Major recall on cat/dog food

[CarolsCritterCare]

I just saw this. LOTS of brands including Nutro. Too many to list
here. The foods have been linked to kidney failure and death.

http://www.menufoods.com/recall/

[keith]

Thank you for posting this, Carol.

Heard about this in a 'news preview' on the weekend and never caught it on the news. Wonderful to find it right here on theBubbler!

Regards,
Keith

[CarolsCritterCare]

If it's animal related, chances are I have the info and can get the word out as well.
Thought this was a great place to post it with so many members here.
Carol

[AJE]

PET FOOD RECALL UPDATE: OTHER CONTAMINANTS MAY BE INVOLVED

Since Menu Foods, Inc. announced its massive pet food recall on March 16, the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center has been flooded with calls from pet parents and animal welfare professionals alike. Based on data from these calls, the ASPCA reports that clinical signs in cats affected by the contaminated foods are not fully consistent with the ingestion of rat poison containing aminopterin which, says Menu Foods, is at the “root” of the contamination issue.

Explains the ASPCA’s Dr. Steven Hansen, veterinary toxicologist, “There are so many inconsistencies in the purported link between aminopterin and the animals affected that we urge veterinary toxicologists and veterinary pathologists at diagnostic laboratories to continue looking for additional contaminants.”

Pets who are being treated for kidney failure suspected to be related to contaminated food should stay on their treatment. If your pet has eaten contaminated food and shows any signs of illness, including loss of appetite, lethargy, vomiting, diarrhea, changes in water consumption and changes in urination, please consult with a veterinarian or the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center at (888) 426-4435 immediately. In order to help with your pet’s diagnosis, you are advised to:


- retain food samples for analysis

- save all packaging and receipts, and document the product name, type of product, date codes and/or production lot numbers

- document the dates that the product was fed to your pet, how much was eaten, and the time when you first noticed symptoms
Adverse effects or deaths of pets conclusively linked to eating the contaminated foods should be reported to the FDA. Additionally, the American Veterinary Medical Association website contains helpful information for pet parents and veterinarians.
For a complete list of recalled pet food brands, please visit http://www.menufoods.com/recall.


Link to the Site:
http://www.aspca.org/site/PageServer...salert033007#1

[CarolsCritterCare]

I never necropsied Tommy......he died a week before this food recall broke. I was feeding him the nutro. So now I will always second guess what really killed him. He was the only one who was eating the nutro. I was trying to put weight on him. I know he had a mass in his lungs as well, but the vomiting up blood was not consistent with this mass.

Carol

[CarolsCritterCare]

Feds Find Chemical in Recalled Pet Food

WASHINGTON (March 30) - 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. Cornell University scientists
also have found the chemical, also used 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.

The new 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. The FDA said it could not confirm that finding.

New York officials have detected melamine as well, though it's not clear how that chemical would have poisoned pets. It's typically used to produce plastic kitchen wares, though it's apparently used as a fertilizer in Asia, said Stephen F. Sundlof, director of the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine.

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.

The apparently melamine-contaminated wheat gluten also was shipped to an unnamed company that manufactures dry pet food. The FDA is attempting to determine if that product, imported from China, was used to make any pet food, Sundlof said.

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

www.fda.gov has a complete list of all recalled foods.

[CarolsCritterCare]

DOG FOOD GRADES

Dog Food scores:

