Raaaant about the recall...

[Prin]

Ok, so to avoid hijacking the recall thread completely...

I just watched a report on a French station here about the recall, and they interviewed one of the head guys from one of the big pet food chains here, and NEVER did they mention Nutro! I was so appauled. I know this particular chain (not mentioning names, just in case) sells TONS of Nutro. To me Nutro would be the first on their list, if they had any loyalty toward their customers. Just sickening.

In the end, it's about profits, right? I mean, that really is why these foods have cheap ingredients like wheat gluten in them to begin with.

When will consumers wise up to the fact that none of these companies (even the good ones) are really in it for the animals?

They don't care! They're only liable for the cost of the bag, can or pouch it seems.

That's not news, but the fact that the major stores feel the same way- that they should be more loyal to the companies than to the people whose pets are dying, is just sad and maddening. Whether it be by not mentioning their most profitable brand on tv, or by not removing the recalled foods from the shelves as soon as news got out, or by simply putting PR above the health and welfare of our pets, it all just takes a little more faith in humans away... :sad:

And yes, techno, it does make me reconsider raw or homecooked for a minute... Sure, my brands aren't involved and don't have wheat either, but eventually it'll happen to them all, right? I mean, it's all about cost and it costs money to inspect every load of ingredients.

end rant (for now) /

[rainbow]

I agree with you 100% Prin....the pet food industry is definitely all about the profits. The really don't care about the pets at all. :sad:

[Smiley14]

I was at a local store today and they still hadn't pulled some of the affected wet brands from the shelves! I was appalled! I should have asked them, but I was in a big hurry as I was late for work. Maybe I'll stop by again tomorrow. I can't believe this recall is voluntary! So sad and frustrating!

[technodoll]

this whole thing just breaks my heart :sad: an akita forum member's shipperke died two days ago because of this tainted food, only 7 years old... how many pets are dying but the media won't publicise the real numbers, because it's not possible to conduct such a census?

tainted food happens in the human food chain too (remember the e-coli tainted spinach a few months back?), spoiled meats and fish are not that uncommon (of course it depends where you shop, etc) - but my god! imagine what would happen to a company's products if such a situation happened and people/ kids died!

still... i do believe that when you make your own pet's food there is a level of quality control that is impossible to achieve when a petfood company takes over. at least you can see, smell and feel the meat, veggies, etc... sigh. What a disaster... we can only hope it's a wake-up call and it will change some industry guidelines and awaken people on the dangers of feeding cheap food.

[erykah1310]

What really gets me about this recall, is, from what I gather... which may be off.
It happened because they switched suppliers for an ingredient right? This ingredient was "tainted" or what ever... but they dont mention what ingredient it is. Its probably a mediocre ingredient judging by the foods affected, however. I think the public should be aware.
Obviously since none of the higer end foods were affected ( or infected) the "ingredient" is something that is not neccessary in pet food anyways.
But... I guess they cant make that known, or they would loose alot of buisness.
Too gimicky and secretive ( the petfood industry) for my liking, Thanks TD for the intro to raw

[Prin]

Erykah, all the holistic companies and the companies not involved are saying it's wheat gluten, but the companies who are involved aren't saying which ingredient it is. Don't know what's the point in hiding it.

[technodoll]

the FDA is saying wheat gluten alone would not cause kidney failure and death, they are investigating into other food contaminants such as lead, cadmium, aflatoxins - right now they just don't know

[TeriM]

Hubby saw the coverage here this morning and they said that menu foods is offering to pay vet bills? Anyone else hear this?

Hubby also works for one of the grocery stores affected and yesterday his job was to go around and check all the lot #'s of the products. They did not have any of the contaminated stuff. I asked him if the store posted any info for the consumers and of course they didn't .

[Prin]

Well, yeah, it's not just wheat, but whatever was in the wheat that missed the inspection, whether it was a toxic fungus, chemical, whatever.

[Prin]

TeriM, I doubt it. Because they can't pinpoint why the animals are getting kidney failure, they wouldn't be able to prove it was from the food, and nobody would get reimbursed. Dogs and cats get kidney failure even when their food isn't loaded with something toxic, right? :sad:

[meb999]

Who cares though....they're just dogs, right?

[TeriM]

Gillian Alexander, 18, from Waterdown, Ont. has even started an online petition asking for reimbursement after her family cat, Nigel, died of kidney failure.

"Vet bills are too expensive. For my cat to simply undergo tests it would cost approximately $1575," wrote Alexander. "This cost is not including treatments, which are limited."

