The Last Meow

The Last Meow is dedicated to all the pets who died or became seriously ill due to the Menu Foods Pet Food Recall, and the fur siblings they left behind.

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Why did Whiskers have to die?



It's hard to believe my furry friend has been gone almost a year. I still miss him so much. I miss hearing him say Mout when he wanted to go outside. I miss him sitting on my feet or in my lap. I miss him following me around outside.

It was bad enough when I read that cats in the Menu Foods labs had died as early as February 2007 and that Menu Food neglected to recall their poisonous food until it was too late for Whiskers. (Other post I have done on the pet food recall)

But now a Study says killer combination turned up in pet food before 2007 recall.

It seems that last year’s massive pet food recall wasn’t the first time thousands of pets suffered renal failure due to melamine and cyanuric acid contamination of pet food.

A recent article in the Journal of Veterinary Diagnostic Investigation says that a similar outbreak in 2004 was caused by the contaminants, and that “Findings in tissues from animals affected in the United States in 2007 were identical to those observed in the dogs from Asia that died in 2004.”


Why wasn't American pet owners aware of this before 2007? Why didn't we know the pet food we innocently gave out pets could potentially KILL THEM???

Christie Keith raises this troubling possibility.

Third is the question as to whether this has happened not only twice, but many times over the years. Certainly once the extent of melamine and cyanuric acid adulteration or protein concentrates in China was discovered it seemed fairly obvious the 2007 outbreak wasn’t the first one; it was just the first one we noticed. This study confirms that suspicion.

How many beloved pets over the years have died before their time due to kidney failure because of the food they were feed? How many furry friends have I lost because they were poisoned by their pet food?

You can read Christie's entire article at Pet Connection.

6 comments:

Angel MoMo and Charlotte said...

My gran has always cooked fresh food for her pets. I am the first furry in the family to be given commerical pet food. Maybe there is some merit in that.

Alastriona, The Cats and Dogs said...

After Whiskers died Mommy tried to cook for us. She got all these recipes off the internet for cooking healthy food for your cat. WE WOULDN'T EAT THEM (we were very bad we made Mommy cry cause we didn't like her cooking).

So now we get dry catfood (different brand every week) and some table scraps and packaged salmon & mackrel (for people) for occassional treats. And Mommy did get us some Temptations cause Daisy liked them so much. She also gives us plain yougurt cause that is suppose to be good for our digestion and we love it.

We don't get canned/pouched catfood at all cause Mommy is afraid of it.

Scylla, Charybdis & Socks

Angel MoMo and Charlotte said...

I would dearly LOVE to eat any freshly cooked food but SS has no time. She would share her food but she is worried that it may not satisfy my dietery requirement. Gran would cook for me sometimes when she is back from Canberra.

I don't particularly like pet treats; I prefer diary products like milk, cheese and yoghurt, which SS gives me in the weekend when she is home a bit more.

Alastriona, The Cats and Dogs said...

We don't get tablescraps often because some people food (like onions) is bad for cats. And Mommy won't give us any thing spicy cause she is afraid it will tear our tummies up. So no Cajun Catfish for us.

Mostly we get cheese, and sometimes we get leftover ham, salmon, chicken and beef. Eldest son doesn't clean his plate very good. If they have vegetables that she thinks we might like she will let us try them. Her cat Snowball loved English peas.

Since we wouldn't eat the special food she cooked for us (the recipes had some vitamins and stuff added that cats need) we mainly get dry food so Mommy knows we are getting all the things we need to stay healthy.

Mommy is making ham/potatoe & cheese soup and it smells good but we can't have any cause it has onions in it. But she said if we are good kitties she will give us some milk.

Angel MoMo and Charlotte said...

I only get cheese, ham, bacon, beef and fish from the table. SS and her mom never give furries food cooked in spices. Good to know that onions are not good for kitties. Not that onions were ever given to the furries in our house.

Alastriona, The Cats and Dogs said...

Your menu sounds delicious as we like cheese, ham, bacon and fish a whole bunch. Beef is OK, sometimes Mommy tries to feed us a scrambled egg, we are not too fond of those but poaced eggs are good. We like the runny part.

Socks, Scylla, & Charybdis