PET FOOD ALERT

They have wysong's at Raley's, bbb. Not cheap, but also not the worst.

Muttering, osso.

Re: Safe Pet Food list


This is unfair. Most of these brands have one or maybe two lines of products that are unsafe. But, their other products are safe. For example, Hill's Science Diet has taken several of their savory cans off the shelf and one dry food. They make dozens of products for both dogs and cats and maybe other animals for all I know. Lists like these are rotten.

Re: Safe Pet Food list

Just to emphasize that Whiskas dry and wet food is fine. It's not part of Menu Foods, but rather the manufacturer is Effem Inc.

Lil'K makes sense. Fear tends to rule, and a well worked out grid of okness is not apt to be heard.

There is no evidence that any human has gotten sick from melamine-contaminated human food. Perhaps the toxin is present, but is not toxic for humans.

list
The list of safe pet food was provided by Lou Dobs on his CNN show.

BBB

BBB - I was bitching at the author of the list, not you.

So, it seems my cat's new food is safe enough.

Littlek


Littlek, don't worry; I knew that.

BBB

Good!

Looks like they're recalling some doggie biscuits....

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/06/us/06petfood.html?ref=us

Del Monte widens pet food recall
Del Monte widens pet food recall
From Bloomberg News
April 7, 2007


Del Monte Foods Co. on Friday broadened its recall of dog treats that may have been tainted with contaminated wheat gluten from China.

Del Monte widened the range of Jerky Treats and Ol' Roy and Happy Tails Beef Flavor treats covered by a recall first announced March 31.

The latest recall, which also includes some private-label snacks, adds packages with different expiration dates, Del Monte said.

The Food and Drug Administration is examining pet food contamination that has been linked to at least 16 animal deaths. At least six pet food makers, including San Francisco-based Del Monte, Menu Foods Ltd. and Nestle's Purina Pet Care Co., have issued recalls.

The FDA has received more than 12,000 complaints from pet owners related to the recall, which has discovered food tainted with melamine, a substance used to make plastic kitchen utensils and fertilizers.

PetSmart
I went shopping for dog food at Pet Smart yesterday. Shelves loaded with pet food, but a small variety of manufacturers.

Odd that there were not any posted notices about the recall.

BBB

I went to the store, this afternoon and walked by the shelves that usually have the pet food etc on them. Many empty spots were noted and at each empty space, a typed noticed stated the recall of contaminated dog/cat food and that the store was obeying the instructions recently put forth by the FDA.

Who's responsible for dog/cat food inspection in the US? Is it the FDA of the Dept of Agriculture?

Also...Vets advise against feeding your dog human food since human food has been reported to cause pancreatitis in dogs.

Who regulates the pet food industry?
Who regulates the pet food industry?

Because there are government agencies regulating everything from television to diet pills, I thought it was safe to assume that someone was watching closely over those in charge of what my dog ate. As it turns out, the buck stops no where.

Basically, the regulation of what goes into pet food comes down from three agencies:

The Pet Food Institute (PFI):

Started in 1958, PFI is "the voice of U.S. pet food manufacturers." They function as the industries media relations and representative before the U.S. Congress and state and federal agencies. They represent the makers of 97 percent of all dog and cat food produced in the United States.

In writing her book, Food Pets Die For, Ann Martin continually asked this question of PFI: "Do any of the pet food companies actually test the raw material to see if it contains rendered companion animals?"

PFI denies that this practice takes place. In a letter from Nancy Cook, vice president of technical and regulatory affairs, to Martin, Cook stated: "Please be advised that member of the Pet Food Institute...have taken steps to assure that no such ingredients are used in their products."

However, PFI has never stated exactly what these measures are.

Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO):

The AAFCO is an organization, not a government agency. So although they are usually the authority on defining what goes into feed, they have no authority to enforce any standards. They call themselves an organization "in which officials of state, provincial, dominion and federal agencies, engage in the regulation of production, analysis, labeling, distribution and sale of animal feeds and livestock remedies, may exchange ideas and share experience for mutual benefit and development of uniformity."

Although it seems like a organization run by state employees, most of their members are on the payroll of pet food companies. They have representatives from Heinz Pet Foods, Bil Jac Pet Foods, Nutramax, Purina, Iams Co., Nutro and others. Other members are from the rendering industry and the Pet Food Institute.

The Food and Drug Administration Center for Veterinary Medicine (FDA/CVM):

Their regulations basically come down to the making and distributing of food additives and drugs for pets. They have no say in the sources of the actual ingredients for proteins or fats.

According to their Information for Consumers bulletin, "the Center for Veterinary Medicine is responsible for the regulation of animal drugs, medicated feeds, food additives, and feed ingredients, including pet foods... The Act does require that pet food, like human foods, be pure and wholesome, contain no harmful or deleterious substances, and be truthfully labeled."

This makes them sound like a watchdog, however they are usually more concerned with testing any health claims that pet foods make, such as if they claim to prevent a disease.
-----------------------------------------

More information:

http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/Spring04/Perhach/PetFood/Regulation.htm

I wonder how all the Vet bills and sick pets will affect the Pet Insurance Industry?

