BajaNomad - Kiko and the pet food recall

Kiko and the pet food recall

oladulce - 3-20-2007 at 01:25 AM

The recent recall of pet food which is suspected of causing renal failure and deaths in some pets has been well reported in the US news , but they say some of the brands are also available in Mexico and I wondered if the word got out to those living down there.

This is for both dog and cat food , but only relates to wet food in the "cuts and gravy" style in cans and pouches.
Here's the link for the brands being recalled:
http://menufoods.com/recall/

We took our 6 mo. old Bengal kitty in for her spaying surgery on March 8, 07 but her pre-op lab work was abnormal and showed signs of failing kidneys. She had no signs of illness.

In fact we had just returned from a month in Baja with our 2 cats. For the trip I brought some pouches of a fancy "no by-products" gravy style cat food because it packed easily in the camper. The new girl gatito loved the stuff and I wanted to spoil the new addition to our family.

Since her "renal failure" was discovered last week , I had been feeding her even more of this high quality, expensive food to try and put a little weight on her. I discovered the Nutro Natural Choice food on the recall list 2 days ago.

We probably won't know for sure if the food was the cause. There's a possibility that it could be something transient, so now we wait.

[Edited on 3-20-2007 by oladulce]

Mexitron - 3-20-2007 at 05:47 AM

Bummer about the gato--hope she recovers okay!

Neal Johns - 3-20-2007 at 08:12 AM

Good luck and thanks for the post, it may help someone out.
The recalled food is in small containers, so our big Huskys were safe.

Hook - 3-20-2007 at 08:38 AM

Beginning to look like the culprit may be contaminated wheat gluten in the food, a fairly natural ingredient.

shari - 3-20-2007 at 09:28 AM

Thanks for the heads up...it was on the news in baja last night. Hope your kitty makes it. We have 4 new gatitos as well...with no tails, crossed with bobcats...gorgeous.

Taco de Baja - 3-23-2007 at 09:15 AM

Rat poison found in tainted pet food

Quote:

ALBANY, N.Y. --Rat poison has been found in pet food blamed for the deaths of at least 16 cats and dogs, a spokeswoman for the State Department of Agriculture and Markets said Friday.

Spokeswoman Jessica Chittenden would not identify the chemical or its source beyond saying it was a rodent poison.

link

[Edited on 3-23-2007 by Taco de Baja]

bancoduo - 3-23-2007 at 09:25 AM

Heard on TV this morning that the deadly ingredients were imported from China. :fire:

DianaT - 3-23-2007 at 09:48 AM

It is just awful---you buy the best, high quality for your kitty, and you expect the best. I so hope your fur baby is OK. I will keep her in my thoughts.

We mainly feed our dogs raw diets with some kibble, but when we travel, we do buy some canned food----fortunately, what we bought was not on the list, but it still makes us not want to feed it to them.

Take care and thanks for the information. Again, I really hope your baby is OK

Diane

ChiCom Pesticide

MrBillM - 3-23-2007 at 10:20 AM

The latest news in is that the "Rat Poison" was residue from the pesticide used on the Wheat in China.

We had originally felt safe because we didn't see the Dog Food we use on the original announcement. Coming back into Vons ayer, we were told that the "Priority" Dog Food (previously Safeway Select) was on the recall and to bring it all back. However, going onto the recall website, I noted that NONE of the varieties we use in the 13.2 oz cans are on the list. It was mentioned that the varieties involved are primarily the "Cuts in Gravy" which our Dogs don't like, Thank God.

The Sculpin - 3-23-2007 at 10:57 AM

To begin with, it's probably best not to feed your animal wet food. Dry food is much better for the teeth and breath, provides for limited excercise of the jaw, and from a human perspective is much easier and less noxious to handle. If you want your animal to have the experience of being a carnivore, buy soup bones or large ribs with scarps on them and let them chew on it for a day (unless its a labrador in which case a cow bones lasts all of 10 minutes!!).

As for the concept of "high quality" - it's a sham. Marketers want to personify the habits and routine of your animal and then shame you into providing it "the best". I don't buy it. If my dogs are perfectly happy chewing on a week old shark carcass do you really think they could or would appreciate giblets marinated in a truffle sauce?!?!?

Crimony....... :smug:

Beyond the Recall

MrBillM - 3-23-2007 at 11:12 AM

No Discussion would be complete without gratuitous authoritarian advice giving others instructions in the care of their pets.

It is, of course, deeply appreciated and given the value it deserves.

cabobaja - 3-23-2007 at 03:20 PM

Please note: Do not give your dogs pork bones. They can splinter and tear intestines or worse.

BajaWarrior - 3-23-2007 at 03:40 PM

All excellant points Sculpin, I happen to subscribe to your own care for animals. They're animals, treat them like animals, but love them to death.

It's a dirty shame though what happened to a lot of animals across the country all because of products people trusted and relied on.

Don Alley - 3-23-2007 at 04:13 PM

So you look at all the dog food out there...this one, that one, so many choices. But you take your time, look at the labels, compare protein and fat, listen to the recommendations of vets, friends and internet message board people.