Alpo Prime Cuts - Score 81 C
Artemis Large/Medium Breed Puppy - Score 114 A+
Authority Harvest Baked - Score 116 A+
Authority Harvest Baked Less Active - Score 93 B
Beowulf Back to Basics - Score 101 A+
Bil-Jac Select - Score 68 F
Blackwood 3000 Lamb and Rice - Score 83 C
Blue Buffalo Chicken and Rice - Score 106 A+
Burns Chicken and Brown Rice - Score 107 A+
Canidae - Score 112A+
Chicken Soup Senior - Score 115 A+
Diamond Maintenance - Score 64 F
Diamond Lamb Meal & Rice - Score 92 B
Diamond Large Breed 60+ Formula - Score 99 A
Diamond Performance - Score 85 C
Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance Ultra Premium - Score 122 A+
Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance Venison & Brown Rice - Score 106 A+
Dick Van Patten's Duck and Potato - Score 106 A+
EaglePack Holistic - Score 102 A+
Eukanuba Adult - Score 81 C
Eukanuba Puppy - Score 79 C
Flint River Senior - Score 101 A+
Foundations - Score 106 A+
Hund-n-Flocken Adult Dog (lamb) by Solid Gold - Score 93 B
Iams Lamb Meal & Rice Formula Premium - Score 73 D
Innova Dog - Score 114 A+ ** (This is what I use) ** Sylvia
Innova Evo - Score 114 A+
Innova Large Breed Puppy - Score 122 A+
Kirkland Signature Chicken, Rice, & Vegetables - Score 110 A+
Member's Mark Chicken and Rice - Score 84 C
Merrick Wilderness Blend - Score 127 A+
Nature's Recipe - Score 100 A
Nature's Recipe Healthy Skin Venison & Rice - Score 116 A+
Nature's Variety Raw Instinct - Score 122 A+
Nutra Nuggets Super Premium Lamb Meal and Rice - Score 81C
Nutrience Junior Medium Breed Puppy - Score 101 A+
Nutrisource Lamb and Rice - Score 87 B
Nutro Max Adult - Score 93 B
Nutro Natural Choice Lamb and Rice - Score 98 A
Nutro Natural Choice Large Breed Puppy - Score 87B
Nutro Natural Choice Puppy Wheat Free - Score 86 B
Nutro Natural Choice Senior - Score 95 A
Nutro Ultra Adult - Score 104 A+
Pet Gold Adult with Lamb & Rice - Score 23 F
Premium Edge Chicken, Rice & Vegetables Adult dry - Score 109 A+
Pro Nature Puppy - Score 80 C
Pro Plan Sensitive Stomach - Score 94 A
Purina Beniful - Score 17 F
Purina Dog - Score 62 F
Purina Come-n-Get It - Score 16 F
Purina One Large Breed Puppy - Score 62 F
Royal Canin Boxer - Score 103 A+
Royal Canin Bulldog - Score 100 A+
Royal Canin Natural Blend Adult - Score 106 A+
Science Diet Advanced Protein Senior 7+ - Score 63 F
Science Diet for Large Breed Puppies - Score 69 F
Sensible Choice Chicken and Rice - Score 97 A
Solid Gold - Score 99 A
Summit - Score 99 A
Timberwolf Organics Wild & Natural Dry - Score 120 A+
Wellness Super5 Mix Chicken - Score 110 A+
Wolfking Adult Dog (bison) by Solid Gold - Score 97 A

This is how the grades were determined:

Start with a grade of 100

1) For every listing of "by-product" , subtract 10 points

2) For every non-specific animal source ("meat" or poultry", meat,
meal or fat) reference, subtract 10 points

3) If the food contains BHA, BHT, or ethoxyquin, subtract 10 points

4) For every grain "mill run" or non-specific rain source, subtract 5 points

5) If the same grain ingredient is used 2 or more times in the first five
ingredients (i.e. "ground brown rice", brewer's rice", "rice flour" are all
the
same grain), subtract 5 points

6) If the protein sources are not meat meal and there are less than 2
meats in the top 3 ingredients, subtract 3 points

7) If it contains any artificial colorants, subtract 3 points

8 ) If it contains ground corn or whole grain corn, subtract 3 points

9) If corn is listed in the top 5 ingredients, subtract 2 more points

10) If the food contains any animal fat other than fish oil, subtract
2 points

11) If lamb is the only animal protein source unless your dog is allergic to
other protein sources), subtract 2 points

12) If it contains soy or soybeans, subtract 2 points

13) If it contains wheat (unless you know that your dog isn't allergic to
wheat), subtract 2 points

14) If it contains beef (unless you know that your dog isn't allergic to
beef), subtract 1 point

