Archive for the ‘News & Tips’ Category
We had hoped the worst was over with the pet food recalls, and that we would be able to start posting more fun and light-hearted information (hence the story about the “Lamboodles”). Unfortunately it’s quite possible that the worst is yet to come.
Itchmo today posted the following:
BREAKING NEWS: Melamine Spiking in Food “Widespread†For Years – No more denials, no more hemming and hawing by the FDA. Time to take massive cautionary action is now. It’s not just animal feed anymore. It’s not just pet food. It’s a crisis. It’s been going on for years. It’s being done in “wheat, corn, soybean or other proteinsâ€.
All ingredients and foods imported from abroad needs to be tested now. Period. Any food that used suspect ingredients should be recalled. ASAP
They provided a link to an article in the International Herald Tribune, “Filler in Animal Feed is Open Secret in China.”
In case this article does not remain available (many of the articles that get posted, seem to disappear quickly), we have made it available as a .pdf file.
Itchmo also provided an updated list of even more foods that have now been recalled:
Harmon Farms – cans for cats and dogs and biscuits
Mulligan Stew
Canine Caviar
Blue Buffalo – all canned dog and cat food, plus treats.
Natural Balance – more varieties
Chicken Soup For the Pet Lover’s Soul
Diamond pet food
Costco’s Kirkland brand canned food
Lick Your Chops
The bottom line is that this crisis is far from over so please keep up to date on all the available information; and please monitor your pets’ health and their diet closely – for your pet’s sake!
This one seems a little hard to believe, but truth is stranger than fiction!:
LONDON — Thousands of Japanese residents have been ‘fleeced’ into buying neatly-groomed lambs they thought were poodles, The Metro newspaper of London reported Thursday.
The lambs were shipped from Great Britain and Australia to Japan by an Internet company advertising them as poodle puppies. According to the newspaper, a Japanese actress suspected a scam after her “poodle” didn’t bark and wouldn’t eat dog food.
Maiko Kawakami showed photographs of her pet on a Japanese television talk show and found out it wasn’t a dog — but was in fact a lamb. Authorities believe as many as 2,000 people have been conned. ‘We launched an investigation after we were made aware that a company was selling sheep as poodles,’ a police spokesman told The Sun newspaper.
One couple found out the truth only after a dog groomer told them she could not trim their poodle’s claws because they were hooves.
The “poodles” sold for as much as $1,200, about half the price of poodle puppies in Japan. The company, whose name translated as Poodles As Pets, has been shut down.
Source: TheDenverChannel
Did you know that to create a custom pet portrait for you from your pictures, we can work with either digital images or photos taken with film? In either case we must however, receive the picture in its original format. This means that if your pictures were taken with a digital camera we need the original digital images from your camera; and
if your pictures were taken with a camera using 35mm film, we need an original print from a professional photo lab or negative to scan (or you can scan it yourself at a high resolution setting). Unfortunately, we cannot work with any pictures that have been printed or reprinted on an inkjet or laser printer at home or at a printing kiosk at a department or drug store. Even though your pet’s pose may be great, and the picture may look high quality, when scanned in the computer will only see the dots that make up the print and all the important detail will be lost. And we cannot stress enough how important the detail of your original photo is to the outcome of your finished pet portrait! Whenever we can be, we are very picky about the picture we work with for our clients’ custom portraits, but that’s only because we truly care about the quality of the artwork we deliver. Besides, if you love your pet enough to commission us to do a portrait, you and your pet deserve a work of art that truly captures his or her personality in as much detail as possible!
Did you know also that to help you submit an absolutely ideal photo to us for your portrait, we provide photo tips on our website? We have recently expanded those tips to include lots of basic information to help you take better pictures with your digital camera, and some great suggestions on how to get great shots of your pet that will transform into a portrait that will exceed your expectations!
Coincidentally, PC World just published an article online titled “Photographing Your Pets,” with tips from an expert at assessing pet photos. You may want to check it out for even more helpful advice. Because even if you never have a portrait created from your pet’s photos, you can never have too many photos of your picture perfect pet!
New information about the expanding pet food recalls is coming every day now and it is very difficult to keep up with, we recommend that you visit and bookmark Itchmo.com. They are a complete, current source for news on all the recalls, comprehensive lists of contaminated foods and ingredients as well as safe stores to buy non-contaminated foods.
