First Dry Pet Food added to recall

[angelwing]

[web]http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/03/30/pet.food.recall.ap/index.html[/web]

[JonathanBelles]

What are we suposed to feed our pets? The recall is going to spread.

[Miss Mary]

angelwing - thank you so much for posting this article/alert. My heart sank when I read the title. OMG - what next?

I just bought another bag of dry dog food for our dog but it's not opened yet (Purina Beneful Healthy Weight Management). Thinking the large bag that is almost gone is fine but what if the new bag is tainted? I am very relieved to read that Beneful isn't listed. But I do not remain as confident that all this dog and cat food is safe (as we used to).

What if we couldn't feed our pets dog and cat food? First off, our dog would be loving it - I'd have to supplement her diet with people food, a major no-no from the Vet but what choice would you have? You'd have to feed your pet. I don't even know what I'd feed her (Cheerios, crackers, etc.?). We already give her canned no salt green beans with her food but you couldn't give your pet all canned vegetables. Well, I am rambling here. I know there would be a variety that is safe. I know local Vets push their own prescription food but I've heard it's very expensive. Anyone buy their pet food from the Vet?

Mary

PS - *edit* fact789, you must have read my mind, I was typing this post as you were posting. Exactly - what are we supposed to feed them?

[Stephanie]

The vets push the same products that are being recalled. THAT'S SCARY! I've had to use Hill's and Eukanuba for various reasons over the years for my pets due to illnesses I've had to purchase them from the Vet. No more.

Obviously, the vets are counting on the fact that these are higher quality foods - or at least that's what is being sold to them. They have no control over how and where the ingredients are purchased and I'm sure that they are all aghast at what has happened. It's going to hit them in the pocketbook as well as potentially hurting their patients. Hopefully, the FDA will do the right thing and start to re-evaluate their methods of regulating the pet food industry and I have no doubt that all of the different Animal Humane societies and Veterinarian societies will be pushing for this as well.

[angelwing]

Well, I'm also on a couple of religious boards and I got the ok to pass this story on, maybe it might be a help? (Of course check with your vet about this, this is just being passed on as info)

In the Face of the Pet Food Recall, Some Concerned Humans Whip Up Dinner for Their Dogs -- and Cats -- Themselves
Bone Appetit!

March 22, 2007— If you smell the aroma of dinner emanating from Lori Perrotti-John's kitchen, it's possible that meal may not be for her. It's likely for her dogs.

For the past nine, years Perrotti has been whipping up home-cooked meals for her three golden retrievers. And not just any old table scraps… she actually cooks turkey, free-range chicken and organic veggies just for her dogs and she serves it to them warm. She'll even throw in some yogurt, bananas and apples.

"I have much healthier, happier, animals," says Perrotti-Johns. "My vet actually thinks I'm crazy."

Perrotti-Johns spends about $50 a week and is in the kitchen every three days making meals for her furry friends. It's a little bit pricier and more time consuming than buying typical pet food, but she says it's worth it.

"I noticed the difference in his coat. He didn't get the hot spots like he used to, he didn't get the digestive problems, he didn't get the diarrhea and the runs. That all stopped … when I switched his diet," she says.

So when pet food came flying off the shelves in last week's recall, she didn't worry about her dogs. And she wasn't the only one.

Since 1998, Mary Straus has fed her dogs a steady diet of raw meat — chicken, turkey and beef. Straus says that when her dog was 6 years old, a raw diet worked wonders for the pup's arthritis.

"When I switched her to a raw diet with no grains, I was able to take her off the medications, and her arthritis was actually better," says Straus. She has since had to put the 15-year-old Sharpei back on medication.

Chicken and Rice, Hold the Kibble

Straus and Perrotti-Johns are among the small — but growing — segment of American pet owners who are making home-cooked meals for their pets.

"I'd say it's [a trend that is] growing all the time," says Nancy Kerns, editor-in-chief of the Whole Dog Journal. Kerns says most people find out about the benefits of a home-prepared meal when pets face a medical issue and both dog and owner learn to stick with it.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=2973682&page=2

Even food guru Rachael Ray has a monthly pet recipe column in her magazine, Every Day With Rachael Ray.