15) If it contains salt, subtract 1 point

Extra Credit:

1) If any of the meat sources are organic, add 5 points

2) If the food is endorsed by any major breed goup or nutritionist, add 5
points

3) If the food is baked not extruded, add 5 points

4) If the food contains probiotics, add 3 points

5) If the food contains fruit, add 3 points

6) If the food contains vegetables (NOT corn or other grains) add
3 points

7) If the animal sources are hormone-free and antibiotic-free add
2 points

8 ) If the food contains barley, add 2 points

9) If the food contains flax seed oil (not just the seeds) add 2 points

10) If the food contains oats or oatmeal, add 1 point

11) If the food contains sunflower oil, add 1 point

12) For every different specific animal protein source (other than the first
one; count "chicken" and "chicken meal" as only one protein source, but
"chicken" and "" as 2 different sources) add 1 point

13) If it contains glucosamine and chondroitin, add 1 point

14) If the vegetables have been tested for pesticides and are pesticide
free, add 1 point

[pk]

DOG FOOD GRADES

Well, most of the good dog foods on this list I never heard of or never see them in the stores around here...the ones I have heard of and either tried before or using now all rate an F or close to it.

There is one I totally agree with: Purina Beniful - Score 17 F this really rated a 'F' with my dogs. I tried this and it made them sick.

pk

[CarolsCritterCare]

From Nutro's website:

Nutro Products Orders Removal of All Wet Pet Food Products Made by MenuFoods with Wheat Gluten

Nutro Dry Foods, Biscuits and Treats are NOT manufactured by Menu Foods and are NOT Affected by Recall

City of Industry , Calif. (April 10, 2007)- Earlier today, Menu Foods
expanded its recall of wet pet food products to include additional wet pet
foods suspected of containing melamine from Chinese supplied wheat gluten.

Given this new information and the confusion in the marketplace, Nutro has ordered ALL Nutro wet pouched and canned foods made with wheat gluten be removed from store shelves regardless of the date of production and asks pet owners to stop feeding those products to their pets. Nutro is taking this action even though the Menu Foods press release indicates that only certain dates of production at its plant were affected.

"Pet owners are fed up with confusing information regarding the Menu Foods recall," said Dave Kravis, President and CEO of Nutro Products. "I had previously ordered a broader recall of affected products than what Menu Foods had suggested. Given this new information from Menu Foods, I have ordered all wet pet food products containing wheat gluten to be removed from store shelves. Our dry pet food is not made by Menu and remains unaffected by the recall."

As a result of this new information, Nutro has suspended all shipments to
retail stores of Nutro's wet canned and pouch products that contain wheat
gluten until Nutro is able to confirm their safety.

Nutro Products is asking all customers who have the following Nutro wet pet food products (which are made by Menu Foods and contain wheat gluten)regardless of "best by date," to immediately stop feeding the products totheir pets.

All Cat Pouch Food Products
Listed Cat 3.0 oz can products
All Dog Pouch Food Products
Listed Dog 12.5 oz Canned Products

Nutro's products are 100% guaranteed and all returned product will be
refunded. Customers should return products affected by the recall to the
retail location where they purchased the product.

The Menu Foods wet pet food recall does not include Nutro's dry pet food.
Nutro's dry pet foods are not produced by Menu Foods and do not contain
wheat gluten. Nutro's dry pet foods, biscuits and treats - over 90% of the
pet food Nutro sells - are not involved in the recall and remain safe for
pets to eat. Menu manufactures only wet, canned and pouch products for
Nutro.

Nutro customers may check Nutro's website ( www.nutroproducts. com ) or contact Nutro's Consumer Hotline (800) 833-5330 for further information about its products. Nutro's website will be updated as more information becomes available.

[AJE]

:cry: PetConnection was reporting that 3,907 pets have been reported as deceased as the result of the tainted pet food which results in kidney failure. Total reports of all owner suspected cases of food-related illness are at 12,174
http://www.northcountrygazette.org/a...DeathToll.html

:cry: