Pet Food Recall
A Canadian company, Menu Foods, has announced a pet food recall, and has PDF files of the affected products on it’s web site.
These guys produce “wet” food for most of the supermarket and department brands, and Eukanuba, Iams, and Science Diet in cans and pouches. This recall affects both cat and dog food, and primarily the “slices or chunks in sauce” type of food.
There are reports of kidney failure, including some deaths, associated with this recall. If you feed your animals canned food, check the site for the identification information.
Thanks to mergers and acquisitions, companies you never heard of are impacting your lives. When you read the files you will the see the store brands for almost every major supermarket chain in the US.
Note: Whiskas, 9-Lives, and Friskies are NOT on the list of affected brands.
16 comments
Thanks for the link – my boys get a bit of Pedigree ‘chunks in sauce’ (not on the list) every day and my heart was pounding as I looked down the list. If I had to withhold their chunks, they’d be taking chunks out of my fingers.
I don’t buy anything but the ground stuff for the ferals, and my buddies like 9-Lives. I was surprised to see Iams and Science Diet on that list, that stuff is expensive, and it’s produced by the same plant that makes the store brands for MalWart.
My cat died because of this cat food in early February. The vet couldn’t figure out why he showed normal kidney function on a blood test he’d had just two weeks before, but now we know what happened. His brother died in early December due to a progressive kidney condition. He was treated for years so this was not due to the food, but to still be grieving over that and then to have to lose his brother to something so stupid only two months later is horrible. Now I have neither and they were both the sweetest most affectionate cats I have ever met.
It is always hard to lose a friend, and kidney problems run in the ferals I look out for down here, but when it is something like this, it is doubly hard. You do your best for them, and something like this happens.
My condolences, Lisa.
Our 12 year old mixed breed dog, Lady, had to be put to sleep on Thursday, December 14th, 2006 due to complications from liver failure. We did not know what caused the problem then, but we suspect that it is related to the current pet food recall.
Just by chance, we still have six cans of the Iams dog food left over. We bought 6 cans of the “Chunks with Chicken in Gravy” (product code: 60834197w2) and 6 cans of the “Chunks with Beef & Vegetables in Gravy” (product code: 61824197w2). We have three cans of each remaining, which means we feed Lady three of each flavor before she stopped eating. (These prodiuct codes are before the currently listed recall codes.)
The interesting thing is that we also have the sales receipt for the purchase of the dog food. (It was in the same plastic store bag as the dog food cans.) We bought the dog food on December 3, 2006. I wanted to point this our because this would suggest to me the problem ingredient was in the dog food before the currently listed recall dates.
In summary, I have six cans of Iams dog food left from a 12 can purchase. My dog died after just six cans. Probably because she was an older dog. These cans are from just before the recall dates. This leads one to conclude that the new supplier of the wheat gluten is not the cause of the problem. If these cans would be of any use to find a resolution, please let me know.
Reed Peters
pethen2@yahoo.com
Sonoma, Ca
Anyone who has lost a pet due to the recalled food, please share the autopsy results on the kidney findings. We have pets in our area who are very ill. The kidney report may help save their lives. Thank you.
jeannekott@earthlink.net
My dog became very ill in mid january making a planned trip to Hawaii very diffucult to take, we almost lost her. The medical bills are out of this world, but we were glad to pay to save one of the family. it has been a difficult road to recovery since we continued to poison our only family until the recall hit the news. maybe now she can really begin to heal, we can only hope. But what i find completely incomprehensable is that we took the food back to TARGET to return and low and behold they are still selling the tainted “poisen” food on their shelved and they said they would remove when they had the time. Who can we contact to get some help from in these matters, should we contact a lawyer in our own state? These people who knew of the problem and have kept quiet for months should be held accountable for their actions against my family.
Reed older animals, or people for that matter, would be affected earlier than those in their prime. I’m not convinced that this is biological, as I wrote in the update, I suspect it is likely that it’s chemical. I think they brought up the gluten because it was the only change they knew about.
