Comments on: California Animal Health Laboratory Finds Melamine in Nutro Max Cat Gourmet Classic — Not on Recall List!

By: Keri

Keri — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 21:48:15 +0000

First off, my heart goes out to those of you with sick pets (or that have lost a furbaby).

I agree that something ought to be done, and it will not suprise me to see a number of lawsuits popping up.

I have been a fan of the Nutro NCCC dry food for a couple of years, as it really has done wonders for my cats. Before not knowing any better I fed Iams (which led to a number of UTI for my male and oh the hairballs), then fed Science Diet, but he still got the UTIs, but better.

I have contacted Nutro regarding their rice gluetin in the foods, and they have told me it is produced in the USA, as well as the wheat gluentin that is in some of the treats. The corn gluentin is also produced in the US.

Like the rest of you, I was shocked and scared when the wet food recal list came out. I had no idea that Nutro didn’t make their own wet food, and I trusted their products, so yes I was very upset. I was also upset that the 3oz cans weren’t on the list initally. It’s scary – but thankfully as I feed the wet food so infrequently, and I’ve had my cats checked – we’re all okay.

I can’t say I blame Nutro though, since that Menu foods supplied the contaminated products to many other companies. It’s truly a shame that money speaks louder than the welfare of our pets. It’s also a shame that the US would even consider buying food products from China given their history of bad/contaminated food handling.

By: Lew Orban

Lew Orban — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 13:48:08 +0000

I know that most of these investigations concern pet food. I am very sorry for all those animals that have passed. I think this problem is much larger and this product melamine is and has been in our human food supply for many years. The FDA has covered up this investigation and this information. We can not find out why we are importing these gluten’s. We can not find out where they are going or too whom they are going. the diabetes rates have skyrocketed throughout the country along with many other diseases like cancer. It is my belief that melamine is the cause and the effects mirror these diseases which are all auto immune diseases. Since the distribution in the human chain is sporadic it has been hard to identify the culprit. The young have been effected the most and the disease rates reflect this. Cereals are the biggest users of these gluten’s in production. We have a major problem here and all imported foods that are imported in non whole food states need to be suspended immediately by the FDA. We are all being systematically poisoned.
Obewan

By: E. Murray

E. Murray — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 08:33:26 +0000

One of my cats has now tested high in his kidney values thanks to eating max cat gourmet classic in the 3 oz can. I fed it to him b/c the menufoods page said it was ok, I should have known better. For an extra month after the recall I kept feeding my cats this poison b/c they didn’t pull this product as well. I will have to have all of my animals tested now. They should have recalled all the products made by menu w/ gluten in them immediately. They have caused untold suffering. This is just starting.
Thank you to you & the Mill Valley Pet Hospital or my cats would still be eating poison. My dogs were not affected.
-EH Murray

By: frank

frank — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 13:46:20 +0000

I had a young cat that had to be taken away from me he was a 6 year old male. He got sick and had to go to the vet, he had kindey problems and could not recover. THing is i feed him Iam’s dry cat food which still has to be tested but the vet has stated that it was the cat food that made him sick.

By: Joy

Joy — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 13:56:20 +0000

Karen,

My heart goes out to you and your pack.

And I agree with you totally! These corporate killers are criminals and should be prosecuted as such. Maybe they didn’t put the melamine (or whatever the toxins are) in the cans, but their shoddy practice of buying the cheapest ingredients certainly warrants more than a slap on the wrist and a golden parachute!

Let’s not forget class action suits. Those of us who were around during the days of the great Ford Pinto lawsuit remember that Ford knew it was making a dangerous car and cravenly factored in the money it would spend to buy off the families of those killed by their faulty design. So what happened after the lawsuit made Ford pay through the grill? The designs changed and so did the car makers’ attitudes towards safety. WHy? Because the only way to hurt a corporation is through its pockets.

