Pet food nightmares
Animal Right’s group PETA is now demanding that the FDA pull DRY dog food due to deaths being reported from owners who exclusively fed their pets (cats mostly, it seems) dry food such as Iams. There’s an emergency news conference today, and here’s the link to the article.
I just don’t know what we’re going to feed our dogs! Looking at their cute smushed up faces I can’t imagine feeding them dry food when I’m no longer certain it’s safe for them. But what food is left? Boiled chicken and rice? How long can that go on?
March 30th, 2007 at 3:34 am
First things first: Never listen to PETA. You’ll end up on a strict diet of tofu and soy milk if you do that.
If you’re concerned enough about this yourself outside PETA’s hype, web sites such as PetGrub.com and HealthRecipes.com are great resources for recipes and processes for feeding your pets. Something to remember is that commercial animal feed is a relatively young industry, with Ralston Purina itself only having been founded in 1893. Zoos sometimes use commercial feeds (when the petting zoo in Erie burned last year I carted some rabbit mix over to them), but a lot of times they prep it themselves. If you do some research, you can find all sorts of good ideas for the furred, feathered and fishy members of your family. I’ll bet those beasts of yours would love a good steak tartare!
March 31st, 2007 at 7:33 am
My husband and I recently had to have our cat put to sleep.
He stopped eating and became very lethargic about a week and half before the recall. When we told vet he wasn’t eating, he prescribed him Hills Science Diet prescription wet cat food which we were told to force feed him with a syringe! His condition worsened and eventually the doctor advised my husband to euthanize him. A few days after that the recall came out. They never could tell us definitively what caused his illness.
What’s frightening is that while we don’t recall feeding him any of the tainted brands food before he came down with the symptoms, we were feeding him food that could possibly have been tainted (the Hills food) throughout his illness!
Plus every day we learn about more and more products being added to the recall list. So no one has no way of telling definitively what food is safe!
It’s scary!
March 31st, 2007 at 7:55 am
I still have a comment in moderation here?
March 31st, 2007 at 8:12 pm
Wow, that was weird. I don’t know why I had to moderate your comment…and I don’t know why the program didn’t bother to send me an email saying it was there! Sorry about that. I got it now though.
Did you know Rachel Ray’s magazine has a recipe for dogs in it? They’d love me if I became their personal chef! Could you teach me the ways?