Canola Oil

After reading this, I thought "WOW". While I don't use Canola oil myself I have thought about switching based on what I hear. I don't know if anyone out there uses pet food with canola oil in it but it's food for thought ... not only for our furbabies but for ourselves as well.

Canola Oil in Pet Foods; Is it Healthy?

Many different brands of dog foods and cat foods have chosen to use Canola oil in their products; several even utilize the heart healthy claim provided to Canola oil by the FDA. However, a great deal of research shows Canola oil is anything but healthy.

http://www.truthaboutpetfood.com/articles/275/1/Canola-Oil-in-Pet-Foods-Is-it-Healthy/Page1.html

Awwwwwwwwwwww

TN Puppy Mill Raid Update: Puppies Take Manhattan!

The hundreds of dogs liberated from a Tennessee puppy mill last Wednesday are ready to begin the next chapter of their lives. After spending a few days in a temporary shelter being evaluated and treated by the ASPCA's cruelty investigation team, veterinarians and behaviorists, the dogs have now been transferred to multiple humane groups for continued care and eventual placement in new homes.

Although the criminal investigation into the breeding operation is ongoing and charges have not yet been filed, relocation of the dogs is possible because the puppy mill’s owner agreed to sign over custody to the White County Sheriff’s Department, which then turned them over to the ASPCA. Initially, 285 dogs were pulled from the property—however, several of them were pregnant. A shih tzu gave birth to six puppies the day after the raid, and three more babies were born on Saturday, bringing the new total to 294.

Earlier this week, 43 of the small-breed dogs—some puppies, some adults—made the 13-hour journey to ASPCA headquarters in New York City. Many will be able to be adopted right away, although some will be best served by a longer rehabilitative stay. “It’s doubtful any of these dogs has ever been walked on a leash, and many have never been outdoors,” says Jeff Eyre, ASPCA Director of Field Operations. Potential adopters are asked to keep in mind that these dogs have led abnormal lives, and that they will require extra patience to assimilate as household pets.

Special thanks are due to all the agencies and individuals who participated in this giant effort, from the volunteers and veterinarians who came from all corners of the South to the White County Sheriff’s Department and American Humane Association, an exemplary partner that assisted in everything from rescue to assessment.

Adoptions of the White County puppy mill dogs begin today at the ASPCA Adoption Center in Manhattan 022.(424 E. 92nd Street). For more information, please call (212) 876-7700, ext. 4145.

From Susan Thixton: Two Sick Dogs and No One's Listening!

Judy’s babies, Bernadette and Wilhelmina, have been vomiting and suffering from bouts of diarrhea for the last six weeks. Judy took her girls to the vet several times, and even took a package of the Three Dog Bakery Entrée meal for her vet to examine. He told her the ingredients looked good and to continue with the food. A few more trips to the vet when she noticed a smell of rotten food on her dogs breath. Never suspecting the food was bad, until, she noticed that one of the packages was ‘bloated’ and swollen. “I pulled out a package to feed my two min pins and it was swollen and when shaken, just watery. I did not open the package and noticed that the other packages were similar.” All of the remaining packages were in various stages of bloat.

Judy left a voice mail message with Three Dog Bakery (the pet food manufacturer), their return message simply instructed her to return the remaining food packages to them – not to return them to Walmart (the place of purchase). No instruction to care for her pets, nor any information if Three Dog Bakery would investigate were provided in the message. Another follow up call from the Directory of Marketing told Judy they would test that batch of food, and contact Walmart.

Judy next went to WalMart; she took the night manager to the pet food aisle to show him the pet food products, on the shelves ready for sale, as well in various stages of bloat. The dog food packages were swollen and apparent to be problematic. The WalMart night manager told her he could not remove the products from store shelves unless there was an official recall. She pushed on with another manager, who politely sent her on her way with a ‘thank you, we’ll check into it’.

Two sick dogs, a dog food with visible signs of a problem, and no one is listening to a concerned pet owner that is trying to prevent other dogs from becoming ill.