"Our readers love it," says Maile Carpenter, Every Day's executive editor. "Rachael has been cooking for her own dogs for years and many of our readers are doing the same," she told ABC News in an e-mail. (Try one of Rachael's recipes here .)
http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=2973714
RECIPE: Croque Monsieur Pour Vous et le Pup

Courtesy of Rachael Ray/Tina Rupp

4 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 tablespoons flour
1 cup whole milk
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Pinch ground or grated nutmeg (for people's sammies only)
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard (for people's sammies only)
8 slices sandwich bread
8 slices deli ham
8 slices Gruyère or Swiss cheese

FOUR SERVINGS

1. In a small saucepan, melt 2 tablespoons butter over medium heat. Whisk in the flour and cook for 1 minute. Whisk in the milk until thickened, about 5 minutes. Season the sauce with salt to taste. Reserve one-quarter of the sauce for the dog's sammy. Season the remaining sauce with the pepper and nutmeg and whisk in the mustard.

2. Spread one side each of 6 bread slices with the people's sauce. Use to make 3 sammies with 2 slices each of ham and cheese. Spread the remaining 2 bread slices with the dog's sauce and then assemble the sammy using the remaining ham and cheese; keep separate.

3. In a large skillet, melt the remaining 2 tablespoons butter over medium-low heat. Add the sammies and cook, turning once, until golden on both sides, about 4 minutes total. Chop up the pup's sammy and let cool, but eat yours hot!

[vbhoutex]

I am concerned for my dog and everyone elses dogs and cats, but I am starting to wonder if there is some overreaction going on over this. Don't get me wrong, they need to find out what is killing these animals and eliminate it however they must, but as of last newscast I heard they now aren't even sure what is killing them. They say it isn't the rat poison initially thought to be the culprit and they mentioned something about melamine(or some such) and said it is toxic, but not in big enough amounts to cause a problem os something along those lines. We feed our dog nutro and just recently bought a new bag. I haven't seen any adverse reaction from either one.

[Bobbie Lee]

For the past nine, years Perrotti has been whipping up home-cooked meals for her three golden retrievers. And not just any old table scraps… she actually cooks turkey, free-range chicken and organic veggies just for her dogs and she serves it to them warm. She'll even throw in some yogurt, bananas and apples. "I have much healthier, happier, animals," says Perrotti-Johns.

Gee, I was flamed here 6 months ago for saying essentially the same thing. Our dog eats people food! Last night it was meat loaf, rice, peas, and gravy. The night before that it was chicken, potatoes, and cabbage. And the night before that it was Taco Bell. (Her Poochness loves burritos. ) Poultry is her favorite, but she's delighted with steak and salmon and shrimp, too. Eats every vegetable we give her. She likes her fruit in a separate cup, and will sit in front of the refrigerator and "ask" (with that little thin cry that dogs have sometimes) for a glass of milk! She doesn't eat junk -- she eats what we eat. Don't give her strawberries, though -- she just doesn't care for them.

What are we suposed to feed our pets?

Give them what you eat; it's what they ate before pet food manufacturers came on the scene. Covered wagons weren't stocked with Kibbles and Bits for the family dog.

[Miss Mary]

Bobbie - thanks for your reply. Your first very sentence caught my attention though. I too have had opinions that have strayed from the general concensus here and I heard about it. Now that said, I don't want or need to hear about that last sentence - okay!

I firmly believe that if we state what are questions are or state what options we try at home (within reason, nothing offensive or extremely personal), we should not be flamed.

I'm gonna catch flack for that. But too bad.

Back on topic, Hope shares a banana with me....not literally (but I did that with a popsicle and my cat as a teenager, to annoy my mother ya know....LOL). I break off about an inch or so and put it in her bowl. She enjoys a chunk of apple every now and then too. Adding canned no salt green beans and pieces of fruit on occasion was recommended on a Golden Retriever message board and approved of by our Vet. To keep our dog's weight down.

Again, thanks for your reply Bobbie.

Mary

[Bobbie Lee]

Another recall!! This time it's ALPO Prime Cuts in Gravy, our back-up for Her Poochness.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070331/D8O76KGG0.html

Gotta check my stock...

[JonathanBelles]

By the time I start feeding my cat people food full time it will be turkey and ham when they tell us bird flu and e-coli are back

[TexasStooge]

I have a feeling this is gonna turn into one of those "Jericho" situations.

[Bobbie Lee]

By the time I start feeding my cat people food full time it will be turkey and ham when they tell us bird flu and e-coli are back

I'm pretty sure it could easily come to that.