JC said,
A word
of caution to those of you who are reading pet food websites and contacting
them.
DON’T
be fooled by their misleading response such as “NOT AFFECTED BY”
or “INVOLVED”.
or “INVOLVED”.
This is
there way of deflecting your real question which is “Do you use menu
foods for anything?”
The only
acceptable answer is “NONE of our products are produced by Menu foods”
Why take
the risk using a food “not involved or affected” yet produced
by Menu foods given that there is conflicting reports of what the real problem
is, not to mention you would be indirectly supporting the financial gain of
Menu foods and their inhumane treatment of animals.
Kacy said,
Does anyone
know anything about Abady canned products. I have used their Exotics line
of foods and the dogs REALLY like them. But Abady’s web site is, quite
frankly, ridiculous! There are almost no working links there to even check
out the ingredients of the different products. I was wondering if anyone knew
anything.
Prin said,
I wrote
to Natural Balance before I came across this blog, and here is what Natural
Balance replied. From their email to Therese (below - from this page) I get
the distinct impression they are trying to make people believe that no other
brands gets processed on the same machinery that does theirs. Apparently their
reply to me contradicts this.
Prindusony
Prindusony
__________________________________________________________
Prin,
Please know that the machinery is cleaned thoroughly to prevent cross contamination. Have a great day.
Prin,
Please know that the machinery is cleaned thoroughly to prevent cross contamination. Have a great day.
Sincerely,
Jennifer
Freeman, B.S., R.V.T.
Animal Nutrition
Natural Balance Pet Foods Inc.
Animal Nutrition
Natural Balance Pet Foods Inc.
From: prindusony
[mailto:prindusony@yahoo.ca]
Sent: Friday, March 23, 2007 5:15 PM
To: jennifer
Subject: Re: Where is Natural Balance?
Sent: Friday, March 23, 2007 5:15 PM
To: jennifer
Subject: Re: Where is Natural Balance?
Thank you
for your reply. One one big main concern - since the facilities that you use
also manufacture other pet foods, how can their machinery be totally cleaned
out before starting to pack Natural Balance. It is good to know that you have
your own formula, your own quality control. But what good is all that when
the previous rendered dog and cat meat that wasn’t cleaned out properly
gets into cans of Natural Balance? Please answer this for me.
Thank you,
Prin
Thank you,
Prin
_________________________________________
>Therese
said,
>March 27, 2007 @ 12:57 pm
>March 27, 2007 @ 12:57 pm
>Lacy,
>I just
made a clarification in the Natural Balance info on the list. >Hopefully
this will help…
>- Dry
food is manufactured at Diamond, with Natural Balance machinery, >by Natural
Balance employees. Natural Balance personnel are the only >ones to work
with the machines and products. Diamond packages the p>roducts.
>- Canned
food is manufactured at American Nutrition in Utah, with >Natural Balance
machinery, by Natural Balance employees. Natural >Balance personnel are
the only ones to work with the machines and >products. American Nutrition
packages the products.
>Therese
Judy said,
Someone
asked about Canidae. I have been on to the dog food industry for a long time.
Started researching when it was very difficult to find good information. I
selected Canidae because of its ingredients (which excluded all the things
that are now suspect) and I also feed raw and cooked home made meals. Canidae
has very wholesome ingredients and I am not surprised they were not affected
by the recall. I am so glad that the dog food industry is finally being exposed.
Even many veteranarians are duped. I have changed vets several times and they
and staff are quite surprised when I ask why they support Science Diet and
some other suspect brands. They too are duped. We all need to take the health
and welfare of our pets into our own hands. And when you get the dog food
issue settled, check into the insistence of yearly shots for your beloved
pets. You may be surprised at what you find. Judy
Sondra T. said,
Judy…
Check the Canidae website very carefully. They do not actually say that they do not use Menu for the processing of their food. they say…”our products (are not) produced in any of the recalled production facilites…” This is a rather misleading statement. It’s possible their food may be produced at one of the other Menu plants that supposedly did not produce any of the tainted food. Does anyone know who actually processes Canidae’s wet food???
Check the Canidae website very carefully. They do not actually say that they do not use Menu for the processing of their food. they say…”our products (are not) produced in any of the recalled production facilites…” This is a rather misleading statement. It’s possible their food may be produced at one of the other Menu plants that supposedly did not produce any of the tainted food. Does anyone know who actually processes Canidae’s wet food???
Kitti said,
I would
just like to jump in and out with another brand suggestion and that is Bil
Jac brand premium. www.biljac.com
I am not
in any way affiliated with them other than using their products and I trust
that the board will research the brand thoroughly. I am mentioning this since
our family raising show Newfs and a variety of rescue dogs and cats has used
and been pleased with the brand for years.