Something else we are comfortable recommending is the two brands of food we feed Kylie, Pop Art Pet’s spokesmodel. The Honest Kitchen, they provide people food formulated for pets! It’s a dehydrated raw food diet and very, very healthy. The blend that we feed Kylie is called Force, here is it’s complete list of ingredients:
Hormone-free chicken, organic flaxseed, potatoes, celery, sweet potatoes, apples, alfalfa, organic kelp, honey, zucchini, green beans, cabbage, bananas, papayas, yogurt, basil, garlic and rosemary.
NO GLUTENS!! No fillers of any kind and Kylie absolutely loves it! She also gets Solid Gold, “Holistique Blendz ” and its primary ingredients are Oatmeal, Barley, Ocean Fish, and Potatoes. Solid Gold has an extensive line of premium foods and products and they have posted the following official statement on their website:
We at Solid Gold Health Products for Pets, Inc. (“Solid Gold’) realize that consumers are very concerned with the recent product food recalls. We would like to assure our customers that there are no safety concerns with Solid Gold products. The product recalls and removals have centered around ingredients sourced in China, in particular wheat gluten and now rice protein concentrate. These products are thought to be contaminated with melamine. Neither of these ingredients are used in any Solid Gold food products, nor do we source any ingredients from China, either directly or indirectly. We do not use gluten meal of any kind in any of our foods.
All the ingredients in Solid Gold products are sourced domestically with three exceptions. The lamb meal used in our dry foods is sourced from New Zealand, which produces some of the cleanest meat in the world. The potato protein used in Barking at the Moon is sourced in Europe. Our Blended Tuna canned cat food (grain free) is produced offshore due to the lack of tuna processing plants in the United States.
Even knowing what goes into Kylie’s foods, every time there is new information we read those labels again and check the manufacturers’ websites again. The most important thing you can do as a pet parent is to stay informed so you can make safe and healthy choices for your pets’ diet.
According to emraldcoast.com, an industrial chemical that led to the nationwide recall of more than 100 brands of cat and dog food has turned up in a second pet food ingredient imported from China.
The discovery expands the month long cascade of recalls to include more brands and varieties of pet foods and treats tainted by the chemical.
“This has exposed that the safety standards for pet foods are not in place in any significant way and the kind of drumbeat, day after day, of recalls has shaken consumers’ confidence in the pet food industry’s adherence to food safety standards,†said Wayne Pacelle, president and chief executive officer of the Humane Society of the United States.
The new addition to the pet food recall list is “Natural Life” in the vegetarian variety cans of 13.02 oz, with the date of Nov/22/09 on the bottom of the can. Check for the UPC number of 12344-07114.
Also a press release on the FDA’s website reports, Wilbur-Ellis Company is voluntarily recalling all lots of the rice protein concentrate the San Francisco company’s Feed Division has shipped to pet-food manufacturers because of a risk that rice protein concentrate may have been contaminated by melamine, an industrial chemical used to make plastics and fertilizers that can lead to illness or fatalities in animals if consumed.
Wilbur-Ellis noted that it obtained rice protein from a single source in China and shipped to a total of five U.S. pet-food manufacturers located in Utah, N.Y., Kansas and two in Missouri.
Last Sunday, April 15, Wilbur-Ellis notified the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that a single bag in a recent shipment of rice protein concentrate from its Chinese supplier, Binzhou Futian Biology Technology Co. Ltd., had tested positive for melamine. Unlike the other white-colored bags in that shipment, the bag in question was pink and had the word “melamine†stenciled upon it. Wilbur-Ellis separated that bag and quarantined the entire shipment for further testing and since that time, no further deliveries of rice protein concentrate have been made. Samples from the white bags tested negative for melamine. However, subsequent and potentially more sensitive tests by the FDA came back positive for melamine, leading Wilbur-Ellis to voluntarily issue the recall.
Wilbur-Ellis began importing rice protein concentrate from Binzhou Futian Biology Technology in July 2006. A total of 14 containers holding 336 metric tons of rice protein concentrate were sent from Futian to Wilbur-Ellis. Wilbur-Ellis has distributed 155 metric tons to date.
