Dog Food Recall

[Jespah]

Well, now that we know it was deliberate - rat poison, I hope there is a criminal investigation and that standards and perhaps legislation come out of this tragedy for Canada, at least.

[ColColt]

Someone would pay a heavy price for that. I hope they find out who did it and burn them good.
Rat poison found in pet food, official says - CNN.com

[Dillydoodle]

i am horrified that someone would actually do that on purpose... this world is full of some sick and twisted people... my heart goes out to all those who lost their beloved pets and to all those with sickly pets because of the actions of some horrible sick person... I agree Colcolt, i sure hope they catch the person responsible for this and they get punished but good...
Emilie

[glencorgi]

Geez, and I thought I might be bad, but you guys beat me to the conspiracy theories and black helicopters! <LOL> What I've read in other news sources
ABC News: Pet Food Maker to Take Financial Responsibility for Pet Deaths From Poisoning
is that Menu Foods switched to a Chinese supplier and the wheat was contaminated with a rodent pesticide not legal in the US. (Although someone on another list read an article stating that a vet tested her own cats which had eaten contaminated food and they tested positive for antifreeze poisoning ?).

Now do I believe some true believer animal rights zealot could have intentionally done such a thing? You betcha - better off dead than enslaved in a home with human who might abuse it. They have been caught tried for industrial sabatoge. At this point tho', I just don't know if it is contamination at the supplier end or something more nefarious afoot.

Debbie

[Mvons]

I really didn't want to be right when I read how quickly the dogs died that it sounded like how they react to rat poison.

When I researched kidney disease when my dog was diagnosed I read about how quick and acute the kidney problem is from rat poison and there is no cure for it. So the people who didn't get their dogs to their Vet quickly, do not need to have any guilt because nothing could be done to save them.

That is why I have decon in a very unreachable place for any critter but the mice to get. We had to put it out because of the destruction in our house that was occurring. The best was the space under our last drawer in our kitchen cabinet. Only a mice can get in and out. Stuffing steel wool in the wall spaces around the sink pipes help prevent their entry.

And to think the poison in the dog food was more lethal that what is in decon. They say it isn't allowed to be sold here and only China uses it. We will see probably in tomorrow's paper more information.

Merrie

[Peggy]

Now wait a minute everyone. They said in the news confrence that they didn't think it was deliberate or tampering as it was in products from more than one plant. And the plants aren't close together. One is in Kansas and the other in New Jersey I belive.

More likely that the poison was sprayed on the wheat at the source, the supplier, and no one was told they'd done it.

They got the wheat from China who has fewer controls and laws regarding pesticides than we do. They wouldn't think to even say that they'd sprayed it. Just wanted to keep the rats from eating the wheat and their profits.

I don't think anyone should take the leap that someone did this on purpose yet. Might be but well, might not be so too.

Peggy

[bajoiner]

I don't know if it was done maliciously or not, but I certainly hope they figure it out so that it NEVER happens again whether it was sprayed on the wheat or what. I mean why can't they just use on specific growers wheat that they know and trust. I do realize things happen but had I lost a beloved pet I am sure I would be wanting answers, not guesses.

Barbara

[Peggy]

Originally Posted by bajoiner

I don't know if it was done maliciously or not, but I certainly hope they figure it out so that it NEVER happens again whether it was sprayed on the wheat or what. I mean why can't they just use on specific growers wheat that they know and trust. I do realize things happen but had I lost a beloved pet I am sure I would be wanting answers, not guesses.

Most likely they were looking for a cheap source of wheat. And well, it's not going to end up being cheap for them!

IMO, we shouldn't buy food from countries who do not have the same safety standards that we do. And that is just my opinion.

Peggy

[Michael Romanos]

Peggy - for good or bad, you're going have to just live with Chinese products, because trading with China is going to get bigger and bigger, and quickly too, until China is the most important and largest trading and manufacturing country in the world. Everything else should follow such as stricter food standards as they do now in almost all cases.

[Chip's Mom]

That may be true Michael - but we don't have to like it. The quality is just that "made in china" can't compare to the USA products that are no longer available to us. Hopefully, our Government will wake up and we will start getting more manufacturers in the USA. By the way, I drive a Ford but I am sure some of those parts are made overseas as well.

[ColColt]

From everything I've seen and read, I don't think industry will ever be the same here again as it once was. I remember back in Charlotte, NC where I grew up, there was about four cotton mills within a five mile radius of each other. My Dad made a living there for us there, but; all the mills began to shut down around 1968-69 and he was layed off with all the rest. He went to another mill about half a mile or so away for several years-it shut down and the last one he worked at was twelve miles out of town until it shut down. All textile mills closed because cheaper labor could be found in China and other places overseas.

From what I remember, the equipment from those mills were systematically torn down and sent to other countries so we could buy from them. the Spoolers, Warpers, Abbots, all the equipment in the Weave room, and Winders were sent overseas.

I worked for TVA when they had a boom in Nuclear Plant buildup and one day, after I had been working on Yellow Creek Nuclear Plant drawings, I was told to box up all drawings that they were going to "moth ball" the plant. They just stopped work on it. The reactors and cooling towers were torn down and sent to China. This happened with a couple of other plants as well. All that work for naught.

Another incident about fifteen years back was when my attic fan died and I had to go to the newly opened Home Depot to get another. I bought a thermostatically controlled attic fan with a large six inch lettered "Made in USA" on the side of the box. When I got home and opened it up, I looked for a place to pre-oil the motor to discover that the motor was stamped, "Made in China"!! Furious, I called the store manager and told him of their false advertising and he said the fan was made in the USA...get this-but, only the sheet metal was made here-the fan blades and housing. The most important part, the motor, was made in China.

I'm afraid our industry has all but left us and we have big brother to blame.

Is this off topic or what?

[Chip's Mom]

I copied part of this article from the news on Yahoo this morning. This is scary about dry food.

While we have no doubt that melamine is present in the recalled pet food, there is not enough known data on the mammalian toxicity levels of melamine to conclude it could cause illness and deaths in cats. With little existing data, many questions still remain as to the connection between the illnesses and what has caused them," Hooker said.
The recall involved nearly 100 brands of "cuts and gravy" style dog and cat food made by Menu Foods. The recall covered products carrying names of major brand-name and private-label products sold throughout North America.
The apparently melamine-contaminated wheat gluten also was shipped to an unnamed company that manufactures dry pet food. The FDA is attempting to determine if that product, imported from China, was used to make any pet food, Sundlof said. There is no risk to human food, he told reporters.
Menu Foods used wheat gluten, a source of vegetable protein, to thicken the gravy of its pet foods, FDA officials have said.
Menu Foods spokesman Sam Bornstein did not know whether company testing had found melamine in its products. The company planned a press conference later Friday.

[Owen's mom]

Although the dry dog food manufacturer that received a shipment of wheat gluten from the same Chinese source has not been named the Washington Post website reported today that:

"Early this evening, Hill's Pet Nutrition recalled its Prescription Diet m/d Feline dry cat food, but said that none of its other products --marketed as Hill's Prescription Diet or Science Diet -- were affected or used wheat gluten."

[Dillydoodle]

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[Chip's Mom]

This gives me chills as I know a lady that has a sick cat and she is feeding science diet not sure what kind. I just threw the bag of Hills T/d in the garbage but wheat gluten isn't listed in the ingredients. This is getting really scary.