Merry.....Happy.........something...?

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Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Winter Solstice, Happy Kwanzaa, Blessed Ramadan, Happy Diwali, Merry Yule.......

Did I miss any?

No matter how you say it or what you believe, may everyone have a blessed holiday season and a wonderful new year. Peace and good wishes to all, man and beast alike.

Terri

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Bless the Animals

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I'm not Catholic, but I really like this. St. Francis seems to feel the same way about animals as most of us do. I figure a few extra blessings and prayers, no matter who you pray to, will certainly never hurt.

"A tool in your hands I am, dear God, the sweetest instrument you have shaped my being into. What makes me now complete-
feeling the soul of every creature against my heart. Does every creature have a soul? Surely they do; for everything God has touched will have life forever. And all creatures he has held."

St. Francis of Assisi


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Just what IS in my dog's food, part 7: Flavorings - Yum or Yuck?

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High quality foods do not really need any flavorings, but natural ones are harmless and may even add a little nutritional value. The sole purpose of flavoring agents in pet food is to make the food palatable to the pet.

The food that comes from the manufacturing plant is often so rancid that no dog would touch it. So why does your dog come running when you open a new bag of commercial pet food? Because that overpowering odor wafting from the bag smells like dinner to him. Fat is sprayed directly on the morsels of food, and that is what you and your dog smell. The fat that entices him to eat is gathered from the rendering plant, restaurant grease, and other sources of fats and oils that are too rancid for human consumption. The restaurant grease is gathered from various establishments and stored in huge drums, sometimes outside for weeks at a time in extreme temperatures. Fat is also used as a sort of glue to stick other flavors to pet food morsels. These flavors and the sprayed fat trick pets into eating the food.

While it is true that pet foods must meet certain standards set by AAFCO (Association of American Feed Control Officials) in order to be labeled as "complete and balanced," there are problems with the quality of the standards themselves. (more....)

In addition to these issues with the standards set by AAFCO, there are further problems with the pet food industry's labeling practices. The labels follow a secret code, and consumers do not have the key to decipher it. In fact, most consumers do not even realize that there is a hidden meaning in the label's wording.

The "Flavor" Rule states that a food may be labeled as "Beef Flavored Dog Food" even if it does not contain any beef, as long as the flavor is "sufficiently detectable." This is achieved by using meals, by-products, or various parts from the animal listed on the label.

It almost seems like a company can call a food "turkey flavored" if a turkey just walks past it!!! Okay, perhaps that's a bit extreme, but you get my point.

The following is taken directly from the FDA website section on interpreting pet food labels:

"Under the "flavor" rule, a specific percentage is not required, but a product must contain an amount sufficient to be able to be detected. There are specific test methods, using animals trained to prefer specific flavors, that can be used to confirm this claim. In the example of "Beef Flavor Dog Food," the word "flavor" must appear on the label in the same size, style and color as the word "beef." The corresponding ingredient may be beef, but more often it is another substance that will give the characterizing flavor, such as beef meal or beef by-products.

With respect to flavors, pet foods often contain "digests," which are materials treated with heat, enzymes and/or acids to form concentrated natural flavors. Only a small amount of a "chicken digest" is needed to produce a "Chicken Flavored Cat Food," even though no actual chicken is added to the food. Stocks or broths are also occasionally added. Whey is often used to add a milk flavor. Often labels will bear a claim of "no artificial flavors." Actually, artificial flavors are rarely used in pet foods. The major exception to that would be artificial smoke or bacon flavors, which are added to some treats."

What exactly are these items they refer to? Here are the gory details:

Animal Digest
AAFCO: A material which results from chemical and/or enzymatic hydrolysis of clean and undecomposed animal tissue. The animal tissues used shall be exclusive of hair, horns, teeth, hooves and feathers, except in such trace amounts as might occur unavoidably in good factory practice and shall be suitable for animal feed. If it bears a name descriptive of its kind or flavor(s), it must correspond thereto.

A cooked-down broth made from unspecified parts of unspecified animals. The animals used can be obtained from any source, so there is no control over quality or contamination. Any kind of animal can be included: "4-D animals" (dead, diseased, disabled, or dying prior to slaughter), goats, pigs, horses, rats, misc. roadkill, animals euthanized at shelters, restaurant and supermarket refuse and so on.

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Digest
May also appear as dried, or spray dried. Sometimes the type and part of animals used is specified, such as in "Chicken Digest", "Lamb Digest" or "Poultry Liver Digest"

AAFCO: Material which results from chemical and/or enzymatic hydrolysis of clean and undecomposed animal tissue. The animal tissues used shall be exclusive of hair, horns, teeth, hooves and feathers, except in such trace amounts as might occur unavoidably in good factory practice and shall be suitable for animal feed. .

A cooked-down broth made from specified, or worse, unspecified parts of specified or unspecified animals (depending on the type of digest used). If the source is unspecified (e.g. "Animal" or "Poultry", the animals used can be obtained from any source, so there is no control over quality or contamination. Any kind of animal can be included: "4-D animals" (dead, diseased, disabled, or dying prior to slaughter), goats, pigs, horses, rats, misc. roadkill, animals euthanized at shelters, restaurant and supermarket refuse and so on.

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Flavor
A substance, such as an extract or spice, that add flavor to a product.

The manufacturer may or may not give more detailed information about what is used for flavoring and whether it is made from a natural or chemical substance.