On Monday (April 16), a pet food distributor issued a voluntary recall of its pet food, believing the source of contamination to be rice protein concentrate supplied by Wilbur-Ellis. As an additional precaution, Wilbur-Ellis is urging all pet food manufacturers using rice protein concentrate supplied through Wilbur-Ellis to recall any pet food that may be on supermarket shelves.
Natural Balance has confirmed that some of their products have in fact been found to contain contamination from melamine. They have determined that the rice protein concentrate in their line of food and treats containing Venison was contaminated and they have recalled all affected products from distributors. This is from a press release, posted on Natural Balance’s website yesterday:
Natural Balance, Pacoima, CA, is issuing a voluntary nationwide recall for all of its Venison dog products and the dry Venison cat food only, regardless of date codes. The recalled products include Venison and Brown Rice canned and bagged dog foods, Venison and Brown Rice dog treats, and Venison and Green Pea dry cat food. Recent laboratory results show that the products contain melamine. We believe the source of the melamine is a rice protein concentrate. Natural Balance has confirmed this morning that some production batches of these products may contain melamine.
The recall was prompted by consumer complaints received by Natural Balance involving a small number of cats and dogs that developed kidney failure after eating the affected product.
Dogs or cats who have consumed the suspect food and show signs of kidney failure (such as loss of appetite, lethargy and vomiting) should be seen by a veterinarian. We recommend our customers immediately stop feeding our recalled venison products regardless of date code and return unused product to their retailer for a full refund.
The products are packaged in bags, cans and zip lock treat bags and sold in pet specialty stores and PetCo nationally.
No other Natural Balance products are involved in this voluntary recall as none of our other formulas include the rice protein concentrate.
Although the problems seem to be focused on a particular production period of the venison products, over the last four days we have notified our distributors and retailers by phone and e-mail to immediately stop selling and return all recalled Venison dog foods and treats and the Venison dry cat food. Venison canned cat food is not involved.
The source of the melamine appears to be a rice protein concentrate, which was recently added to the dry venison formulas. Natural Balance does not use wheat gluten, which was associated with the previous melamine contamination.
None of Natural Balance’s other dry formulas, none of our other canned or roll products and none of our other treats are involved with this voluntary recall.
We continue to work closely with the FDA in their ongoing investigation.
Consumers with questions may contact the company at 1-800-829-4493 or email [email protected].
Please Note: Natural Balance, Inc.’s website, including the link with the Press Release has been down intermittently since this news was released. If you have trouble accessing their site, please be patient and try again later.
“Natural Balance,” considered a premium pet food, has announced a voluntary recall their venison dry cat and dog formulas. The statement on their website reads:
We are receiving consumer complaints regarding the Venison & Brown Rice Dry Dog Food, and Venison & Green Pea Dry Cat Foods. We do not know what is wrong with the food at this time, but we have heard that animals are vomiting and experiencing kidney problems. Although the problems seem to be focused on one particular lot, as a precautionary measure, we are pulling all dates of Venison & Brown Rice Dry Dog Food and Venison & Green Pea Dry Cat Food from the shelves.
Please discontinue feeding all Venison and Brown Rice Dry Dog Food, and Venison and Green Pea Dry Cat Food.
We are working closely with the FDA.
We will update this website today, as more information comes available.
NO OTHER NATURAL BALANCE PRODUCTS ARE AFFECTED.
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We commend Natural Balance for responding quickly and appropriately to the reports, hopefully this is a “false alarm” caused by consumers’ heightened awareness and concern in the wake of the recent recalls. Earlier this month Natural Balance reported an increase of nearly 40% in their sales, as people responded to the publicized pet food recall by upgrading from grocery store brands to premium pet foods.
We encourage those of you who have made the switch to premium foods to not be discouraged by this, to continue reading the labels on your pet’s food and treats, and to continue to monitor the news about the recalls. We also encourage all pet parents to do the research for themselves on how to consistently feed their pets a healthy diet. The quality of the food you feed your pets is absolutely the most important contribution you can make to lengthen and improve their quality of life.
