Archive for October, 2009

 

I follow a page called The Truth About Pet Food that lists the pet food recalls and other things of that nature.

Today’s article is about how the pet food manufacturers are now treating recalls and pet deaths in a different manner – Silence.

The 2007 pet food recall taught Pet Food and the FDA something BIG.  The 2007 pet food recall taught Pet Food and the FDA that Pet Parents go a little ballistic over news of a pet food recall.  It’s been referred to as ‘pet food hysteria’.  Instead of just going on as usual, panicked ‘hysterical’ Pet Parents turned to blogging and Tweeting about a tainted pet food.  We (pet parents) want to learn everything we can and want to share every bit of pet food news the best way we can hoping to save the life of our or someone else’s pet.  This blogging and Tweeting told Pet Food and the FDA pet parents have lost trust in pet foods and have serious doubts of the effectiveness of the FDA.  The apparent new method of handling pet food recalls, is not handling them at all.  The new recalls are silent.

Did you know there have been 3 recalls or recall-esque events in the past few months besides the one I blogged about earlier this month? Probably not. The FDA does not have the authority to authorize that pet food manufacturers issue recalls. Read this blurb:

Why was there not a prompt FDA recall press release of these pet foods?  Why were these products (and many others of late) ‘withdrawn’ from store shelves instead of publically and promptly recalled?  What is the difference between a pet food withdrawal and a pet food recall?

The FDA provided me the following explanation to the difference between a pet food withdrawal and a pet food recall…
"FDA does not have statutory authority to require manufacturers to initiate pet food recalls. Therefore, the initiation of such recalls on the part of manufacturers or importers is voluntary.

Please see the following for additional information on recalls: http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm049070.htm
Recalls classified as Class I require a press release which is typically issued by the firm. FDA posts those releases at http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/default.htm.
Companies have conducted recalls that were not classified as Class I and issued press releases which is their prerogative but only Class I classified recalls require a press release."

The original blog post http://www.truthaboutpetfood.com/articles/480/1/The-Silent-Killer-of-Pets/Page1.html goes into a bit more detail on the FDA…it’s worth taking the time to read the entire article.

It goes on to say this:

There is a GAPING HOLE in the pet food withdrawal and recall system that everyone of authority seems to be ignoring; Notification of pet owners.  Ya know…the people that purchased the pet food…they’re called CUSTOMERS!  Customers and their pets are falling into this GAPING HOLE and no one seems to care. 

Thanks to the Internet and a world of concerned pet parents, news of pet food withdrawals does get out sooner or later…but I have to wonder how many times has the news of a suspect pet food arrived too late?  How many pets have fallen into the GAPING HOLE?  One sick pet due to NOT INFORMING A PET OWNER is too many.

OMG this is SO true! Without the companies letting US, the pet owners, know, how the heck are we supposed to know WHAT is going on in our pets’ food? How do we know we’re not feeding out pets tainted, moldy, contaminated, TOXIC foods? We put our trust into these companies thinking they know what they’re doing! And then they don’t have the decency to INFORM us??? That is OUTRAGEOUS!

Be mad people, be outraged. DEMAND change! The Truth About Pet Food has a suggestion to take action:

Let’s take matters into our own hands and ask (ok, perhaps demand nicely) Pet Food Companies initiate a notification system for pet food withdrawals and silent recalls!  This isn’t brain surgery…this is a very simple system that can Save the lives of Pets!  Perhaps your pet!

Please take a few minutes, copy a letter and email it to your Pet Food Company.  Click Here for the very simple instructions.

I am going to do this myself this weekend. This is just crazy and I’m tired of it. No pet owner should have to go through losing a pet because of the food they chose to feed their pets. And no commercial or premium food seems to be safe anymore. I’ve lost ALL faith in the entire industry.

Article in its entirety: http://www.truthaboutpetfood.com/articles/480/1/The-Silent-Killer-of-Pets/Page1.html

Photo credit is linked on the photo…just click!

