Pet food recall!

[Palermo]

By ANDREW BRIDGES, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 2 minutes ago



WASHINGTON - A major manufacturer of dog and cat food sold under Wal-Mart, Safeway, Kroger and other store brands recalled 60 million containers of wet pet food Friday after reports of kidney failure and deaths.



An unknown number of cats and dogs suffered kidney failure and about 10 died after eating the affected pet food, Menu Foods said in announcing the North American recall. Product testing has not revealed a link explaining the reported cases of illness and death, the company said.

"At this juncture, we're not 100 percent sure what's happened," said Paul Henderson, the company's president and chief executive officer.

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 between Dec. 3 and March 6. The pet food was sold by stores operated by the Kroger Company, Safeway Inc., Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and PetSmart Inc., among others, Henderson said.

Menu Foods did not immediately provide a full list of brand names and lot numbers covered by the recall, saying they would be posted on its Web site — http://www.menufoods.com/recall — early Saturday. Consumers with questions can call (800) 551-7392.

The company said it manufacturers for 17 of the top 20 North American retailers. It is also a contract manufacturer for the top branded pet food companies. Its three U.S. and one Canadian factory produce more than 1 billion containers of wet pet food a year. The recall covers pet food made at company plants in Emporia, Kan., and Pennsauken, N.J., Henderson said.

Henderson said the company received an undisclosed number of owner complaints of vomiting and kidney failure in dogs and cats after they had been fed its products. It has tested its products but not found a cause for the sickness.

"To date, the tests have not indicated any problems with the product," Henderson said.

The company alerted the Food and Drug Administration, which already has inspectors in one of the two plants, Henderson said. The FDA was working to nail down brand names covered by the recall, agency spokesman Mike Herndon said.

Menu Foods is majority owned by the Menu Foods Income Fund, based in Ontario, Canada.

[KrisNine]

Very scary. It appears that it's not only store brands such as Kroger (Ralphs out here in California) and Wal-Mart, but it's Iams and Eukanuba as well.

[JuicyLucy]

I never trusted Iams or any other of those brands advertissed on TV. I hate the 'veternarian approved' bullshit. I asked my veternarian which he preferred and he said exactly what my mother told me from experience working at a local pet store her friends owned. Eagle pack, Nutro and Medi-cal (Which is basically a hypo-allergenic or diet food for animals.) This is such a risky choice to make because you never know for sure. I try to turn everyone around when I see them feeding their pets Iams or Kibbles 'n' Bits. Recently my boyfriend's brother bought Dick (My dog) a bottle of this ridiculous, bacon gravy by Iams. Has anyone else heard of this? I immediately disapproved, even my boyfriend's mother did who feeds Dick anything and everything by the way. I'm skeptical about all of those soft food items for pets such as, ceasars or any other canned dog or cat food. My vet said he fed his poodle a plain chicken breast that he just grilled on the barbeque. I'd rather do that then give him that other junk. Dick also developed a rash underneath his arms which the vet said was from chicken, I don't think that was the case. If anything, peanut butter. Well long story made shorter, the rash eventually went away but my boyfriend ended up having to pay over $50 for a bag of Medi-Cal food after the vet had already told us Nutro and Eagle pack are both healthy, though not publicized like Iams or the rest thinking that there was chicken as one of the ingredients. There's also lamb and rice, which Dick is on now. Did I mention the gas they get from Medi-Cal? And it comes in meat choices ranging from duck to kangaroo (I thought he was joking with me at first, I said it wasn't even an option of course). Anyway, sorry to rant on and I didn't expect you to read this all it's just that when it comes to animals health, I want the best and like this story goes to show, you can never be too careful!

[KrisNine]

Well, I feed my dog and cats Nutro too and just went to their site. Some of their foods are included in the recall. Cat food and dog food. Some of the cat food I have actually fed to my cats. Everyone should check the individual website for the type of food you feed you pets.

ETA - it's mostly "cuts and gravy" style food in pouches and cans.

