meagain Posted April 19, 2007 Share Posted April 19, 2007 They just added more foods. I hope all pet owners are checking for news at LEAST once a day if they feed commercial pet food. They added Rice Protein as having melamine. A couple of Natural Balance foods are affected now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxg Posted April 19, 2007 Share Posted April 19, 2007 If it carries on like this I am going to have to stop eating this stuff.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fletcherkane Posted April 19, 2007 Share Posted April 19, 2007 Well, at least they are making it easier for the poor to choose between meds and dog food...[&] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mungkiman Posted April 19, 2007 Share Posted April 19, 2007 Thanks for the heads up. I have been feeding my dog Natural Balance Venison and Brow Rice formula, the brand specifically mentioned in the new report! We're going to see the vet for a blood test in an hour and a half. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meagain Posted April 19, 2007 Author Share Posted April 19, 2007 Wow! The thing with the Natural Balance is scarey for many reasons: 1) Rice protein (new ingredient found tainted) 2) It's considered a premium food 3) they added this rice protein recently but only just now changed the ingredients on their web site to show the addition. They are not allowed by law to slap labels on their bags with ingredient add-ons. They ARE required to change the bag within 6 MONTHS of an ingredient change! WTF. OK fine, you have by law 6 months, but one would think this higher end brand would have risen to a higher octave. 3) MANY people switched to Natural Balance as it's a bit more available than the boutiquey brands - supposed to be safe cuz it didn't have wheat gluten AND it had a decent ingredient list. Now this.... Forums are showing people having bad! issues within the last week being fed solely the Venison/brown rice and/or Green Pea. Here's the thing about #2... I fed my cats Natural Balance Venison & Green Pea dry a short time prior to moving to Innova EVO. I still have the 1/2-empty bag. I looked at the ingredient list and see no Rice Proteins. I'm thinking "whew! I must have bought this right before they added the rice protein".... Then I find out about this label BS. Hence, my bag, despite not listing Rice Protein, might actually have it! WTH? Since they clearly have no fricking idea what's going on given the blazing assertion that it's only wheat gluten that's the issue for like a month - and now they added the rice............... I'm narrowing my canned selection down further to a GRAIN FREE diet. My Innova EVO dry is grain free. My Innova EVO canned is grain free. A FEW of my Wellness cans are grain free (some are NOT). I've eliminated canned regular Innova, some Wellness, and all Natural balance cans. My Natural Balance cans list Brown Rice. Fine, it's not Rice Protein/Rice Gluten/etc - but still. They don't know wth is going on so I'm going 100% grain free. One must think about cross-contamination - how the plant processes, houses, separates, cleans blades/mixers, etc. I'm sticking to Innova EVO and will check out Orijen. I'm pissed! And scared that this has spread to both a new ingredient AND into the more higher-end foods. Mungkiman - Have you looked at Innova EVO? It's really good food and relatively easy to find. This Orijen I'm looking at seems to be a bit tricky to locate, but I'm going to look into it at least for canned for variety with the Wellness grain-free and Innova EVO canned. Might have to order it online. EDIT: Seems Orijen doesn't offer canned? LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mungkiman Posted April 19, 2007 Share Posted April 19, 2007 After $193.25 in urine and blood tests, the pet food store was nice enough to give me a free bag of food. I'll have the test results in a few days, and will hope for the best. Save your receipts people, both for food and for vet bills... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.4knee Posted April 19, 2007 Share Posted April 19, 2007 Save yourself the hassle feed RAW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mungkiman Posted April 19, 2007 Share Posted April 19, 2007 sounds like a hassle to me... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheEAR Posted April 19, 2007 Share Posted April 19, 2007 This is serious,they start with pet food and after it will end where? With food we buy for us? The companies who release poisoned food should be paying compensations ,I do not care some think it is just a cat or dog.These criminals buy poison filled garbage from China because it is dirt cheap and then put this poison in food! Great savings! Buy ingredients with rat poison or vermin,wow smart thinking! I would like to know who is in charge and in the QUALITY CONTROL departament in these companies? These people are A totally incompetent or B criminals who know what they are doing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meagain Posted April 19, 2007 Author Share Posted April 19, 2007 Save yourself the hassle feed RAW I know. What the melamine does is raise the nitrogen level. When tested, the nigher nitrogen level translates to a higher protein count. A higher protein count translates to more valuable. No accidental contamination IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meagain Posted April 19, 2007 