Judy then wrote me asking for suggestions. I realized that TruthaboutPetFood.com needs to provide assistance to pet owners in these types of problems. So, I’ve developed a special page on the website with some basic advice if you suspect a pet food is making your dog or cat sick. The page is titled ‘What to do if You Suspect a Pet Food is Contaminated’ and is linked at the top of the Home page (directly under the Search box). This page will change when additional resources become available. For those of you who have been through this process, please feel free to send me any suggestions to add. The information on the webpage is copied below.

Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,

Susan Thixton
Truth about Pet Food
Petsumer Report
www.TruthaboutPetFood.com


What to do if You Suspect a Pet Food is Contaminated

Where do you turn if you suspect your pet’s food is contaminated? Do you call the pet food manufacturer or the FDA? There are little official guidelines provided by the FDA, however here are some options for you in case you suspect your pet’s food is poisoned or contaminated.

Every suspect pet food contamination should be initially reported to your veterinarian. If you think your pet’s food is suspect of making your dog or cat sick, take your pet to your veterinarian immediately. Recount to your vet in as much detail as possible, everything your pet has consumed (treats, ‘people food’, ect) in recent days and when the symptoms first appeared. Your vet will decide if any further testing or treatment is necessary.

Stop feeding the suspect food immediately when your pet gets sick. Do not throw the suspect food away; keep the remainder for possible testing.

As soon as possible, contact the pet food manufacturer regarding the symptoms your pet has experienced. Some will ask you to send them the remainder of the pet food (don’t send them everything you have) for their own testing; if you do this make arrangements in advance for the pet food company to provide you a copy of their results. Some manufacturers will take your information and promise to return your call; some will return the call, others won’t. Lack of interest in the complaints of a customer will tell you how much the pet food manufacturer actually cares about their products and the pets of their customers.

Most pet food manufacturers will keep a portion of every batch of pet food made for a year (or so). Responsible manufacturers will investigate every complaint, working with the pet owner to determine the cause of the pet illness. If need be, the manufacturer can test the batch to determine if there is a problem.

Promptly report the incident to the FDA. The FDA website states if you consider the incident an emergency, call the agency's main emergency number, staffed 24 hours a day, 301-443-1240. Otherwise, call the FDA consumer complaint coordinator in your geographic area. Click here for a list of FDA Consumer Coordinators. Non-emergencies for veterinary products call FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine at 1-888-FDA-VETS (1-888-332-8387).

Report the incident to the place of purchase.
Responsible retailers will report the incident to their sales Reps and/or the pet food manufacturer. Many smaller retailers (such as independent pet shops) will keep track of all customer complaints and possibly even pull the product from store shelves until resolved.

Should you wish to have the suspect pet food tested, there are many private labs that will test the food for contaminants and toxins. Many veterinary colleges provide pet food testing resources, however many will need the recommendation for testing from your veterinarian. One of the best is Cornell University Veterinary School. http://www.vet.cornell.edu/about/contact.htm

A Google search (or similar Internet search) for ‘food testing laboratories’ will provide you a slew of possible independent labs. The vet school or independent lab will provide you with instructions on how to ship the food for testing.

Copies of any positive for contamination lab results should be provided to the pet food manufacturer and the FDA. Depending on the results, the FDA should investigate the incident further (ask them to do this).

Most pet food contaminations occur due to manufacturing errors. However, some contaminations can occur during warehousing of the pet food.

If laboratory test results prove positive the food was contaminated or poisoned, you have the option to consult with an attorney. Sadly, legal action is often the only way to hold a pet food manufacturer accountable.

Recall of Baked Dog Treats

American Nutrition, Inc. Announces a Voluntary Recall of Baked Dog Treats

Contact:
American Nutrition, Inc.
1-800-257-4530 or
feedback@amnutrition.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- Ogden, UT – February 10, 2009 –As a result of the expanded recall by the Peanut Corporation of America’s (PCA) Blakely, Georgia facility, American Nutrition, Inc. has issued a voluntary recall for certain baked dog treats containing peanut paste supplied by PCA. The Blakely PCA facility is the subject of an ongoing U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) investigation into potential Salmonella contamination of peanut paste and other peanut products.

