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. Therefore
is it we who are the real
front line, and if we give our pets poison pet food,
we are 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 should step up and
exceed our expectations in addressing this situation.
We can go online to seek the various manufacturer's
press releases & other statements about this. In
many cases, they are all the same. And I think that
many of these companies think 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. The responsible party here is
your local pet food supplier. In many cases, it is
Petco and 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 would
mean that she was been able to get some
information from the affected brands. It
seems that they are not forthcoming with
this, 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.
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, 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 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
professional 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.
What commercially available canned foods can
be safely consumed by our cats? For starters, I
would recommend Merrick (www.merrickpetcare.com),
who produces all of their food themselves, and uses only
domestic ingredients. I am also satisfied with the news
posted at Natura, makers of Innova cat food
(www.naturapet.com).
I understand that many brands use Menu Foods 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. He has promised that in the meantime, Natura
will keep their own QC inspectors at the Menu Foods
plant, and will use only domestic ingredients.
Wellness (www.omhpet.com)
is another brand that is worth looking at, I think. But
you should read all of the various companies' statements
addressing this recall and draw your own conclusions.
There is a lot of information compiled into a blog at
dogster.com.
You need to sort through a lot of understandably
emotional personal comments and editorials there, but the
press releases there do help to provide some background
and updates on the China connection to this, as well as
the latest recall information from various
manufacturers.
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 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. 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, cook 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 cats need wholesome
foods just like we do.
-Tom Westerhold
Feline Design