[JuicyLucy]

I should start another thread with suggestions for treats to feed your pets because I think what we have now is just junk, aside from the hard, porkchop shaped treats by Nutro. But Dick doesn't want the hard treats, he absolutely adores Beggin'Strips and Pupperoni, although we feed him the lean pupperoni's i'm not sure it makes all that much of a difference or is any good for him. Dick's getting porky, and he's only 2yrs old. Of course some of that might be winter weight. We're out of ways to keep my boyfriend's mother, brother and his brother's girlfriend from feeding Dick junk. The other night I caught his mom giving Dick leftover stir-fry and then another time, pepperoni. This is a frequent thing. He's the leftovers disposal. Right now, he eats almost every scoop of dry food with a big ol' spoonful of salt-free salmon. Apparently that's not too for him considering the mercury content is quite high.

[moomies]

JuicyLucy, I was talking about canned Tuna when I said the mercury content is high. I don't know about canned salmon. I sometimes buy salmon jerkies for Elmo and other naturally preserved/home made type of jerkies like buffalo liver.

[KrisNine]

We make Josie her own food to mix in with the Nutro. She gets the dry food but then we add our homemade dogfood to it. We actually did a lot of research on the ingredients that we use and here's what we came up with. We boil boneless, skinless chicken thighs (thighs are better for pets than breasts because dogs need the fat), once they are cooked, we let them cool and shred them. Then we cook carrots, peas and oatmeal. We cook the oatmeal in the chicken broth. Once it's all cooked, we put it all in our mixer and mix it up real good. Josie loves it. It lasts for a few days in the fridge, so we freeze it and use it as needed. Cats are a bit more difficult. The tech at my vets office (we stopped by there tonight to get the scoop on the recall) told us that the best thing for cats was to get them fresh meat, no veggies, because veggies are hard for them to digest.

[JuicyLucy]

KrisNine that's a good idea. I've often thought about experimenting with something like that but I had no idea where to begin. Who knows, maybe in the future we'll be swapping our own recipes for Dog food on here. Moomies, I know but my boyfriend's brother did some research and found that the mercury content in salmon is quite high right now and it isn't the best idea to eat too much, especially if you're pregnant. I always am sure to buy the salt free salmon, it's what i'd prefer to eat if I ate it anyway.

[KrisNine]

The vet told us the same thing about canned fish for the cats. Well, the vet tech did. They said something about the mercury and something else in it. Fresh food is the key to homemade pet food. I'll try to find the link to the website I found on making your own pet food.

Well, it looks like the list of foods will be released tomorrow morning at 6 am. We'll see just what companies are affected.

[JuicyLucy]

There's so much junk they put in the food for us humans, nevermind for animals. It's so sketchy. What brand of treats do you feed your dog, KrisNine?

[KrisNine]

She eats Old Mother Hubbard biscuits. They are made with apples and carrots. She loves them I have to admit that Josie has a rawhide addiction. I will let her have one every once in a while, even though it's not good for her (but hey, I eat junk every now and again). She also eats Frosty Paws frozen doggie ice cream.

[JuicyLucy]

^^ Yes, i've seen those! It's too cold right now but that'd be perfect for Dick in the Summer. Aren't they by Iams though? That i'm not too keen on.

[KrisNine]

I don't know who makes them...they are just at the regular grocery store in the frozen food section. I actually think it may be a Purina product. Still not great, but she gets them very rarely.

She also loves cherry tomatoes...go figure.

[JuicyLucy]

I love cherry tomatoes. I used to feed Dick cantalope and toast, now he's outgrown all that. We used to say, Toast? And he'd tilt his head and then run for the kitchen knowing what that meant. Now it's, Oma soup? Because he goes with my boyfriend to his grandmother's place and she serves him homemade chicken noodle soup. Talk about a spoiled pig. What type of dog do you have KrisNine?

[xoxo]

Originally Posted by JuicyLucy

There's so much junk they put in the food for us humans, nevermind for animals. It's so sketchy.

i know, it is dreadful..we've been cooking some home food for our dogs, because the things they are selling are just scary these days