According to the FDA, pets with salmonellosis may be lethargic and have diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, fever, and vomiting. Some pets may exhibit milder systems such as decreased appetite, fever and abdominal pain while other pets may show no symptoms at all. Well animals can be carriers and transmit the bacteria to other animals or humans. If your pet has consumed the recalled product and exhibits these symptoms, please contact your veterinarian.

While the risk of animals contracting salmonellosis is minimal, there is risk to humans from handling these products. It is important for people to wash their hands -- and make sure children wash their hands -- before and, especially, after feeding treats to pets.

The following items manufactured by American Nutrition, Inc. are subject to this recall:

American Nutrition Vita Bone Flavors Large Dog Treats (48oz. box)
UPC 0 12623 73480 4, Best Before: All Dates prior to JAN 18 10

American Nutrition Vita Bone Flavors Medium Dog Treats (24oz. box)
UPC 0 12623 73241 1, Best Before: All Dates prior to JAN 18 10

American Nutrition Vita Bone Flavors Small Dog Treats (24oz. box)
UPC 0 12623 73240 4, Best Before: All Dates prior to JAN 18 10

American Nutrition Vita Snacks Peanut Butter (3oz. plastic bag)
UPC 0 12623 81315 8, Best Before: All Dates prior to 01/18/10

Farm Style Small Assorted Dog Biscuits (5 lb. plastic bag)
UPC 0 78601 90205 4, Best Before: All Dates prior to 01/18/10

Hill Country Fare Small 5 Flavor Dog Biscuits (4 lb. plastic bag)
UPC 0 41220 52080 0, Best Before: All Dates prior to JAN 18 10

Hill Country Fare Small Peanut Butter Dog Biscuits (4 lb. plastic bag)
UPC 0 41220 17538 3, Best Before: All Dates prior to JAN 18 10

Integrity Small Assorted Dog Biscuits (4 lb. plastic bag)
UPC 0 64237 14639 8, Best Before: All Dates prior to 01/18/10

Northwest Royal Small Dog Biscuits Assorted Flavors (5 lb. plastic bag)
UPC 0 71357 00337 2, Best Before: All Dates prior to 01/18/10

Mill Creek Premium Large Assorted Dog Biscuits (20 lb. box)
UPC 0 78601 95106 9, Lot Codes: 001A7xxx to 018A9xxx

Mill Creek Premium Small Assorted Dog Biscuits (20 lb. box)
UPC 0 78601 95105 2, Lot Codes: 001A7xxx to 018A9xxx

Premium Smarty Dog Biscuits Assorted Flavors Small (4 lb. plastic bag)
UPC 0 41512 04609 4, Best Before: All Dates prior to JAN 18 10

Springfield Prize Multi-Flavor Dog Biscuits (26 oz. box)
UPC 0 41380 14169 3, Best Before: All Dates prior to JAN 18 10

Springfield Prize Multi-Flavor Dog Biscuits (4 lb. plastic bag)
UPC 0 41380 13965 2, Best Before: All Dates prior to 01/18/10

Western Family Biscuits Multi-Flavor (10 lb. box) --UPC 0 15400 06229 9 , Best Before: All Dates prior to JAN 18 10

Western Family Biscuits Multi-Flavor (4 lb. plastic bag) --UPC 0 15400 06408 8 , Best Before: All Dates prior to JAN 18 10

Western Family Biscuits Multi-Flavor (18 oz. box)
UPC 0 15400 03886 7, Best Before: All Dates prior to JAN 18 10

Next Gen Pet Products Small Assorted Biscuits (30 lb. box)
Lot Codes: 001A7xxx to 018A9xxx

Small Assorted Dog Biscuits-Bulk (1/25# box)
Lot Codes: 001A7xxx to 018A9xxx

Western Family (Canada only) Small Dog Biscuits 4 Assorted Flavors (2 Kg. plastic bag)
UPC 0 62639 29585 1, Best Before: All Dates prior to 01/18/10

Yeaster Small Assorted (30 lb. box)
Lot Codes: 001A7xxx to 018A9xxx

Consumers who purchased the recalled items should discontinue use immediately and return items to the store location where they were purchased or destroy any remaining product.