Alexander said she called Menu Foods and asked if she would be reimbursed but the representative said they "didn't know."
http://www.petitiononline.com/menupay/petition.html

I doubt it will do any good but here is an online petition.
http://www.petitiononline.com/menupay/petition.html

[Prin]

Yeah, that'll never happen.

[rainbow]

Originally Posted by Prin

Well, yeah, it's not just wheat, but whatever was in the wheat that missed the inspection, whether it was a toxic fungus, chemical, whatever.

That's right. Quaity control somewhere along the line.

[rainbow]

Originally Posted by TeriM

I asked him if the store posted any info for the consumers and of course they didn't .

Can he get them to post one tomorrow?

[rainbow]

Originally Posted by TeriM

I doubt it will do any good but here is an online petition.
http://www.petitiononline.com/menupay/petition.html

I don't think it will do any good either. It's better to email or write to the individual companies and the FDA, etc.

[Stacer]

It'sa interesting to note which companies are voluntarily taking the affected food off their shelves. yesterday the man bought the cats some wet food at a large chain rhymes with "pooper get" on his way home from work. He didn't know which cans to get (that's my department) so he got 3 different brands, one of them being Nutro Natural Choice. I was pretty surprised that it would still be on the shelf. But today my faith was restored a bit when I went into another chain, rhymes with "get value", and all of the Nutro was gone and there was a sign saying there had been a recall. The guy at the counter asked if I'd heard about the recall and then proceeded to ask me if I wanted the treat of the week (a catnip treat of some kind), I quickly checked the ingredients, there was sugar, I said "no thanks, there's sugar in it" then he said that it's amazing how many people don't know what they put into their pets, and that it's nice to see some informed people out there. Which made me feel good. And it was refreshing to see that they had pulled that food off the shelves so promptly, I wish they sold my brand of dry food cause I would shop there more often.

[clm]

Menu foods were telling people to keep their vet bills, just in case there is a fund set up at a later date to reimburse pet owners. No guarantee that there will be a reimbursement. I'll be surprised if this doesn't force them into bankrupcy. Hopefully this will wake up other pet food manufacturers and get them checking their quality control practices.

Cindy

[x.l.r.8]

In my local wallymart, one cashier will not sell any of the tinned foods, the service desk had a list of 5 foods, while she had the whole list with the numbers .
She did not have time to check the numbers so just told everyone with canned food, but a few people ignored her and still brought the food. She told them to keep the reciept and bring it back when they open their eyes. Luckily we had a long talk with the manager after we got Riley and converted him to Canadie. He has no problems with my wife trying to inform the customers as they pass through the till.
He kept the list and is personally going through the shelves himself to make sure it's removed (that probably means he will personally get the night crew to do the checking, which also means they will leave it on the shelf and blame someone else )
4 people at work saw the light and had already swapped brands, one refused to swap from her beloved iams is hopefully reading the info I left in the break room. My neighbour who thought i was mad going to the SARF diet now thinks it was a great move and the other neighbour, who I swapped her food from Actrium to Merricks while we were dog sitting (Gus won't touch anything else now ) has jsut delivered the first batch of maple syrup and a big bottle of baileys (they mix together quite well )
I have a funny feeling that if they opened the floodgates for free vet services for affected animals, people will abuse it and there would be no proof if your animal was on that particular food, unless you go out quickly and buy a known bad tin and present it as your proof. As humans we are more than able to conduct ourselves is such a way :sad: so I don't believe that they will offer vet services other than compensatory ones after the fact :sad:
I guess what ever it was either doesn't survive the kibble processing, or even worse, as kibble has a longer shelf life, has not hit the stores yet
I also think that once it has all cleared up people will think that there will be safeguards put in place to stop it happening again, 60 million cans in 3 months 240 million cans a year from one plant, that is a LOT of money for a load of waste products, I don't think they will be to financially burdened
by this, shame because that would be the only was they would do anything.

"In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration is the lead agency monitoring the cases.
In Canada, the comparable body, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, does not regulate the pet food industry.
It is self-regulated.
The food agency regulates livestock feed, but not pet food. "We' don't have the authority to do that," spokesperson Tammy Jarbeau said today. "You'd have to change the law."
So they go back to monitoring themselves.

[CyberKitten]

This issue makes me soooooo angry!! I have never used any of these brands, thinking of them junk food - esp avoiding anything generic but I do realize some ppl do use them and some ppl who mean well and are barely getting by themselves (and I think of some seniors who may be in dire straits and are used to the old ways - tho my dad is a senior and he'll drive 100 km to save 5 cents, lol) and think of the animals who may have been eating this stuff.

