Just thought everyone who has pets on here might want to know:

Quote :

"Recall of Pet Food Panics Animal Owners By MATTHEW VERRINDER Associated Press Writer Posted: Mar. 17 9:15 p.m. Updated: Mar. 17 11:26 p.m. UNION, N.J. — Pet owners were worried Saturday that the pet food in their cupboards could be deadly after millions of containers of dog and cat food sold at major retailers across North America were recalled. Menu Foods, the Ontario-based company that produced the pet food, said Saturday it was recalling dog food sold under 48 brands and cat food sold under 40 brands including Iams, Nutro and Eukanuba. The food was distributed throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico by major retailers such as Wal-Mart, Kroger and Safeway. An unknown number of cats and dogs had suffered kidney failure and about 10 died after eating the affected pet food, the company said. Meanwhile, two other companies - Nestle Purina PetCare Co. and Hill's Pet Nutrition Inc. - announced Saturday night that as a precaution they were voluntarily recalling some products made by Menu Foods. Many stores that sold the affected brands frantically pulled packages off shelves. At a Petsmart store in Union, Silviene Grzybowski became worried when the four types of Iams products she buys for her cat, Smokey, had vanished from shelves. The cat was very sick and had not been eating for days, she said. "The vet told us to buy her her favorite food, but I'm going to call the vet right now," Grzybowski said, looking at an announcement Petsmart had taped to shelves announcing the recall. Ron Finegold of Boynton Beach, Florida, said he noticed about a week or so ago that his family's 3-year-old cat - who was regularly fed a variety of Iams cat food - had stopped eating and did not appear well. He quickly took the animal to the veterinarian, who determined she was in renal failure. He said he heard about the recall on the radio Friday night. He checked his trash, and found out he had given the cat some of the affected food. "That's when I realized (the illness) had to be related," Finegold said. "She won't be eating that stuff anymore." A complete list of the recalled products along with product codes, descriptions and production dates was available from the Menu Foods Web site. The company also designated two phone numbers that pet owners could call for information -- (866) 463-6738 and (866) 895-2708 -- but callers kept the lines busy for much of Saturday. Menu Foods' chief executive and president Paul Henderson told the Associated Press on Friday that the company was still trying to figure out what happened. He said that the company had received an undisclosed number of owner complaints that dogs and cats were vomiting and suffering kidney failure after eating its products. He estimated that the recall would cost the company, which is mostly owned by the Menu Foods Income Fund, an estimated $26 million to $34 million. Sarah Tuite, a company spokeswoman, has said the recalled products were made using wheat gluten purchased from a new supplier, which has since been dropped for another source. Wheat gluten is a source of protein. 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." The recall covers the company's "cuts and gravy" style food, which consists of chunks of meat in gravy, sold in cans and small foil pouches from December 3 to March 6. In Omaha, Nebraska, Susan Balvanz said she sometimes feeds her five cats packets of sliced meat and gravy sold by Nutro Products, one of the brands affected. "I've done so much research on pet food. It didn't surprise me but it scared me all the same," said Balvanz. She said her 9-year-old cat, Boots, was especially fond of the food but seemed to have lost its appetite in the last few days. At the Missouri Valley Veterinary Clinic in Bismarck, North Dakota, veterinarian Jacob Carlson has been referring worried pet owners to the Menu Foods web site. "We've had a lot of calls," Carlson said, although none of his patients were sick. The company said it makes pet food for 17 of the top 20 North American retailers. It is also a contract manufacturer for the top branded pet food companies, including Procter & Gamble Co. "

http://wral.com/news/national_world/national/story/1238992/

3/18/2007 8:04:40 AM

yet another reason for me not to buy wet food (besides being more expensive and supposedly not as good for the animals digestive track)

3/18/2007 8:47:35 AM

This company manufactures a lot of pet food, including store brands and name brands. The brands listed below are brands that Menu Foods believes are affected; however, Menu Foods manufactures food for companies other than these. If your brand of pet food is not listed, I recommend that you visit your brand's website to see if they have issued a voluntary recall.

If you use one of these brands of cat food, go to http://www.menufoods.com/recall/product_cat.html for specific information.

