Dog and Cat food recall

[Joe G]

Mass recall of dog and cat food after pets die

POSTED: 9:12 p.m. EDT, March 18, 2007

WASHINGTON (AP) -- 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 -- 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, the company 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.

However, the recalled products were made using wheat gluten purchased from a new supplier, since dropped for another source, spokeswoman Sarah Tuite said. Wheat gluten is a source of protein.

'Cuts and gravy' food sold in cans, pouches recalled

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 December 3 and March 6 throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico.

The pet food was sold by stores operated by the Kroger Co., Safeway Inc., Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and PetSmart Inc., among others, Henderson said.

Menu Foods said it makes pet foods 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.

Procter & Gamble announced Friday the recall of specific 3 oz., 5.5 oz., 6 oz. and 13.2 oz. canned and 3 oz. and 5.3 oz. foil pouch cat and dog wet food products made by Menu Foods but sold under the Iams and Eukanuba brands. The recalled products bear the code dates of 6339 through 7073 followed by the plant code 4197, P&G said.

Menu Foods' 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, Kansas, and Pennsauken, New Jersey, 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.

FDA also working to target brands

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.

Henderson said the recall would cost the company the Canadian equivalent of $26 million to $34 million.

Below are lists of specific brands recalled by Menu Foods, in addition to Procter & Gamble's recall of certain Iams and Eukanuba products. Menu Brands lists the brands on its Web site, www.menufoods.com, and advises consumers to call 1-866-895-2708 for more information.

Recalled cat foods

Americas Choice; Preferred Pets; Authority; Best Choice; Companion; Compliments; Demoulas Market Basket; Fine Feline Cat, Shep Dog; Food Lion; Foodtown; Giant Companion; Good n Meaty; Hannaford; Hill Country Fare; Hy-Vee; Key Food; Laura Lynn; Li'l Red; Loving Meals; Main Choice; Nutriplan; Nutro Max Gourmet Classics; Nutro Natural Choice; Paws; Presidents Choice; Price Chopper; Priority; Save-A-Lot; Schnucks; Sophistacat; Special Kitty; Springfield Pride; Sprout; Total Pet; My True Friend; Wegmans; Western Family; White Rose; and Winn Dixie.

Recalled dog foods

America's Choice; Preferred Pets; Authority; Award; Best Choice; Big Bet; Big Red; Bloom; Bruiser; Cadillac; Companion; Demoulas Market Basket; Fine Feline Cat; Shep Dog; Food Lion; Giant Companion; Great Choice; Hannaford; Hill Country Fare; Hy-Vee; Key Food; Laura Lynn; Loving Meals; Main Choice; Mixables; Nutriplan; Nutro Max; Nutro Natural Choice; Nutro; Ol'Roy; Paws; Pet Essentials; Pet Pride; President's Choice; Price Chopper; Priority; Publix; Roche Bros; Save-A-Lot; Schnucks; Springsfield Pride; Sprout; Stater Bros; Total Pet; My True Friend; Western Family; White Rose; Winn Dixie and Your Pet.

[catesta]

Scary shit.

I hope the list is complete, I've been feeding my dog Iams since day one.

Edited March 19, 2007 by catesta

[J Larsen]

Thanks for posting this. I use (make that used to use) Nutro. If my cat had been killed by the stuff, I may have gone Scarface on someone.

[alocispepraluger102]

Sydney the Cat eats only dry cat food, thankfully.

She thinks the moist kind smells like poo, as when we tried to feed it to her, she tried to bury it!

what a honey is Syd!

[Spontooneous]

Makes one wonder. The late Trigger (who looked quite a bit like Syd), my companion for 18 years, ate an awful lot of one of the foods on that list. She died of cancer about four months back.

[AllenLowe]

I better call my grandmonther - she likes Iams -

[alocispepraluger102]

Feds Tests of Suspect Pet Food Kills 7

By ANDREW BRIDGES

Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Seven animals died in tests of suspect dog and cat food by the manufacturer after complaints the products were poisoning pets around the country, the government said Monday.

A federal investigation is focusing on wheat gluten as the likely source of contamination that sparked a recall last Friday of 60 million cans and pouches of the suspect food, said Stephen F. Sundlof, the Food and Drug Administration's top veterinarian.

The ingredient, a protein source, is commonly used as filler.

Agency investigators are looking at other ingredients as well. The wet-style pet food was made by Menu Foods, an Ontario, Canada-based company.

Menu Foods told the FDA it received the first complaints of kidney failure and deaths among cats and dogs from pet owners on Feb. 20. It began new tests on Feb. 27.

During those tests, the company fed its product to 40 to 50 dogs and cats and some seven animals - the mix of species was not immediately known - died, Sundlof said. The contamination appeared more deadly to cats than to dogs, he said.

The recall now covers dog food sold throughout North America under 51 brands and cat food sold under 40 brands, including Iams, Nutro and Eukanuba. The food was sold under both store and major brand labels at Wal-Mart, Kroger, Safeway and other large retailers.

© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy.

Edited March 19, 2007 by alocispepraluger102

[J Larsen]

I didn't see Iams on the list the first time I read the article!

So what can I feed my cat now, besides dry food? Up until recently, I only fed my cat dry food, but the vet told me to start feeding him wet food as well (to promote better long-term kidney health, ironically enough).