 

Since Halloween is just around the corner and it’s my husband most favorite time of year (mine is Christmas…with Halloween a close 2nd), I thought I’d talk about scary movies. The hubbs (he needs a NN on here…hmm, will have to think) has been watching horror movies all month…hell, all year, that’s his favorite genre! But for the past week or so he’s been watching some doozies!

Horror movies scare the poop outta me, so I don’t watch them too often.

What I’d LOVE to know though, is WHEN this black stringy haired pale girl/woman became the most scariest thing on EARTH…no, IN THE UNIVERSE????

I’d post a photo, but then my blog would scare me, so some links:

• The RING: http://media.photobucket.com/image/The%20ring%20tv/CWDPEZ/WRITE%20IMAGES/TheRing_Samara_.jpg

This movie scared the CRAP out of me!! I was physically scared when I saw it. When that chick crawled OUT of the TV……………OMG I was SO done! I STILL cannot watch that part of the movie. I’ve seen it a couple times and even went back for The Ring 2. But O M G!!! That chick and the tv!! Forget it. NEVER AGAIN.

• The Grudge:  http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q250/truly02blessed/Pictures%20from%20movies/018_0001_243x400.jpg

Another one that scared the piss out of me. And this one folks, I watched basically ALONE! The husband watched it with me but his ass fell asleep on the couch. This movie had multiple pale white black haired little scaries. I don’t remember most of the movie, just that damn noise and the chick coming down the stairs. O M G – W T F

• The Messengers: http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e92/royallyspooky/movies/messengers.jpg

I couldn’t find a good photo from this movie and I don’t remember it very well, but I KNOW there were some pale little kids with black hair in it. AGAIN…WTF!

Movies I didn’t see, but W T F!!!! These are my husband’s suggestions… don’t blame me!

• Drag me to Hell: http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg112/vinniciusp/Maio%202009/drag.jpg
• The Orphanage (WTF for REALS on this one…what IS that???): http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee99/poolagirl/random/orphanage.jpg
• Haunted Forest (um, OMFG it gets worse!): http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w206/ByteCollectors/HauntedForest2007.jpg
• Shutter: http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg187/redhotzgum/ando-shutter-thai-movie.jpg
• One Missed Call (not sure if this movie has the girl in it, but OMG, just the COVER freaks me out!): http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn89/3cynthi3/one_missed_call.jpg

 

You get the picture. My husband thinks I’m a wuss. Whatever. I’m SO out on every.single.one.of.these.movies

Wysong has recalled some of their dry dog foods due to mold. For more information go to the Wysong website:

http://www.wysong.net/recall.php

Where I got the information: http://www.truthaboutpetfood.com/articles/469/1/Wysong-Dog-Food-Recall/Page1.html

 

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This next little bit is terrifying! I’m so glad we no longer use these products on our dogs! Yikes!!

A veterinarian presented with a peculiar case of a poodle stuck in its crate last week traced the problem to the pet’s spot-on flea treatment.

Residue from the product Advantage, which was applied between the poodle’s shoulders, somehow came in contact with the plastic base of the animal’s crate, dissolving the plastic and causing it to adhere to the dog’s belly.

When the dog wouldn’t come out of its crate the next morning, its concerned owner brought the dog, crate and all, to Dr. Tej Dhaliwal of North Town Veterinary Hospital in Ontario, Canada. Following two hours of sleuthing, Dhaliwal concluded that benzyl alcohol, an inactive ingredient in Advantage, was to blame.

Bayer Animal Health, maker of Advantage, acknowledged that the flea treatment was the likely culprit and offered to pay the owner’s veterinary bill, compensate him for loss of salary and replace the crate, Dhaliwal said.

Bob Walker, a spokesman for Bayer in the United States, confirmed that Advantage contains benzyl alcohol, which reacts with certain plastics. He said he consulted with colleagues in veterinary services and was told, “We know it can happen, but we’ve never seen it.”