It's important, and you have choices to make. Right?

Wrong.

Behind all the cute names, advertising campaigns, brand loyalties, and all that jazz lies multinational, globally sourced mega pet food factories spewing out all the same stuff to put in different bags and cans. Nutro Natural Choice is the same as Price Chopper. Ol' Roy is Roche Brothers. Laura Lynn is Schnucks. Schnucks? Who buys a dogfood called Schnucks?

Duh. And we think we are making such wise choices.

fdt - 3-23-2007 at 05:24 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by The Sculpin
If you want your animal to have the experience of being a carnivore, buy soup bones or large ribs with scarps on them and let them chew on it for a day (unless its a labrador in which case a cow bones lasts all of 10 minutes!!).

At least once a week my carnicero up the hill gives me (free)
desperdicios, that include but are not limited to bone, scrap meat with nerves, chest bone, inner skinn, cartlidge(spelling?) hughe vains, and ocasionaly lungs, all of wich I use for our big dogs and I boil it along with some left overs like spaguetti, rice or whatever is left and let me tell you, it's a caldo to kill for. Dogs love it, and they love me for it.
Now Mrs fdt has her chihahuitas that she feeds all of the expensive stuff and I'm not allowed to give them my caldos and I just see theire little faces kinda asking; Y mi taco bell?

Maybe if I take out some of the scrap and as The Sculpin says, marinate it in some truffle sauce Mrs fdt will let me feed her dogs :light:

Zoe....

Bedman - 3-23-2007 at 08:07 PM

I had the unhappy task of taking our 7 year old Zoe to the vet to be put down 3 weeks ago. Kidney failure.

Such a beautiful, loving creature.

R.I.P.

Bedman

The Sculpin - 3-23-2007 at 09:30 PM

Sorry to hear about your furry friend, bedman. Our friend lost their JRT several weeks ago. No one had any idea then but now it makes sense.

Mr. Bill!!!!!
Gratuitous advice...of course!
Authoritarian...impossible....I'm married!!!!!
and yes...it's all worth exactly what you paid for it....nada......
:lol:

Bob and Susan - 3-24-2007 at 05:43 AM

:lol:

"and yes...it's all worth exactly what you paid for it....nada......"
:lol:

jimgrms - 3-24-2007 at 07:52 AM

It is not a problem for barney the bulldog he has a sensitve stomach and allergies and has to eat hypr allergenic all natural buffalo, But i think he likes cat poop better :rolleyes:

Labs.......

bajaguy - 3-24-2007 at 09:10 AM

(unless its a labrador in which case a cow bones lasts all of 10 minutes!!).

Ain't that the truth!!!.....and they will be back in 11 minutes with that goofy grin looking for another case!!!

New info....not rat poison after all?

Hook - 3-30-2007 at 02:40 PM

And there is a chance that some dry food could be affected by another supplier...............

Mar 30, 4:18 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Recalled pet foods contained a chemical used to make plastics, but government tests failed to confirm the presence of rat poison, federal officials said Friday.

The Food and Drug Administration said it found melamine in samples of the Menu Foods pet food, as well as in wheat gluten used as an ingredient in the wet-style products. The FDA was working to rule out the possibility that the contaminated wheat gluten could have made it into any human food, but was not aware of any risk to people.

It wasn't immediately clear whether the melamine was the culprit in the deaths of more than a dozen cats and dogs and the illnesses of hundreds more, said Stephen F. Sundlof, director of the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine.

In a news conference, FDA officials said that the apparently melamine-contaminated wheat gluten also was shipped to a company that manufactures dry pet food, but they would not name the company.

The FDA is attempting to determine if that company used any of the wheat gluten, imported from China, to make dry pet food, Sundlof said. The head of Menu Foods, the manufacturer of the recalled pet food, said Friday it had dropped the U.S. supplier of the imported ingredient. Paul Henderson also suggested his company would sue the unnamed supplier.

Wheat gluten, a source of vegetable protein, is also used in some human foods, but the FDA emphasized it had found no indication that the contaminated ingredient had been used in food for people.

The FDA said it would alert the public quickly if the melamine was found in any foods other than the recalled pet food.

Cornell University scientists also found melamine - used to produce plastic kitchen wares and used in Asia as a fertilizer - in the urine of sick cats, as well as in the kidney of one cat that died after eating the company's wet food.

Menu Foods recalled 60 million containers of cat and dog food earlier this month after animals died of kidney failure after eating the Canadian company's products. It is not clear how many pets may have been poisoned by the apparently contaminated food, although anecdotal reports suggest hundreds if not thousands have died. The FDA alone has received more than 8,000 complaints.

Company officials Friday would not provide updated numbers of pets sickened or killed by its contaminated product, though they said they've received more than 300,000 calls from consumers. Henderson said pet owners would be compensated for veterinary bills and the deaths of any dogs and cats linked to his company's products.

The melamine finding comes a week after scientists at the New York State Food Laboratory identified a rat poison and cancer drug called aminopterin as the likely culprit in the pet food. The FDA said it could not confirm that finding.