Our friends at Wag ‘n’ Wash, retailers of premium pet foods have provided a brochure online, called “For Pet’s Sake – Get Smart!” to help you educate yourself on what to look for and what to avoid when selecting pet foods. And to add our two cents, due to the recalls and the source of the contamination being traced to wheat gluten – if any of your pets’ food or treats contain wheat gluten, throw it out. Better safe than sorry!
The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) has posted a comprehensive list of all pet foods recalled in connection to a suspected wheat gluten contamination. The comprehensive AVMA Pet Food Recall List is available at http://www.avma.org/aa/menufoodsrecall/products.asp. This information has been posted by the AVMA to help pet owners and veterinarians more easily and quickly sort through the over 100 pet foods currently recalled.
The number and brands of pet foods that have been recalled in connection to contaminated wheat gluten has grown since Menu Foods, a private-label pet food producer based in Canada, initially announced the recall on March 16. The AVMA Pet Food Recall list consolidates all manufacturer, brand and formulation information.
The AVMA also reminds pet owners what should be done if an animal is found to be affected by these contaminated pet foods. Most importantly, pets need to be seen and treated by a veterinarian. If your pet shows signs of loss of appetite, lethargy, vomiting or change in urination, consult a veterinarian immediately. Pet owners must remain informed on the latest recalls, recheck all pet food in their possession, and stop feeding their pets any of the recalled pet foods that they have in their homes. Many veterinarians have reported that animals have recently been made ill by foods recalled from store shelves weeks ago.
The comprehensive AVMA Pet Food Recall List contains all recall information that has come to the attention of the AVMA, but it is not guaranteed to be complete. The AVMA encourages all concerned to contact the specific manufacturer regarding the status of any particular pet food or treat.
Source: DrugNewswire
Pet owners will file the first, class action lawsuit Wednesday in Colorado against Menu Foods and other pet food manufacturers who sold bad product.
Denver attorney Jennifer Thomaidis says pet owners need answers. She’ll file the lawsuit on behalf of a woman whose cat ate some of the tainted Iams that had been part of the massive pet food recall. Thomaidis said, “At some point ,someone has to speak and say exactly how this happened and give some answers to the people of Colorado who are being affected and the pets that are being affected.”
According to the Denver district office of the F.D.A. more than 50 pets have died or have been euthanized because of failing kidneys. Throughout the country that number is much larger. Thomaidis is also working with Progressive Law Group in Madison, Wisconsin, which represents hundreds of pet owners.
Thomaidis says pet food manufacturers like Menu Foods and Del Monte need to be held accountable for what’s happened. “One question I would like to ask manufacturers. is,’what were you feeding your pet and how soon did you know about this?'” she said. Thomaidis will hold a press conference announcing the filing of the class action lawsuit. She anticipates more pet owners will join it.
Source: CW2 Denver
First a reminder: The ASPCA’s website is providing a Pet Food Recall Resource Center, with FAQ’s, press releases and a complete list of recalled foods and treats. We recommend that pet parents bookmark, it and check it daily as the information continues to be updated.
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A pet food company has announced a nationwide recall of dog, cat and ferret treats that could be contaminated with salmonella. The bacteria could infect both animals and people handling the food.
The announcement is unrelated to the more extensive recall of melamine-tainted dog and cat food that led to kidney failure in pets around the country.
Eight in One Inc., a division of United Pet Group Inc., is recalling all packages of Dingo Chick’N Jerky, Dingo Kitty Chicken Jerky and Dingo Ferret Chicken Jerky.
Salmonella can cause serious infections in pets and children, the elderly and people with weakened immune systems. In pets, salmonella can cause diarrhea, fevers, vomiting, loss of appetite, lethargy and abdominal pain. Animals that do not get sick can infect other pets or humans.
The bacteria could also infect people handling the pet treats. Humans infected with the salmonella can experience fever, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal cramps. It could also cause more serious problems such as arterial infections, endocarditis, arthritis, muscle pain, eye irritation and urinary tract problems.
Eight in One has received a report of a dog infected by salmonella, which lead to further testing of this product. Some, but not all, of the samples tested were contaminated.
The treats were sold around the country at Target, PetSmart and other stores.
The company asks consumers to throw away unused portions of the jerky treats. To obtain a refund, call 888-232-9889.
Source: MSNBC
