Gary said,
According
to the FDA, an unnamed DRY pet food company also received a shipment
of this supposedly tainted Chinese wheat gluten (if that is actually
the cause of all this).
Does
anybody have any information on which company that is? I realize that
many feel it’s a good idea to avoid wheat products altogether.
But, my cats really enjoy, and have become visibly heathlier by eating,
Royal Canin Light 37 dry food. I’d rather not switch, if possible.
Jaycee said,
I
can’t believe they won’t disclose that information…we
can only speculate at this point what brand it is. There are rumors,
but that’s it. My guess is *IF* they disclose the dry food brand
that *may* be affected, then it would be possible to trace the supplier
of the wheat source, too. Perhaps this supplier also sells a lot of
other products to human food? That’s all speculation on my part,
but who is to say that some of this won’t be found in the human
supply? The lack of information is leading me to believe there is
a LOT more information that the government does not want us to know.
Again, speculation on my behalf.
I
have not heard Royal Canin brought up, FWIW.
Robin said,
Interesting
that a list is printed and someone did all that work. Why is Menu
Foods so evil now? I feed my dog Nutro Max dry and always will. The
dry food is SAFE and it has been stressed over and over again that
dry food was not part of the recall. From what I understand the poison
was found in the ingredients NOT the plant (I could be wrong here).
I am really sorry pets have gotten sick and died from the recalled
food but I think we need to concentrate on those food companies that
buy their ingredients from foreign countries (outside of Canada or
the US) instead of targeting Menu Foods as an evil entity. We really
don’t know the whole truth yet…maybe we never will. No food is 100%
risk free…even raw food diets have their downfalls.
JMHO.
Robin & Belle
Robin & Belle
Sarah said,
re:
human food-the new press release from this morning says, FWIW, that
the human food supply is not affected. That was something I had thought
of a few days ago since the source of all this seems to not be named.
Back to Basics said,
A
few of my colleagues are in Atlantic City right now at the annual
pet industry trade show, this recall is THE topic throughout the show
and the contamination of dry pet food has been mentioned, when I get
more specific information I will share.
Oh,
and I didn’t mean to spark any kind of buzz of rivaling pet
food companies on this board, I’m a concerned pet owner just
like the rest of you. It’s definitely a fine line to walk at
a time like this, but one I walk willingly for the same reason that
if I had a cure for cancer I would post it on the appropriate forums.
And
Evy, if you are going to praise me for having “integrity”,
try and follow suit and service the people with beneficial information,
not misleading claims about meat and bone meal. I agree with a lot
of what you said about the small guys in the industry having to fight
harder, but when you don’t have the financial/marketing strength
of a giant, you’d better at least have a heckuva sling to bring
em down.
AAFCO
Definition of Bone Meal: (steamed) dried and ground product sterilized
by cooking undecomposed bones with steam under pressure. Grease, gelatin
and meat fiber may or may not be removed.
AAFCO
Definition of Meat Meal: the rendered product from mammal tissues,
exclusive of blood, hair, hoof, horn, hide trimmings, manure, stomach
and rumen contents except in such amounts as may occur unavoidably
in good processing practices.
Dried
Beet Pulp swells to nearly 10x it’s original size when exposed
to moisture (i.e. digestion). This causes a slowing in the normal
digestive process and thus stool formation is affected. A sure way
to tell if something is wrong with your pet is by looking at their
stool, Beet Pulp hides this and serves little nutritional value to
boot.
And
one more thing to readers: Yes, I’m biased, but I care about
the health of pets in general more than an extra dollar, I only wish
to share info. Other great foods are Canidae and California Natural
amongst others. I share these names freely even though they are in
direct competition with us because good food is good food. In fact,
if you want a longer list of great food you can feed your pet, look
no further than the February issues of The Whole Dog Journal, those
guys know exactly what they’re doing.
Ruthe said,
Could
the cans themselves or the packaging be implicated in the recall?
A
short time ago someone sent me an article about how pop top canned
food can pose a thyroid danger to your cat due to the CHEMICALS LINING
THE POP TOPS (the article was from http://thyroid.about.com/b/a/
257333.htm).
