Toxic dog treats

[Shang]

"Waggin' Train" dog treats and "Canyon Creek Ranch" treats, produced by Nestle Purina, are being blamed for dog illnesses and deaths. On the Canyon Creek package, an image of a rancher and his dog roaming the farm are on the front; on the back of the bag, the company's address in South Carolina is prominent. Underneath that, in smaller print, it reads: "Product of China."
Despite these pet treats being linked to pet deaths due to kidney failure, Walmart is continuing to sell the product in its stores and on line.
http://i.walmartimages.com/i/p/00/80/70/20/77/0080702077722_300X300.jpg

[Ian McColgin]

Since the Reagan administration we've had a relentless assault on all forms of business regulations. Hazardous products are an inevitable result.

[Dutch]

Since the Reagan administration we've had a relentless assault on all forms of business regulations. Hazardous products are an inevitable result.


of course it has nothing to do with the chinese folks who made them.:rolleyes:

I buy NO food products coming from the orient

[Ian McColgin]

You are wise to avoid products made under even less governmental control than here.

Food (and animal food) imports are a special problem that came more to the fore after the massive regulatory roll-backs had started. As we made new import-export treaties we agreed to accept products that did not meet US health and safety standards. Since those are treaties, they have the force of federal law same as any other treaty, and getting out of them would take some massive work. And would be met with enormous political resistance from every commercial entitiy with anything to do with China.

It could be that if dog owners mobilized they could influence WalMart. This is a case where there is no Congressional or Administration help to be found.

[Horace]

Thanks, Shang, for posting that. I'll make a point to communicate with Walmart (and Purina) today.

I don't generally buy pet "treats," as I find that it's easier and cheaper to divert appropriate table scraps to that purpose. (The Dawg really likes an occasional splash of buttermilk in his dish, and looks reproachfully around if his dry food isn't garnished with something good. Guilting isn't species specific.)

[ron ll]

I buy NO food products coming from the orient

How do you know?

[S.V. Airlie]

Watched a stupid reality show for about 4 minutes about a woman who just ate all varieties about cat food. The doc listed all the "crap" that was in it and that her eating the stuff was more than stupid, but dangerous and potentially lethal.I suspect dog food/treats are similar.

[Donn]

Thanks, Shang, for posting that. I'll make a point to communicate with Walmart (and Purina) today.

Before doing so, you might want to get some concrete news reports on the subject. Otherwise your communication may look something like this:


Shang, a member of the Bilge, said these treats "are being blamed for dog illnesses and deaths." He also said they are "being linked to pet deaths due to kidney failure." There was no link to any substantial news story or scientific proof for these claims, but I think you should stop selling them.

Your friend,
Horace

[Horace]

http://forum.woodenboat.com/images/misc/quote_icon.png Originally Posted by Horace http://forum.woodenboat.com/images/buttons/viewpost-right.png (http://forum.woodenboat.com/showthread.php?p=3349514#post3349514)

Thanks, Shang, for posting that. I'll make a point to communicate with Walmart (and Purina) today.
Before doing so, you might want to get some concrete news reports on the subject. Otherwise your communication may look something like this:


Shang, a member of the Bilge, said these treats "are being blamed for dog illnesses and deaths." He also said they are "being linked to pet deaths due to kidney failure." There was no link to any substantial news story or scientific proof for these claims, but I think you should stop selling them.

Your friend,
Horace:d. Please, give me credit for some common sense....wait, on second thought, belay that--I need all the help I can get.


How do you know? [I.e., the country of origin of a product.]This is something that has bothered me. More and more food products seem to be exempted from declaring point of origin and processing. I suspect that the only reason that the pet item carried such labeling was that it's under a different set of regs than FDA's regs for human food.

ETA--FDA covers pet foods as well. Google first.

[skuthorp]

I buy, where I can tell, no fish product from 'the orient', much of it is grown in fish farms in polluted waters and regs. are such that you can only tell "Product of ..................". Where I can tell is an important qualification as many outlets do not indicate.
Re the dog food, this is not the first time.

[Dutch]

How do you know?


uh ............. pick up the package and read it :)

[ron ll]

uh ............. pick up the package and read it :)

The problem is I don't think they have to list the source of all the ingredients. How do you know where oat fiber comes from, or yeast, or soy lecithin, or mustard seed, or curry or thousands of other ingredients?