Proctor and Gamble (the company that owns Menu Pet) has VERY LARGE pockets and should be made to reach VERY DEEPLY into this pockets.

As for the Senate, they are having their first committee meeting on this matter today.

All good thoughts for your sick furbabies!

By: Karen

Karen — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 06:19:39 +0000

On August 18, 2006 I took my 16 year old kitty, Little Kittie
in and the vet told me she had kidney problems and had to be on dialysis. On August 20, 2006 I spent my entire day
watching my dog, Minister, vomiting and passing blood out of both ends. On Monday, August 21st, I took the dog into the vet and they said they thought it was a bacterial infection, but they werent’ sure. He is doing better now, but has lost weight and is not as peppy as he was.

Little Kittie died September 28, 2006 due to renal failure. When she died she weighed all of 5.5 lbs. Then in November I had to take my gray cat, Smoke, into the vet.
Again, I was told my 10 year old kitty needs to be on dialysis due to kidney problems. I told the Vet then, that there had to be something wrong. What are the odds of all three of my animals having problems like this all at once. I too, thought that somebody or something had poisoned my animals. I was right, I just never dreamed it would be the food I was feeding them!

And now for the rest of the story. I purchased Max Cat and Authority Cat food (neither are on the recall list) sometime between May and June and again in September from Petsmart. In November I purchased Iam’s from Walmart. And they want me to believe that it is strictly a coincidence that my otherwise healthy animals just happened to get sick at around the same time that “all” of the other animals in this country are getting sick or dying!

They are lying and trying to cover their butts, their pay checks along with all of their stocks in the company and their jobs! Do not believe them when they say that it is “only” the pouch or the chunky style with gravy! I have one dead cat, one on dialysis, and a sick dog that says they are lying! My sick animals are not lying, they are! I resent them lying and trying to shirk their responsibility for tainted products! I would like to see them prosecuted under criminal law for trying to cover this up and letting thousands of animals dye, unnecessarily! This is criminal and they deserve to be prosecuted for animal cruelty! Instead of Class Action Law Suits, maybe we should start pressuring Senate and Congress to make the FDA prosecute these liars, cowards, and criminals! I know that this probably will not happen, but we should try just the same. My animals deserve that much. How about yours?

By: Francia

Francia — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 22:55:25 +0000

I am seeing much less media coverage of the contaminated pet food supply. I don’t know why this is, but if I had not logged on to this blog today, I would not have known about the problem with Max brands. Many pet owners don’t have internet access; the media needs to stay on top of this problem.

Further, the so-called “voluntary” nature of the recall makes me squirm. Are there pet food companies out there who know they have contaminated foods in the market but are not recalling their products?

I lost three cats and two dogs in 2006. One of these deaths was expected because of a diagnosis of diabetes with multiple complications. Cancer, congestive heart failure and renal failure were the diagnoses for the other pets. The loss was terrible for us. I kept thinking that my pets had been poisoned somehow though our vet’s findings did not support my concerns. Now I am back to wondering if my pets were poisoned by the foods I gave them. And now, I no longer think I am paranoid.

By: Hunnie's Mom

Hunnie's Mom — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 18:39:38 +0000

I agree completely. My sister’s dog was eating Kirkland Brand canned food and she suffered a urinary tract infection as well. I think there are a lot of foods out there that are affected and everyone should speak up so that they can start recalling all of the tainted dog food.

By: Kenyon's mom

Kenyon's mom — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 14:40:50 +0000

I can’t say for certain that my Cini’s food was tainted, but she became increasingly ill over the last few weeks. Lots of barfing and pooping. She was eating Nutro dry dog food for Sensitive stomachs. I removed Nutro from her diet almost 3 weeks ago and her health improved a great deal. Just as a test, I put 3 or 4 pieces of the Nutro kibble in her bowl Saturday. She ate them and we were up all night with Cini that night. No more Nutro for us! Put a fork in Nutro, we’re DONE with them.