[chandlerT]

http://cbs4.com/consumer/local_story_143224354.html

its about the allogations in the lawsuit and what some attorneys have found goes into the food.

that was posted in another community I'm in and the video just makes me sick. Seriously, not for the squimish. There really needs to be some regulation on dog food.

 

[JT4]

http://cbs4.com/consumer/local_story_143224354.html

its about the allogations in the lawsuit and what some attorneys have found goes into the food.

that was posted in another community I'm in and the video just makes me sick. Seriously, not for the squimish. There really needs to be some regulation on dog food.[/b]

It is quite sickening. All I can say if we need to vote with our money. Is it possible to identify which if any pet food companies are resonsible and provide us with a decent product? We need to support those companies instead of those with questionable practices. While I like to think I give my dogs good food I have not done any research on who may be really be a good supplier. Anyone have any thoughts? This is a hot topic and if pet owners have good information I believe most will make the right choice.

 

[Dozer-Digger]

Having dead cats & dogs put in pet food is shocking.
But as an old farm boy, we called the local dog food rendering plant to haul off dead cows for years. Some were struck by lightning, some died of unknown causes. I know a local feed lot that hauls off as many as 10 cows a day.
As for a cow fetus, it's not unusual for a rancher to loose 10% of their calves at or before birth, and at times they loose a pregnant cow. Ranchers & feed lots need a place for disposal, and the rendering plant offers that service. It use to be a free service, but they now charge the ranchers a fee.
This has been happening for 40-50 years, if not longer, so it's not new.

 

[chandlerT]

Yea, it wasn't really the livestock that shocked me. I knew that... I mean a lot of livestock is right there in the ingredients... its the dogs and cats being put into my dogs' feed that really shocks me! All I could think was "O-M-G my dogs are cannibals." :blink:



http://www.mflegal.com/petfoodlawsuit

They are suppose to have a list somewhere.

 

[dhatt]

its the dogs and cats being put into my dogs' feed that really shocks me! All I could think was "O-M-G my dogs are cannibals." :blink:
http://www.mflegal.com/petfoodlawsuit

They are suppose to have a list somewhere.[/b]

Actually, dogs are cannibals and will eat other dogs (or close cousins), especially if food is scarce or the dog is feral/wild. And frankly dogs will eat humans, too, if the circumstances alllow or require. I know for a fact that my dogs would LOVE to be allowed to eat the cat, and they'll do their own rendering, thank you very much . Also, many of us on this list are old enough to remember when pet dogs survived on just the family's (or farm's) garbage, and the cat wasn't fed at all because it could hunt for itself. HOWEVER, nowadays most dogs & cats live in close physical contact with their owners and I certainly want my dogs to eat a high quality, wholesome diet and have regular grooming and medical care . . .if not for their health (and because I love them), then for mine!

Even though I completely understand that my "fur babies" are really true predatory carnivores, I hope these companies are really nailed for not even complying with existing labeling laws. For the life of me I can't see how "chicken meal" would include ground up "Spot" or "Fluffy" or hair of any kind. Passing more laws won't do a bit of good unless there's some serious consequences for non-compliance.

The list of companies named in the suit can be found in the complaint (its a pdf file). The list is quite extensive and includes big manufacturers like Colgate/Palmolive, Del Monte Foods, Nestle USA, etc. along with big retailers like Target, WalMart, PetSmart, etc., and covers most of the major food brands you'd find at the grocery story or big-box pet supply store.

 

[Beverly Anne]

I have been looking at a new product at the supermarket called "Pet Promise" that claims to use no animal "by-products" of any kind in their food. No chicken "meal" or anything from a rendering plant. It's been endorsed by Dr. Andrew Weill so I think I'm going to give it a try.

 

[2hounds]

This is very disturbing. :blink:

~Heather

 

[pinehawk]

what are the chances that they win the case? these are big companies and i deal with some of them on a daily basis in my line of work.they have top notch lawyers and big,deep wallets.this could drag on for years. the only ones that usually make out in these cases are the lawyers. i have personally worked for the last 2 years with a team from P & G and the testing and quality checks they have basically forced us to implement has been overkill i feel, but we won the product line and it could make my company 6 Mil. a year with line extensions of our product into other areas of their products, could make another i don't know how many millions. it makes me wonder with all the quality checks they have, how did something like this slip through their QC Dept.? i know that Black Gold Dog Food does not use any products that are imported from outside the U.S. so i'll be using that and support a American Company.

 

[charvie]

It's a bit strange because we get a lot of those products here up in Canada, and we haven't heard much of anything for food recalls or product problems or anything, all the reports and flyers and news reports, etc that are posted up here are from the Unites States ...

... but I'm a bit worried, Nutro is on that list and that's what I've been feeding my houndies (and since we got them, the kittens) ...

Actually pretty much all that's available up here in this area and in my budget is on that list ...

:blink: :blink: :blink:

I talked to my vet and he says that the hounds are healthy and that if I haven't noticed any problems they should continue to be fine. - BUT I don't want to be supporting companies with poor practices ...

Has anyone heard of any Canada specific issues with these companies, or the pet food that's come in to this country ... or were all the recalls in the States?

I notice in the legal suit only the US is mentioned ... there's nothing about contamination outside of the US or branches of those companies outside the US ... so where's all this stuff coming from? (Contaminated grain, imported garbage etc?)

Sorry, I'm just concerned for my hounds and wondering if I should be switching foods or what impact any of this has had in Canada ...

 

[murraysmom]

It's a bit strange because we get a lot of those products here up in Canada, and we haven't heard much of anything for food recalls or product problems or anything, all the reports and flyers and news reports, etc that are posted up here are from the Unites States ...