Is
it possible that the FDA should be testing the pop tops too? Maybe
there is a melamine connection here.
For
dry food, is there dioxin, etc. in the paper packaging that may impact
the food?
Anna said,
Any
good cat publications out there?
Anna
Mary Kelley said,
A
message to Taeki’s Friend: I’m sorry to hear about your
cat. How old was he?
Back to Basics said,
Hey
Anna,
The
Whole Cat Journal ended publication in 2003, but I’ll ask around
and do some digging for you and give you the consensus. The best is
to find journals that don’t accept advertising because they
are the most compassionate on non-biased
Anna said,
Michael,
would you mind addressing why Back to Basics chose to use corn as
an ingredient for cat food?
Thanks
in advance.
Anna
Marie said,
Great
information. As an owner of two dogs and a 19-year-old Devon Rex cat
I applaud everyone who has worked so hard to get the real info; also
my heart breaks for those who have lost beloved pets.
I
would like to add a bit of a warning: I see people whose justified
anger is making them become too extreme. I agree we should boycott
Menu. However…most of us can’t realistically create totally
wholesome food at home, especially for cats that are totally carnivorous
and that also require taurine in certain special amounts in order
to live.
I
think we HAVE to agree to modify our current anger and take the realistic
steps of:
1.
Writing our legislators and signing petitions to them.
2.
Boycotting Menu and its’ subsidiaries.
3.
Find a good alternative food you can afford and that your pets can
live with.
4.
Spread the word as you are doing now while you are angry and hurt
about pet abuse in the pet industry and the major question of why
we are trading with China (NAFTA and WTA as someone already pointed
out… THATS why the cheaper wheat in the US wasn’t used
to begin with and instead we bought the Chinese wheat from a nation
that eats dogs and cats instead of owning them as pets, that non-voluntarily
aborts second children and uses slave labor to create those inexpensive
items we buy at Walmart! THAT’S why the wheat came from China to begin
with! Ever see the (I think it was a 60-minutes show) on how the Chinese
government bought St Bernard Dogs to breed and then kill for extra
protein in the Chinese diet? It’s a factory style slaughterhouse,
similar to the way chickens, pigs, and cows are dealt with here.
5.
Keep in mind this is the tip of the iceberg. Today pet food contamination,
tomorrow, what are WE eating and feeding our children? Ever heard
of hormones and antibiotics in chicken and cow feed? This results
in the earlier and earlier onset of puberty in young girls. This connection
between the hormones in the food of the cows and chickens leading
to an earlier appearance of puberty has been shown. Also, the antibiotics
in their food contributes to antibiotic resistance which means that
the next time you get pneumonia, the antibiotic you’re given
may not work for you.
6.
Finally, keep a sense of proportion. Its one thing to boycott Menu
and Wal-Mart (where almost every item is from China and they push
out American competition) but lets keep in mind the good work Pet
Smart does with finding homes for unwanted animals, free, at their
stores, and in not selling pets at their stores, something that would
surely earn them a great deal of money. They need support for this,
not boycotting because they carried brand that they, like all of us
a month ago, didn’t know were contaminated!
There
is a saying: Act Locally and Think Globally. We are all in this together;
it’s more than just our beloved pets!
Eskie Lover said,
The
best thing to do is to do your own research and find out what a dog
truly needs and what a cat truly needs. From my background of researching
cats need a high protein diet made of meat. They are strictly carnivores
and do not do well on a vegetarian diet at all. Orijen Cat food has
a good balanace of high protein and a good source of fat. Many people
say it’s best to feed a cat a raw diet since that is the closest
to nature. I agree that if I did own a cat I more than likely would
be feeding the cat a raw diet and use kibble on the side. It’s
just my opinion
Back to Basics said,
I’ll
start with a quote:
“Corn is nutritionally superior grain compared with others used in pet foods because it contains a balance of nutrients not found in other grains.” - Small Animal Clinical Nutrition 4th edition
“Corn is nutritionally superior grain compared with others used in pet foods because it contains a balance of nutrients not found in other grains.” - Small Animal Clinical Nutrition 4th edition
Then
some facts:
Ground Corn is 91% digestible.
