden from us and then they try to candy coat anything they do tell us. I think if we all speak loud enough and spread the word to others who are uninformed maybe this will change the FDA’s and dog food manufactures mentality for the better.
I have a 6 year old Akita, i feed her Dick Van Patten’s Natural balance. I thought i was safe until i went to the store and checked about the treats..which were from Del Monte. A recalled brand. I also have always known IAMS was horrible for your dog. Plus they are under scruteny for animal cruelty in their labs. ((i watched the video and it is horrible)). I don’t aggree with PeTA at all but trust my own jugement. Patten’s uses mostly meat so the dog gets more out of it. And now that i hear that about what Rosie said, i always loved her but now she said this…Yeah our troops are being killed, but there’s a reason they don’t report itto the nation, but they DO report it in the states the killed soldiers are from. does the woman even HAVE animals?
I, like everyone else, am scared of any pet food right now. Our little one loves his treats, milk bones, and chicken jerky. Does anyone know if these have the same threat as the food?
This makes me sick, I am now cooking my own pet food. Its not that hard but it just takes more time. If you love your Dog/and or Cat. Start doing the same. Till the Pet Food companies wake up and start doing something now. My dog has been getting sick each month and each month I’ve taken him to the Vet. more pills all the time. He now has a bad stomach, he has been eating the recalled food. Whats going on? Too many recalls, even on Human food now. Lets wake up…….
I am extremely disappointed about this whole issue. Our cherished pet’s lives have been placed in jeopardy and our government, as usual, has waited too long before informing the public.
I’m also upset to find out that almost all of the manufactured pet foods, in all price ranges, come from one supplier. I am sure the reality is that we are spending the higher prices for the “premium” food product that is sold as a generic at a most lower cost.
I absolutely hate how we are being manipulated by these huge conglomerates.
As for Rosie, she is full of hot air. What is her thing? When she is making comments about reports on pet food and comparing to reporting on the war, they are not connected. Of course, she is the only person that has come up with the US government 9/11 conspiracy. Just boycott watching her. I have.
One post I saw really hit me. Iams was recommended to me by my vet. My dogs have been eating it for a year and 1/2. My stepson came to visit a couple of weeks ago (before all of the scare), he was to do a science experiment and watch which food the dogs liked best. So, I could only find larger bags of the Science Diet and Purina Lamb & Rice. They have been eating the Science Diet. After reading this, I am scared for my babies.
Anyone have problems with dry Science Diet?
Uff Da and Muntz thank you for your help.
First of all do you think that if the government knew that our food supply was affected do you think for one second they would tell us? Look at everything else they hide to make themselves look good! Second of all Rosie O’Donnell is an uneducated hillbilly that needs to crawl back under the rock that she crawled out from under years ago! I used to watch the View, but since she’s on it, it nauseates me! I just had one of those 29 soldiers that she is referring to laid to rest in my hometown! I babysat him when he was a child! This was gut wrenching and believe me the media covered WELL! Just as well as they are covering the disgusting story on the pet food recall! Just because Rosie has money she thinks she can run the show. I can’t stand her for any amount of time and I don’t think the woman should have been allowed to raise an aquarium full of feeder fish, let alone children who will more than likely turn out to be just as ignorant as her!
Just when I think Rosie O’Donnell can’t come up with another way to be so stupid and alienate people, she goes and does it…. Why does this continue to amaze me? I’ve been against her ever since the way she treated Tom Selleck - no matter what your beliefs are, you don’t do that to people. As far as soldiers in Iraq, they signed up for the job and knew the risk. They’re doing that job and most are proud to do so. Are their deaths tragic? Yes. Are they newsworthy? Yes (much more than anything Rosie does). But it doesn’t negate this issue. As a matter of fact, it makes the pet food issue that much more important - people need comfort and love in times of war and our pets are the often the best source…maybe the only source for some people.
Pet parents (or owners, if you prefer) didn’t sign their animals up for something dangerous…something that might cause them harm. We trusted our pet food companies to purchase products from reputable manufacturers who at the very least adhere to our nation’s laws…even if they don’t have any real regard for the pets of their consumers. We didn’t knowingly go into battle - we simply fed our pets what we thought was a quality product. We were betrayed.