That is very important Jeanne, especially anything on the chemistry of the blood and urine.
Marc, every state is different, with different thresholds. You would need to talk to an attorney, but this recall is not being reacted to as rapidly as the recent peanut butter recall, and it’s more wide spread. Target needs to get with it because if they sell any of the food after the recall was announced and there is a problem, they have a liability.
ATTENTION PET FOOD RECALL. THE TRUTH.
These companies are not telling the truth and are saying they dont know what the problem is.
This same thing happened last year. Organ failure. You can locate that on google.
Read this article from Nexus Magazine about what an undercover investigator learned. Pretty shocking. Its really no wonder pets get sick and or die that eat this food.
The meat in the canned pet foods come from a variety of sources. Cats and dogs at the vet that were diseased and euthanized. Zoo animals, road kill, the article mentions a police horse as well.
These animals are gathered and brokers deal them to “meat” companies for pet food.
They are placed in carbonic acid vats and dehyded. Then they are then put into huge bone crushing grinders. The work is done with bulldozers and illegal aliens. From what I read some animals are alive or injured when they get there.
This “meat” is a combination of many animals and residues of countless drugs and diseased tissue including tumors. None of it is regulated.
Is this anyway to treat animals? Mans best companion.
Forcing an animal to eat its own kind is cruel to animal.
The chemicals of phenobarbitol (euthanizing) residue are still in the animals, as well as countless forms of anitbiotic, antiviral drugs, countless other drugs, diseased tissue, etc.
The meat contains grains. Corn especially can have high amounts of aflatoxins which are potent carcinogens and given the source of the corn for dog food it is most likely high in this carcinogenic fungus that thrives on corn, like when it gets damp in storage.
By reading the accounts of the article it appears that the meat is biologically, chemically and hormonally contaminated.
If the meat doesnt kill the animal it can do other things. Autoimmune conditions, chronic skin problems, cancer, organ problems, seizures, etc.
I dont approve of what I learned about the IAMS dog food company “test” experiments on dogs. That is in the article.
The best way to feed your dog or cat is to go to shirleys wellness cafe. com and she has an entire section for holistic pet care.
Our animals do not deserve to be treated like this.
Be reverent to your animals and living things. Its good karma.
Never leave your pet at the vet when it dies.
Please read this article. Tell others to read the article.
http://www.nexusmagazine.com/articles/petfood2.html
Get rid of the Swifer if you love your pet
I just got this from friends and was shocked:
Please read re Swifer Wet Jet danger to animals. Thank you.
Swifer-Wet Jet Danger
> I recently had a neighbor who had to have their 5-year old German
> Shepherd dog put down due to liver failure. The dog was completely
> healthy until a few weeks ago, so they had a necropsy done to see
what
> the cause was. The liver levels were unbelievable, as if the dog had
> ingested poison of some kind. The dog is kept inside, and when he’s
> outside, someone’s with him, so the idea of him getting into
something
> unknown was hard to believe. My neighbor started going through all
the
> items in the house. When he got to the Swiffer Wetjet, he noticed,
in
> very tiny print, a warning which stated “may be harmful to small
> children and animals.” He called the company to ask what the
contents of
>
> the cleaning agent are and was astounded to find out that
antifreeze is
> one of the ingredients. (actually he was told it’s a compound which
is
> one molecule away from anitfreeze).
>
> Therefore, just by the dog walking on the floor cleaned with the
> solution, then licking it’s own paws, and the dog eating from its
dishes
>
> which were kept on the kitchen floor cleaned with this product, it
> ingested enough of the solution to destroy its liver.
>
> Soon after his dog’s death, his housekeepers’ two cats also died of
> liver failure. They both used the Swiffer Wetjet for quick cleanups
on
> their floors. Necropsies weren’t done on the cats, so they couldn’t
file
>
> a lawsuit, but he asked that we spread the word to as many people as
> possible so they don’t lose their animals.