The pet insurance industry
Pet owners may sue food manufacturers, but only recover costs for vet treatments and animal purchase prices. The courts have always considered pets property and not beloved family members. That may all change with this latest pet food issue. ---BBB

http://weeklypets.blogspot.com/2005/11/pet-insurance-2006.html

Sunday, November 13, 2005
Pet Insurance 2006

The market for pet insurance continues to exhibit strong growth and shows no signs of letting up in 2006, with both consumers and corporations buying more policies than ever before. The Wall Street Journal reports that pet insurance is currently offered by 5% of companies, up from 1% in 2000, and that Google (NASDAQ:GOOG), Hilton Hotels (NYSE:HLT) and Mercedes-Benz USA (a wholly-owned subsidiary of DaimlerChrysler North American Holding Corporation) plan to offer it as an employee benefit in 2006. The newspaper also reports on the fees submitted to VPI, the largest pet insurance provider in the U.S., for the most frequent claims. For dogs, the number one claim is for soft-tissue trauma costing an average of $88 each ("More Employers Are Offering Pet-Insurance Benefits," by Kerry Hannon, The Wall Street Journal, Nov. 12-13, 2005).

I think the primary driver of this segment is still the trend of humanizing pets, not only for insurance but for medications, veterinary care, pet health products and clinical trials. Treating pets just like their own children, pet owners are increasingly willing to spend large amounts of money on medical care.

The potential impact of the trend of humanizing pets may change the pet insurance industry in 2006. Pet industry followers currently cite the lack of lawsuits in the pet insurance industry as another factor in its growth, but assuming pet industry trends will once again mirror human trends implies a potential increase in lawsuits against veterinarians and pet insurance companies.

"When people start cooking their own recipes, probably we'll have a rash of nutritional deficiencies," said veterinarian Scott Moffat, owner of Kittery Animal Hospital. "You've got to be very careful to get the trace minerals. There are some pretty good recipes."

Toxic Pet Food May Have Poisoned Up To 39,000 Animals
Tainted Pet Food-Kidney Illness Link
ANDREW BRIDGES - AP
April 9, 2007

Cases of kidney failure among cats rose by 30 percent during the three months that pet food contaminated with an industrial chemical was sold, one of the nation's largest chains of veterinary hospitals reported Monday.

Banfield, The Pet Hospital, said an analysis of its database, compiled from records collected by its more than 615 veterinary hospitals, suggests that three out of every 10,000 cats and dogs seen in its clinics developed kidney failure during the time the melamine-contaminated pet food was on the market. There are an estimated 60 million dogs and 70 million cats in the United States, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association.

The veterinary hospital chain saw 1 million dogs and cats during the three months when the more than 100 brands of now-recalled contaminated pet food were sold. It saw 284 extra cases of kidney failure among cats during that period, or a roughly 30 percent increase when compared with background rates. It's not clear if those animals ate the contaminated food, though it seems likely.

"It has meaning, when you see a peak like that. We see so many pets here, and it coincided with the recall period," said veterinarian Hugh Lewis, who oversees the mining of Banfield's database to do clinical studies. The chain continues to share its data with the Food and Drug Administration.

In the three weeks since the first pet food was recalled, Banfield vets have examined 1,605 cats and dogs reported to have eaten the recalled food. That is less than 1 percent of pets examined. Just six of those animals, five cats and one dog, have died.

FDA officials previously have said the database compiled by the huge veterinary practice would probably provide the most authoritative picture of the harm done by the tainted cat and dog food.

From its findings, Banfield officials calculated a kidney failure rate during the recall period of .03 percent for pets it examined, although there was no discernible uptick among dogs. That suggests the contamination was more toxic to cats, Lewis said. That is in line with what other experts have said previously.

At least six pet food companies have recalled products made with imported Chinese wheat gluten tainted with the chemical. The recall involved about 1 percent of the overall U.S. pet food supply.

Measuring the tainted food's impact on animal health has proved an elusive goal. Previous estimates have ranged from the FDA's admittedly low tally of roughly 16 confirmed deaths to the more than 3,000 unconfirmed cases logged by one Web site.

"On a percentage basis it's not breathtaking, but unfortunately it's a number that, if it was your pet that was affected, it's too high," veterinarian Nancy Zimmerman, Banfield's senior medical adviser, said of the newly estimated incidence rate.

In another estimate Monday, the founder of a veterinary group said 5,000 to 10,000 pets may have fallen ill from eating the contaminated food, and 1,000 to 2,000 may have died.

The estimate was based on a Veterinary Information Network survey of 1,400 veterinarians among its 30,000 members. About one-third reported at least one case, said Paul Pion, the Network's founder. He cautioned that a final, definitive tally isn't possible, and that even his estimate could be halved _ or doubled.

"Nobody is ever going to know the truth," Pion said. "It's always going to be a guess."

Also Monday, the Web site petconnection.com said it had received reports of 3,598 pet deaths, split almost evenly between dogs and cats. The site cautioned that the numbers were unconfirmed.

Banfield's veterinarians treat an estimated 6 percent of the nation's cats and dogs. After the first recall was announced, the chain beefed up its software to allow those veterinarians to plug in extra epidemiological information to help track cases, Zimmerman said.

The new template allowed vets to log what a sick pet had eaten, any symptoms its owner may have noticed, the results of a physical examination, any urine and blood test results and other observations.

Lewis said there is no reason to believe the company's findings _ including an apparently heightened vulnerability of kittens to the contaminant _ wouldn't hold for other veterinary practices as well.

In outbreaks of foodborne disease in humans, the FDA leans on its sister agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to help track and confirm cases. During the ongoing pet food scare, FDA officials have repeatedly reminded the nation that there is no CDC for dogs and cats.

A spokesman for the American Veterinary Medical Association said the lack of hard numbers has worried pet owners eager to understand the extent of the problem. He suggested the recall could spur the creation of an animal counterpart to the CDC.

"This might be something that would push this in the future," AVMA spokesman Michael San Filippo said.

Another large veterinary chain, Los Angeles-based VCA Antech Inc., has not tallied reports from its nearly 400 VCA animal hospitals around the country, a spokesman said.

The latest news is that some of the toxin may have made it's way into human food.