When I first looked into this, I saw that the full name of the Menu Foods company is Menu Foods Income Fund. That right there tells you all you need to know….they only care about money. The comments made by their company executives about this are downright arrogant…saying they don’t expect this to affect customer confidence. Are they really that stupid?? They bought Chinese wheat because it was cheaper…and American farmers face bankruptcy every day. Why is this acceptable? To me, it’s not.
I feed my dogs Nutro Ultra kibble. Wheat gluten isn’t even a listed ingredient, so I still feel safe offering it to them. I did express my concerns about Menu Foods in an email to Nutro Products and urged them to stop doing business with that company. I’ve also written a letter to each of my state and US congressmen asking that they find some way to look into this issue and hold Menu Foods responsible. After Katrina, the government learned how people felt about their pets and they’ve taken steps to help in those situations….they need to do the same here.
This pet food disaster was bound to happen. One of the above bloggers stated that the pet food company’s main focus is the bottom line PROFIT!!! And that is the reason so many cheap and inferior ingredients are used in pet foods. Dead , dying, and diseased animals. and in some cases, euthanized pets are thrown in the vats in rendering plants.
We trust these companies, after all, the ads on TV and in mags are so sweet and loving, they love our pets as much as we do. Bu((&*^&^%^ S&()*&)(*)(*t !!! It’s all about the money.
I’m so glad I feed Solid Gold… please Solid Gold Company- don’t sell out to the big corps…. keep making good safe pet foods..
How horrible! 3,000 beloved and dear pets died, yet Rosie O’Donnell dares to imply that they’re actually worthless!? How mindless and insensitive of her! I’ve always thought that she was a heartless person (especially after the news about the racist remark she made, which ticked me off since I’m Chinese), but this! This just crosses the limit! How dare she say that! We are just as concerned about our troops in Iraq, but how can she even compare the troop dilemma to the pet food scare? It makes no sense!
And it just breaks my heart to hear of all this cruelty going on. Our pets are very dear to our hearts; in fact, they are even the drive that pushes some people to wake up each morning to see their dog or cat’s happy face again. Yet there isn’t a CDC for animals or any sort of organization that’ll do anything about the safety of pets. Maybe our country can’t see that our pets need the government’s concern too.
I wish someone would start an organization similar to the CDC that does what the CDC does, except it’s concerned with animals.
Why must our innocent pets suffer for our own foolish and erroneous actions?
We have 7 Beautiful babies…. THANK THE LORD…. a couple years ago, I did research and switched them over to Solid Gold. It’s very pricey and Hard To Find (until a couple weeks ago we’ve been ordering it online from Care A Lot Pets and paying S&H on 3×33# bags a pop!!!) however, our dogs love it and it’s great for them health wise. If the creater of Solid Gold Foods were in front of me right now, I would kiss that woman’s feet!! ha ha We dodged a bullet, I only pray that Solid Gold stays diligent and this raises their standards even higher.
I ,as pet owner,am more then outraged,at what Menu Foods,along with the FDA,allowed to happen….It is time,we the people take action,and have a say and a control issue on what is made for consumption to our beloved pets….It is sad enough,that,the usage of by-products,waste and other pets are used in the making of the foods,which completely disgusted me when I found out,but,the thought that additional poisons were in the foods,and we did not hear about it till later,makes me,as a concerned pet owner and a consumer,outraged….I will NOT PURCHASE ANYMORE COMMERCIAL PET FOOD,My money will not go towards negligent and deceitful companies,that only worry about making a buck,at the cost of a life.
Dawn, wanted you to see this before feeding anymore of the beneful to you baby’s, in this time we all need to be very careful
I have started a raw diet and some home cooked foods with a dry that doesn’t have wheat gluten in it . It is very hard to find a company that doesn’t have something to do with menu food . good luck to all.
http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/beneful.asp
Thanks to everyone for barking in! I have been learning a lot from you.
I’m also grieving the harm to your furbabies with you. Thank you for sharing your stories with us. I know how much it must hurt to talk about it. But the sharing is so essential! The more we share, the harder it is for any group to sweep this nastiness under a rug and forget about it.