Americas Choice, Preferred Pets		Iams				Save-A-Lot
Authority				Laura Lynn			Schnucks
Best Choice				Li'l Red			Science Diet Feline Savory Cuts Cans
Companion				Loving Meals			Sophistacat
Compliments				Meijer's Main Choice		Special Kitty Canada
Demoulas Market Basket			Nutriplan			Special Kitty US
Eukanuba				Nutro Max Gourmet Classics	Springfield Prize
Fine Feline Cat				Nutro Natural Choice		Sprout
Food Lion				Paws				Total Pet
Foodtown				Pet Pride			Wegmans
Giant Companion				Presidents Choice		Western Family
Hannaford				Price Chopper			White Rose
Hill Country Fare			Priority			Winn Dixie
Hy-Vee

Americas Choice, Preferred Pets		Hill Country Fare		Presidents Choice
Authority				Hy-Vee				Price Chopper
Award					Iams				Priority
Best Choice				Laura Lynn			Publix
Big Bet					Loving Meals			Roche Bros
Big Red					Meijers Main Choice		Save-A-Lot
Bloom					Mixables			Schnucks
Bruiser					Nutriplan			Shep Dog
Cadillac				Nutro Max			Springsfield Prize
Companion				Nutro Natural Choice		Sprout
Demoulas Market Basket			Nutro				Stater Bros
Eukanuba				Ol'Roy Canada			Total Pet
Food Lion				Ol'Roy US			Western Family
Giant Companion				Paws				White Rose
Great Choice				Pet Essentials			Winn Dixie
Hannaford				Pet Pride - Good n Meaty	Your Pet

     Science Diet Kitten Savory Cuts Ocean Fish 3 oz. and 5.5 oz.
     Science Diet Feline Adult Savory Cuts Beef 5.5 oz.
     Science Diet Feline Adult Savory Cuts Chicken 5.5 oz.
     Science Diet Feline Adult Savory Cuts Ocean Fish 5.5 oz.
     Science Diet Feline Senior Savory Cuts Chicken 5.5 oz.

     BESTBEFORE 09 2008 M06XXXXXX 4414
     BESTBEFORE 08 2008 M28XXXXXX 4416
     BESTBEFORE 08 2008 M28XXXXXX 4415
     BESTBEFORE 08 2008 M28XXXXXX 4601
     BESTBEFORE 08 2008 M28XXXXXX 4603
     BESTBEFORE 08 2008 M25XXXXXX 4457
     BESTBEFORE 08 2008 M28XXXXXX 4414

3/18/2007 8:55:12 AM

glad i dont give my dogs wet food

3/18/2007 9:34:34 AM

So is it basically just the wet food? My cats get Iams dry food, and they're just as fat and happy as ever. We don't have any major pet stores here (no PetSmart or anything like that), so our food selection for the cats is pretty limited.

3/18/2007 10:45:59 AM

on the site it seemed like it was only wet food.

3/18/2007 11:08:53 AM

My husband and I both got the impression that it was wet food only. We feed our cats dry food, but keep some wet food around for when we want to treat the cats or run out of dry food before our next grocery run. We didn't even check the serial numbers and just threw out our canned Iams to be on the safe side.

3/18/2007 12:20:20 PM

^same here, i keep 2 cans of wet around. one for the dog and one for the cat as a treat to mix in a little with their hard food sometimes. def. tossing it now...

3/18/2007 1:29:14 PM

this goes to show that the cheap Ol Roy that walmart sells is the same shit as Eukanuba and Science Diet.

But Damn... Im glad my boo only gets hard food because her brand is on the list

3/18/2007 1:45:26 PM

lots of products have different brand names and are made by one company, yet have different levels of quality.

i'm no dog/cat food expert though, could be.

[Edited on March 18, 2007 at 1:49 PM. Reason : .]

3/18/2007 1:49:40 PM

YOU KNOW WHAT FUCKING PISSES ME OFF IS THAT NUTRO NATURAL SHIT MY GF BOUGHT IS ON THE POISON LIST AND ITS LIKE MORE EXPENSIVE THAN MY FOOD.

Im getting Kibbles and bits from now ont.

3/18/2007 2:11:25 PM

Quote :

"this goes to show that the cheap Ol Roy that walmart sells is the same shit as Eukanuba and Science Diet."

Not even close.

3/18/2007 4:36:11 PM

we bought some wet pouches for last week when we were on vacation for the guy feeding our cats for us to give them as a treat... it's on the list, codes and UPCs match, too.... glad he forgot to give it to them!

3/18/2007 4:49:12 PM

Innova for the win

3/18/2007 5:15:58 PM

Quote :

""this goes to show that the cheap Ol Roy that walmart sells is the same shit as Eukanuba and Science Diet." Not even close."