... but I'm a bit worried, Nutro is on that list and that's what I've been feeding my houndies (and since we got them, the kittens) ...

Actually pretty much all that's available up here in this area and in my budget is on that list ...

:blink: :blink: :blink:

I talked to my vet and he says that the hounds are healthy and that if I haven't noticed any problems they should continue to be fine. - BUT I don't want to be supporting companies with poor practices ...

Has anyone heard of any Canada specific issues with these companies, or the pet food that's come in to this country ... or were all the recalls in the States?

I notice in the legal suit only the US is mentioned ... there's nothing about contamination outside of the US or branches of those companies outside the US ... so where's all this stuff coming from? (Contaminated grain, imported garbage etc?)

Sorry, I'm just concerned for my hounds and wondering if I should be switching foods or what impact any of this has had in Canada ...[/b]

Canada and the U.S are so connected economically that I can't imagine you aren't facing the same problems there. The Menu Foods recall impacted Canada as well as the U.S.


I have to wonder how this latest crisis will be handled - at least these types of lawsuits raise public awareness.

 

[Mikey T]

Yea, it wasn't really the livestock that shocked me. I knew that... I mean a lot of livestock is right there in the ingredients... its the dogs and cats being put into my dogs' feed that really shocks me! All I could think was "O-M-G my dogs are cannibals." :blink:
http://www.mflegal.com/petfoodlawsuit

They are suppose to have a list somewhere.[/b]

On need to keep in mind the source of the allegations, the newset beiang a St Louis TV station report

Special Report: What's In Your Pet Food?

It was the pet food that got people. The report last month by KMOV-TV's Jamie Allman--headlined "What's Getting Into Your Pets"--suggested that dead dogs and cats from local shelters were ending up in kibble. As proof, Allman aired footage of a tanker truck entering the rendering plant, a truck emblazoned with the motto "Serving the Pet Food Industry."[/b]

only problem is (from source above)

They maintain that the TV report unfairly linked their product to pet food (the tanker truck with the pet industry logo, they say, was headed to a separate rendering plant that handles restaurant grease)[/b]

This idea was first exploited by Ann Martin in her book "Food Pets Die for: Shocking Facts About Pet Food" The Food and Drug Administration found "very, very low levels" of sodium pentobarbital--a chemical used to euthanize animals- in some pet food. The actual source of the chemical or if it was from euthanized pets has been investigated. Their findings were that The chemical was not from dog or cats see <a href="http://www.fda.gov/cvm/FOI/DFreport.htm" target="_blank"> Food and Drug Administration/Center for Veterinary Medicine
Report on the risk from pentobarbital in dog food</a>

Because in addition to producing anesthesia, pentobarbital is routinely used to euthanize animals, the most likely way it could get into dog food would be in rendered animal products.

Rendered products come from a process that converts animal tissues to feed ingredients. Pentobarbital seems to be able to survive the rendering process. If animals are euthanized with pentobarbital and subsequently rendered, pentobarbital could be present in the rendered feed ingredients.

...CVM developed a sophisticated process to detect and quantify minute levels – down to 2 parts per billion of pentobarbital in dry dog food.

Because pentobarbital is used to euthanize dogs and cats at animal shelters, finding pentobarbital in rendered feed ingredients could suggest that the pets were rendered and used in pet food.

CVM scientists, as part of their investigation, developed a test to detect dog and cat DNA in the protein of the dog food. All samples from the most recent dog food survey (2000) that tested positive for pentobarbital, as well as a subset of samples that tested negative, were examined for the presence of remains derived from dogs or cats. The results demonstrated a complete absence of material that would have been derived from euthanized dogs or cats. The sensitivity of this method is 0.005% on a weight/weight basis; that is, the method can detect a minimum of 5 pounds of rendered remains in 50 tons of finished feed. Presently, it is assumed that the pentobarbital residues are entering pet foods from euthanized, rendered cattle or even horses.[/b]

Euthanized Pets as Pet Food Ingredients


The pets in pet food myuth has a lot of legs but with extensive investigation has never found one provable example of it. All the allegation have been debunked but they keep getting referred to as if they were true.



As with most lawsuits that are publized they are done so for sensationalism to put presure on the denfendant to settle regardless of the actual merits of the case.



One also must be careful and not assume all products that go into a redering plant turn out as petfood. On a very small percentage. Most Rendered animal are not used a food at all. It is inapproprate linking of processes and feed stock for those process regardless of what the end product is that is often used to create sensational footage as seen here.

 

[Betsy Iole]

As I was reading the complaint, I had the impression that the arguments were not being well developed or substantiated. The sentence reading "Dogs and cats are carnivores and should be fed a meat-based diet" convinced me I was wasting my time.

While cats are carnivores, dogs are omnivores.

Seems like a more limited approach, targeting the recent illnesses and deaths linked to imported additives, would be more helpful to pet owners than this sensationalistic fear-mongering and shot-gunning.

 

[2hounds]

Betsy and Mikey,

I am very guilty (and shouldn't be) of looking at something and believing what I see without really looking deeper. Thank you two for looking deeper and clarifying.

~Heather

 

[chandlerT]

Betsy and Mikey,

I am very guilty (and shouldn't be) of looking at something and believing what I see without really looking deeper. Thank you two for looking deeper and clarifying.

~Heather[/b]

Well said. Me too. I apologize for raising the alarm without a little research.

 

[Betsy Iole]

No apology necessary! Forums like these provide a good opportunity to check out stories like these, and everyone learns new things in the process.

 

[lvbassets]

:angry: I thought all the recalls were horrible. Had too much trust in the dog fd. manufacters!After reading this and pics. I'm ready to start crying > This EVIL. Tummy Boy's Mom