I do want to address the Rosie O’Donnell issue though. None of us know for sure what she knew when she made her hurtful comments. Remember that the media has been echoing the vastly understated numbers given them by the FDA, Menu Foods and the others involved in what now I suspect is a massive cover-up. If she truly believed that only 16 animals had been hurt or killed perhaps it was hard for her to see why furparents were so upset.
I remember a day or so after Menu Foods made the first announcement I was at a work session with a client. He is pet friendly yet when I tried to explain to him the full potential of what was happening, he couldn’t understand it. He was not pooh-poohing the deaths but he thought it would all blow over and no one would care. I think we now know he was seriously wrong.
But I bring this up because many, many people really didn’t get the deep seriousness of the issue in the beginning. Perhaps Rosie was one of these.
I would love to hear from Rosie herself or at least a staff member explaining her comments. Like many of us (myself included) have done at some time in the past, I suspect that Rosie may have spoken without understanding all the facts. Let’s give her room to explain herself and perhaps review her words.
Once again, thanks to all of you for barking in your comments and I look forward to hearing from you again!
thanks for sharing valuable information & telling your stories, i have been fortunate that my furbabies avoided the bullet & my heart goes out to those less fortunate. this is a tragedy of epic proportions for us pet owners & we are right to demand accountability. as for those people {ROSIE included} who are unfortunate enough not to realize the value of a beloved pet …..i pity you ! this issue has absolutely nothing to do with the tragedy of brave soldiers dying in a man made war !
The reason I am keeping up with this is because I had one cat die from kidney failure in November 2006 and another seriously ill with a urinary problem just a few weeks ago. One of the questions that crossed my vet’s mind was, could they be coming into contact with rat poison. We are in Spain. Coincidence, or is this issue even larger still?
Nothing has been said anywhere in the reports, but these days, pretty much all of the well-known brand names are sold all over the globe. How do I really know that the food mine have been put on to maintain recovery from the illness (Hills Prescription Diet c/d with Chicken) is actually safe?
More importantly, who will tell us if it is/isn’t?
Okay..everyone knows that Merlin got the ‘diary of the day’ for being so very sick with pulmonary hypertension. His sickness started a week after I gave him food that was on the ‘tainted’ food list. He also was drinking like a fiend and peed clear just like some people have described. He chokes up all the time and has problems coughing. The vet swears that his heart/lung problem has nothing to do with the tainted food but it is VERY SUSPICIOUS that this started immediately after giving him the food and he’d never been sick a day in his life before it. So my question is…does anyone else have experience with heart or lung problems after feeding the tainted food? We’ve spent thousand of dollars keeping Merlin alive and moving, and if I thought for one moment that it had to do with that food, I’d be all over it. Please let me know…
Why do so many people not realize that the real problem here is the greed of big business? This time it hurt pets. I am so sorry for the people who lost their furry family, but even the people who don’t like animals should realize that greed will do the same thing to the human food. Rosie should lighten up. Celebrities like her make the news more than the people who die in Iraq. Who hasn’t seen headlines about the latest adoption of Angelina Jolie? I saw a story about Rosie yesterday on the internet. It isn’t wrong because a lot of people like to hear about it. If they didn’t, some of the tabloids would be out of business. My husband died in Feb. because of chemicals he was exposed to in Viet Nam. How many people realize that those guys are still dying because of a war that ended in 1975? My oldest son died of cancer 5 years ago, and I will always think he died because of those chemicals as well. I know it won’t make the news, and I don’t care. You can’t go back and change the past, and stop Agent Orange from being used. You can do something about the pet food industry. I think it is so sad that people are dying in Iraq. My heart goes out to their families. I’ve heard far more news about the war than about the dog food. However, both are important stories. Rosie should realize that. Isn’t it time that something like the CDC is put into existence for animals?
Iams & Science Diet were never top of the line brands as was mentioned by another poster. They just advertise more, especially at major dog shows.
It’s the smaller pet chains or privately owned pet stores that tend to sell the better foods like Innova. If you go to
http://www.naturapet.com and use their store locator, stores that sell Innova will most likely sell other better brands like Evanger’s organic turkey dinner or Merrick that has some grainless food (canned) or Nature’s Variety canned.
