Pet food madness

[Johns]

I just wonder:

Check your emotions at the door or dont read this.


Every pet death creates pain, suffering and grief for its owner.  As an old man with many pets over the years, I have gone through this many times, and it never gets easier. Dogs, rabbits, cavies, etc., we miss them all.

BUT!!!!!

Pets die every day.  We have no real info on how many do so. We are told by the media that several hundred have died because of bad pet food. In the beginning, I breathed a sigh of relief because the Purina dry and Alpo wet foods my beagles (  http://www.gardenendeavors.com/ )consume every day were not listed. One internet source claims 61,081,000 dogs are in the USA ( http://www.mapsofworld.com/world-top-ten/countries-with-most-pet-dog-population.html ).  Of these, given an average life of 10 years, at least 10% die every year or almost 17,000 dogs die every day (61,080,000/10/365).

And then: Several hundrred pet deaths cause a story???

We heard first that wheat gluten from China was the culprit.

Then NO, it was RAT POISON!

Actually not rat poison, but a cancer treatment drug that is used as rodent poison in some parts of the world.

Then the media glommed on to the "RAT POISON" theory. (How's that for attention getting news?)

The FDA has not found ANY rat poison in any of the foods, only a small amount of melamine (Large quantities are necessary to be toxic), that came from wheat gluten sourced in China.

I wonder if we will ever know the truth.  If the pet food was really that bad, wouldn't we be looking at 100,000 or more pet deaths every day, instead of 17,000 or so???

I truly wonder what is going on here!!!!

Does someone have it in for Menu Foods?

Now owners of expired 11 year old dachunds are considering suing   ( http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070402/NEWS01/704020323 )


Is there really a problem, or is it just hysteria????????

Or maybe could some pets just die of old age, or even worse could some despicable owners be poisoning their pets in order to claim damages?

Just my old CPA cynicism at work here.

Anyone else have comparable thoughts?

One last comment:  Personal testimonials, however backed by the testfiers beliefs, are worthless.  They are the main reason the FDA came into existence.  I will never forget the personal testimonial "I feel I could digest a brick, if only I had my Instant Postum"  Beliefs are not proof. 

[EagleEye]

John,
 I'm with you all the way on this one. The media CREATES hysteria. If they don't, what would we have to read? One vet told me that liver problems is a common problem for pets. Like you said, they die all the time. We all feed different foods to our pets and alot of it has to do with what we can afford. When I first got my cat, I bought some food that was $3.00 a pound. Now that's nuts! One time only. now I use the information available and buy the best that I can afford.

So, how many newscasters are here?

Steve

[Sandye]

I don't know the answer, John, but I wish it had never happened.  Thank goodness my cat and two dogs eat foods that haven't appeared on the lists yet.  However, I check every day to see if they have been recalled. 

I do think it's scary that one company can be connected to 80-90 different kinds of dog and cat food.   

[frloplady]

Commercial pet foods are convenience for the owners and money for the manufacturers..not necessarily healthy for the dogs and cats that consume them.

I will never feed a commercial made pet food to my dog or cats ever again.

[GAJen]

I'm beginning to have my doubts about all of them. Marco's hasn't been recalled but I'm looking around on the net for something in the list Teresa posted.

[livetogarden]

The food we use isn't on the list but our dogs have refused to eat it this time around (just bought a new bag the other day). Our one dog eats pretty much anything that sits still long enough. So from now on I will be creating my own homemade food for them. They're too special to us to take a chance on thier health. They have been eating my concoctions so obviously they have appetites.
Cath

[Teresa]

I tend to agree that the media does take any issue that has the possibility for emotional response and blows it up a lot bigger than it necessarily is - and they definitely tell only part of any story.  At the same time, this story is probably more frightening because we just discovered that part of the food chain is coming from China and tho this time it's in the pet food, could it be in food for human consumption next?  Too close for my comfort.

And I'm absolutely changing the food I feed my pets to something healthier for them and less likely to be contaminated by carelessness . . . . I agree it may be hysteria on my part, but my babies are too precious to me and my girls to risk their health . . . .

[Johns]

Today heard about a woman who has become ill as a result of the recalled dog food.  Seems she was taking a bite  occasionally to coax her dog to eat it when he balked at doing so.  (Dog outsmarts human!)

[Teresa]

Um, that's just going a bit toooooo far if you ask me.  If my kids or my dog or my cats won't eat something, I'm not gonna eat it either . . . . learned that when DH tried to feed the girls hotdogs that were well past their prime . . . .

[Ky Kim]

I just can't imagine taking a bite of dog/cat food.  Eeeeew  , yuck.  I know that there are people who survive on it though.  I remember when I worked for a grocery store years ago, a lady that would come and open cans of cat food and see which ones smelled the best.  The manager said that she would also steal it.  Guess when your hungry you'll eat anything.  But it still sounds nasty.

Kim

[frloplady]

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2007/04/03/petscol.DTL

the interesting part about this one..is there might not be enough hype.. the numbers of pets having died is much higher than the news is reporting, but nobody knows for sure.

I've received what seems like a large number of orders for food this week... cooincidence??

[LeeAnne151]

I hang out on several pet boards on the net and many people are switching to super premium, raw or DIY foods or combinations of them all.

The media certainly manipulates emotions. Look at all the hysteria over Pitbulls. The facts are that there are hundreds of thousands of dog bites in the US every year and the family pet who isn't neutered biting the family children is the big culprit and Pits aren't even close to being the top biters. There have been deaths from many other breeds too but the media has manipulated the situation to make thousands of people think all Pits, Rotties, and many other breeds out to be genetically predisposed to kill. Poor training of kids and dogs, poor socialization and lack of neutering are the biggest reasons dogs bite.