The poisioning of our pets has awakened in all concerned pet
lovers a need to know what is in our pet's food. We are giving our pets
the food they eat. They can't go out & shop for it themselves.
So we are the ones between the bad food and our pets, and
if we give our pets poison pet food, we are right to feel resposible
for poisoning our pets.
Just because our legal system regards pets as property is no reason
for this widespread food contamination to be treated lightly. Civil
penalties are limited to paying for people's pets and vet bills, to
my understanding. This is all the more reason for the companies who
we have trusted and patronized for decades to step up and exceed our
expectations in correcting this situation. To do less would be an insult
to the millions of pet owners who have, with our purchases over the
years, contributed to their domination of the pet supply market.
We can go online to seek the various manufacturer's press releases
& other statements about this. Most of these statements are
quite similar to one another. And I think that many of these companies
have taken the position that the consumer is entitled to no more than
a list of their foods that were affected. They do provide toll-free
telephone numbers we can call, in some cases. But we could spend the
rest of our lives on hold, waiting for someone at a call center to come
on the line and give us totally unsatisfactory answers about our concerns.
If you're looking for a retailer to point the finger of blame at, you
are likely to be pointing that finger at Petco or Petsmart.
What can we do? The first thing is to go to whoever we are relying
upon to provide us with this food and demand answers and
assistance.
HERE IS WHAT YOU CAN ASK YOUR LOCAL SUPERSTORE MANAGER FOR:
1) Answers as to exactly what brands are
affected, and what brands are not. And what varieties of those
brands are affected. He or she should provide you with a list
that you can take home and compare to what remains on your shelves.
2) Answers as to exactly what the substance in this
food was. We have heard that it is an industrial contaminant.
But we heard this from the news we listen to every day. Those
who sell us our food are in many cases the same corporations
who came into our neighborhoods and replaced the independent
pet supply stores, and the very knowledgable professionals in
these smaller stores. We need to demand that someone in these
superstores gets some detailed information about each and every
brand that they sold us. It is they who are by far the largest
customers of these pet food manufacturers. So it is these huge
chains who must apply pressure on the manufacturers. Ask to
speak to the manager of the store, and demand this action. Tell
them that they will lose your business permanently if they cannot
make this effort and get results for you.
3) Answers as to exactly what we should look for
in our pets to determine if they are affected. These retailers
have the duty to provide you with a list of symptoms to
look out for. Your vet can be helpful, of course. But
that could only be possible if she could have some cooperation
from those affected brands so that she can advise you. If your
vet is not kept in the loop about what kind of poisoning she
is looking for, she is at a serious disadvantage. In many cases,
the manufacturers haven't been forthcoming to the public with
this critical information, and that is shameful. Once again,
it is your local Petsmart or Petco in many cases who will need
to coordinate an investigation into the medical implications
of this widespread poisioning of our pets. Tell the manager
that you hold him or her responsible to get you
this information because his store sold you this food. If the
manager disagrees with you or refuses to get this information
for you, insist upon getting the name and number for the district
manager. Call this person and begin again with him or
her. In many cases, a district manager is a store manager who
has come up through the ranks. He or she is probably highly
skilled at dealing with retail customer complaints, and that
can mean that you will need to spend more time and effort
extracting some sort of meaningful commitment. But once again,
your pet needs you to take these measures on his/her behalf.
4) Assistance in selecting a brand that was totally
unaffected by this horrible event. Assistance in getting
more information from the brands we have trusted to be safe,
but were not. Some brands in these huge chains are probably
perfectly safe to consume, but let's ask these suppliers to
confirm this. In many cases, you will need to find a more responsible
supplier of your pet's nutritonal needs. You will need to do
a little traveling to get to a responsible independent pet supply
professional, but isn't it worth it?
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I want to repeat this: If you have gotten your pet's food from
these huge chain stores, then you should go into their store and speak
with the manager. If enough of these managers get enough people
bending their ears, their company will - or should - issue some
sort of paperwork or pamphlet or brochure containing substantial
and helpful explanations and information which will help us to get
past this mess.
Manufacturers who have pulled products from our pet supply stores should
provide some written information about their involvement - a letter
or brochure - that can be put on the shelves where their food was/is,
as well in some area of the stores devoted exclusively to this recall.
In addition, lists of affected brands and varieties of those brands
should be available for the consumer to take home. These lists should
be updated daily & reproduced in sufficient numbers to supply every
concerned pet lover with a copy. It shouldn't be something that has
to be extracted from the store management like some well-kept company
secret.