Today on the news it was more of a bleep that Sunshine dog treats made for Wal-Mart Ol Roy, are being taken off the market.
On Wed. we met a lady at the petstore who’s pet dog 5yrs. old died under mysterious circumstance. She ate Nuto dry food. So go figure. Personally I don’t trust these big pet food companies anymore. My pet are IAM’s minichunks and treats and she died too before the recalls came out.
sorry that was Nutro dog food.
Yes, it is very upsetting to hear about the pet foods being poisoned in a way . I worried because our car Rocket might of had it(him). He eats Meow dry mix. Does anyone for sure no if that name was infected?
I had two dogs already that died years ago. One the girl Fluffy died of cancer and the boy Toby died of an enlarched heart problem.By the way they were also cute,Bichon Friz’
es,any way my cat looks like a calicle,he’s always so cute too, mabe time we will put his pictures in.
Goodluck and take care all, Teresa
If all the concerned pet owners keep after Menu and keep after the FDA to keep this tragedy in the spotlight, it will make it that much harder for any cover-ups to continue. They will be finding it impossible to escape blame and responsibility if we don’t let them. It’s up to us. It’s up to the pet owners. Others, being regular non-pet-owning citizens just aren’t going to understand or have emotional ties strong enough to pursue this like we can. We owe it to our fur babies who can’t speak for themselves. They took away our control by allowing us to purchase poisoned food and letting us feed it to our beloved pets, but we now can take back the control. Our pets love us unconditionally, so we owe it to them to stand up for them now. We’re the only ones that can. We’re the only ones who won’t give up on this. When others are saying, “It’s enough, it’s over,” we have to say, “No! It’s not enough!” It’s up to us.
Now there’s another recall Sunshine Mills dog treats made for Ol’Roy dog bone treats.
Who is else??
CNN reported that it may have been tainted on purpose to see if it could improve some sort of protein. So basically our pets were used as test animals.
But now they can see it back fired. It killed them instead.
I’m still not sure the dry food wasn’t affected in some way.
Now everybody involved is denying any wrong-doing.
I have known for some time about the low quality of average commercial pet foods from doing research. Did you also know that most brands do animal testing (exactly like what was mentioned in the article “Bigger than you think”). That’s what really got us to switch to foods that are made from quality ingredients and are field tested with breeders and kennels, etc. We feed our babies Solid gold and Newman’s Own Organics. It’s more expensive but worth it. Our household is cruelty-free. You would not believe how many products (especially Proctor & Gamble) are tested on animals and it is absolutely not necessary to do so. There are other scientific methods available for testing these products.
Anyways, just wanted to point out yet another positive aspect of feeding your babies natural and/or organic food.
Hi all-Fortunately, I have been making my dog’s food for several months because of her allergies, both food and airborne. Prior to that I was feeding Natural Balance. My cats are giving me a hard time with Mom’s homecookin’ so I switched them to Solid Gold because I had to go out of town for a few days. Now I’m back and I am determined to find a homemade food they like!
I don’t trust any of the manufacturers and, according to my vet, they really don’t know what it is yet and conspiracy theories abound. I am going to continue to cook for my pets until this is resolved to MY satisfaction. I will use Solid Gold and Natural Balance when I need to be out of town or as a rare convenience because I am more confident about their products.
As far as Rosie goes, I like Rosie’s outspokenness and her focus on both the continuing deaths of our young people and the contrast with the media’s focus on pets. By being so controversial, she raises awareness and media attention on both. More people need to speak out loud and clear, write letters to the Editor of your local and national newspapers and magazines and not just chat about it with the rest of us in pet forums who “get it”!
Rosie is an idiot - how would she feel if her children ate tainted baby food? Well to many pet owners our creatures are our children. In my opinion she stopped being funny a long time ago,
Menu Foods hasn’t got an ounce of compassion - it was all about how much money they would lose on a recall. Our beloved creatures were never considered.
Our Hearts go out to the many owners who’s pets have crossed to the Rainbow Bridge, and the others who’ve been fighting for their lives.
We will never buy another thing that Menu Foods manufactures -and we hope they financially never recover from this.
They can thank their own greed and lack of caring as they watch their business float down the drain.