Mike Delano, you are so right on this, next it will be a BSE outbreak, you do not canabilize animals, but this is just the tip of the iceberg. this is just another disaster in a long line of them in the pet food industry. the way i see it, before all this processed pet food dogs and cats lived on table food, i am going back to that, and anyone who trust the pet food industry is nuts, i worked at a well known so called natural pet food company, and surprise they are on the list. get smart if you care about your 4 legged family members read Ann N. Martin’s books, Foods pets die for. think about it, would you stick your face in the bowl and eat that stuff, well then it isnt food. after all it is made with roadkill ,downer animals, euthanised pets, they even grind up carcasses loaded with large tumors, melt it all together at rendering plants, and viola fidos food. There is no regulation in the pet food industry, they police themselves. as for how the poison got into the food, probably sprayed on the wheat while it was in the storage tanks to keep the rats off it. and i would not doubt if it is in the dry food, or might have made it to the human food chain. my dad always said, if i didnt grow, kill it or harvest it, i dont trust it. we as consumers have put our lives and the lives of our loved ones in the hands of multi billion dollar corporations who are only in it to make profit. just go back over the past year and look at all the food recalls.
The Food and Drug Administration is tasked with inspecting pet food plants, just like any other food facility. There has been a total lack of oversight lately, and we are seeing the results.
I worked in a canning factory summers in the 1960s, and had no problem eating anything that came out of the line. there were rules and you lost your job if you didn’t follow them. The line was shut down if there was a problem, like water/steam temperature drops, and the problem was fixed. This was a small, local company that had been in business for decades, and vegetables were local green beans and corn.
These days everything is corporate and the people in charge don’t know what they do, because they are “professional” managers.
This should have been spotted by a quality control lab. You grab samples off the line and analyze the contents. You put the contents in a blender and then look at the chemical composition. You drop a sample in a petri dish and see what develops. This isn’t string theory, it’s basic quality control. You can do it in an automated lab with a chemist, a biologist, and some assistants.
These people have been cutting corners to cut costs.
I have registered for a teleseminar to be held this Wed, 3/28. The person who is being interviewed is Sandra Bailey, who has a website and has written a book about better food for your dog. I bought her book, and she really has good information.
If you are interested in the teleseminar, you have to register at http://www.TheNaturallyDog.com/?id=28
Her website is http://www.TheNaturallyHealthyDog.com and her book is “Real Dog’s Don’t Eat Kibble!”
This has really been a scary incident and hopefully some new legislation can come out of this. How can we make the government understand that our pets are family members and are just as important and valuable as our children?
The first week of January we had to bring our cat coco to the vet she had total kidney failure. She was not eating just crying she lost half her weight when she was tested by the vet she said that if this was a person they would have to trainsplant her kidney’s, putting her to sleep cost me 304.00, I lost our baby cat she was never sick at all, she just had shots and check ups, we miss her dearly and for months we had dreams begging for help shame on them for killing our baby
I was called hom from work by the babysitter my little 7 year old was bringing our dog blondie in from outside. He was crying hysterically when I got home upstairs covering his eyes. My dog lay almost lifeless on the kitchen floor in her urine and foam out of her mouth. My little one said mommy blondie came in then froze like a popcycle and dropped to the floor and started vibrating,then she peed and some white foam was coming out of her mouth.
I immediatly took her to the vet. The vet never even mentioned potential of the food this was last week. He said to watch her for seizure activity that this is called epilepsy in young dogs only 20% of Older dogs get it. Blondie is 14 He said it may likely be she has a tumor.
My dog is a smart dog she got up from the vets and walked out the door we have had no further complications. She refuses to eat her food and will only eat people or my cats food. She goes over sniffs her bowl and then walks away.
To top it off my children did not know anything about the poisen in the foods. My 10 year old said to me “Mommy I think its her food it had some greenish color in it when I fed her.
What is everyone feeding there dog now? Blondie is fine went for a walk today a bit with the arthritus but overall peppy? After she seized everyone was like put her down she is old. She still chases sticks,can hear smell and eat and likes to take walks and rides.
Oh by the way she ate alpo prime cuts!!!!