vulgarweed | Contaminated pet food

Short version of the story: right now in the US there is a horrible scandal involving dogs and cats dying of kidney failure due to contaminants in many popular brands of pet food.

The latest info I've heard is that it is being blamed on a drug that used to be used in chemotherapy but is now banned in the US - however it is still used in China as a rat poison, and it appeared in wheat gluten shipped to the US to manufacturing plants in New Jersey and Kansas (and WTF is with importing Chinese wheat products to KANSAS? Don't we make anything in this country anymore?). Menu Foods is the manufacturer. The problem foods have been canned and pouched wet foods of the gravy-and-chunks type.

This blog has the best and most up-to-date info that I've found: http://2blackcats.wordpress.com/

There are vets posting and answering questions, and there is also info on the Class Action suit that's starting up. If you or anyone you know has a pet that became sick or, gods forbid, died because of this, PLEASE consider joining this suit. Save all vet bills and receipts, document everything, do NOT return food to the stores or hand it over to anyone; it's evidence. It's not about the money. It's about accountability, safety standards, and consequences. Run these sons-of-bitches out of business and warn others that nickel-and-diming our pets to death will not be tolerated. If $$ is all they understand, then that's where to hit 'em.

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I have been shocked to the gills over this entire deal. People should already know better than to buy the cheapest store-brand crap for their pets, because you get what you pay for. But to have the expensive, supposedly nutritious foods also be tainted? That scares the beejeezus out of me. I am eternally grateful that I stick to dry food. But I am also worried and suspicious that it's coming next.

Another thing about wet foods... Why on earth does the stuff slop over with 'gravy'? It's entirely for the benefit of bogus human aesthetic sensibilities that it's made that way. Frankly, I think it looks like snot and wouldn't want my cats to touch it.

That's one thing that really pissed me off too, that I hadn't realized. To think that foods advertised as "better" and charged for accordingly (Science Diet, for fuck's sake!) are pretty much the same shit as the cheap stuff.

We got lucky with Digory - he likes Fancy Feast, which is not on the list, although it's kind of junky. (He likes the smelly junk food, what can I say...hell, so do we!) And Iams dry food seems OK too.

But this makes me tempted to scratch it all. Over at DU people are posting a lot of recipes to make your own. Why the fuck would you feed cats wheat gluten in the first place? They don't eat that shit in the wild.

I've found a couple places here in town that sell the truly good organic stuff, and we're going out to buy some tomorrow. The ingredients lists for these are very impressive and the price isn't much more than what I'm already paying (and what I paid in prescription food for my kidney-compromised two kitties that already died).

Same reason our dog foods are full of soy -- it's cheaper than real meat of any kind.

More bothersome to me is this news that the wheat gluten was bought from China. I'll bet they thought they were getting a fabulous deal on some cheap wheat, but that it was dirt-cheap for a good reason.

It was recently explained to me (yes, by someone trying to sell a brand of cat food) that soy/veg protiens are easier to digest, so more of the protien in the can gets digested. (I was being a hardnosed nasty customer; he sounded sincere.)

Mithril and Carraig eat dry, but Rumble likes his Fancy Feast -- honestly, if I could just get cans of their gravy, I would! That's the part he really loves, and he'd likely be content with dry food if only he could inhale his gravy ....

To think that foods advertised as "better" and charged for accordingly (Science Diet, for fuck's sake!) are pretty much the same shit as the cheap stuff.

Science Diet dry and regular canned food isn't made by Menu Foods - it's unfortunate that people are assuming that it's the same crap. My vet told me years ago not to use Iams of any kind (it was already linked to kidney disease) - he uses Hill's Prescription & recommends Science Diet.

I actually did feed some of the 'cuts & gravy' type foods to my older cat, who died of kidney failure in February. However, he was 15, diabetic and had gone off his food in the first place, so I don't think it's related, and I'm pretty sure that it was Fancy Feast or Nine Lives. I wouldn't have bought either Iams or generic food under any circumstances. In any case, I think it happened before the contaminated food was sold. I don't know if a lawsuit is really appropriate in this case, unless Menu Foods knew about possible contamination and sold the food anyway.

Oddly enough, my Rumble often eats just the gravy, leaving the solid bits behind. I've been wishing they made whole cans of the stuff ...

At his age, I'm not surprised. They don't like having to chew and digest anything heavy, and he's the one already dealing with kidney trouble, yes? Perhaps you could find a decent human form of the stuff, make it yourself even, and let him try that.

Thank God we just give Zooeybutt dry food. :(

I'm so glad. but it's so scary...makes me rethink everything about feeding 'em.

I totally agree with your sentiments, but one thing though. They know the poison is in the foods. They suspected wheat gluten because of timing in shipments and providers, but they do *NOT* yet know for sure that the poison is in the gluten. Most of the articles out there are not clear enough about this.

See this:
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8NUCLFG0&show_article=1
Food and Drug Administration spokeswoman Julie Zawisza said it is still too early to determine what could have affected the food. Zawisza added that even if wheat gluten is the source "it doesn't necessarily mean the wheat gluten per se. It could be another substance associated with the wheat gluten."

My friend (and fellow Antiochian)

la_nuque just lost her cat about a week ago. She didn't say if any of the foods were related (I do know that he was an older fellah), though I've certainly been wondering because of the timing. I sent her a link to your post.

And I've got to mirror what

quantum_witch said above -- it freaks me out to know the fancy, expensive foods are involved in this recall. We sell Nutro Natural cat foods at The Co-op. Now, we don't sell any of the "cuts and gravy" styles involved in the recall (so thankfully we didn't personally sell any poison pet food), but still. I trusted our brands.

I switched to Hills Prescription Diet when Jacob had his surgery; now I'm wondering if I shouldn't go back to Wellness, just to be safe.

Contaminated pet food - a PSA

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