Corn is one of the best sources known for linoleic acid.
Corn oil is one of the best sources of Omega 3 & 6 fatty acids including linoleic acid which is great for skin and coat and has been listed as one of the most essential nutrients for cats and dogs next to protein and fat.
Corn provides essential amino acids and fiber.
Ground Corn is 91% digestible.
Corn is one of the best sources known for linoleic acid.
Corn oil is one of the best sources of Omega 3 & 6 fatty acids including linoleic acid which is great for skin and coat and has been listed as one of the most essential nutrients for cats and dogs next to protein and fat.
Corn provides essential amino acids and fiber.
And
finally, some myths:
Corn
is indigestible! Not true, the outer shell of corn is impervious to
stomach acids, but ground corn suffers no such shortcoming.
Corn
is an allergen! The only proven way to find a food allergy is to remove
your animal from all medication, feed whole, natural foods not usually
eaten by that animal, then introduce foods back into the diet one
by one. Even with this method, food allergies are extremely rare.
Of 200 confirmed cases, corn caused only 3. Think about this…
to even confirm an allergy is rare. Of the few cases confirmed only
1.5% resulted from corn. In a survey of veterinary dermatologists,
corn was not listed among the ingredients most often suspected to
cause food allergies.
The
fact of the matter is we continue to use corn because there’s
nothing better. I WISH THERE WAS! LOL, then we would take it out and
replace it… but we’re not cowards and we won’t remove
an ingredient we know to be highly valuable just beacuse misinformation
has given it a bad rap. We would sell twice as much food tommorrow
if we replaced it, but your animals would not be as healthy…
we’ll wait back and fight the stigma until the tide swings back
the way of truth.
If
digestibility or allergies were not your concern about corn, please
clarify and I’ll do my best to answer… Oh, and if it’s
in reference to the contamination of Diamond Pet Food corn a while
back that was killing pets, we use Human-Grade corn and it is not
vulnerable to the fungus contamination that barely regulated pet-grade
corn suppliers face because the FDA and USDA inspection is at a much
higher standard.
Pat Dunlap said,
I
need to know which companies make their own at their own plant using
all USA ingredients as well as… this is important… and
has not been fully addressed for every company…
Bag
their own.
Can
their own.
i.e.
Natural Balance on first blush I was ready to jump to BUT Diamond
packages their dry food. Meets all the criteria except Diamond on
the end product packaging.
I
have determined that I will NO LONGER feed either of my dogs any canned
food but will supplement with human food only.
I
am still in the hunt dry food from a company that vertically DOES
EVERYTHING in their own plants and can be accounted for and have been
inspected by the USDA.
Robin said,
OMG…all
you “natural” pet food industry people are having a grand
ol’ time with this recall. The sky is not falling…all
other pet foods are not “bad”. Some pet foods are better
for your pet then others but going “holistic” or “organic”
is not going to make a whole heck of alot of difference. Most dogs
will eat horse poop every meal if given it. My mom’s cat lived
18 years and ate Alley Cat and Friskies. I love my dog she IS my child.
I am not going to risk her health but I am also not going to spend
$30 on a bag of dog food if I get the results I want from a $15 bag.
Jaycee said,
Petsmart
and PetCo still sells rare birds and sometimes they are kept solitary.
That is not how they live in the wild. I’ve heard they’ve
been good at giving customer’s receipts and taking back recalled
food, so that is a good sign. I still wish they would stop selling
birds, though.
Jaycee said,
That
money you think you may save could very well be used for vet bills
later on in life. With many organic pet foods, you feed less because
more of it is absorbed. The end difference in cost amounts to pennies.
Why not spend more on better food?
Interested Observer said,
Too
bad the WDJ doesn’t give that information out freely at a time
like this when many consumers have a right to know and are desperately
searching for some answers and better options to feed their pets.