It's a little close.

3/18/2007 7:30:17 PM

explain

3/18/2007 8:25:29 PM

^^not really. You have to look at the ingredients and make sure that it does not say "animal" on it. Animal can mean anything from cats, to horse, to rendered shit.

3/18/2007 8:59:28 PM

what the fuck could get in there to cause renal failure??? article says something about wheat gluten ... so pesticides?

3/19/2007 12:41:33 AM

that's what y'all get for feeding your dogs shitty foods.

3/19/2007 6:31:14 AM

its just the wet food, we had to pull all this shit off the shelves on saturday at the petco i work at.

3/19/2007 8:38:54 AM

Quote :

"what the fuck could get in there to cause renal failure??? article says something about wheat gluten ... so pesticides?"

Renal failure can be cause by numerous things. More than likely, in cases of contaminated food, its going to be a fungal or bacterial infection. Other substances that lead to renal failure include obvious no-no's like mercury, lead, arsenic, rat poison, and anti-freeze, but some more unlikely sources include house plants like an Easter Lily, grapes/raisins, large amounts of Vitamin D, Tylenol, and countless other medications.

3/19/2007 12:17:38 PM

Glad my kitties only eat dry food. My kitties wont touch the wet stuff...I tried giving it to them as a treat once and they turned up their noses.

3/19/2007 12:33:20 PM

When the dust settles, will Menu Foods have any market share left? Lets wait and see.

3/20/2007 2:49:54 PM

3/20/2007 3:29:29 PM

I had no idea there were that many "brands" of dog/cat food. I thought there was about 4

3/20/2007 3:39:48 PM

off the top of my head petco caries

Dogs: Iams, purina, pedigree, nutro, science diet, eukenuba, bil-jac, natures recipe, royal canin, organix, natural choice

Cat: too fucking many too

3/20/2007 7:25:34 PM

Quote :

"YOU KNOW WHAT FUCKING PISSES ME OFF IS THAT NUTRO NATURAL SHIT MY GF BOUGHT IS ON THE POISON LIST AND ITS LIKE MORE EXPENSIVE THAN MY FOOD. Im getting Kibbles and bits from now ont."

going to become a very smart financial choice when "puppy" gets a little older... the way she was eating when we were over there on Saturday night... she's going to be HUGE!

3/21/2007 4:52:29 PM

They found the culprit: rat poison
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/03/23/pet.food.recall.ap/index.html

3/23/2007 11:39:28 AM

This makes me glad that I only give my pup dry food.

3/23/2007 12:29:36 PM

rat poison? Oh, wow. I feed my dog dry food only. With wet food, you are paying for a lot of water anyways. But still, this could have happened in dry dog food, just as it could have happened in people's food. These companies are very careful about stuff like this, but still, it happens.

3/23/2007 5:25:46 PM

Got called in to work early, everything that was put back on the shelf as "safe" is being taken off again.

3/24/2007 8:27:43 AM

My friend's dog is having problems as a result. He was only exposed to a small amount, but is having kidney issues. Is it best to continue treatment with his regular vet or take him to the vet school?

My dachshund was exposed to rat posion a few years ago (most likely from chomping on an animal). It was the kind that caused clotting issues though and she was fine after treatment.

[Edited on March 24, 2007 at 9:50 AM. Reason : k]

3/24/2007 9:48:47 AM

^^motherfucker... all that shit is still gonna be back there tommorrow when the fucking truck comes again

3/24/2007 10:14:03 AM

nope, never mind

[Edited on March 24, 2007 at 11:45 AM. Reason : read the other thread]

3/24/2007 11:41:38 AM

just some more info if you got any wet food at Petsmart
which you should be feeding dry food anyway but hopefully we all know that by know.

list of Petsmart products that were recalled:
http://media.corporate-ir.net/media_files/irol/19/196265/Customer_Handout.pdf
(WET FOOD only)

3/24/2007 5:15:20 PM

This video seems very appropriate...

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=1562890671

3/24/2007 6:13:54 PM

SNL, classic

3/24/2007 6:17:52 PM

geez...can you imagine how much business these people are going to lose? Lots of people will never buy this food again (can't really blame them). I wonder if they will even stay in wet food business after this.

