Rat Poison

[YT2095]

Have you heard about the people having their pets die from the wet dog/cat food they are feeding them? It has been all over the news about the RAT POISON. Do you have pets? Are you feeding them 'wet' canned food?

I have 2 cats, and they eat dried food, but we`re in the UK, and so I`ve not heard anything.
I just read on a Chem forum though, and it mentioned something about imported grain from China was contaminated with it

 

[middie]

Rat poison in pet food. Pathetic. I really feel for the owners who have lost a pet over this.

 

[In the Kitchen]

middie

Thanks for your thoughts. To take a life whatever the circumstances and for no real reason. Like you said, the owners who have lost their pets are the ones who have hard time accepting this. Person feels guilty if something happens to one of their 'family'. My brother can't understand why they are getting products from China when same thing is grown here? If it is something involved in wheat or grains.

 

[QSis]

I`d still like to know FTW everyone`s on about!?????

LOL! If you had written the abbreviation the other way, would you have been deleted, YT?

If so, I'll have to borrow your idea. LOL!

Lee

 

[BreezyCooking]

Current news is this. Apparently, the MAJOR company that produces a HUGE number of brands of canned & foil-pouched pet for the U.S. & Canada (& perhaps overseas - that I don't know), switched to a new & cheaper supplier of wheat gluten back in December. The supplier was/is in China.

This wheat from China was contaminated with a particular type of rat poison that, while okay to use in China, is a forbidden substance in the U.S., & can cause (& did cause) fatal kidney failure in animals.

The company in question is Menu Foods, & if you want the complete list of the brands they manufacture that have been recalled, you need only to visit their website Menu Foods Income Fund - Annual General Meeting. The site has separate lists for both dog & cat foods. As of this date, absolutely no dried foods have been implicated, but both grocery store brands AND premium brands (Iams, Eukanuba, Nutro) of canned food ARE listed.

 

[pacanis]

That's true, Breezy, but a vet report I read yesterday said they still weren't positive it was the rat poison alone.... just that they had found rat poison while investigating.

Here's an interesting article I received today. Sorry I do not have the direct link. I believe it puts things more in perspective as far as why the huge recall. Obviously there were far more cases than the FDA first reported.

<<DVM group disputes pet-poisoning count
By ABIGAIL GOLDMAN
Los Angeles Times

Hundreds of veterinarians have reported cases of sick and dead dogs and cats related to rat-poison-tainted pet food, a veterinarians' group said Monday - far more than reported by the Food and Drug Administration.

Veterinarians Information Network, a Web site of 30,000 veterinarians and veterinary students, said members had reported 471 cases of kidney failure in the 10 days since Canada-based Menu Foods Income Fund announced its recall.

"The 16 the FDA confirms is barely the tip of the iceberg," said the network's co-founder, veterinarian Paul Pion. "There will be much more than this."

The recall included 60 million "cuts and gravy"-style canned and pouch foods from 88 brands, including Proctor & Gamble's Iams and Eukenuba lines as well as many retailers' private brands.

Of the cases reported on the veterinarians' Web site, 292 included outcomes: 104 deaths - including at least 11 dogs and 88 cats, with some reports not indicating species.

The vets reported 59 pets that survived the illnesses and 129 animals still under treatment.

Pion said his group was following up with a survey of members to elicit more complete information.

Websites devoted to pet owners' reports also tallied far more, albeit unconfirmed, cases. PetConnection.com, the website of a syndicated pet
column, posted a note Monday that 1,792 owners had reported dead pets -
1,018 cats and 774 dogs - as a result of the tainted foods.

Last week, the FDA said it had confirmed 14 pet deaths in the United States as a result of the recalled foods. The agency, which said the numbers of dead pets probably would increase, said it had received 4,400 complaints and inquiries from pet owners and veterinarians.

Menu Foods, which owns two manufacturing plants in the United States, said last week that it had received 200,000 calls from pet owners.

The FDA, which is compiling reports of animals that have been sickened by the food, has asked pet owners to call local FDA officials with reports.>>