[7/4]

my buddys dog was sick!

[alocispepraluger102]

I didn't see Iams on the list the first time I read the article!

So what can I feed my cat now, besides dry food? Up until recently, I only fed my cat dry food, but the vet told me to start feeding him wet food as well (to promote better long-term kidney health, ironically enough).

all my cats have lived right at 20 years and they, for their dry food, wont touch anything but friskies ocean fish flavor, all national brands.

their favorite moist food has been fancy feast, which makes dozens of flavors.

[Shawn]

Thankfully my cat has been "dry food only" for the last few years (I weaned her off the wet stuff). Even when she did eat wet food, she wouldn't touch that "sliced" stuff for anything...she'd bury it underneath a newspaper, dirty sock...anything she could find to drag over it!

[alocispepraluger102]

Thankfully my cat has been "dry food only" for the last few years (I weaned her off the wet stuff). Even when she did eat wet food, she wouldn't touch that "sliced" stuff for anything...she'd bury it underneath a newspaper, dirty sock...anything she could find to drag over it!

never ever gravy, chunks, or slices here.

[Joe G]

My older cat (he's almost 20) seems to prefer the the slices, and doesn't like the entree stuff. Iam's wasn't on the list I posted. There's some of that here in the house, though I hadn't been buying as much of it since these guys weren't eating it so well lately.

[Chuck Nessa]

I feed cats to my dogs and dogs to my cats. I'm an equal opportunity feeder.

[Dan Gould]

Anyone else actually cook for their dogs?

My wife did some research and decided commercial dog food doesn't cut it and started investigating menu ideas. For breakfast, Coltrane and Gracie get oatmeal with hard boiled eggs mixed in. For dinner, its a mix of brown rice and barley along with a sort of beef stew (stew meat, chicken, carrots, green beans, sweet potatos and zuchini). Some people told us that the food should be raw but Coltrane doesn't handle that well, so it all gets cooked. Takes about 45 minutes start to finish to chop everything up and cook the dinner stuff, and we cook enough to go about four meals.

Oh, and on the advice of our vet we did add a small amount of Neutra brand dry food, because our menu wasn't giving them enough fatty oils.

Edited March 19, 2007 by Dan Gould

[J Larsen]

My older cat (he's almost 20) seems to prefer the the slices, and doesn't like the entree stuff. Iam's wasn't on the list I posted. There's some of that here in the house, though I hadn't been buying as much of it since these guys weren't eating it so well lately.

It actually is, but it is buried in the text. Do a word search. I missed it too and fed my cat Iams last night.

My friend cooks for his dogs. His ex-wife has a business designing nutritional programs for various breeds of dogs and exotic cats.

[J Larsen]

Anyone use this stuff? I'm going to give it a try. I'm impressed that they make zoological formulas in addition to pet food.

http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/

[Quincy]

Add a dry cat food to the list, a prescription one at that.

Hills Science Diet m/d dry.

So much for prescription foods being of the highest quality. Grrrrrrrrrrrr.

[Jazzmoose]

I hear ya. I figured ours were safe since they get prescription food. Guess I'll have to watch out now...

Edited March 31, 2007 by Jazzmoose

[alocispepraluger102]

I hear ya. I figured ours were safe since they get prescription food. Guess I'll have to watch out now...

dan gould has a very thoughtful recipe for preparing his own pet food, parts of which i use.

if you contact dan he will gladly share his recipes with you.

i am through with commercial pet foods.

[alocispepraluger102]

more pet food recalls april 3,4,5

http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/petfood.html

Edited April 5, 2007 by alocispepraluger102

[J Larsen]

Anyone use this stuff? I'm going to give it a try. I'm impressed that they make zoological formulas in addition to pet food.

http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/

It took him a few days to get used to it, but my cat really digs this stuff now.

[Free For All]

My dog has been on a natural meat and vegetable diet for quite awhile (5 years or so). He's doing very well.

He will be living with my ex-wife; that is currently the saddest part of the divorce (when there are no kids the pets take that role). She will take very good care of him, but I will sure miss him. He's better off with her since she now owns our house with the big backyard, and her schedule doesn't include all the travel that I have to do. I go visit him regularly (I will do so until I move to Florida in July) and he's always glad to see me. I have pictures of him on my cell phone and computer. I just love that dog so much!

Sorry for the off-topic.......

[alocispepraluger102]

My dog has been on a natural meat and vegetable diet for quite awhile (5 years or so). He's doing very well.

He will be living with my ex-wife; that is currently the saddest part of the divorce (when there are no kids the pets take that role). She will take very good care of him, but I will sure miss him. He's better off with her since she now owns our house with the big backyard, and her schedule doesn't include all the travel that I have to do. I go visit him regularly (I will do so until I move to Florida in July) and he's always glad to see me. I have pictures of him on my cell phone and computer. I just love that dog so much!

Sorry for the off-topic.......

so sorry to learn this, but you are going to wonderful new opportunities.

i am sure you and your dog will savor each precious remaining moment together.

Edited April 6, 2007 by alocispepraluger102

[J Larsen]

OK, this shit is getting seriously old - now natural balance is recalling the food that I finally just got my cat to start eating!!!

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/17/pet.food....l.ap/index.html