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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  Why were these products (and many others of late) ‘withdrawn’ from store shelves instead of publically and promptly recalled?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

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

FDA is clarifying that Nutro Products, Inc. is not currently under investigation.  FDA does not typically confirm or deny the existence of an FDA investigation.  It has recently come to our attention, however, that a media report incorrectly concluded and reported that Nutro Products, Inc. was the subject of an investigation.

http://www.fda.gov/cvm/CVM_Updates/NutroProducts.htm

I am not going to retract my previous blog, but it does seem that the information online about Nutro was false. Which is great for ppl who feed their dogs Nutro!

My statements in my previous blog were just me being frustrated to read about yet another investigation or recall. I hate the pet food industry sometimes, I really do!!

Ok…and onto the Swine Flu.

nataliedee.com

This is pertaining to our pets getting it, and passing it on to us.

According to this blog post on the Holistic Pet Food Blog, it looks like our pets can’t get it…or so far that’s what they think anyways. Check it out, they have a few good sources there and some links. (that’s also where the Nutro info came from too, and they also have GREAT info on pet food!)

Here’s what MSNBC says:

Is there any possibility of this strain crossing into dogs, cats or other pets? If so, are small animals (puppies, kittens) more at risk than adult animals?
—Anonymous

There is no evidence whatsoever of any risk for animals that has come up. The main problem with this is that it’s a virus that seems to have originated in pigs and became capable of infecting human beings. There are flu viruses that preferentially affect cats and dogs, but that’s not what we’re talking about here.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30460823/

So…good news tonight…No Nutro investigation and it looks like we won’t be getting the Swine Flu from our furry childrens.