Update on food recall

[Michelle (furbabystar)]

That's terribly sad, Michelle.  I think more and more deaths are going to emerge over time.  Although this has been pretty much bypassed by the UK media it's a huge news story in the US with a large number of pets affected.

That cat ^Mimsy^ was in the USA - its an american website

[Dawn F]

does anyone know, was this really done on purpose?

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

No dry food has been recalled so I don't think you need worry.  The dry food isn't made at the plant where the contaminated wheat was used (wheat gluten is used in the wet pouches).

That's terribly sad, Michelle.  I think more and more deaths are going to emerge over time.  Although this has been pretty much bypassed by the UK media it's a huge news story in the US with a large number of pets affected.

[Michelle (furbabystar)]

  The other brand I am personally concerned about is Nutro.  I've seen nutro dry in shops over here but not the wet food and it is only the wet food that's affected.  Nutro is a popular brand in Europe and I buy it online from zooplus.  All the nutro wet has now been recalled.

i USE NUTRO DRY
SHOULD I BE WORIED SUSANNE ?

[Michelle (furbabystar)]

TAKEN THIS FROM A PET BEREAVEMENT BOARD I GO ON


We've lost a member of our family.

About a month ago, Mimsy, my 11-year-old cat was happy,healthy and playful. She's been with me since I was in my 20's. She has been the one constant in my life through life changes, family loss, relationships lost and now had become the beloved pet of my husband and 3 kids. Through every change she was the one thing I could count on.

She started vomiting, became lethargic and stopped eating. When I took her to the vet they discovered she was in kidney failure. I brought her home and tried every idea the vet gave me. She went from 10 lbs to 4 lbs. Last Saturday, I took her back to the vet and was told there was nothing left they could do. I asked what would happen if I took her home and they said she would die within a few hours because she was so dehydrated. We decided it would be easier for her to put her to sleep. It was so awful. She was so dehydrated they couldn't find a vein and had to inject her directly into her heart. I held my baby as she passed away.

On Monday my vet called and asked what type of food Mimsy had been on. It was then that we discovered she had been eating the pet food that was recalled. It hurt bad enought to know she had just gotten sick and it was just life. But now, it's because of someone's negligance and possibly on purpose. Friday it came out in the news that it was rat poison in the pet food. Did someone do this on purpose?

I just can't stop crying. How long does it take to stop feeling sad? I'm trying to keep it together, especially because of my kids. My children has never experienced death before. My 4-year-old keeps asking if she can go to heaven to see Mimsy.

And is it too soon to get my girls each a kitten? We were going to get them kittens this spring (since that is when most are available) but decided not to when Mimsy got sick. But now is it too soon?

Thanks for listening to me...I think my family doesn't know what to do with me at the moment. And some people have even said "It was just a cat".....I had to walk away from this particular co-worker!

[Mark]

I agree Susanne, it happens with a lot of things I think they call it "grey imports". Often where a product is sold cheaper in another country, people import it to make more profit. One example is coke. Even though it is made here, I often see cans with russian or arabic writing on. I noticed recently that they have started marking cans "Made in UK". There is also the possibility that if a global manufactuer is overstocked in one country, they will shift stock to another country.

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

So is the food made in the EU ok?

Yes, as it's only the food manufactured in the USA that is possibly contaminated.  The difficulty is in being certain where a product was manufactured.  There's no reason to worry about brands bought in shops over here eg whiskas, felix, hi life etc as they are not manufactured in USA.  Iams is a brand that is listed in the recall (wet food only) and I'm pretty certain that the Iams pouches we can buy over here is manufactured in Europe and not in the USA.  But I am not 100% confident of that myself so would not personally be happy feeding Iams wet food in pouches at the moment.  I think that's the only brand on the list that is commonly available over here.  The other brand I am personally concerned about is Nutro.  I've seen nutro dry in shops over here but not the wet food and it is only the wet food that's affected.  Nutro is a popular brand in Europe and I buy it online from zooplus.  All the nutro wet has now been recalled.

This is an interesting and well balanced article about the whole thing

http://www.shojai.com/articles/PetFoodRecall

[ccmacey]

So is the food made in the EU ok?

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

The menu foods recall has been expanded to include all cuts in gravy foods produced by menu foods, and not just those with the Best Before dates previously mentioned.

http://www.avma.org/press/releases/070323_expanded_recall.asp

Up to date list of brands

http://www.menufoods.com/recall/

Just to re-emphasize - this relates to food produced in the USA.  Brands mentioned which are available in the UK (such as Iams) are, I believe, made in the EU and so would not be affected, but I'm not 100% sure of that.  It doesn't say on the back of the one Iams pouch I have in the cupboard where it was made.  If you've bought any food online or from ebay be aware that it may have come from the USA. The recall includes dog food as well as cat food.