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Glandular Meal
I have not been able to locate an official definition for this product so far.

Since it is used as a "source of liver flavor" in poor quality foods, it is safe to assume that it is a meal obtained from the livers and other glands of various, unspecified animals. As with all generic, unspecified ingredients, it is wise to avoid.

Hmmmm.....sounds more like YUK than YUM to me! So, what do we do with this information now? Study those labels!!

What to look for:
►Specific stocks or broths (e.g. chicken, beef), liver of specified animals

What to avoid:
►Any highly rendered products (e.g. digests of any kind), ingredients of unknown origin ("meat broth"), glandular meal, artificial flavor(ing)
►Onion of any form is toxic to dogs and thus has no place in dog food!

Next time we'll look at colorings and sweeteners.


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Food and Drug Administration Amendments Act of 2007, First Step Towards Protecting Pets, and Us, From Tainted Foods

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This is great news! We are pleased to announce that we have the first new law passed that will help with the pet food problems.

H.R. 3580, in conference, was passed by both houses of Congress and signed by the President.

In particular, it is Title X (the last section), that has bearing on our issues.

This new law mandates the FDA come up with new labeling and production standards for pet food within 24 months. It also requires that the FDA set up a pet food registry and notification process similar to the one the CDC uses for human pathogens.

We still have more work to do, in particular regarding foreign import restrictions, but this is the FIRST MAJOR STEP.

You can view the bill here: H.R. 3580

Specifically, TITLE X - FOOD SAFETY, Sec. 1002 pertains to pet food. The rest of this part of the bill addresses various other aspects of food safety, inspection and reporting standards, communication and reporting requirements, and a Reportable Food Registry that requires the responsible party to register, within 24 hours, any food item that has a reasonable probability of any sort of health concerns.

It isn't perfect, but it's a HUGE step in the right direction. At least now there is a protocol for how these things are handled and reported, so hopefully situations like the recent pet food recalls will not get out of hand as before. Good to see that our government does do some good things now and again.

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Now it's toxic TOYS! Where will it end?

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I honestly don't think this is ever going to end. The list of "toxic" items, both food and otherwise, grows exponentially each day it seems. Here is the latest from Itchmo....

Expertox, a Texas lab, claimed that they found elevated levels of lead, chromium, and cadmium in two Wal-Mart pet toys. But Wal-Mart said the lab has “severely misinterpreted” the results. Expertox stands by their findings and said their results are “rock solid.”

Here is a link to the full story:
News for cats and dogs - Pet Industry Responds To Lab Finding Lead, Other Toxins In Wal-Mart Pet Toys

Also, for those of you feeding a RAW diet, here's some recall news that may affect you.
Bravo! Raw Diet has announced a recall of certain varieties of its poultry products for pets. Here is the press release dated September 18 that is on their website:

Bravo! announces a voluntary recall of select tubes of three of its poultry products for cats and dogs. The pet food is being recalled because two of the products have the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella and Listeria monocytogenes, while the other product has the potential to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.

Here is the rest of that story:
News for cats and dogs - NEW RECALL: Bravo! Recalls Select Poultry Products For Cats And Dogs

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AVMA warns of potential new threat to pets

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American Veterinary Medical Association Announcement


"The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) has recently been made aware of several complaints from pet owners and veterinarians that multiple brands of jerky treats manufactured in China have been making pets sick. Symptoms of illness have included vomiting, diarrhea, and lethargy. To our knowledge, no deaths have been reported.

The AVMA posted an alert on its Web site to inform its members and the public about what was known. Today, the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM) issued a statement saying it also has become aware of an unusual number of dogs presenting similar symptoms and abnormal test results associated with consumption of some jerky treats.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is currently testing several products to see if a contaminant can be found. So far, they have ruled out melamine, one of the chemicals that led to the massive pet food recall this spring, but have yet to identify anything that might be making pets sick. (more.......)

As of this morning, PetSmart has pulled various Smokehouse Brand dog treats off of their shelves. There have been reports of pets becoming ill after eating the treats, and as a precaution, PetSmart has removed the products. There has been no formal recall as of yet.

*Here is the SKU list of the Smokehouse Brand dog treats that have been pulled off of PetSmart shelves:
7856525052 5108696 Chicken Chips 1lb.
7856525053 5108692 Chicken Chips 8oz.
7856525092 5108693 Chicken Poppers 8oz.
7856525093 5108698 Chicken Poppers 1lb.
7856525134 5108691 Chicken Tenders 8oz.
7856525137 5126536 Chicken Breast Tender Snacks 1lb.
7856525138 5126535 Chicken Tenders 2lb.
7856584255 5126702 Duck Breast Tenders 8oz.
7856584256 5126534 Duck Breast Tenders 1lb.
7856584257 5126532 Duck Chips 1lb.
7856584258 5126531 Duck and Sweet Potato 1lb.
7856585808 5108695 Chicken Tenders 1lb.

Here is a link to the Itchmo site with the rest of the article. Itchmo is probably the best source of information on the recall mess that I have found. You can sign up on their site to receive updates on any new findings. I highly recommend it.

News for cats and dogs - Smokehouse Brand Dog Treats Pulled From PetSmart Shelves

Keep updated on recalled pet food!
Click the above link to sign up for recall updates from the National Pet Foundation.


*The National Pet Foundation will update you with any new information about specific jerky products and name brands as soon as it becomes available

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