(BTW, isn't it nice that the FDA requires that the ingredients be listed? Maybe we should cut their funding and lower our taxes. :) )

[S.V. Airlie]

Meat byproducts..Take a guess what that means Dutch?Reading that ingredient really doesn't say much.

[Dutch]

Before doing so, you might want to get some concrete news reports on the subject. Otherwise your communication may look something like this:


I think the FDA giving folks warning about something they havent been able figur out yet is ample evidence something is going on with chinese pet food once again.



November 18, 2011
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is again cautioning consumers that chicken jerky products for dogs (also sold as chicken tenders, strips or treats) may be associated with illness in dogs. In the last 12 months, FDA has seen an increase in the number of complaints it received of dog illnesses associated with consumption of chicken jerky products imported from China. These complaints have been reported to FDA by dog owners and veterinarians.
FDA issued a cautionary warning regarding chicken jerky products to consumers in September 2007 and a Preliminary Animal Health Notification in December of 2008. After seeing the number of complaints received drop off during the latter part of 2009 and most of 2010, the FDA is once again seeing the number of complaints rise to the levels of concern that prompted release of our earlier warnings.
Chicken jerky products should not be substituted for a balanced diet and are intended to be fed occasionally in small quantities.
FDA is advising consumers who choose to feed their dogs chicken jerky products to watch their dogs closely for any or all of the following signs that may occur within hours to days of feeding the products: decreased appetite; decreased activity; vomiting; diarrhea, sometimes with blood; increased water consumption and/or increased urination. If the dog shows any of these signs, stop feeding the chicken jerky product. Owners should consult their veterinarian if signs are severe or persist for more than 24 hours. Blood tests may indicate kidney failure (increased urea nitrogen and creatinine). Urine tests may indicate Fanconi syndrome (increased glucose). Although most dogs appear to recover, some reports to the FDA have involved dogs that have died.
FDA, in addition to several animal health diagnostic laboratories in the U.S., is working to determine why these products are associated with illness in dogs. FDA’s Veterinary Laboratory Response Network (VLRN) is now available to support these animal health diagnostic laboratories. To date, scientists have not been able to determine a definitive cause for the reported illnesses. FDA continues extensive chemical and microbial testing but has not identified a contaminant.
The FDA continues to actively investigate the problem and its origin. Many of the illnesses reported may be the result of causes other than eating chicken jerky. Veterinarians and consumers alike should report cases of animal illness associated with pet foods to the FDA Consumer Complaint Coordinator in their state or go to http://www.fda.gov/petfoodcomplaints1.


http://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/NewsEvents/CVMUpdates/ucm280586.htm

[Norman Bernstein]

If you're a celiac disease sufferer, it's exponentially harder. Ingredients like 'wheat' and 'barley' are easy to spot... but 'modified food starch' might be either from wheat or corn... and if it's the wrong one, the celiac disease sufferer might be condemned to an evening sitting on the throne.

With something like 1 in 110 people being affected by gluten, it's a shame than labeling isn't required on ALL foodstuffs... but the right wingers would probably say something dismissive about such a regulation... IF they don't happen to have celiac disease, themselves.

The good news is that more and more restuarants are coming out with gluten-free menus.

[ron ll]

With something like 1 in 110 people being affected by gluten,

This MIGHT be true, but I'm skeptical. I know there are some who truly are, but I also think gluten-phobia is a fad.

[S.V. Airlie]

Norman, I don' know of anything packages/processed that isn't labelled. Can you be more specific?I'm at the point where, even in general terms, a product includes something I can't eat, I just don't buy it or at least ask for specifics from the hotline run by the company in question.

[SMARTINSEN]

Niether me nor my dog will knowingly eat anything from China. You cannot even buy garlic these days without wondering if it is from China. California used to be the garlic capital of the world. Sheesh. One way to tell in the absence of country of origin labelling, or at least to give a somewha of a guide, is that the printing on the labels or stickers of many products made in China is distinctive.