No other products other than those listed above are part of this recall. For more information on Salmonella, please visit the FDA website at http://www.fda.gov/salmonella.

Consumer safety is important to American Nutrition, Inc. The company sincerely regrets any inconvenience this may cause our valued customers. For additional information, please contact American Nutrition at 1-800-257-4530 between 8 A.M. and 5 P.M. Monday through Friday, Mountain time.

What I learned about cat food ingredients

And this also holds true for dog food. When I started reading labels of the "top brand" pet foods, I didn't like what I read.

This is what I got from Susan's pet food newsletter. I changed brands ... yes, it costs more but I'm more comfortable with my choice.

‘Wheat Gluten’, ‘Corn Gluten’, or ‘Rice Gluten’. These three ingredients were the bad boy pet food ingredients of 2007. Tainted glutens were found to be the cause of thousands of dogs and cats becoming ill and dying. It is not that glutens themselves are toxic to pets – these ingredients have been used in pet foods for years.

The problem was the source or manufacturer of the glutens – imported from countries with far less quality standards than in the US. The majority of glutens used in the US pet foods are from imported sources. These imported glutens contained added chemicals that caused crystals to form in the kidneys of dogs and cats.

Not only is it important to avoid dog foods and cat foods (and dog and cat treats) that contain glutens because of the possibility of dangerous added chemicals, it is important because they add no real quality nutrition to the food. Glutens are used as a thickener AND as a source of protein in pet food. Adult maintenance dog foods must provide a minimum of 18% protein, adult maintenance cat foods must provide a minimum of 26% protein. If the meat source of the pet food does not provide enough protein, glutens are often added to boost the protein level of the pet food.

The best nutrition for your pet comes from a meat protein pet food not from a gluten protein. Avoid dog foods and cat foods (and treats) that contain ‘corn gluten’, ‘wheat gluten’, or ‘soy gluten’.

‘By Products’. By-products have never been the cause of a pet food recall, but they are definitely ingredients you want to avoid feeding your pet. To give you an understanding of by-products, I’d like to compare this pet food ingredient to pies – you know, the dessert! How many different types of pies you can think of? There are apple pies, cherry pies, chocolate pies, meringue pies, meat pies, mud pies, pie in math, cow pies (yuck!) – I think you get my point. Now imagine if you purchased yourself a prepared ravioli dinner at the grocery and you looked at the ingredients and you see ‘pie’ listed as the first ingredient in your dinner. Hmmm, pie in ravioli – what kind of pie? You wouldn’t know if it was apple pie or mud pie or even cow pie. All you would know is that your dinner contained ‘pie’. Considering ‘pie’ could be anything from apple pie to cow pie – my guess is that you wouldn’t be having ravioli for dinner. Same thing with by-products in pet food.

AAFCO (American Association of Feed Control Officials – the organization responsible for all animal feed manufacturing rules and regulations) defines by-products as “meat by-products is the non-rendered, clean parts, other than meat, derived from slaughtered mammals. It includes, but is not limited to, lungs, spleen, kidneys, brain, livers, blood, bone, partially defatted low temperature fatty tissue, and stomachs and intestines freed of their contents. It does not include hair, horns, teeth, and hoofs. It shall be suitable for use in animal food. If it bears name descriptive of its kind, it must correspond thereto.”

So, with respect to pet food – a by-product is a catch-all ingredient name. All left over meat materials from the human food industry are clumped into one ingredient name – by-product. There is NO certainty of what you are feeding – one batch of pet food might be more intestine by-products while the next batch of pet food might be more liver or bone by-products. There is NO way of knowing what is actually contained in the pet food ingredient by-product (the pet food manufacturers themselves couldn’t tell you exactly). Avoid dog foods and cat foods (and treats) that contain By-products of any kind …Chicken By-Products, Beef By-Products, Chicken By-Product Meal, Beef By-Product Meal, and so forth.