Everyday more and more on the recall. And the horror stories continue. We had a close call with our Lasa, took her to be spayed last week and tests prior to surgery show some kidney disfunction. Couple days later, the recall. I immediately took her off all store food. She had UTI after surgery, so was tested again, kidney function a bit better. A co-worker’s sister’s dog is in kidney failure and he was eating Science Diet dry! We were giving our puppy Science Diet dry Puppy Bites. I think everyone should stop using any store/vet food…until we know the truth. And cooking is not that difficult..luckily dogs eat about everything, even healthy stuff. Wish all of you the best.
I am cooking for my chow chow, Harley. Snacks and all meals. Who can you trust anymore?
Its all about the money. Now the news said this tainted food goes all the way back to November.
They knew all this time and waited until mid March to recall it.
So who is next. My dog ate the dry food and she died.
http://www.topix.net/forum/who/rosie-odonnell/T7J65DRFS2VD3JM4V/p3
go to the above link for a list of products that we should boycott since they support ” The View”…
This is the broadest, most informative article I have read about the pet food recall from the pet owners perspective. Thank you to Dogster for making this available to us. I am interested in anything else this writer assembles on the topic.
I would like to know of some kind of list of pet foods that use Menu Foods in ANY way so as to boycott them and also all pet food companies that use animals to test their product. I do not want to buy from any of them. Also can someone tell me where to go to learn about making my own dog food…recipes?
Menu Foods can just change their name or what ever and would we know. I do not want anything to do with them no matter what their name.
Rosie’s awful. Has she done a retraction at all?
Oh, also - I feed Natural Balance. They do their own processing, and ONLY their processing, so they’re safe from the Menu Foods mess.
As far As I know, Rosie has not mentioned the comments or any sort of retraction.
I have made the switch to Organic food and will not go back to Commerical Pet Food. I found a store that offered free samples…took advantage of that and when I got it home and Brownie, (my 2 year old Yorkie) gobbled it down I knew I had found the answer to the pet food recall. I have since ordered Life’s Abundance and have noticed a change in his behavior and also have noticed that his coat is looking better than ever. You can get free samples and order at http://www.precious-pets-paradise.com the free sample is definitely worth a try.
Nice post. Here you can find a summary about the Pet Food Recall and some information videos.
More Than 100 Pet Food Brands Recalled Due To Chemically Contaminated Ingredient
Regards.
My Sarah was put to sleep on April 7, 2007. Her symptoms began with her whining at the top and bottom of the stairs. She then began to wobble when she walked. Blood tests at the vet were good. She was prescribed Rimadyl. A few days passed and she stopped eating. I would have to lift her back end up to start her walking, and she began to act like she was in pain. Back to the vet for xrays which showed she had a bladder full of stones and spondylosis. The stones were removed and a 7 day supply of antibiotics were sent home with her along with a change of arthritis medicine. She begin to show signs of her old self but her walking got worse. I called the vet describing the problem and he changed her arthritis medicine. I bought a dog Lifter from the pet store that wrapped around her middle so i could lift her to help her walk. Two days later, as we were out walking, me holding her back end up by the “lifter”, I noticed her back legs dragging behind her. That last week she had lost control of her bladder and bowels. Another trip to the vet and we were told there was no hope for recovery. She had much life left in her which made it excruciatingly difficult to put her to sleep. All this happened within a 3 week period. Afterward, my sister suggested that Sarah may have eaten contaminated food. I checked the Alpo cans in the cabinet with the codes on their website and they matched. Her symptoms are not showing up as symptoms of contamination. Does anyone know if these symptoms are reported anywhere in connection with this tragedy?
Several years ago, I found a book called
“Food Pets Die For”.
Everyone that has a pet needs to read this book. After reading this book, I really started paying attention to what the ingredients are in pet food. I got my copy on Amazon.com.
My heart goes out to everyone and their pets who have gone through this. I have dogs and one cat who are all rescue animals, and each of them are a member of the family. I can’t imagine going through anything like what has been going on. I have been feeding Eagle Pack Brand dog and cat food (holistic). No wheat, no corn. Also Merrick canned food, again no wheat, no corn. Eagle Pack Brand was also mentioned on Good Morning America as a safe food. Check out their web site. If anyone is wondering, if I have anything to do with their company,,,, no, I don’t, I just buy thier food and glad I do.