3/24/2007 6:34:50 PM

update:

Quote :

"Recall Expanded to Some Dry Cat Food By ANDREW BRIDGES Associated Press Writer Posted: Today at 6:24 p.m. Updated: 58 minutes ago WASHINGTON — Federal testing of recalled pet foods turned up a chemical used to make plastics but failed to confirm the presence of a cancer drug also used as rat poison. The recall expanded Friday to include the first dry pet food. The Food and Drug Administration said Friday it found melamine in samples of the Menu Foods pet food involved in the original recall and in imported wheat gluten used as an ingredient in the company's wet-style products. Cornell University scientists also found melamine in the urine of sick cats, as well as in the kidney of one cat that died after eating some of the recalled food. Meanwhile, Hill's Pet Nutrition recalled its Prescription Diet m/d Feline dry cat food. The food included wheat gluten from the same supplier that Menu Foods used. The recall didn't involve any other Prescription Diet or Science Diet products, said the company, a division of Colgate-Palmolive Co. FDA was working to rule out the possibility that the contaminated wheat gluten could have made it into any human food. However, melamine is toxic only in high doses, experts said, leaving its role in the pet deaths unclear. Menu Foods recalled 60 million containers of cat and dog food, sold throughout North America under nearly 100 brands, 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 company, more than 300,000. Company officials on Friday would not provide updated numbers of pets sickened or killed by its contaminated product. Pet owners would be compensated for veterinary bills and the deaths of any dogs and cats linked to his company's products, the company said. The melamine finding came a week after scientists at the New York State Food Laboratory identified a cancer drug and rat poison called aminopterin as the likely culprit in the pet food. But the FDA said it could not confirm that finding, nor have researchers at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey when they looked at tissue samples taken from dead cats. And experts at the University of Guelph detected aminopterin in some samples of the recalled pet food, but only in the parts per billion or trillion range. "Biologically, that means nothing. It wouldn't do anything," said Grant Maxie, a veterinary pathologist at the Canadian university. "This is a puzzle." Meanwhile, New York officials stuck to their aminopterin finding and pointed out that it was unlikely that melamine could have poisoned any of the animals thought to have died after eating the contaminated pet food. Melamine is used to make plastic kitchen ware and is used as a fertilizer in Asia. An FDA official allowed that it wasn't immediately clear whether the melamine was the culprit. The agency's investigation continues, said Stephen F. Sundlof, director of the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine. In a news conference, Sundlof and other FDA officials said the melamine had contaminated a shipment of wheat gluten imported from China and purchased by Menu Foods from an undisclosed supplier in the United States. At least some of the that wheat gluten was used in all the recalled wet pet food, according to Menu Foods. Menu Foods said the only certainty was the imported Chinese product was the likely source of the deadly contamination, even if the actual contaminant remained in doubt. "The important point today is that the source of the adulteration has been identified and removed from our system," said Paul Henderson, Menu Foods chief executive officer and president. Henderson suggested his company would pursue legal action against the supplier. New York remained confident in its aminopterin finding, said Patrick Hooker, commissioner of the state Department of Agriculture and Markets. Hooker added that neither aminopterin nor melamine should be in pet food, but that it was unclear why the latter substance would be poisonous to the cats in which it was found. "While we have no doubt that melamine is present in the recalled pet food, there is not enough known data on the mammalian toxicity levels of melamine to conclude it could cause illness and deaths in cats. With little existing data, many questions still remain as to the connection between the illnesses and what has caused them," Hooker said. Wheat gluten, a source of vegetable protein, is also used in some human foods, but the FDA emphasized it had found no indication that the contaminated ingredient had been used in food for people. The FDA said it would alert the public quickly if the melamine was found in any foods other than the recalled pet food. About 70 percent of the wheat gluten used in the United States for human and pet food is imported from the European Union and Asia, according to the Pet Food Institute, an industry group. Menu Foods used wheat gluten to thicken the gravy of its "cuts and gravy" style wet pet foods, FDA officials have said. One veterinarian suggested the international sourcing of ingredients would force the U.S. "to come to grips with a reality we had not appreciated." "When you change from getting an ingredient from the supplier down the road to a supplier from around the globe, maybe the methods and practices that were effective in one situation need to be changed," said Tony Buffington, a professor of veterinary clinical sciences at Ohio State University. The FDA's Sundlof said the agency may change how it regulates the pet food industry. "In this case, we're going to have to look at this after the dust settles and determine if there is something from a regulatory standpoint that we could have done differently to prevent this incident from occurring," he said. "

http://wral.com/news/political/story/1254243/

3/30/2007 7:21:25 PM