Buy you dog treats, (and your own food for that matter) from trusted sources. It is kind of a sad commentary our times that you cannot even trust the iconic Checkerboard. We buy dog biscuits from Blue Dog Bakery, they use wholesome ingredients like lots of peanut butter and molasses. A bit more expensive, but Marlee is worth it, and sometimes I am even sometimes tempted to try one myself:)

[S.V. Airlie]

A bit of a tangent but if you read this first, I suspect you might see a connection.
Watched a program about 1000 ways to die..That alone was a strange program but whatever.
A guy guarding his pot plants decided to um, smoke some. Okay, one often gets the munchies from this.
Ah, idea, he fried up some grasshoppers for a snack and ate them...
Well, the chitin included a normal protein in it..OOOPS, he died..anaphylactic shock. He was allergic to it. Now think of how many critters are mixed in with the peanut butter? On second thought, don't. But how many should be listed as an ingredient?

[Shang]

Originally posted by Donn

Shang, a member of the Bilge, said these treats "are being blamed for dog illnesses and deaths." He also said they are "being linked to pet deaths due to kidney failure." There was no link to any substantial news story or scientific proof for these claims, but I think you should stop selling them.

Or then again you might have mentioned that good ol' reliable Shang, (B.A., M.A., M.F.A., Ph.D., and a proud member of the Bilge), does generally provide references to information he posts. I was on my way to a faculty meeting, so neglected to include a reference to my post.

However this time Shang suggests that those who, like Donn, are interested in further information on the subject should enter, "Toxic Pet Treats 2012" as a serch term on Google. There persons like Donn will find one million, nine hundred and seventy thousand references on the topic, delivered in "point, twenty one one-hundreths of a second" so Donn probably could have done this for himself.

Perhaps the most interesting of these references is that of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. While this site does not directly mention the present pet treat issue it does provide insight into the charge and proceedures of the agency which regulates this area.
http://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/Products/AnimalFoodFeeds/PetFood/ucm2006475.htm

Have a nice day, Donn.

[Shang]

A bit of a tangent but if you read this first, I suspect you might see a connection.
Watched a program about 1000 ways to die..That alone was a strange program but whatever.
A guy guarding his pot plants decided to um, smoke some. Okay, one often gets the munchies from this.
Ah, idea, he fried up some grasshoppers for a snack and ate them...
Well, the chitin included a normal protein in it..OOOPS, he died..anaphylactic shock. He was allergic to it. Now think of how many critters are mixed in with the peanut butter? On second thought, don't. But how many should be listed as an ingredient?

A friend of mine is allergic to shell fish, and is in danger of anaphylactic shock if he eats shrimp. But lately he was advised that it may not be the shrimp...it may be an allergy to the antibiotics with which shrimp are treated.

"...In an attempt to stave off disease, shrimp in many foreign farms are given daily doses of antibiotics, either mixed in with feed pellets, dumped directly into pond water or both.
Oxytetracycline and ciprofloxacin, both of which are used to treat human infections, are two of the most common drugs in shrimp farming. The use of chloramphenicol, penicillin and other antibiotics pose serious health risks , such as susceptibility to antibiotic-resistant bacteria , to consumers if residues of the drugs remain in the shrimp.
It is illegal to use antibiotics in U.S. shrimp farms, but because most of the shrimp eaten in the United States is produced elsewhere, this law does little to protect most consumers. In a 2003 survey of Thai shrimp producers, 74 percent reported using antibiotics on their shrimp. To make matters worse, producers knew little about applying the drugs, leading to serious overuse. Many tried using antibiotics to treat viruses – without knowing that antibiotics dont kill viruses."
http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/reports/suspicious-shrimp/#shrimp-on-drugs

[Donn]

..so Donn probably could have done this for himself.



'cept Donn doesn't give a flying hoot. Donn wouldn't give his dog treats from any store, unless you count raw veggies.

[S.V. Airlie]

I object to the reference to veggies. C'dog has learned to open the icebox door and she specifically goes for the carrots; not even a paws.:). To heck with that 1/2 cold chicken in there.:)

[Shang]

'cept Donn doesn't give a flying hoot. Donn wouldn't give his dog treats from any store, unless you count raw veggies.

And I say, Good for Donn!

I've quit buying dog biscuits for my dog, I dry and save bread crusts from my home made bread. If they're good for me they're good for him, and I know where they came from.

