More cat/dog food recalls!

[naturestee]

Natural Balance has recalled all of it's Venisonand Pea formulas for cats and dogs. They started gettingcomplaints of sick pets and started pulling their foodimmediately. Testing has now revealed melanine, the samecontaminant found in the Menu Foods recall. They think thesource might be rice protein, but they're not sure yet.

This blows. Natural Balance is one of those trustedcompanies, and this food is eaten by animals who can't eat much elsedue to food allergies. At least they acted fast, unlike MenuFoods.

Here's a link to their press release:
http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/press_release.html

 

[JadeIcing]

This is getting ridicules.

 

[maherwoman]

Agreed. :disgust:

JadeIcing wrote:

This is getting ridicules.

 

[undergunfire]

I am happy I don't have a dog or a cat to feed. I would be so scared that my food would be next on the recall list.





- Amy (Mallory, Morgan, and Madilyn-Mae):hearts

 

[Crystalballl]

Yep it's definitely nerve wracking. My cat's food seems to be okay so far. This is completely rediculous!

 

[naturestee]

Turns out that several other companies boughtthe same rice protein concentrate that Natural Balance did.Unfortunately, they're not saying who and are waiting for theindividual companies to recall their products.

So far, Hill's (Science Diet) and Nutro have put out statements saying that they did not buy RPC from the same source.

Blue Buffalo is recalling one production run of their Spa Select Kittendry food due to the RPC. The production code on the recalled product is:

"Best Used By Mar. 07 08 B."

http://www.bluebuff.com/

I saw this onhttp://www.howl911.com/ which I amnow checking religiously. It is a news site for pet foodrecall info.

Edit: check your cat/dog food ingrediants for rice proteinconcentrate, then check the company's website. If they havenot put up a statement about this yet, call them.

 

[Bassetluv]

This is so good to know...thank you for passingthe info on, naturestee! My son's friend's father lost his cat not longago, as he was feeding her one of the foods that was on the recalllist. Shebecame severely illand had to be put down.


I don't know if this link willhave any other info init,but I just went to the Petsmart site (since that's where Ibuy my pet food) and they havea sectionofquestions/answers about therecall. Here's thelink:

http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=196265&p=factset16

 

[naturestee]

Royal Canin has recalled several of it's dry foods:
http://www.royalcanin.us/

There's still more food out there with contaminated RPC that hasn't been recalled yet. So keep an eye out!

Oh, and corn gluten in pet food in South Africa was contaminated too,but they're not sure if the same stuff was shipped to the US.The FDA is now suspecting that melamine was purposefully added tofalsify protein tests- it would make food look like it had a higherprotein content than it actually does.
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8OK4THG0.htm

Some contaminated feed was fed to hogs in the US. So now we have to watch out for contaminated meat.:foreheadsmack:

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/s_503671.html

Bassetluv, pass my sympathies along. It's scary how many petsmay have died from this already. The FDA won't admit to anyexcept the original 16 deaths that caused the first of the recalls, butthere have been many deaths since. When will we know thetruth?

And why won't the remaining companies with contaminated RPC recall their food?

BTW, Nutro and Hill's (Science Diet) have stated that their RPC is notfrom the same source. Nutro said theirs comes from Americanfarms.

 

[Nessa1487]

Dude, I'm sticking to Friskies.

 

[naturestee]

Honestly, I wouldn't trust Purina to make adecent cat food if the CEO's life depended on it. I preferfoods without all the wierd additives, especially since the additivesare the ones being recalled. Look at theingredients. Cats should be eating meat, not corn, etc.

I'll stick with California Natural- chicken, brown rice, and vitaminsand oils. That's it. Nothing wierd, and it's greatfor my sensitive stomach kitty. And I can actually trust thecompany that makes it.

 

[Spring]

Thank gosh my dogs food, Natures Recipe isn'teffected. I checked their site and they said that their cat and dogfoods do not contain Wheat Gluten, Rice Gluten or Rice ProteinConcentrate.

I like natures recipe. All organic with no beef, corn or wheat, no preservatives and no byproducts.

 

[m.e.]

Felidae andInnova EVO (made bythe same company as California Natural) are also really good foods ifyou'd prefer to go the pre-made route :thumbup And I'm going to bump upthe thread on raw feeding.

 

[naturestee]

Hey guys,

There have been more recalls! A manufacturing company calledAmerican Nutrition which makes food for several cat/dog food companieshas admitted to product tampering. It's been adding riceprotein concentrate to foods that weren't supposed to haveit!!! This means it is not on the canlabels. Turns out they were buying some of the contaminatedRPC, so a bunch more foods need to be recalled.