And you are right Prin, it's all bout profit- why else stuff food with all the junk they include that cats and dogs do NOT need, like fiber and non protein items! Arrrrrrrrrrghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!

My vet was on a local news channel tonite telling ppl what symptoms to look for (and they are getting calls galore!) and some vets are just going to have to care for some of these cats but for kidney disease, it is hard to say what causes it. What a nightmare!!

I do thin kthe one bright light - if there is one - is that I wonder if 20 yrs ago, this would have been the news story it is now and I think actually it would not have been. We care more about our animals now! We just do!

[brandynva]

I would definetly be interested to know the actual numbers of not only deaths, but illnesses associated with this botch up. The figure we are getting in the states is 10 deaths, but that doesn't account for Canada or anywhere else in the world this crap is being pawned. It breaks my heart too. Especially when I talk to co-workers and they think they are doing their dogs a service by feeding them crap and being proud of it. Admittedly I used to feed my dogs crap, but when my eyes were opened (thanks pets.ca) I changed my ways and my dogs are obviously healthier because of it. I just hope this uproar is enough to induct some industry wide changes, but I won't hold my hopes up for it... :sad:

[rainbow]

I won't hold mine up, either. :sad:

[Prin]

Sooo many extra hugs for the babies tonight... Soooo many. :sad:

[meb999]

I wouldn't hold my breath for a reimbursement of vet bills...It's going to cost them millions, and I can see the 'pain and suffering' law suits in states a mile away. They'll probably declare bankrupcy and open back up under another name in a few months :sad:

[coppperbelle]

In the Montreal Gazette this morning it says and I quote "No dry foods were affected, Menu Foods says." What the heck does this mean? Does it mean they don't make dry foods? Or does it mean that they make dry foods and they were not affected by whatever caused the wet food to be poison. Or does it mean no dogs have been reported to get ill yet? In the same article there is a blip from a man whose 4 year old lab began vomiting and pooping blood and almost died. He was eating one of the recalled foods dry formulas. No cause for the dogs illness was ever found despite $850.00 in treatments and blood tests but he is no longer feeding this dry food. He says and again I quote, "I'm not a doctor, but when a dog goes from normal one day to coughing up blood, I'm not feeling very safe."

I would love to know more about this company but can't find anything. Their web site is all about the recall and nothing more.
Very odd in my opinion.

[kathryn]

It's annoying. No matter what you do people are going to be greedy in the world. People are never going to respect animals or each other. The world is always going to be rotten. I am thankful that the food I feed my cats was not tainted. I feed my cats the Whiskas packets as my cats seem to enjoy eating the sliced or chunky stuff in gravy more then that smashed up crap in a can.

Laws need to be put in place to protect animals better. But I don't think thats ever going to happen. Moneys apparently more important then a life.

[Scott_B]

We as pet owners need to wisen up about pet foods, and whats in them. Stop taking the companies marking ploys as truth, and read up on whats in pet food. Feed healthier diets. I mean this could really happen to any pet food company. It just happens that this one makes 90% of the food sold.

If any good comes out of this, its that pet owners switch to better and healthier choices of food. None of these grocery store generic brands.

Whiskas packets as my cats seem to enjoy eating the sliced or chunky stuff in gravy more then that smashed up crap in a can.

sigh..i suppose you're correct in calling it "stuff" as its not meat. And honestly, its no better then anything off that list. But believe me, I don't fault you for feeding it. It looks like it would be yummy, but it looks that way, because the pet food company makes it looks that way for us owners. We see "meaty chunks in Gravy" and think, yum, my kitty would love that. Its all in the marketing. :sad:

[technodoll]

scott you are saying the exact same thing i've been trying to say for two posts now. but seems Pike won't let me? i don't see the problem... never been censored for talking about this stuff before.

[marko]

scott you are saying the exact same thing i've been trying to say for two posts now. but seems Pike won't let me? i don't see the problem... never been censored for talking about this stuff before

when you say x company makes a crap food and doesn't give a dang about animals it poisons every year.......that is slander for our board and is not even close to the general way Scott B is describing the same situation.

Please be careful about slander.

Please do not reply to this comment...just continue on with the thread..

thx

marko

[technodoll]

i will reply to this comment, just to say thank you for the explanation i guess i need to learn to moderate my sentiments about certain issues, LOL! moving along...