Walker said a lead veterinarian in the department thought that most of the veterinary community was aware of the potential for the product to react with plastic. Walker said that he personally had not heard of such a thing before. He added, “My counsel would be, if you’re not aware, you need to be aware.”

For more information: http://www.truthaboutpetfood.com/articles/472/1/Spot-On-Flea-Treatment-melts-Plastic-Crate-to-Dog/Page1.html

http://news.vin.com/vinnews.aspx?articleId=14061

 

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This next article showed up in my inbox just this morning.

The ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center (APCC) reviewed 200,000 cases from the past two years and produced no examples of lead poisoning from pet toys. According to Dr. Sharon Gwaltney-Brant, ASPCA Vice President and Medical Director of the APCC, younger dogs, just like children, are especially vulnerable to lead poisoning, but most studies reveal only tiny amounts of lead in pet toys—not a grave risk for acute or chronic lead poisoning in dogs.

“Just because it’s ‘detectable’ doesn’t necessarily make it hazardous,” says Dr. Gwaltney-Brant. “Even oxygen is toxic at the right concentration.”

Amazing…there are no regulations for the amount of anything when it comes to our pets. We need these laws changed. Now.

Here’s the full article: http://www.aspca.org/news/national/10-16-09.html

The article also touches on rawhide and the risks of that. I am going to look for a good rawhide article. That’s another huge no no!

Here’s one: http://www.millennium-ark.net/News_Files/INFO_Files/rawhide.chew.warning.html

This is one of the blog topics I’ve been wanting to blog about but haven’t gotten to due to the week from hell and other weddingly things that have been going on.

My husband is on Coumadin and needs to have his blood drawn to see what his INR is. Because of his diseases, he should be getting this drawn weekly and then get his result right away and have his medication (Coumadin) dosed accordingly.

He recently switched doctors and hospitals due to a lot of issues with his PCP and the distance he had to drive…just lots of random issues with things at the other hospital. He was on Lovenox (which is a Low Molecular Weight Heparin type drug and is injected twice a day) but he wanted to be back on Coumadin. So his hematologist set him up with INR draws at his office and put him back on the Coumadin.

Everything was going fine.

I wasn’t thrilled with the way his doctor was scheduling his INR draws…2 weeks apart, or a month apart…and he was getting his results at the next visit. I knew this was going on, and I wasn’t happy about it, but my husband didn’t seem to mind too much and I have been trying to let him handle his own medical stuff.

So this went on for a few months…

Then, we get a bill for 110 for office visits for his blood draws. Wait, what? A blood draw is an OFFICE visit? Since when? Seems, since he’s actually seeing the doctor IN his OFFICE, they’ve been billing it as an office visit – resulting in us having to pay a co-pay for said office visits.

Ridiculous. Purely ridiculous.

Ok, so being that I work at our health insurance company, I emailed them and asked if there is something they can do about these blood draws being billed as office visits. They got back with me right away and said that they couldn’t do anything because they were billed AS office visits and not lab draws.

UGH!!!

So i txt the hubbs and tell him there’s nothing the insurance can do, they’re billing wrong and he needs to call the office.

This is where I don’t know exactly how it happened…but I have a feeling that my husband couldn’t get anywhere speaking with the office, or didn’t know how to explain it, or was getting too frustrated to speak (he begins to stutter really bad when he gets too frustrated or worked up)…and I know he was in contact with Tina, President of the APSFA, my partner in crime and our friend…because he calls her when he has to deal with his medical and health stuff…

So not only are his INR draws being done incorrectly (with too much time in between), and he’s not getting his results soon enough…getting his INR a week after it was drawn does NOT help with dosing him!…and they’re also billing us incorrectly? Yeah, not gonna fly. I would have called and bitched, but I was at work…so Tina stepped in as an advocate for the patient from the APSFA.

Tina called and spoke to someone at the desk (a secretary I believe) and gets further than the husband was getting. The secretary didn’t know exactly what was going on, but she did explain and they discussed a few other things. I honestly need to see if HIPAA was breached because Tina said she got further than she should have.