Author Share Posted April 19, 2007 BREAKING NEWS: Melamine in Corn Gluten Linked to South African Pet Illnesses April 19th, 2007 The 29 cases of renal failure in South Africa has been linked to melamine in corn gluten used in pet food. Corn gluten is used extensively in the US. Tests have confirmed that Vets Choice and Royal Canin dog and cat dry pet-food products contained corn gluten contaminated with melamine, says the manufacturer. The contaminated corn gluten was delivered to Royal Canin by a South African third-party supplier and appears to have originated from China. We were tracking cases of the South African pet deaths before and have heard rumors of corn gluten contamination. At this point, we believe that all corn gluten should be considered at risk for contamination and should be tested by every pet food manufacturer and the FDA. Subscribe/Unsubscribe: www.itchmo.com/alerts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mungkiman Posted April 19, 2007 Share Posted April 19, 2007 at least for the chinese, it now IS in their human food chain... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meagain Posted April 19, 2007 Author Share Posted April 19, 2007 Soylent Green Mungk - what was the free bag they gave you? I'm sure your dog will be ok. If caught early/timely manner, they can recover ok. Just gotta detox. I grabbed the last small bag of Innova EVO today. I have to give props to my local Pet Supplies Plus as they carry many higher-end offerings. They told me the good foods are flying off the shelves which is nice to hear. One woman was there returning her Natural Balance. Bought Innova EVO canned and a few Wellness Grain-free. But it's time for me to go back to real food. I did this years ago when I was dealing with my cancer cats so I'll have to relearn. I think it'll be ok to prepare a batch one day a week or so and freeze a bunch in small containers. But right now, I'm not trusting ANY grain products in the foods. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mungkiman Posted April 19, 2007 Share Posted April 19, 2007 I got Natural Balance Potato and Fish. I too am concerned with cross contamination, but at this point the FDA has tested all the Natural Balance products, and only the Venison and Brown rice tested positive for tainted rice protein. Most of the deaths to date have been in cats, and young animals, and also from wet food. I won't say my dog won't be affected, but he's 105 pounds and 4.5 years old. I'm hoping for the best, and will obviously follow the news for more information. It sounds like the distributor for the rice protein hasn't yet disclosed the 4 companies in addition to Natural Balance. My dog also need allergy formula foods, which limits the choices as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldbuckster Posted April 19, 2007 Share Posted April 19, 2007 This is serious,they start with pet food and after it will end where? With food we buy for us? The companies who release poisoned food should be paying compensations ,I do not care some think it is just a cat or dog.These criminals buy poison filled garbage from China because it is dirt cheap and then put this poison in food! Great savings! Buy ingredients with rat poison or vermin,wow smart thinking! I would like to know who is in charge and in the QUALITY CONTROL departament in these companies? These people are A totally incompetent or B criminals who know what they are doing. Right On Brother theEAR..........................[Y]..[8o|] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.4knee Posted April 19, 2007 Share Posted April 19, 2007 sounds like a hassle to me... No more so than scooping wet food out of a can http://www.gooddogdiet.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mungkiman Posted April 19, 2007 Share Posted April 19, 2007 Thanks for the link. I assumed you meant buying the ingredients at the Organic grocery, and making my own dog food. That sound like a hassle. I don't even treat myself that well... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mungkiman Posted April 19, 2007 Share Posted April 19, 2007 Just got a call from the vet. Both the blood work and the urinalysis are fine! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheEAR Posted April 19, 2007 Share Posted April 19, 2007 I wonder when these 100% profit driven,and 100% blinded by profit at any cost companies will wake up and realise you cannot buy crap ingredients from countries where human rights are totally ignored and who do not care if you drop dead. Proof is in the can or bag,and in the dead pets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mungkiman Posted April 19, 2007 Share Posted April 19, 2007 I wonder when these 100% profit driven,and 100% blinded by profit at any cost companies will wake up and realise you cannot buy crap ingredients from countries where human rights are totally ignored and who do not care if you drop dead. Proof is in the can or bag,and in the dead pets. Sad to say that will most likely ONLY be when it is more profitable to do so than not. When the lawsuits are more costly than the testing. They have actuarial tables for everything from airline safety to tainted human foods. How much rat feces is acceptable in your cereal?The answer is not based on whether the rat ate poison or not... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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