Pet Food Recall fallout

[razzleccentric]

First, according to Banfield, The Pet Hospital's epidemiological records, "Cases of kidney failure among cats rose by 30% during the three months that pet food contaminated with an industrial chemical was sold." Read the rest at USAToday.com

. . .

Forbes answers the question, What should the [pet food] industry be doing? (Hint: Not what it's doing right now, which is NOTHING USEFUL.)

. . .

An FDA rep squeals, "It musta been a conspiracy!" (No, no, years of FDA slackerliness and the fact that the U.S. does not bother to inspect imported foodstuffs had nothing to do with it...)

. . .

Finally, Time reviews the ongoing controversies and theories surrounding the contamination. The last line in this article contains a statement from a Cornell researcher that really grinds my gears:

"I would hate for people to stop using commercial pet food, because it's the healthiest diet in the long term for dogs and cats who need multiple vitamins at the proper ratios."

As much as I respect the science of animal nutrition, this is one of those supreme WTF?! moments. This guy is saying, basically, that we're too DUMB to feed our pets. It's too HARD to look up their nutritional requirements and we don't have the TIME to make some simple fresh chow for them. We NEED to have somebody hand us a box/bag/can full of unidentified swill stamped with a reassuring label that says, "OF COURSE IT'S GOOD TO EAT - WOULD WE LIE TO YOU?"

Oh. Wait a minute.

I just described the entire HUMAN food industry.

Comments

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

I have two friends whose cats died of sudden and unexplained kidney failure over the past few weeks. One of them fed her cat one of the recalled brands, the other didn't, but at this point, is completely expecting that food to come up on the list. :/

Breaks my heart, and you know what? Before they recalled anything, they "tested" a bunch of the food on dogs and cats, even though they knew cats who were eating their food were dying, and killed more in their tests.

I think it'd be fair and just for Menu Foods just to fold up shop and go away, at this point. They should make shoes or Barbie clothes or something.

[razzle.livejournal.com]

It's horrible and heartbreaking. And it makes me wonder about Sparki's sudden and unexplained near-death from kidney failure a few years ago. This could easily have happened before and gone unreported. Commercial pet food is a stinking racket.

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

DJ and Zoe are (unlike many dogs) safe kibble-nibblers, we keep a free feeder out with Nutro lamb-and-rice, and they nibble on it all day. Other than that, they get chicken, broccoli, turns out Zoe loves cooked dandelion greens (!), bites of whatever it is we're having, and lots of leftovers, when we're having healthful food that won't hurt them.

I'm not sure what we'll do about the kibble, might keep it up, might change to something we can source ingredients on better, we really like the idea of their being able to free-feed, being as they both seem to prefer nibbling throughout the day. DJ will pick the chicken out of a chicken-and-veggies stew, as it's tastiest, then come back an hour or two later for the veggies. She only eats until she's full. So . . . not sure. I can't think of something we can cook for them (and I'm happy to do so) that we can leave out, aside from carrots and broccoli.

[starrchilde.livejournal.com]

I am very thankful that the wet food we were feeding Pixie wasn't on the list, and the cats don't get wet foods at all. It's tragic how much this has hurt families and the idea that they're "just pets" is sickening.

[razzle.livejournal.com]

Our cats are kibble nibblers too, and unfortunately don't realize that real food is food - they won't touch fish or chicken. Whipped cream, tho, is very popular. :)

I had them on Nutro, but I picked up a bag of Natural Balance to try instead. Who wouldn't trust Dick Van Patten?

Not a cat

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

[altamaha.livejournal.com]

Grrrr. I am kicking myself for relaxing my standards for the past 6 months or so and getting commercial (albeit "premium," whatever that means) food for NN and KK. I'm back to the 100% organic, wheat-free stuff.

How can the moneygrubbers LIVE WITH THEMSELVES?

Oh, right. This is the same food industry that has poisoned infants around the world with shoddy formula (in this case, Nestle agreed to sell their inferior product only as pet food!!!). Back to our regularly scheduled program.

Re: Not a cat

[razzle.livejournal.com]

Gaawwwwwwwww!!

Sometimes I really wish I had a dog. :)

[razzle.livejournal.com]

Well, speaking of which, some think it's possible that the contamination was in food-grade (not just feed-grade) gluten:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/4/3/112836/8000

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

This will amuse the heck out of you:
http://consumerist.com/consumer/menu-foods/menu-foods-exec-sold-half-his-shares-3-weeks-before-recall-251565.php

[altamaha.livejournal.com]

Of course. Break it to us gently, then pass the Vaseline.

[altamaha.livejournal.com]

Let's see...while the pacified masses slowly munched their triple-crust-stuffed pizza topped with brownie bites and buffalo wings, transfixed by Imus and the Anna Nicole paternity thriller, this slipped into the newstream.

This story is nowhere to be found on CNN. I wonder why...

[laurabel.livejournal.com]

So Fifi and Rover are better off with commercial pet food?

What did they do for all those millions of years that they were evolving and became the house cat and dog we know today? I don't think they had Publix a thousand years ago.....gosh and even if they did, neither Fifi nor Rover have an opposable thumb.

I could be wrong though.