Must read article

[freddie2two]

Have you wondered how the melamine got into the feed and why? Well here is an article that explains a probability, and since it is linked to the "bottom line", which dominates corporate concerns, it is very probable.

http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/156967.html

But I am also here to ask anyone who uses almost exclusively Purina products if their pet has become ill with kidney disease just prior to or within the recall timeframe. 

My cat turned three this month. I have had cats all my life (I am 64) and many have passed from kidney decline. So if my cat was 17, I wouldn't be pursuing this topic. But my cat is three and just returned from 4 days at the Vet on fluids.  About two weeks ago she began drinking copiously and urinating copiously. Her luxurious coat turned ratty and she lost some patches of hair on her neck. She is an indoor cat.  I took her to the Vet and after exhausting blood and urine work, it turned out to be a kidney problem.  To make a long and expensive story short, she responded to intravenous flushing, her renal panel is now normal, but I have to have another done next week.  The Vets concluded it was a toxin and tubular, the same pattern as seen in pets made ill by recalled foods, or those not yet recalled.

Because she in a Purina cat and wheat gluten is a dominant ingredient in many of her wet foods - Friskies, Fancy Feat, Elegant Medleys, and even is in her favorite dry food, Friskies Feline Favorites - I called Nestle Purina.  To their credit, they called me back, took some data, and are going to call my vet.  However, I was told  I was the ONLY one with a sick cat who is on Friskies.  I can't believe that, and I can't believe that Friskies has not sourced its wheat gluten, and now rice (read the article) and I wonder about corn gluten, which is also sourced from China. So I would like to hear from any other primarily Friskies using owners who have had pets come down with kidney problems attributable to toxins during this period.  Thanks for reading.

[TAZ]

freddie2two
Thanks so much for posting this......
My five guys get FF as their exclusive wet food......I've reduced the varieties with wheat gluten to one in five meals...I use FF w/out gluten for the other four. I have not seen - prior to this crisis nor now - any signs of health change.
But, you know, we are all dreading what may be around the corner....

[freddie2two]

Taz,

Thanks for the reply. Here is another must read article forwarded to me from my vet.  She has a network of UC Davis Vet School grads, like herself, who are sending her info from the US and Canada. As I stated in my post, I am suspicious that corn Gluten is also beefed up with Melamine. Well, here is an article about South Africa.  Australia is reporting melamine contaminated Corn Gluten too.  If you just go to Google and enter Corn Gluten, you will see the major providers are also Chinese.

http://www.thestar.com/article/205491

Luckily my cat is accepting and eating EVO dry food from Natura Pet Products which is not made with grains. At first she wouldn't eat it, but last night I heard her crunching in the kitchen, and this morning the handful I left was gone!!!! It has 50% Crude Protein, which she needs right now since this robust 14.5# female dropped to 11.5# during her kidney toxin illness.

Still want to hear from primarily Friskie (Purina) cat feeders out there. 

[Beowulf]

I actually wrote a statement along the lines of this in response to a concerned pet owner.
In keeping with the rules of this board it is important that I announce that I am a representative of Back to Basics and though I am writing this of my own personal opinion, my views on the indtustry in general are biased toward natural feeding practices.

In light of the growing number of recalls that are affecting the health of pets worldwide, I think it's very important to understand exactly why the pet food industry is vulnerable to things like this.

There is growing speculation by the FDA that the melamine was added intentionally, not to do harm, but to elevate the protein level reading for the ingredients. Understand that the fillers that have been contaminated are cheap, pet-grade ingredients to begin with and that increasing the levels of protein sadly increases their value to the commercial pet food market.

If the adding of the melamine was an intentional motive, it really is not much different from what pet food companies have been doing for decades: Using fillers, by-products and low-quality ingredients to formulate a "food" that reads well in percentages but that is comprised of junk. A good architect builds a structure of out of strong wood and metal, that same structure can be emulated with cardboard and tin but will always lack the integrity of a solid foundation.

Wheat Gluten, Rice Protein, and Corn Gluten have the current public focus at the time of this writing due to the direct and immediate effect the contamination has had on pets around the world. But these ingredients are just scratches on the surface of what pet food companies use to cut corners and increase porfits. A common word for these lackluster pet-grade ingredients is "Fillers" and they are absolutely prevailent in the commercial pet food industry. Corner-cutting tactics such as using these fillers in pet food and devising questionable methods to increase readable percentages are devious,dangerous and never have the health of your pet in mind.

The companies that have been involved in the recall certainly did not know that a dangerous contaminant like melamine would find it's way into these ingredients, but they can not be held totally blameless because these ingredients are based on bottom-line motives to begin with and not on quality health for your pets.

Luckily there ARE pet foods that refuse to buy into these shady practices and who offer a sound diet made with only real wwhole food ingredients. Just because the rejected/altered human food supply is available to the pet industry does not mean that all pet food manufacturers must use it. A respectable pet food will always make mention of the quality of it's ingredients and will acquire them from only Human-Grade food suppliers.

It is very easy right now to get caught up in the blame game, and there is a lot of blame to justifiably be dealt, but an immediate, responsible action that every pet owner can take to immediately reverse the tide of questionable ingredients in the market is to simply stop buying foods that contain them. A good rule of thumb when looking at an ingredient list is to question any ingredient that is preceded by or ends with anything other than "meal" or a descriptive term such as "ground" or "dried"... this is usually a good indicator that it is a food extract/by-product/derivitave and not the food itself. Real food ingredients are always safe and always healthy. It's almost silly to have to say it, but the fact of the matter is that what is best to eat is: Food.

[karatemom2]

Here's another one to read that I ran across from another list that I belong to.

http://www.macleans.ca/business/companies/article.jsp?content=20070430_104326_104326