One Year After the Recalls
A year ago a massive recall of pet food was announced by Menu Foods, which started an avalanche of related recalls along with horror for thousands of people who lost their pets to tainted pet food. In the past year, consumer demand has led to a number of efforts to tighten restrictions on imported food ingredients, not only for pet food, but for products destined for human use. One year later, is pet food safe now?
Although the specific cause of the sickness and death of animals eating these foods originally was not conclusively determined, the symptoms of lethargy, vomiting, and loss of appetite suggested possible acute kidney failure. This was confirmed later, as thousands of pets succumbed or were saved only at huge expense for extreme veterinary measures.
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Comments
One story about negligence on the vets part, not the food.
I recently filed a lawsuit on behalf of my clients whose cat died after receiving negligent veternary treatment. An interesting legal issue in the case is whether pet owners can recovery for emotional distress damages after the loss of a pet under these types of circumstance. The general rule in California is “no,” that pets are just property. We are working to change that gross misperception. I am looking for community support, by way of letters, emails, etc. and also for evidentiary proof of our position, such as scientific studies showing that people form emotional attachments to their pets, and that having a pet has physical and mental benefits. C’mon pet lovers . . . rally around!!
I most certainly have become a great deal more conscious of the reputation of various brands and the specific ingredients used. Whereas before the recall I did read labels, looking for protein, fat, carbohydrate and magnesium percentages, I now attempt to ascertain that each ingredient is in fact an essential nutrient for my cats, and not merely “filler” or “by-products”. As I have read more about what cats as true carnivores would eat in a truly natural diet, I attempt to replicate that as closely as possible. And the cats do seem to appreciate my efforts!
I had to euthanize my precious “Frostycat” on March 27, 2007. He was suffereing from renal failure, and was beyond saving. He indeed did eat a brand of the tainted cat food that was recalled.
I have no doubt that an otherwise healthy and loving indoor cat would still be alive if not for this horrible situation.
It is my prayer that no more pets or pet owners will have to experience this pain and sorrow again!
I watched in horror as the list kept growing, hoping upon hope, that Purina would not be included. It was not! I trust Purina as it is made in the U.S. I hope (again) that my trust is warranted. I pray to God every night to please keep my Oreo safe.
Due to an unforseen illness (believe it or not IBS) Irritable Bowel Syndrome, my female 7 yr old is now on Prescription Diet feline I/d…She has never been in a healthier condition since I have had her! No more food worries
I have become VERY careful and only purchase Science Diet from my vet, and Sheba from Petco, Dry food is ‘Indoor cat’ Science Diet and Chicken-Rice from Purina. That’s it. Many thanks for your very helpful articles Franny, I sent them to all my kitty adhoring friends and we were all ’saved by your vigilence. We have to be conscious,now and never complacent about our human food and our pets food. As our government is always ‘making nice’ with China… I do not trust them any more. The FDA is a joke and this took way too long to fix, I see that the lawduits are still going on… Let’s LIGHT THIS CANDLE! Get these crooks out of our lives. You have to do that or we will continue to NEVER believe what you say, Love to ALL the dear dogs and kitties that suffered and died at the hands of these vile money grubbers. jessica
I feel very fortunate that my cats were not fed ANY of the tainted foods. They get Purina brands,9 Lives, Natural Choice, & Science Diet. They’re very healthy & I pray they stay that way. I look at cat food labels like I look at my own food labels…I’m lifetime Weight Watchers (35 yrs)& always eat healthy & want the same for my kitties. My last kitty made it to age 18 .
Maybe it’s time we stop doing business with China. I mean, seriously…tainted pet food, lead in the paint on toys from there, toothpaste scares, and I recently received an email about toxic chemicals causing all sorts of skin problem for those who’ve purchased cheap sandals made there. These companies are so greedy they’re outsourcing to the lowest bidder and pocketing the difference–as consumers we’re NOT having the savings passed on to us.
Case in point: our local news aired a story about the Menu Foods VP when all of this was going down. He lived in a pretty little McMansion in Toronto or one of its suburbs. The result: more North Americans are out jobs, we’re receiving goods that aren’t produced under FDA guidelines, our pets are getting poisoned (and so are we!), and through it all, we’re just making some fat execs even fatter. Even more disturbing, there was the allegation that the aforementioned VP sold most of his stock about two hours before the news of the deaths broke–an illegal move, and one that also implies guilt because he knows his stock is about to tank.
Seriously, people, we need to start leaning on these companies about all of their outsourcing and importing goods based on their production with cheap labor. Make them more accountable by making them use domestically grown ingredients and using local people as a work force. With the state of our economy (and if you doubt we’re in a recession try living in Michigan for even just a few days)I’m sure their profits will stay almost as big if more of our citizens HAD decent paying jobs in order to afford to buy their products. It’s better for us, it’s better for our pets.
My sympathies go out to all that have lost their loved one.
As a side note, for those that are buying food from grocery stores please know that this in not the healthiest food to be feeding you loved one. I urge you with great concern to read this http://www.api4animals.org/facts.php?p=359&more=1 at the Animal Protection Institute.