They are
also highly responsive to their webmail inquiries. This brand is not heavily
marketed, it has more of a “cult” following but it worth taking
a look at.
Love and
prayers to all and to all of our beloved pets.
Therese said,
Sondra,
I just
updated the Canidae information. They do NOT use Menu Foods for any of their
products.
Judy said,
I’ll
check on tht Sondra. I actually use the Canidae dry kibble to supplement my
home prepared meals occasionally. Thanks
Terry L. Clark said,
Diamond…as
in the same Diamond whose foods were Recalled in December, 2005, due to Aflatoxin?
TLC
Lacy said,
I am using
Natural Balance right now. I am only using the venison and green pea formula
and my cats love it. It has NO grains, and just one protein source and one
carbohydrate source. I feel like this has the best chance of being safe. Although
now, I feel a little scared since Prin said that they use the same equipment.
I was told they had their own equipment too. I wish i knew what the correct
answer was. We also tried Felidae, but when I called they didnt really sound
like they knew what they were talking about. When I asked about where there
the dry food was manufactured i just got “Uhhhh…Texas?”
and if they share it with other brands?..”uhh..ya.” So i stopped
using it. I would like to know more about the manufacturing facility. Anyone
know who they share it with??
Lacy said,
Talked
to natural balance again. She is not sure how exactly the equipment works,
but she said it was thoroughly cleaned before each run, and that they have
their quality control there constantly to ensure it. So basically they do
not have their own equipment. But I am guessing that mostly all brands share
things with other brands. I was using Blue Buffalo, but actually called C.J.
foods and she said they use U.S. suppliers, but could not guarantee that those
suppliers didnt outsource to other countries!! They were also a little upset
that I knew that they were the manufacturer. I think I have called just about
EVERY brand, and found something I dont like about ALL of them. I wouldnt
completely trust myself making my own, so I need to settle on a brand i trust
the most. I cant seem to settle on one. Any ideas?? Suggestions??
Lacy said,
Sorry for
so many comments, but as for natural balance, I meant they dont have their
own equipment for packaging.
Gary Frundel said,
I have
5 dogs and last week started feeding them Nutro Max and mixing a can of Alpo
with it. Well they ate it the first day and less each day. Finally switched
to Pedigree Adult with Pedigree canned and they wouldnt eat it at all. Some
have been vomiting and had diarhea. Now they have refuseed toeat all together.
Im going to make the homemade dog food recipe. But does anyone know if switching
to human food will heal them without vet care?
Judy said,
I would
get them into your vet immediately, if for no other reason than to document
the issues. You have no way of knowing right now if this will eventually lead
to long term care and medication.
If they
were eating the recalled food then by all means get it checked into as quickly
as possible.
Sarah said,
I’m
not sure if this has been discussed….I haven’t seen this &
am wondering….the company where this originated from, do they provide
ingredients for any human-grade food? I am a vegetarian & it seems like
wheat gluten is a frequent ingredient in meat substitutes, and now it’s
made me wonder about what I’m eating too!
Cindy Nevarez said,
Hi All,
Just to answer the question about Diamond being involved in a recall in 05′
The answer is yes, they were. The list was fairly long as well…not like now…but long nevertheless.
Personally, I have decided to supplement my homemade raw food with only those companies, who don’t outsource to anyone for anything, and who use only human-grade ingrediants.
Just to answer the question about Diamond being involved in a recall in 05′
The answer is yes, they were. The list was fairly long as well…not like now…but long nevertheless.
Personally, I have decided to supplement my homemade raw food with only those companies, who don’t outsource to anyone for anything, and who use only human-grade ingrediants.
Scott said,
Thank you
very much for this post. It is most informative.
Crystal said,
Lacy: “I
think I have called just about EVERY brand, and found something I don’t
like about ALL of them. I wouldn’t completely trust myself making my
own, so I need to settle on a brand i trust the most. I cant seem to settle
on one. Any ideas?? Suggestions??”
I’ve
always had trust issues with all the food companies. I don’t think any
thinking person will ever be able to trust any of them. (Heck even making
home made how can we really trust the supplies unless we grew it all ourselves?!
I know the meat in our area is lacking in quality.)
I’m
a little ticked with Wysong right now, but I still stand by their quality.