New recalls:

-All Blue Buffalo dog and cat canned foods and Blue Health Bars:
http://www.bluebuff.com/
-Certain cans of Canine Caviar:
http://www.caninecaviar.com/
-Costco Kirkland and Lick Your Chops:
http://www.itchmo.com/read/costco-and-lick-your-chops-recalls_20070426
- Harmony Farms Cans And Biscuits, from Sierra Pet Products
-Diamond Pet foods: Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's SoulKitten Formula 5.5 oz. cans, and Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's SoulPuppy Formula 13 oz. cans, and Diamond Lamb & Rice Formula forDogs 13 oz. cans
http://www.chickensoupforthepetloverssoul.com/

Bottom line, check the website of the company that makes your pet food, and check it frequently!!!

I feed Nutro dry and California Natural wet right now, and the manufacturers have stated that their foods are safe.

 

[naturestee]

Even more recalls! Menu Foods hasfound problems with cross-contamination in the plants that used the badwheat gluten. It now has recalled even more canned foods thatdon't even include wheat gluten, because of the cross contamination.

http://www.menufoods.com/recall/PressReleaseUS05022007.htm

When will this end?

 

[FlopsnWills]

Can we still trust Chicken Soup for the PetLover's Soul Dry?? We've been feeding it to our 4 dogs and 4 cats fortwo or more years now and we love it. Now I'm freaking out!

 

[naturestee]

The dry food should be safe. Diamond(owner of that brand) makes it themselves. Natura dry is alsoall safe- they make California Natural, Innova, and Innova Evo.

More bad news though. Menu Foods has now recalled all foodswith wheat gluten, not just ones using the first particular lot of badstuff. This is a very long list!

http://www.itchmo.com/read/breaking...matically-due-to-cross-contamination_20070502

 

[Bun~Bun]

Unfortuantly, due to this problem, my rabbitsare now fed only sun flower seeds, Kale, Parsly, and all types of bunnyhay. I'm not taking any risk till further notice. I also feed my catcanned fish.
I would also refrain from some human food products. Last week, I atethose tuna fillets that come in a pouched. Well, later that day, Ithrew up - not any food, but a bunch of yellow bile. It reeked like thesmell of the tuna - not any of the other foods I've eaten on that dayaswell.
I did not read the ingrediants - but there's a real confuzzle going on.

Sooner on, if things continue to become worst, maby we need to grow ourown crops and hunt our own meats(Especially fish, the healthiest of allmeats.). Non-breading bake and grilling would be the best, for that youdon't have to use any store products to enhance it's flavour - don'tworry, deer meat and fish taste great freshly grilled.
For veggies and fruit, do not put any butter on them - another product that is bought via stores.

 

[naturestee]

FYI, this has not caused a problem regardingrabbit pellets. If you are concerned, check the ingredientlist for wheat gluten, rice gluten/rice protein concentrate, and corngluten meal (so far this ingredient has only been a problem in SouthAfrica). But these are highly unlikely to be found in rabbitpellets.

If you're not going to feed your cat any processed foods (includingsafer ones like dry food made by the brand company not a contractedmanufacturer) please read up on healthy raw diets. Fish isnot appropriate for a constant meal for cats. It will causevitamin deficiencies and does not have enough taurine, which will leadto blindness eventually.

 

[Bun~Bun]

I understand, but now that there the all of a sudden Rice Protien problem, who knows whats next.
Thanx for the advice, is there a link I can click into to check out the raw diet for my cat?

 

[naturestee]

For one thing, you can check with pet foodcompanies to see what country their ingredients are grown and processedin and whether they make their own foods or not. The onlyproblem right now is with grain protein supplements fromChina. Whole grains are safe, as are those made in theUS. For example, Natura (California Natural, Innova) useswhole grains, while Nutro uses corn gluten meal that was grown andprocessed in the US and has had their rice protein concentrate checkedfor melamine by an independant lab. They both make their owndry food. Therefore I consider both of those companies safe.

Natura's canned food is made by Menu Foods, but at a different plantwhich doesn't use the contaminated ingredients at all. Theirfoods do not contain the problematic grain protein supplements.

There are also several grain-free diets available in both dry and canned forms, these are safe.

Here's a thread on raw diets for cats and dogs:
http://rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=12286&forum_id=5&highlight=raw

This is a great cat forum, and there are people there who have beenpaying lots of attention to the recalls and to which foods are safe,etc.
http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/