More pet recalls Thursday

[rascal]

Dot...I am so sorry about Janice`s cat. Please express my condolences.

[Dot Matrix]

Thanks I will tell her from you and Bow

Rascal what are you feeding Rascal's Ark?

My Dad went out and got some canned stew -- I said just make sure there are no onions and other things.

IT is frightening

A client today said now they think it was a different additive to bulk up the protein count.

Like they did with soap they let the maggots breed in the animal fat and then put that into the soap, this was suppose to bulk up the protein count artificially, and they could label the food (mostly grain and CRAP) as having more protein!

They wanted to lie

One site I saw had a vet say they think it is more like 300 deaths

[Dot Matrix]

Look at this from Belle!

Wheat gluten is used in a majority of human processed foods as well and this wheat gluten was sold as "food grade", not "feed grade" meaning it was deemed acceptable for human foods as well. You'd be surprised at how much "human" food also has wheat gluten in it.

They cannot guarantee that contaminated gluten was not used in any "human" food and I wouldn't take their word for it, either based on how much this recall continues to expand.

"Stephen F. Sundlof, director of the Food and Drug Administration's Center for Veterinary Medicine said the FDA is not aware of any contaminated gluten that went into human food but said he could not confirm this "with 100 percent certainty." Wheat gluten is a common food additive used as a thickener, dough conditioner, and meat substitute. It is widely used as an additive in commercial bakery items and special purpose flours." (source)

Humans vary our diet on a daily basis and our systems are much larger and much more durable in the face of contamination than a small dog or cat who eats the same thing every day, so it *could* just be a matter of time before there's even more bad news to come down the pike.

There are at least 17 companies in China who supply wheat gluten to the US. BUT Menu Foods got this gluten from a US DISTRIBUTOR who bought the gluten from the Chinese distributor:

"The head of Menu Foods, the manufacturer of the recalled pet food, said today it had dropped the U.S. supplier of the imported ingredient. Paul Henderson also suggested his company would sue the unnamed supplier."

Source

"The FDA announced today that it has traced the contaminated wheat gluten to a single processor, Xuzhou Anying Biological Technology of Peixian, China, but has not released the name of the U.S. distributor who supplied the product to Del Monte, Menu Foods, Nestle Purina, and Hills Nutritional."

Source

Who else does this US DISTRIBUTOR ship the wheat gluten to? This wheat gluten is used in everything from human food and pharmaceuticals to cosmetics.

Here is a sampling of things that contain gluten.

I use Bil Jac and recommend it. (WW, I switched from Eukanuba after they sold out.) Frankly, right now, Bil Jac is just about the only thing I do trust outside of cooking my own food from scratch - I wouldn't even trust baby food for my fur-baby right now. Bil Jac doesn't use any gluten in their products.

Here's a great list of alternative safer foods for your pet.

And another site with good information.

I like to think that I'm not an alarmist, but in this case, I am very carefully considering my own diet as carefully as I am considering Vixen's. It's not just that I don't trust the FDA (I don't), but I have zero confidence in their ability to investigate and act quickly when/if they are alerted to any additional danger.

On another thread. I forgot to add Bil Jac Thanks

Edited April 7, 2007 by Dot Matrix

[Abigail]

Well, I spent about 3 hours making home cooked food for the dogs today. I made one batch with burger, oatmeal, liver, green beans, carrots, and peas. The other batch was eggs (with crushed shells), rice, chicken, green beans, carrots and peas.

I figure the cost was right around $30 - $35 for all of it (I was able to buy a bunch of whole chickens on sale - burger was on sale too). I will see how long it lasts - I'm still not entirely sure how much to give them per feeding. I'm hoping it will last 2 - 3 weeks, I put a lot in the freezer.

I also bought the brewers yeast with garlic to supplement their food.

Any advice on quantities? One is about 65 lbs, the other about 30.

[rascal]

Well all of my dogs and cats get dry. The cats are on walmarts special kitty... the dogs are on something mark picked up at the feed store. I haven`t checked.

With all of my animals...I cannot afford expensive food...I hope that they will be ok.

My dane xena was on the diamond dog food that poisoned so many last year...she even ate some that was reported to have been bad...fortunatly she suffered no noticable ill affects from it. We had many many die in our are because of that.

Oh Dot I have an update....you remember the little stray ... bu tt ugly dog??? Well he was adopted by my friend and was successfully treated for heartworms...his new name is now *Petey* he lives inside with another dog and two cats.

He takes good care of his new Mom. They were made for each other.

[doojable]

Well, I spent about 3 hours making home cooked food for the dogs today. I made one batch with burger, oatmeal, liver, green beans, carrots, and peas. The other batch was eggs (with crushed shells), rice, chicken, green beans, carrots and peas.

I figure the cost was right around $30 - $35 for all of it (I was able to buy a bunch of whole chickens on sale - burger was on sale too). I will see how long it lasts - I'm still not entirely sure how much to give them per feeding. I'm hoping it will last 2 - 3 weeks, I put a lot in the freezer.

I also bought the brewers yeast with garlic to supplement their food.

Any advice on quantities? One is about 65 lbs, the other about 30.

Abi - see how much they will eat in about ten minutes - then give them that amount twice a day. If you make this food again, freeze it in about one or two day amounts and then take out one bag to thaw in the fridge as you need it. (I used to have on bag thawing while I used another.)