[Donn]

I haven't read it yet, but I picked this up for my Kindle the other day...$0.99. How bad can it be with a photo like that on the cover?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v54/donnwest/misc/2012-03-20_165017.jpg

This deaf, partially blind and albino Great Dane adoptee led to the creation of a chain of health food stores for pets; Three Dog Bakery.

[Dutch]

Originally posted by Donn


Or then again you might have mentioned that good ol' reliable Shang, (B.A., M.A., M.F.A., Ph.D., and a proud member of the Bilge), does generally provide references to information he posts. I was on my way to a faculty meeting, so neglected to include a reference to my post.

However this time Shang suggests that those who, like Donn, are interested in further information on the subject should enter, "Toxic Pet Treats 2012" as a serch term on Google. There persons like Donn will find one million, nine hundred and seventy thousand references on the topic, delivered in "point, twenty one one-hundreths of a second" so Donn probably could have done this for himself.

Perhaps the most interesting of these references is that of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. While this site does not directly mention the present pet treat issue it does provide insight into the charge and proceedures of the agency which regulates this area.
http://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/Products/AnimalFoodFeeds/PetFood/ucm2006475.htm

Have a nice day, Donn.

or you could have looked at my post #14 above where I already posted the fda link :)

[skipper68]

If you're a celiac disease sufferer, it's exponentially harder. Ingredients like 'wheat' and 'barley' are easy to spot... but 'modified food starch' might be either from wheat or corn... and if it's the wrong one, the celiac disease sufferer might be condemned to an evening sitting on the throne.

With something like 1 in 110 people being affected by gluten, it's a shame than labeling isn't required on ALL foodstuffs... but the right wingers would probably say something dismissive about such a regulation... IF they don't happen to have celiac disease, themselves.

The good news is that more and more restuarants are coming out with gluten-free menus. The disease is now here from the modified wheat. Even Mothers milk carries the poison.The wheat we eat now, is NOT the wheat that we ate 50 years ago. It has double the DNA helix, that has chemicals that target your addiction part of your brain. The guy that designed it was given a Nobel Prize.Quote"wheat products hidden in everything from soups to vodka to lipstick to envelope adhesive. Instead, we eat dwarf wheat, the product of genetic manipulation and hybridization that created short, stubby, hardy, high-yielding wheat plants with much higher amounts of starch and gluten and many more chromosomes coding for all sorts of new odd proteins. The man who engineered this modern wheat won the Nobel Prize -- it promised to feed millions of starving around the world. Well, it has, and it has made them fat and sick.

The first major difference of this dwarf wheat is that it contains very high levels of a super starch called amylopectin A. This is how we get big fluffy Wonder Bread and Cinnabons.

Here's the downside. Two slices of whole wheat bread now raise your blood sugar more than two tablespoons of table sugar. Five Ways Gluten Makes You Sick and Fat

Gluten can trigger inflammation, obesity and chronic disease in five major ways.

Full-blown celiac disease is an autoimmune disease that triggers body-wide inflammation triggering insulin resistance, which causes weight gain and diabetes, as well as over 55 conditions including autoimmune diseases, irritable bowel, reflux, cancer, depression, osteoporosis and more.

Low-level inflammation reactions to gluten trigger the same problems even if you don't have full-blown celiac disease but just have elevated antibodies (7 percent of the population, or 21 million Americans).

There is also striking new research showing that adverse immune reactions to gluten may result from problems in very different parts of the immune system than those implicated in ..."Read more here- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/wheat-gluten_b_1274872.html

[skipper68]

BTW, I went to the manager of our Walmart, pulled the treats and told him about the kidney problems. He had the Assistant manager scan the bag, made in China, and said there was no recall. I told him he might want to look into it. People don't like there fur kids dying from dog treats.

[Robbie 2]

I am a Meat Inspector in NZ and I know what we put down the petfood chute from the edible viscera table and my definite urging to you all is...................DON'T EAT FOOD DESIGNATED PETFOOD.

[skipper68]

My dog eats what we do. When we are done, she gets her plate of breakfast, dinner- her dog food is a treat.

[Nicholas Scheuer]

So Donnn, you never pruchase ANY packaged processed food for yourself or you dog(s)? Everything you or your's is "fresh"?

Good luck with the Talapia.