Once again, personally, I would rely upon the knowledge and advice
of an independent pet supply professional (if you have
any left near you). The ones who have survived the "pet store wars"
of the last 20 years (the onslaught of the warehouse mega chains) are
true professionals in every sense of the word. These people are dedicated
and truly invested in having the products and information you will
need to provide your pet with a safe meal.
If you know of a responsible independent pet supply store where you
feel confident purchasing your pet's provisions, click
here to tell me their name, address & phone #. I will
publish a list when I have a handful of reliable stores. Also,
if you have a favorite brand of pet food which you believe is safe for
your pet to eat, I would appreciate hearing about that, too. You would
be helping others who feel trapped and worried about what to feed their
cat or dog. (UPDATE as of 5/30/10: I simply have no way to confirm
individual pet food recommendations as safe, so I won't publish such
a list of food. But I'm always interested in building a business relationship
with a strong local independent pet supply provider. So please do me
a favor and share the contact information of your favorite store with
me, OK?)
What commercially available pet foods can be safely consumed
by our pets? For starters, I would recommend Merrick (www.merrickpetcare.com),
who produces all of their food themselves, and uses only domestic ingredients.
Wellness (www.omhpet.com)
is another brand that is worth looking at, I think. Paul Newman's Organic
Pet Food (http://www.newmansownorganics.com/pet/what)
also seemed to not get caught up in this debacle. I am also satisfied
with the news posted at Natura (UPDATE as of 2/12/10:
Sadly, I need to say now that this satisfaction was unwarranted),
makers of the following brands: Innova, Evo, California Natural, Healthwise,
Mother Nature, and Karma (www.naturapet.com).
I understand that many brands use Menu Foods (who owned the
facility where much of the poison pet food was canned) to do their
canning & have few other options in the short run. Natura's
CEO posted a statement pledging to either purchase or build their own
caning facility from scratch (UPDATE as of 2/12/10: This is still
in the planning phase nearly three years later.). He has promised
that in the meantime, Natura will keep their own QC inspectors at the
Menu Foods plant (It is my understanding that this is not happening),
and will use only domestic ingredients (ingredients are NOT all
domestic, according to a Natura customer service representative. However,
it is their contention that nothing from China is used - according to
this same phone representative on 2/12/10.) I need to say here
that I'm sad to make these changes in what I reported in 2007, but I
believe this is an accurate appraisal of their situation in 2010. I
also regret impuning a company that was NOT IMPLICATED
in the original crisis, but it now appears that they've made more than
one promise that remains unkept. Since their pledges to take these measures
seemed reasonable and prudent at the time, why did they abandon all
three strategies? And did other companies let their PR releases handle
the problem in a similar way? Three years later, what has changed?
I urge you to read all of the various companies' statements addressing
this recall and draw your own conclusions. If the statement at a company's
website is vague or incomplete, do not buy their product.
There are long-term implications of feeding our pets contaminated food.
Symptoms may be delayed by years, and then suddenly manifest themselves
in a number of ways, not the least of which is organ failure and allergies.
Some proactive measures on our part now may help prevent this in the
future. I highly recommend this
book on pet allergies for anyone suspecting that their pet
is allergic to their food. It is an eye-opening look at some major causes
of suffering in our pets. This book isn't for the faint of heart, but
is certainly has changed the way I look at the food I put in my cat
bowls.
I recently went to a well established feed store in Chester County,
PA, and watched a woman stand, almost paralyzed, in front of the vast
canned cat food rack. Finally, I asked her if she was trying to find
cat food that was not poisoned. She almost looked relieved when I asked
her this, and I wonder how many more people like her are doing
the best they can with the limited information that has come out from
the various brands. She was at least looking to see if the can contained
wheat gluten. That is a very good start, and I told her that she was
a step ahead of many pet owners by just taking the time to read the
label. But it's a shame that just going out for cat food had to be a
chore filled with trepidation and apprehension for her. In the same
store, I have asked an employee to show me a couple of brands that were
unaffected by this contamination. I must say that he stepped up to the
plate and took as much time as I needed to feel a little better about
what I was about to open up for my cats.
You may not trust any brands at this time. That may not be a bad strategy
- just to let them all win back your trust. In the meantime, you
might consider cooking for your pet. Get creative. They might snub
human food at first, but they will learn to eat it. But don't just open
a can of tuna for your cat. Remember that pets need wholesome foods
just like we do. Please consult your veterinarian concerning your pet's
individual nutritional needs, but don't feed your pet a brand that you
haven't researched. Just because the brand name has the word "Science"
or "Dr. this or that" or "Natural"
doesn't mean it's healthy.
(An informative but not necessarily complete timeline and discussion
of the 2007 pet food contamination story can be read here.)
-tommy
Feline Design