I read on Itchmo. com about more recalled pet foods…Natural Balance and Natural Life. Check it out to find out which ones.
Also, now its the rice protein that is tainted. And now it comes out that a U.S. supplier send it to 5 pet food companies. The only name said was Diamond Pet Food.
So here we go again, having to wait for the other names to come out while our pets keep getting sick, dying or already dead. And wondering and freaking out what food is safe. Switching from one brand to another and then finding out that it too is also on a new tainted list.
I missed this Rosie O’ Donnell thing, I don’t watch a whole lot of TV……… What did she say?
Thanks……….
Well there’s a new company added to the list Blue Buffalo just came out today 4-19-07 and now its the corn gluten that is tainted in some of their cat dry food.
I just checked the Blue Buffalo web site,,,, and it is not corn but rice protien…… here is the statement they put out…………..
IMPORTANT NOTICE
Voluntary Recall of Spa Select Kitten Dry Food
Dear Pet Parents:
The Blue Buffalo Company has undertaken a voluntary recall on one production run of our Spa Select Kitten dry food. The production code on the recalled product is:
“Best Used By Mar. 07 08 B.”
We have taken this action because the rice protein concentrate used for this one production run was obtained from Wilbur-Ellis, the same company who supplied this ingredient to Natural Balance. Test results received late last evening (4/18) indicated that this rice protein concentrate tested positive for melamine. This is the first and only time our manufacturing partner sourced an ingredient from Wilbur-Ellis, and we had no knowledge that they had imported the ingredients from China.
We have advised the FDA of this finding and will be working closely with them on this issue.
Of the 5,044 bags produced in this one run, we were able to prevent the majority from ever entering retail distribution. We are working closely with our retail partners to remove this product immediately and will be re-stocking the shelves with Spa Select Kitten dry food that was produced without any rice protein sourced from Wilbur-Ellis as soon as possible.
If you currently have a bag of Spa Select Kitten dry food, please check the code date and if it matches the one shown above discontinue use immediately and return it to the place of purchase for a full refund. If your cat has eaten any of the recalled food, please call your veterinarian immediately to discuss if there are any risks to your pet.
Should you have a specific question call our Customer Service Department at 1-800-919-2833 or email us at info@bluebuff.com. We understand your desire for immediate answers and we will be working to get back to you as quickly as we can.
No other Spa Select cat food or dog food, canned or dry, is included in this recall.
As a family owned company whose reason for being is to provide cats and dogs with the highest quality natural foods, we are extremely upset by this recall and can’t begin to apologize enough to our customers. From our perspective, it is unacceptable to produce even one bag of food with the potential to cause a pet to become ill, and we will further tighten our ingredient sourcing and quality assurance procedures as a result of this incident.
Sincerely,
Bill Bishop
President
The Blue Buffalo Company
My 4 year old Pit Bull (Bubba) was put to sleep on April 14, 2007. He was drinking alot of water, for a few weeks, then he couldn’t jump on the bed, which he always did, then the next day on Thursday, he was lying around and around 6pm, he wouldn’t even get off the floor. We rushed him to the Animal Emergency Vet, he acted ok, ( like the kids do when you take them to the doctor) they couldn’t see anything wrong with him, until they did the blood work, he had kidney failure. He stayed in the hospital overnight, we took him to his vet in the morning for a stay with IV therapy, then by 5:30 pm he was vomiting blood, and diarehhea so bad it was about every 10 minutes. The 24 hour vet put him back in their hospital and by 8:00 am on Saturday morning he had to be put to sleep. It is so hard to see them looking at you, begging you to help them, and there is nothing to do. It hits so fast. I feel like I should have taken him when I noticed he was drinking too much water. He had Alpo dry and canned food, plus the Ol’Roy dog biscuits, Then I started feeding him Kibbles and Chunks dry and canned food, I am so angry. On the day we went to pick up my dog another dog and ferrett came in sick that had eaten the recalled food. Its not just dogs and cats. My 3 year old granddaughter just cries when she comes to visit, My cat even misses Bubba.
As for Rosie O’Donnell I used to like her but she is so rude not having any feeling or understanding how important pets are to people, Animals are part of our family, not just a piece of property. He was my friend, with me all the time.