I’ve asked them in the past nearly endless questions about their ingredients
and looked at the why they do things the way they do. I’ve met a few
of the people that work there. Wysong is one of two (before this board I only
knew of Wysong,) foods I know of that only use minimally low heat when needed
on their foods. All the other brands cook their food. I’ve even seen
one boasting that they double bake the food!!! Heat destroys nutrients. I’m
not saying that other brands aren’t good, this is just the only one
I can recommend in good conscience. (There is one of the higher quality ones
I’d stay away from though. Out of about 20 people I’ve talked
to, including myself that have tried it only three user’s pets didn’t
get sick from it. Begins with a C and ends in ae.) Also, my shepherd (deceased
at 16) was allergic to potatoes so it’s not like there were many other
“high quality” options out there for us to experiment with. I
really wasn’t disappointed though as I really do trust Wysong.
As sad
as it is for me to say it though Pro Plan has come through for us when we’re
in a pinch. I suggest it for dogs that need a higher fat content, such as
your northern breeds. (Or when I’m trying to convince people to move
away from grocery store brands.)
Remember,
Not every dog is going to react the same to every food. Even making home made
diets different breeds are going to have slightly different nutritional needs.
Say you were making a diet for a GSD and a malamute. You could take the fat
trimmings from the chicken and give it to the malamute, where as you’d
omit it for the shepherd.
Remember
everyone if you feed fish oil, to give vitamin E too!
Jen said,
BilJac
is gross. Full of corn and by-products.
Gary said,
Lisa Moser
said - “I did some research on Feline Spa Select made by Blue Buffalo
and the Dog food made by Blue Buffalo. I called the Blue Buffalo Company and
to my surprise, a real live person actually answered the phone and told me
that they do no business with Menu Foods whatsoever. The ingredient panel
on these foods look good and they appear to be animal friendly. It is sold
strictly to Pet Smart, which makes me a little leery b/c I’m not used to buying
quality food from a national chain.”
Jaycee
said - “The ingredients in Blue Buffalo are great! That said, I still
won’t buy it because Petsmart still supports the pet food companies that are
involved in the recall; really not that different than WalMart, IMVHO. Petsmart
is known to sell commercial food that is full of junk, as is WalMart.”
Blue Buffalo
is sold at MANY retailers, not just Petsmart. (BTW, where did you hear that
Petsmart was an investor in Blue Buffalo?) For instance, in California, it’s
available at Pet Club stores, as well as MANY independant pet food stores
in addition to PetSmart. In New York, it’s also available at many independant
retailers. The same thing goes for most states in the US. It’s also
available at retailers in 4 canadian provinces, as well.
Just check
the “where to buy” page at their website:
http://www.bluebuff.com/products/retailers.php
http://www.bluebuff.com/products/retailers.php
If principle
is important to you, and you live in Northern California, the Pet Food Express
chain has pulled ALL Menu-manufactured products, regardless of their inclusion
in the recall list or not. I believe they do not sell Blue Buffalo (or Spa
Select), but they have many other healthy brands.
http://www.petfoodexpress.com/petfood/default.asp?pageid=78&Section=About
http://www.petfoodexpress.com/petfood/default.asp?pageid=78&Section=About
Gary said,
Gary Frundel
said - ”
I have 5 dogs and last week started feeding them Nutro Max and mixing a can of Alpo with it. Well they ate it the first day and less each day. Finally switched to Pedigree Adult with Pedigree canned and they wouldnt eat it at all. Some have been vomiting and had diarhea. Now they have refuseed toeat all together. Im going to make the homemade dog food recipe. But does anyone know if switching to human food will heal them without vet care? ”
I have 5 dogs and last week started feeding them Nutro Max and mixing a can of Alpo with it. Well they ate it the first day and less each day. Finally switched to Pedigree Adult with Pedigree canned and they wouldnt eat it at all. Some have been vomiting and had diarhea. Now they have refuseed toeat all together. Im going to make the homemade dog food recipe. But does anyone know if switching to human food will heal them without vet care? ”
GET THEM
TO THE VET NOW. NOW!!!
Lacy said,
Cindy,
Can I ask what brands you are using that dont outsource to anyone, and use only human grade ingredients? I have found that the ones who use human grade ingredients still outsource them. Any information you could give, would be SO helpful! Thanks!
Can I ask what brands you are using that dont outsource to anyone, and use only human grade ingredients? I have found that the ones who use human grade ingredients still outsource them. Any information you could give, would be SO helpful! Thanks!
Crystal,
Thank you for your suggestions. I also just recently read that a brand “the one you mentioned that ends with ae” had made 7 kitties sick and killed a kitten..” I wont be using them.
What was the other brand on this page that uses low heat? Thanks!
Thank you for your suggestions. I also just recently read that a brand “the one you mentioned that ends with ae” had made 7 kitties sick and killed a kitten..” I wont be using them.
What was the other brand on this page that uses low heat? Thanks!