We went to Beaglefest yesterday and received a favor bag of treat samples from various manufacturers. Al said, “Check what’s in them.” I said, “Come on, a dog rescue organization isn’t going to hand out tainted food, right? They would have checked, right?”
But I checked anyway. One of the brands, Natural Balance, has had recalls. Not of the treats in question, but at this point, I’m not taking chances.
Know why? Because all along, I’ve kept feeding my dogs the same food they’ve always eaten, because the Iams folks insisted that dry food was not affected, dry food was not affected, dry food was not affected.
When checking on the treat samples, I learned that people are reporting problems with Iams dry food, and one commenter says s/he works for a “major retailer,” and they just got word that a whole bunch of Iams dry food needs to be pulled. Is that true? I’m sure as hell not going to wait to find out.
I just bought a bag of Iams yesterday. And I wouldn’t have thought to check again if not for the Beaglefest treats, because my dogs have remained healthy, and dry food was not affected, right? Fuckers.
I don’t even know what brand to switch to now. I’ve heard people recommend Newman’s Own — it doesn’t contain wheat gluten or rice protein — but then, some of their stuff is manufactured in Menu Foods plants. Not affected plants so far, but unfortunately, “so far” is now the operative phrase. Last time I wrote about this, someone recommended Blue Buffalo, which had had no recalls and was supposed to be all spiffy and natural and independent. Now they’ve had recalls — though not of dog food so far.
Itchmo is now flat-out advising people not to buy any brand that’s had a recall, whether the specific food you use is on the list or not–and at this point, I no longer think that’s an overreaction. At all. I just threw out the Natural Balance treats, and I was about to throw out the new bag of Iams in anger, until I realized the woofers already had breakfast out of it, so I should hang on to that bag in case I ever need to hand it over to the FDA. The chances of that are incredibly slim, I’m sure, but still… I had to think about it that way. Hence this being the “Sick to My Stomach Edition.”
I am so furious that this is still going on, and still getting worse, I don’t even know what to say.
When all else fails, link, I guess:
Itchmo is running The Pet Food Recall Help Page, which is an excellent resource, and The Pet Food List breaks down which brands are and are not affected. So far. Litbrit’s been posting updates on how it happened, what it means, and what’s being done about it. You can read that as long as you’re not in China, where both her site and Shakesville have been banned because of her reporting.
Now I’ve got to go figure out what the doggies are having for dinner. Goddammit.
The entire processed food-replacement industry seems to be so massively evil and broken, sometimes. Do you have some chicken pieces in the freezer?
We’ve been feeding our cats Inova, which has not been recalled so far. I’m pretty sure they have a dog version, too–it’s spendy, but since John and I lost two cats last year (from disease, not from food!), we’re willing to buy the fancy food to keep our remaining one safe.
I have been feeding my cats either Natural Choice Indoor Formula or Royal Canin Indoor Formula for years. Both have had other kinds of food recalled, though not those specific ones. I would love to switch to another brand, but when I’ve tried other brands, one of my cats has just flatly refused to eat it. Finicky pets are definitely a problem here.
If you’re near a Trader Joe’s, you should be in luck. Link to their statement about pet food:
http://www.traderjoes.com/action_issues.asp#PetFood
Hi there, Kate–thanks so much for the shout-out. I have numerous cats, and all seem to be very happy with the switch from Iams to Newman’s Own Organic cat food (dry kibble). Our health food store carries two kinds, the Adult Cat formula and the Chicken and Rice formula; the fuzzies seem to prefer the regular Adult Cat formula, for now at least (my cats are completely unpredictable). You can find out about all its ingredients (organic, US-grown grains, no GMO products, no-hormone-fed chicken, etc.) at their website.
Normally, I shy away from making product recommendations, but this is a notable exception! And you know, even though the Newman’s food is a bit more expensive (not that much, however), it seems to be extremely satisfying to the cats–I guess not having all that filler crap in it has something to do with it–and they walk away after eating considerably less volume than they used to. After four weeks of this food, Marley (my black kitty) has a coat so shiny I can almost see my reflection in it. I am kicking myself for not buying it sooner. Eventually, I’d like to make my own, but as a working, 3-child mother, that would be pushing it right now. :-)
FYI, this is what Newman’s Own say about the Menu recall:
“Newman’s Own Organics pet foods are NOT part of the mass recall by Menu Foods or the extended recall. We DO NOT use wheat gluten or rice protein concentrate in any of our pet products. All our pet foods are made in the US and certified organic by Oregon Tilth, a USDA accredited certifying agency.”
I’ve switched my dogs to Canidae. It’s human-grade food, made from ingredients that are all US in origin. They have no products produced by Menu Foods, and have had no recalls thus far. My guys seem to be doing really well on it, and their coats are incredibly shiny and soft. (Heh, sorry, don’t mean to sound like a paid advertiser or anything :P)
Thanks for the recs, everybody!
Naturally, I read them after I got back from the store.
I ended up buying Pet Promise, which looks pretty good both from a melamine standpoint and in terms of supporting humane farming practices, small family farms, etc. http://petpromiseinc.com/
I didn’t even look at what it cost. I’m sure I’ll have a heart attack when I do.
AAAARRRRGGG!! I can’t believe I TRUSTED Iams when they said dry food was completely unaffected! This creeps me out. Good thing Ro is at the bottom of her current bag – I’m going to switch her to Newman’s, for now.
I’ve heard decent things about Pet Promise, although I’ve not tried it with the cats.
We’re sticking with Nutro Natural Choice kibble. The cats have eaten that for their whole life and it seems to be fine. I think the risk of changing is as high as the risk of not changing so I’m not going to.
For canned food we’re using whole foods own brand beef, some varieties of Wellness, a few varieties of Newmans Own. I don’t like feeding grains to cats (they’re obligate *carnivores* dammit, adding whole brown rice to their food is WRONG). I’m also avoiding anything that looks like it’s a vegetable protein source.
My cat has IBD, so at vet’s advice we’re feeding her meat, nothing but. The human grade meat I’d buy at the store for myself.
But before the IBD diagnosis, she was eating the Iams canned stuff. Yup, the recalled kind. It’s scary. I do know this much, that for our next pet, whatever it is, we’re starting right off with a home cooked (or not cooked, I’m still of two minds about the BARF diet) organic diet. I’m no longer going to feed any pet of mine something that I wouldn’t eat.
I’ve been feeding my dog raw meat (cheap stuff from the grocery store – turkey necks, chicken legs, organs, etc) for about a year now, so I’ve avoided worry about the dog food recalls. It’s also given me the push to tackle switiching the cats to raw, or at least to cooked pure meat.
It’s not for everybody, but since I’m being more careful about what I eat, it makes sense to be careful about what I give my best friends.
carlaviii, I read recently that cats will not survive on a cooked meat diet – apparently they need taurine, which is destroyed by heat. There is a recipe for homemade cat food at Bitch PhD’s blog:
http://bitchphd.blogspot.com/2007/04/aaaand-still-more-pet-food-recalls.html
And my two cats are thriving on Pet Promise wet food!
ok…….does anyone know about iams indoor formula for cats…..I want to see if theres a recall on it and why….but i can’t find anything on the net. help anyone!
patina rose
Patinarose, I haven’t seen anything either, and I’ve been checking. I think the “impending Iams recall” was bad information. My apologies for propagating it, even with the disclaimer that it might not be true.