Yet New York remained confident in its aminopterin finding, said Patrick Hooker, commissioner of the New York state Department of Agriculture and Markets. Hooker added that neither aminopterin nor melamine should be in pet food, but that it was unclear why the latter substance would be poisonous to the cats in which it was found.

"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.

Menu Foods used wheat gluten to thicken the gravy of its pet foods, FDA officials have said.

Henderson, the Menu Foods executive, said pinpointing the specific contaminant wasn't as important as identifying the contaminated ingredient.

"The important factor is that all the things associated with this problem were with this single supplier of the suspect wheat gluten," Henderson told reporters.

Kiko update

oladulce - 3-31-2007 at 10:17 AM

She seems to be hanging in there. Not eating alot, but not getting any skinnier. She's not in heat right now ( well, at least not right this second but by the time I'm finished writing this it'll probably be back again) and she's got an entirely different personality- playful, affectionate, and no yowling at the top of her lungs.

She's doing more Bengal-like things now; playing in the bathtub water, climbing on to anything high like the tops of window valances, bookcases, cathedral ceiling rafters. She'll occasionally sweep her paw across her water dish before drinking as her "Asian Leopard Cat" ancestors would do to clear off debris from the top of a pond .

She's more vocal now, trilling and yipping especially when she wants to play. Of course she makes absolutely no sound or warning when she's "stalking", and jumps down from an 8ft high shelf on to your shoulder and scares the poopie out of you.

One more week and she goes back to have her kidney function checked. If healthy, maybe spaying surgery and then we can all get on with life.

BigWooo and I have given up on not-getting-too-attached, and instead are enjoying each day we have with her just in case.

Thanks for listening- I know other people's pet stories can be boring. My thoughts are with any of you guys who have recently lost your Buddy because of this.

Healthy Kiko in early Janurary

First trip to Baja, Jan. '07

Cuidado Ola

Sharksbaja - 3-31-2007 at 11:54 AM

The trauma associated with the spaying of a cat can be quite intense. We lost a cat that had the surgery while ill. Please wait till kitty is well on her feet before you transcribe to nuetering.

DianaT - 3-31-2007 at 12:32 PM

Your kitty is beautiful --- sure hope her problems pass.

Today I read that some Alpo Cuts and Gravy dog food, and a dry cat food called Prescription Diet have been added to the recall list.

Good luck
Diane

oladulce - 3-31-2007 at 02:23 PM

Thanks Sharks. Prior to all this I thought that spaying was a simple, routine procedure. I've recently read other stories of cats that died because no one realized they were ill before going in to surgery.

When my husband took her in for the original spay appointment they asked if he wanted to do pre-op lab work to assess her health. He thought the nurse in me would have said "yes" to the tests so he said ok. This is how her problems were first discovered.

In reality, I might have said "naw" to the blood work because she was young and appeared to be the epitome of health and I didn't know that spaying was such a major surgery for a cat. Nor did I know that I was poisoning her with the cat food. Her blood tests revealed her kidneys to be in such bad shape, that I'm sure she would have succumbed from the surgery like your poor gato did.

I've stopped second-guessing myself on this near-miss and am thankful we were lucky this time. We're hoping the luck continues.

When you see her in person Diane, you would think that face was airbrushed with silver and peach . It's really something. But the best part is observing a creature so lightning fast, with so many wild traits and behaviors, hanging around your house and excited to see you when you come home.

windgrrl - 3-31-2007 at 04:00 PM

I am so sad to hear about all of those with pets affected by the contaminated food.

We are far from our food supply these days and know little we know of it's origins. If you get a chance to read "The Secret House: The Extraordinary Science of an Ordinary Day" you might not eat another frozen cake. Ever. Has to do with the source of the ingredients, how rancid guck is scraped of the floor, bleached, fluffed with air and formed into "food". Not a scrap wasted!

We raised our pound pup, now 7 years old, on vegetarian dog food. She goes for it every time, although she thinks a bit of brown organic rice makes it go down better. If we run out of dog food, we make our own...lots of recipes on the 'net.

Is she strong and healthy? Yup - she ropes me up mountains for hours and asks for more.

oladulce - 4-15-2007 at 08:12 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by grover
"horrible coincidence" that chief financial officer of Menu Foods sold nearly half his stock less than three weeks before recall

3 weeks... That could be a lifetime.

3 weeks is how long our gatito was eating that tainted food while we were in Baja Sur. Actually, being in Baja is what saved her because I had packed a limited supply of the toxic stuff for our trip.

The latest tests indicate that Kiko's kidneys are now functioning normally. She's not quite as skinny and seems more peppy, but the long term effects are unknown.

The report about the Menu Foods CFO prompted me to research some avenues for potential reimbursement of the $2000 we've spent so far, but I'm not holding my breath.

DianaT - 4-15-2007 at 08:59 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by oladulce

Quote:

Originally posted by grover
"horrible coincidence" that chief financial officer of Menu Foods sold nearly half his stock less than three weeks before recall

So glad Kiko is doing better and hope there will be no long term effects. And you should be reimbursed for the bills. :yes:

Gosh, can't imagine that anyone would question that poor financial officer's ethics. :rolleyes:

Diane