When searching for their list of approved pet foods, I ran across
many internet sites who were publishing the information but were asked
by WDJ to take it down because that information is for subscribers
only. I was able to find one list on the net, but it was several years
old. It really would be nice if, at this time, they openly discussed
or printed out their current approved list of dog food for non-paying
people to see. Perhaps that would increase readership in the long
run? I respect their decision to not make that list available for
free, but it would also be a respected and commended decision on their
behalf if one didn’t have to suscribe in order to see this list
of great food. (Beowolf, Innova, and Canidae have been on the list
before, as well as California Naturals, so it is no surprise Back
To Basics (Beowolf) recommends the Whole Dog Journal becuase they
are on the list. I personally can’t say that there isn’t
a little backrubbing involved in the above recommendation by Back
To Basics). Yes, Beowolf and Back to Basics are something I would
feed my pets, but it does seem like they are only recommending the
WDJ as a resource for information when there are many other free places
to find it.
How
about recommending local independent shops? These places are where
I learned much about commercial foods. There are also many free websites
that allow you to make an informed decision on good dog foods and
cat foods. All you have to do is search.
This
news press are the same ones who are *still* saying 15 animals died
in the recall. I, for one, haven’t trusted the media in a long
time. This entire ordeal wreaks of the FDA, the government, big corporations
doing everything they can to coverup what they don’t feel the
people should know. All for the sake of the bottom line. I, for one,
will not trust the media as my source of information.
Anna said,
Hi
Michael,
My
question about corn in cat food is in reference to the reports that
I have read that cats do not need grains (corn in this case), i.e.
carbohydrates in their diet which would be contradictory to the Back
to Basics philosophy.
I
am quite interested in your line and am comfy with the corn in dog
food but just have this lingering question about corn and cats that
I haven’t resolved in my mind yet.
Just
one question about the dog food line though. You do not offer a dog
food for older dogs. That surprised me. Is there any reason why? My
dog is definitely in her senior years.
Thanks
for participating in this blog. I just want to make sure I make a
*good* decision this time. I got lucky with the Nutro products I have
been using this time around and I want to take *luck* out of the equation
so hopefully there won’t be a *next* time.
Anna
Back to Basics said,
To
Pat Dunlap:
We do not manufacture at our own facility because we simply cannot afford it, few pet foods could. Our food is however made COMPLETELY in that one facility, bagging included. Also, in the event of an incident where accountability were called into play, Back to Basics is soley responsible for it’s own product.
We do not manufacture at our own facility because we simply cannot afford it, few pet foods could. Our food is however made COMPLETELY in that one facility, bagging included. Also, in the event of an incident where accountability were called into play, Back to Basics is soley responsible for it’s own product.
To
Robin:
Quality does matter, as does keeping certain things out. For me personally, nothing points this out better than the documentary “Supersize Me” where that guy tries to live on McDonald’s for 30 days. This is synonomous with pet foods even so far as that it is their everyday diet. Scarier still is that a lot of what is in commercial pet foods wouldn’t even be allowed in McDonald’s. I’m not trying to change your mind if your food is not causing any problems, but while some smokers live to be 100, smoking is not good for you.
Quality does matter, as does keeping certain things out. For me personally, nothing points this out better than the documentary “Supersize Me” where that guy tries to live on McDonald’s for 30 days. This is synonomous with pet foods even so far as that it is their everyday diet. Scarier still is that a lot of what is in commercial pet foods wouldn’t even be allowed in McDonald’s. I’m not trying to change your mind if your food is not causing any problems, but while some smokers live to be 100, smoking is not good for you.
I
am not a talking head. I represent Back to Basics but only because
it has proven itself to me. I check facts, I need the truth. If I
had learned half of what I know now and was working for one of these
cheap, commercial pet foods, I’d quit in a second. But I don’t,
I’m lucky to be involved in something that makes sense and that
I proudly stand up for. I wouldn’t do this as a window salesman,
I do this because I love my pets. There are things I am tempted to
say here that I bite my tongue on because I chose the screenname “Back
to Basics” and I don’t want to step out of line with the
company… things that are true to me but that my boss wouldn’t
like strictly in a business sense. In fact, who knows? If you see
Mike Weed make an appearance soon… I’ll be a bit more
uninhibited