More Recalls

I was supposed to log on an discuss the democratic debate
but was hit with not one, not two, but three recalls in my inbox.

I'm just drained.

I was angry before this recall ever became personal. In fact,
I might have been a little smug about the fact that I was ahead
of the game and didn't feed "those" kinds of foods. But on
4/16/07 the recall concerning Natural Balance become personal.
Luckily none of the cats and dogs show sign of damage (Bix
even had bloodwork recently and came out with just an
elevated glucose reading which might have been due to stress
at vet (i'm trying to figure out a way to collect his urine to get
tested and rule out diabetes).

My co-workers dog, Ginger, wasn't so lucky. After I
recommended Natural Balance to her (and my brother and
many other people). This was right after the Nutro/Menu recall
in March and she bought a bag of the Venison & Brown Rice
and fed it to her yorkie. After the 2nd or 3rd day her dog had
bloody stools, was lethargic and vomitting. She though it might
be a delayed reaction to the bad Nutro. After 2 days on fluids
at the vets she was diagnosed with chronic kidney failure.
An otherwise healthy, middle-aged dog with no health issues
(just had a full blood count done a few months ago and was
fine) turns up violently ill overnight. Hmmm..

My co-worker took her now stable dog home and continued
to feed her the Natural Balance because at that point it wasn't
on any recall lists - in fact, it's sales were booming as a direct
result of the Menu recall and the demand for premium pet food.
Ginger's kidneys spiked again and then stabilized again only
after she was fed a prescription kidney formula. It had to be
the Natural Balance all along! Today they recalled more food
- this time flavors and formulas that I have been feeding the
cats and dogs. They say it is only precautionary and they
haven't received complaints. They are not to be believed.
They are liars. They are playing the victim ("the rice protein
concentrate was put in without our knowledge")!!! What
happened to the statement they made (in large, red letters)
on their website, that they use "their own employees to
oversee and manufacture their food and that it is tested
BEFORE, DURING and AFTER production" !!! What happened
to listing the suspect ingredient on their website only on the
day of the recall? I can't believe I was fooled by their
marketing back in January and fell for the pitch. That's
what is so scary about all this.. that any of the "safe"
companies can turn out not to be so tomorrow.

Anyway..

When my co-worker got through to Natural Balance (after
3 days of the busy signal and only then after I gave her
the contact info of a NB rep that had emailed me). He
told her that the bag she was feeding was not part of
the recall!!! (even though they recalled ALL lots of the food).

She called the FDA to file an official complaint. The FDA
complaints now total over 12,000. I just viewed a list of
names that are part of a lawsuit against Menu Foods and
it was just pages upon pages and you know that those are
all people that lost their pets.

I think that if continue to follow these developments I
will go mad.

I am literally on a tightrope, which is on fire... and i'm
only one step ahead of the flame.

Latest round up of pet food recalls

PET PARENTS: Check the labels of your pet food. If they contain any kind of PROTEIN, GLUTEN or CONCENTRATE in the form of wheat, rice, corn, soy, fish or vegetable USE YOUR JUDGEMENT IN FEEDING THAT FOOD TO YOUR PET RIGHT NOW.

Check Itchmo for the latest on the pet food recall and sign up for the email alert system to receive breaking news.

I started to do a preliminary search of pet foods that use RICE PROTEIN CONCENTRATE (RPC). I also did searches under RICE PROTEIN and RICE GLUTEN.

This is just a precaution until we know more, i’m not sure who supplies to the companies below but i’m doing this to be safe and to make sure the food I feed doesn’t include this filler. (As of Monday I am feeding Merrick to all my pets - they were on Natural Balance since January of this year).

I have found these companies so far that have/or continue to use RPC:

NUTRO - Natural Choice & Natural Care Adult CAT food (dry) ***Nutro has issued a statement that they have not purchased the RPC from Wilbur-Ellis***

PROPAC - Lamb Meal & Rice DOG food (dry) lists RICE GLUTEN as their 4th ingredient

BLUE BUFFALO (in their top 10 ingredients for dog food they list rice protein concentrate at #7… http://tinyurl.com/2zje3k)

SENSIBLE CHOICE - RICE GLUTEN appears in a lot of their products

CASTOR & POLLUX - Natural Ultramix Canine Weight Mgmnt.

WELLNESS - WellBars - 2 of the flavors contains RPC

LIVESMART - Weight Mgmnt. Chicken and Brown Rice formula

BLUE SPA SELECT - Hairball Control Cat (dry)

HILL’S - Rx food Z/D for cats (dry) RPC IS 1st INGREDIENT!! ***Hill's has issued a statement that their RPC is not from Wilbur-Ellis***

HILL’S - Rx food K/D for dogs (wet) RPC is 5th ingredient while something called “Maize starch” (hmmm) is the first ingredient ***Hill's statement***

Also, I’m noticing a lot of other concentrates and glutens in my searches.. i.e. Soy Protein Concentrate (Fancy Feast, Nature’s Recipe), Fish Protein Concentrate (Newman’s Own), Vegetable Protein Concentrate (Advance Pet Foods) and Corn Gluten (meal) - that one is in too many to name. The reason they piqued my interest in because a lot of these companies from China that made the wheat gluten also make these items above.

I hope they release the names of all companies who receive the RICE PROTEIN CONCENTRATE because many of them, just like Natural Balance, might not even be listing it on their ingredients!! It's time for the FDA to push that red button.