The sweetest dog I have ever had.
I am praying for all the other pets. No one should have to lose their pet for just feeding them.
Sorry its rice gluten in BB. It the corn gluten found in food in South Africa.
On Itchmo.com theres a story about hogs eating the tainted food sold to hog farmers.
Why hasn’t this been in the news? Has anyone heard of this?
Not much has been on the news that I have seen on maybe a passing blurb but no mention of which foods have been recalled.
List of Toxins Found in Pets Grows Longer, Pigs Fed Toxins
April 20th, 2007
If it wasn’t confusing enough, three more toxins were found in the urine and kidneys of sick pets.
Researchers in at least three labs found cyanuric acid, amilorine and amiloride — all by-products of melamine — in the crystals of animals’ urine, tissues and kidneys…
Finding cyanuric acid is the more significant finding, Hoff, Goldstein and Mullaney said, although they are not yet certain how toxic it is to animals.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Web site said, “When ingested (by humans) in large amounts, the substance may have effects on the kidneys, resulting in tissue lesions.�
Also, pigs that ate contaminated rice protein were slaughtered and sold before the government could quarantine them. It is not clear whether the meat made it into consumers’ hands. The pigs ate salvaged pet food from Diamond Pet Foods.
Researchers also ruled out aminopterin, previously announced by NY state. No explanation is given as to how this decision was made. This is from Itchmo.com.
How scary is this….. where did this meat go to? I can’t believe that no one knows where it went.
I am so suspitous of everything right now. I had a bucket of horse treats I bought. The first ingrediant is wheat, and I threw it out. Now I am not saying horse treats are on the list for recalls; I am not taking any chances. It’s back to carrots and apples for their treats.
I just wonder if after they have found the tainted ingrediants, are they sterilizing the machines that process the foods. If not, they are going to continue to blend the toxins in.
Karen—-thats already happened. More and More recalls are happening since you posted.
Now poultry has been eating the tainted feed. And we have already eaten the chickens. And some people have eaten the pork too.
It was only a matter of time that we would eat it too. We have probably been eating this stuff for years and didn’t know it. All this has come to light at the expense of our pets who have died and still sick.
Its all about the money and some greedy company just put too much of this stuff in the proteins just to enhance it. And our pets have paid the price.
In response to Maddi’s post on 4/7/07 - I too am wondering about a connection to lung/heart problems. I have two Lhaso’s and Winston had some of the food on the recall list - his brother Cody didn’t. However, Winston started having problems breathing. Turned out he was having problems with fluid in his lungs and build up of fluids around his heart. He died a week ago today. He had never had any health problems (unless you count mental health as he could have an attitude problem sometimes). I would like to know if others have had pets develop lung/heart problems after eating recalled pet food.
Thank you for your wonderful web site and this guest page
To all the uninitiated out there - read this and take heed. This is good stuff. Thanks.
This started long before
My first Cat died on April 4, 2006 after eating Iams 6oz canned food. I usually only feed dry food. I had a few cans left in the case which I did not use I actually forgot I had them. I found them and gav e a can to my other cat on July 8th. She died on July 10th, 2006.
When my dogs got sick about a molnth before the recall.
This has gone on longer than you think
My first cat that died, Tiger was feed Iams cat food 6 oz canned food. He died on April 4, 2006. I usually feed dry cat food. But I bought a case of wet food thinking it would be good for them. I had a few cans left and forgot I had them. When I found them I gave a can to my other Cat snooky on July 9th, 2006. She died on July 10th, 2006. When I was in the vets office during this time I saw another cat brought in, in the same condition. Remember this 2006
Approx a month before the recall my Dogs got sick. Four Chinese Crestids All of them got sick. After I weined them back to health I though that maybe the food had gone bad so I threw it all away and got fresh food. They got sick again. This is when the recall was announced. But in the meantime. One (Iggy) has kidney damage, One sweated out a yellow substance which died to a powder and she (Tata) got skin cancer. Contessa got a tumor which was cancerous. I was able to keep her alive for 1 1/2 years.
It is now April of 2009 I miss her alot and Iggy is still being treated for his Kidneys.