Pet Food scandal - beware of lethal pet food brands!

Dr. Gajaprishthakara

Try watering down the dry food with water or chicken broth or something. Anything so long as they don't have it completely dry.

pundabee

Cats suffer if they don't get Taurine. Taurine is found in meat, but it is also added to dry, vegan cat food. So, there is no reason why a cat would suffer from a vegan diet.

Noodle

That's not all. The intestines of cats are too short to digest fibre properly, they are made for meat digestion with a small percentage of veg or cereals etc - whatever is undigested in a mouse's stomach. Vegan does either not have the right percentage of proteins, or the wrong proteins (such as soy proteins), or probably both.

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birds

Woh, I never realised it is so complicated to feed cats!

I only have dogs (due to a mother with allergy for cat hair) and they are not fussy, dry food, bones, rice, leftovers of all sorts and even grapes get gobbled up in no time.

I always thought that is how it should be. Am I wrong? Is there something I should know (like I did not know you always had to give raw bones).

Noodle

My dogs too, being born on the streets, eat almost anything. Yes, there are some things the male one won't touch, but the female Anything that fits into the mouth, well, put it in! She's greedy! The male is liiiittle more picky. But both are quite easy do satify.

Nevertheless, there are a couple of things one should know when not feeding commercial food, some things to avoid ... I have written a little something about it, some researched and some from my own experience, will attach it here as a Word attachment. A few Do's and Dont's, a few suggestions and explanations about canine nutrition.

Grapes for example are not good for dogs, have something that's poisonous for them. Raisins too.

Hope you'll like it!

Attached Files

Self-made dog food.doc (41.0 KB, 38 views)

Digital Drifter

More news

http://www.usatoday.com/money/indust...ood-usat_N.htm

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birds

"The FDA has not yet been able to get letters of invitation from the Chinese government that would allow its inspectors to enter the country."

I wonder what is next. What else are they hidding?


Noodle, thanks for the dog food recommendations, very useful indeed. Lots of things I did not know. From now on no raisins or grapes on the menu anymore. At least this way something good is coming out of this whole abysmal affaire.

birds

The Oregon Veterinary Medical Association estimates that 39,000 American pets have been sickened or killed.

In further tests of the contaminated pet food found that besides melamine there are also the remains of dead dogs and cats and vehicle antifreeze.

The shipment consisted primarily of rice protein concentrate in white bags, but also included one pink bag that was labelled, in part, with the word melamine. (so this was really not an accident
Just for your information, melamine causes crystallisation in the kidneys and causes kidney damage.

Pet owners must not dump contaminated food because it might cause environmental damage or poison animals and people.

Earlier this spring, Europe narrowly averted disaster when a batch of vitamin A from China was found to be contaminated with Enterobacter sakazakii, which has been proved to cause infant deaths. Thankfully, the defective vitamin A had not yet been incorporated into infant formula.

Currently, most of the world's vitamins are manufactured in China. 80 percent of the world's vitamin C is now manufactured in China -- much of it unregulated and some of it of questionable quality. Unable to compete, the last U.S. plant making vitamin C closed a year ago. One of Europe's largest citric acid plants shut last winter, and only one vitamin C manufacturer operates in the West.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...042201163.html
http://www.koin.com/Global/story.asp?S=6409591
http://www.carteblanche.co.za/Displa...ay.asp?Id=3297
http://www.portableplanet.co.uk/2007...nted-pet-food/

PRIYA

This horrific scandal has now reached Southern Africa too with Royal Canin being mentioned. Dozens of dogs and cats have died as a result of kidney failure which was diagnosed too late to save them. Malamine and anti-freeze was found in the pet food after being laboratory tested

Something that absolutely horrified me was the fact that 'roadkill' and euthanized cats and dogs, as well as other animals, were also being used in the food. Evidently this has now been curtailed and the companies manufacturing the pet food have been told to desist

Thankfully I'd never heard of this Royal Canin - otherwise I may have been tempted to try it! My dogs get mostly fresh veggies and chicken petfood with a few cubes thrown in for good measure and locally manufactured dogmeal which consists of maizemeal and bonemeal, and smells pretty good during cooking; plus their bikkies at bedtime

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Noodle

This is horrifying! Man and his greed ....

Btw, are there other Indian forums with sections for pets or animals in general? Does anyone know any? If so we should cross post some of this to make as many people as possible aware of it. Especially the links to the lists of which brands to avoid.

I don't think this has been covered in the Indian press at all? Or has it?

birds

As far as I know, there are no significant pet specific forums. There a few specialised groups which have something to do with animals, wildlife or birds (like: India-nature-pixs@yahoogroups.com, delhi birds, oriental birds, etc.) but I think that would be too broad a brush. There are also a few yahoo groups but most have just a handful of members.

Not sure whether it was covered by the Indian press. Where we live they do not deliver papers ... I believe IM has a couple of members who are journalists, maybe they can pick up the story?

There are a few pet orientated magazines but they get most of their advertising for Royal Canin, Pedigree, etc. So I am not so sure whether they will be keen.

What to do

Noodle

I hope that at least the veterinay associations in India have been informed? WSAVA, PPAM, and the Blue Cross, SPCA and the like?

I have some email addresses and contact names, would you like to write a letter, summarising the situation, maybe including the links to the lists of recalled products, and send it off? I'm terribly busy today.

Sama

I have a diabetic cat to whom I give a daily insulin shot. My vet (who lectures internationally on cat health) told me that a high-protein, low-carb diet is essential for cats, especially diabetic ones. This diet regulates the glucose levels. So for my Jack, more canned food, less dry food, since dry cat food is very high in carbs. A high carb diet in cats can also set up a diabetic conditions in cats that are prone to the disease (i.e., overweight cats, just like people.)

Now that his diet is regulated with high protein/low carb food, and he is fed Innova dry cat food (cat owners may want to see if it's available where you live), Jack's glucose curves are close to perfect, and his insulin dosage now is at a minimum.

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Noodle

That's great! Unfortunately special need foods are hardly available here in India. Usually they are then ordered by the vet, but that too is unreliable - you might end up having your ill cat nicely balanced with a special food (be it for kidneys, diabetis, allergy etc) and then suddenly the food isn't coming and you have to feed something else, which can as you know be disastrous with cats, especially ill ones.

I just hope mine never develop a chronic disease, I don't know any vet here I feel who could handle it. I've been to almost all the small animal vets in Pune, and their knowledge of cats is very limited. I usually seek help in an online forum set up by an American vet. She gives excellent advice and has helped me so much for example with my cat's recurring bladder problems and other problems as well. She is every time horrified about what my vets here recommend, their lack of diagnostic talent, the (tto high) dosages they prescribe, and the unwillingness to educate themselves further. I chose my current vet not because he's the best but because he's not too proud to ask an American vet for advice when he's clueless.

Uh, ok, I'm off topic. Pet peeve, you know?

Sama

what is the american vet's name? might be mine. I know she is active in a cat forum.