TT#29 : The Melamine Fiasco


Running late with the TT today...
Not The Mama has been reading too much stuff about the whole pet food recall/melamine fiasco.
For up-to-date info about this stuff, please visit Itchmo, the best site about this mess.

13 things I wish Not The Mama didn't know about, so he wouldn't worry so much, but on the other hand, we're glad he really does know about so he can try to keep us safe and healthy.
~ By Daphne
(I think run-on-sentences must be a symptom of Temptations withdrawal....)

1. There were new Menu Foods-produced pet foods added to the recall just yesterday! (5/2)

2. Castor & Pollux, the brand who makes the Organix treats that we won't eat, have added some wet pet foods to the recall list. They swear that Organix treats are SAFE.

3. Whiskas also swears that Temptations are SAFE... but they contain glutens, while the Organix treats do not. Not The Mama is really in a quandary over this one, folks.

4. Temptations are a Whiskas brand, but they're made by Effem foods in Canada, and Effem and Whiskas are both owned by Mars. This makes Not The Mama's head spin. He says he wishes that Effem or Whiskas or Mars would just say "NO China glutens are used in the making of Temptations" but they don't. They just say their stuff is safe. That's what Castor & Pollux said until 10pm EST on May 2, 2007.

5. Wikipedia says: "Melamine is a trimer of cyanamide. Like cyanamide, it is 66% nitrogen (by mass) and provides fire retardant properties to resin formulas by releasing nitrogen when burned or charred." So, it's nitrogen, but it's made out of bad shit.

6. Wikipedia goes on to say that "Melamine when heated causes the loss of nitrogen, leaving guanidine, a muscle stimulant used as a pharmaceutical, and ammonia, a poison. The reported symptoms of the animals conform to those of ammonia poisoning since melamine may metabolize into ammonia by the body." So if you eat melamine, and it heats up in your kidneys and then you get ammonia poisoning...

7. Ammonia is readily mixed with water, which makes up blood.
Symptoms of ammonia poisoning in the bloodstream:

Burning sensation. Cough. Laboured breathing. Shortness of breath. Sore throat.
So, even if a vet says that cough, labored breathing and shortness of breath are NOT symptomatic of melamine poisoning (which would be increased/problem urination, vomiting, etc) - if there is too much ammonia in the bloodstream - there are other symptoms.

8. Melamine has now been found in chicken feed imported from China, and millions of chickens that have eaten this feed have already been sent to supermarkets and restaurants. But the FDA says that they think humans are not in danger, because even if you eat a melamine infested chicken McNugget, you also eat fries and a coke and that will not make your kidneys rot any faster than normal.

9. Purdue and Tyson, two of the largest industrial chicken farms in the US, have sent letters to supermarkets stating that their birds do NOT eat Chinese chicken feed.

10. Along with chickens eating tainted feed, thousands of hogs in the USA were fed THE RECALLED PET FOOD. Hmmm. If it's killing our pets, why not put it into the HUMAN food chain? And if you believe that those 6,000 quarantined piggies are going to be destroyed and NOT used for some kind of food (human or pet), then I gots a some swampland in Michigan I can sell ya.

11. The FDA, for weeks and weeks, insisted that only 17 dogs & cats had been killed by renal failure from melamine. Suddenly, this week, this number jumped to 4,150 !!!!!

12. Not The Mama used to check his horoscope online every morning. Now he checks Itchmo's Recall Page every morning, hoping that Friskies canned (what Jazper & Inkie eat) and Iam's kibble (what Spooker & me & Chloe eat) and Pedigree (what Bessie's dog Bits eats) aren't on the list.

13. We don't have a PetSmart in our area, but their store brands of dog & cat foods are now on "voluntary recall" We did get an e-mail from Dr Fosters & Smith, however, alerting us that some of their own brands have been recalled. We used to trust brand-names. Now, we're not so sure... We just know that we'll keep checking Itchmo and keep praying that our food isn't contaminated.

Get The Latest Pet Food Recall Info

Mo and The Purries

13 comments :

  1. Very informative, and we will definately check out those links!

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  2. AAAAAAARHGH, this is what makes mom so crazed about our food. You just can't trust anyone of the pet food manufacturers. She just hopes dat when she talked to da beans dat say dey makes der own foods and dey din't use any chinese crap dey isn't lying.

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  3. This is so scary. I thought we were safe because we feed dry dog food... not expensive stuff but we have tried lots of expensive stuff and she seems to do best on this food.

    It's very confusing. I mean I was at the site for at least twenty minutes, trying to figure out if our food is safe or not. I knew from a post you did earlier that pork was suspect. Now I have to worry about chicken too? Now it's not only my dog but my whole family?

    We use Ole Roy Lamb and Rice... is Ole Roy and Ole Roy Canada the same thing? Sheesh... I buy in bulk and I just bought, but I'll throw it all out and start over if there's any chance it could hurt my puppy.

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  4. ...I think we're okay, but now I'll have to check this list too. Thanks for the link.

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  5. Yes, it is very confusing and worrisome. I have to eat 'scription food because of my bladder stones, so I hope my foods stay safe. There are only a few foods prescribed for oxalate stones.

    I never even heard about melamine before this whole fiasco!

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  6. oh this is furry bad. what to do? not the mama cannot even safely cook you chicken or pork to eat cause that might be bad too. oh my. i hope this gets fixed soon...

    smiles, auntie bee

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  7. I'm so with you, Daphne! Mom has followed this closely from day one, and has spent tons of time and money trying to figure it out (my TT today is on why she is sending a post card today). Mom doesn't know what she would do without Itchmo! After switching kibble three times, she finally settled on grain free Evo, which I love. But, you have to worry about the high potassium levels due to the high protein (it is about 1.5%, and most recommend <1% to be easier on kidneys). But so far, I'm great with it.

    We also have the Temptation dilema. Mom wants to go grain free, but I love those Temptations. We still have three bags, and Mom has rationalized that since its all the same batch, and so far it is OK, I get to eat it. But once its gone...sigh....

    Tara

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  8. we think this pet food recall is a big mess. mommy woulda made us homemade cat food if she knew how to (and had a grinder that could grind bone).

    thanks for stopping by my blog and leaving me an invitation to visit your blog. i like it, and it's so informative too!

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  9. Maw thinks this whole mess sucks. And shes not at all surprised to see the companies sending poisoned pet foods to farm animals. Since she's been kinda an animal activist for years and reads this kind of stuff, and has a wee bit of a trust issue with the gov't anyway..... And since chicken farmers feed dead processed chickens to their chickens, why not feed other crap? And they dose it all with heavy duty antibiotics at the same time.

    We didn't know they'd finally raised the number of dead. Duh.

    Luf, Us

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  10. All this just sucks. What are these companies thinking?!?!?

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  11. Money, money, money...
    So far, and I'm holding my breath,
    our girls eat Iams. I haven't checked out Dr. Fox's website. I know he's an advocate for homemade food...
    To all our critter friends - we're looking out for you!

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  12. This entire pet food scandal is horrible! I am so glad we are not affected here in Europe, but I feel for everyone who has been affected. And my mom has been busy researching what to feed me when we move back to Canada (she's settled on Orijen for now.)

    My mom visits Itchmo too, along with the Pet Food List Forums.

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  13. Thanx for the info about pet recall.

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