Anyway, I was fuming about it all…so was Tina…so was my husband.

I wish I could have called the doctor while I was mad because I knew if I talked to them after the fact I’d either lose my nerve or be over the entire thing and be out…

And that’s exactly what happened.

When I talked to the office, the woman was very nice and said she’s just a secretary after all. When I talked to the doctor a couple days later, he basically dismissed me and was like…blah blah blah and that’s why.

Ugh. Stupid.

But, what IS going to happen…my husband will be going somewhere else to get his INR draws. Somewhere that can process the WHOLE blood draw and get the INR ON site and not have to “send it out” – which was what was happening at the office. So stupid. So, Monday he’ll go in to his doctor office EARLY, get a script from the doctor and go elsewhere. Hopefully, then he’ll be able to call the office in the afternoon and they will have his INR and dosage for him. If he does this every Monday, then there shouldn’t be an issue…right?

We’ll see.

I am just glad that we have someone like Tina, who is not only a great friend of mine and my husband’s, but also President and co-founder of the APSFA…in our corner. She is always there when we need her for questions or to discuss a doctor’s appointment, or in cases like this where I cannot speak for my husband and he cannot speak for himself.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I’m coming off the longest week ever! I’m SO glad it’s finally Friday!

I started getting sick on Friday of last week. Was sick ALL last weekend…passed it to the husband even… I’m finally now, a week later, feeling better…so there’s where the week started out.

Then we moved to a different floor at work.

I’ve worked on the same floor since I’ve worked there (14 years just about) so I know nothing but the floor I’ve been on. Sure, I’ve moved around ON that floor, but never have I worked on a different floor. Probably not a big deal for most, but I have a really hard time dealing with change, so you know this all stresses me to HELL. The desks are way different, I actually have to have a neighbor…etc.

So there’s that. And then…for some stupid reason, all of technology has decided that I am its nemesis and has decided to fail me in every way possible.

First, my Blackberry died. Fried. Dead. Had a funeral and a burial. A new one should come either tomorrow or Monday.

How did I manage this? I was updating the Blackberry Messenger…FROM THE DAMN BLACKBERRY SITE!!!! UGH!

So it started there. I got this white screen of death and the Blackberry was no more. Thank GOD I have a back up phone so I’m not completely naked. I don’t even know half the numbers in my phone!

What sucks though is I lost ALL my apps (thank God also for memory cards!) and they will all need to be reloaded. So stupid.

Moving day at work was yesterday. I spent the morning unpacking and setting my desk up. The techs came to hook up my computer while I was on break and when I got back they informed me that my computer won’t turn on. Nice.

Called the help desk and ended up giving them the WRONG phone number and without a cell phone, they couldn’t get a hold of me and I missed their call at noon. I called for a ticket status and gave them my cell number for them to call me today.

They called me this morning and came and fixed my computer. YEAH! I sat down, logged on and got things situated and THE COMPUTER DIED AGAIN!!!

Before this moment in my day I also managed to crash my web browser twice, try to hook up my friend’s printer and botched that so she couldn’t print and for some reason the question website form thingie we use at work is not working for me. Me. Just me.

The tech was still on the floor after the computer died the 2nd time so I went and told him that it died again. He came back and said he’d need to order the part and it’s gonna be another day – at least. Nice.

Then the tech and another tech came over and decided to test the electricity. My lines are all fine, the cord is fine…everything is fine and working well.

I am not sure when technology decided I was the enemy and turned against me. Some warning would have been nice…and an explanation. I’m SO pro-technology! I love technology. I do.

I was afraid to get on my computer last night. I’m surprised my iPod is still working, and that my old Blackberry hasn’t blown up yet.

I think my juju is right again…the planets have realigned and all is well in the universe. I am hoping it stays that way…

and again… I ♥ technology dammit!!!! No more messed up technology juju!!!!!!!