‘Meat Meal’, ‘Meat and Bone Meal’, or ‘Animal Digest’. These three ingredients are similar to by-products. AAFCO defines Meat and Bone Meal as “the rendered product from mammal tissues, including bone, exclusive of any added blood, hair, hoof, horn, hide trimmings, manure, stomach and rumen contents, except in such amounts as may occur unavoidably to good processing practices.” Again, a catch all ingredient name for the left-over parts of animals used for human food. No consistency to what is contained in these ingredients (all three of these pet food ingredient definitions are similar) – no way of knowing what is actually in your pet’s food. Avoid dog foods, cat foods, and dog and cat treats that contain ‘meat meal’, ‘meat and bone meal’, or ‘animal digest’.

‘Animal Fat’. In 2002 the FDA tested many different brands of dog food (cat food was not tested) for the presence of the drug pentobarbital. Many brands of dog food tested positive to contain the drug. Pentobarbital is the drug used to euthanize dogs, cats, cattle, and horses.

How can the drug that is used to euthanize animals be found in pet food? The answer – euthanized animals are rendered (cooked) and the end ingredients are placed in pet food. It has long been rumored that euthanized dogs and cats (from animal shelters and veterinarian offices) is the major source of the pentobarbital in pet food. However, no one has been able to prove or disprove this rumor to date. The FDA/CVM (Center for Veterinary Management) developed testing methods on two separate occasions to determine the species source of the drug. No results have ever been determined. The pet food manufacturers adamantly deny they use rendered dogs or cats – but NO clinical evidence has ever been released to confirm the pentobarbital is from euthanized cattle and horses in pet food as they claim.

However, the one thing the FDA/CVM has determined through their testing is the pet food ingredient ‘animal fat’ is the most common ingredient to contain pentobarbital. In other words, if you are feeding a dog food or cat food (or treats) with the ingredient ‘animal fat’ in the ingredient listing – you are (more than likely) feeding your pet euthanized animals. Not every batch of pet food tested that contained the ingredient ‘animal fat’ has proved to contain pentobarbital – but why would any pet owner want to take the chance? Avoid dog foods, cat foods, and dog and cat treats that contain the ingredient ‘animal fat’.

‘BHA’, ‘BHT’, ‘TBHQ’, and ‘Ethoxyquin’. These pet food ingredients are chemical preservatives and you might have to look through the entire ingredient list to find them. It is worth the look because there is plenty of clinical evidence to associate all four of these chemical preservatives with cancer and tumors (simply do a Google search on any one of these chemicals). All four of these chemical preservatives are rarely used to preserve human food and if so, are used in quantities far less than what is allowed in pet food. Avoid any dog food, cat food, or dog and cat treat that contains ‘BHA’, ‘BHT’, ‘TBHQ’, and ‘Ethoxyquin’ on the label.

‘Corn’, ‘Wheat’, ‘Soy’. While there is no scientific evidence that proves these ingredients are dangerous to pets – they are potentially dangerous ingredients associated with recalls in the past (1995, 1999, and 2005). These grains are highly prone to a deadly mold (aflatoxin). It is suggested (by AAFCO) that all pet food manufacturers test grains for the mold, but as recalls of the past have proven – that doesn’t always happen. I do not think these ingredients are as risky as others mentioned above, but they are ingredients I avoid for my own pets.

There is more to selecting a true healthy pet food for your dog or cat than avoiding the above mentioned ingredients. This is just a start - based on pet food history, AAFCO ingredient definitions, science and opinion of many pet food experts including myself. There are many quality pet foods available that do NOT use the above ingredients and that add health promoting ingredients to their foods and treats. Continue to learn as much as you can about what you are feeding your pet and ALWAYS read the labels!

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