A Community Forum Re: Pet Nutrition Friday, May 18th!

[Kathleen]

  ON Tuesday afternoon at 5PM?  5:30 PM?  on PULSE24  "ANIMAL HOUSE CALLS" is on and rebroadcasts again  late Friday evening. The Moderator, Ann Rohmer, is a great animal lover.  I wonder if  the people organizing the FORUM would contact her--they probably carry more clout than we do. A pitch from her would be great!
                                           
                         Kathleen

[willyagogo]

Hi Kathleen.....

I know the show...in fact my Vet was on there in January!

I've contacted City TV/City pulse many times...usually get back a generic reply that they "were glad to hear from me and value any comments etc......."

When I last spoke with the lady who was making seat reservations about this very thing.....I asked her if they could inform the TV stations to display it on their up-coming events calender.....she said that someone from the Petfoodcampaign would be taking care of that.......I thought that it would be great to have Ann Rohmer on there....as well as some of the vets who are regular guests on her show.......I guess we'll have to wait and see what the organizers will do with that idea!

[mel_t]

Hi guys,

regarding press release to the media, I asked, and she said they were going to do it the day before.  she works in Marchese's office, so I'm assuming that is standard press notification procedure for the gov't offices.

How many of you are going? 

[willyagogo]

Hey Mel!!!!

How are you?.....

Well...I for one am going. I know of someone else that's going too....but I'll let them speak for themselves.

Anyways, we're both excited....and are going to get together just before the Forum at a near-by coffee shop.......wanna join us?...you can PM me or e-mail me and let me know!....There's tons of coffee shops around there...but if you have a particular one in mind please let me know!

I'll be watching to see if they announce it on CityPulse...hope so! I'll be putting up more posters this week...my printer is out of ink (for the 3rd time!!)....

Anyways Mel....good to hear from you......see you on Friday!.....

[Laura]

  I let people know on a private list that I am on about this Community Forum- a number of people on there are in the Toronto area, so hopefully one or two of them will be able to make it there as well.  I've not seen this subject broached on there at all, so I also shared the existence of the Pet food list, Itchmo, etc..  I think many of them feed Harvest Blend, so have been mostly unaffected- so far- but I think they need to know this is going on!!  If just ONE person comes away with a better understanding...

[Kathleen]

 I would not miss this!!     As a matter of fact I have a friend who is driving in to Toronto from out of town to also attend.      We will be there with bells on.     We are looking forward to meeting with others from Toronto who will be attending---how about getting together before the meeting to say hello.   The FORUM will be held near the U.of T. --lots of coffee shops around there.  I will bring an empty bag of PURINA PRO PLAN and prop it up on the table so we can identify each other---- a symbolic gesture  to say we won't take it anymore PURINA et al.
                                        Kathleen

[mel_t]

Unfortunately, I probably won't be able to be there that early as I have to take my son home from daycare downtown and wait for my DH to be home to watch him before I leave to head back down, and I will probably have to touch base with the woman who's organizing it too.  But, I hope you guys enjoy your pre-event get together! Hopefully we'll get a chance to chat at the forum, although it will be pretty busy.  It's pretty much "sold out" now from what I understand.

[willyagogo]

Mel....

I'm sure we'll al get a chance to chat on Friday!

Pretty much sold out eh?.........Now that...is music to my ears!!!

See ya' there!....

[Mary K]

Welcome back Forum Folks, It has been pretty quiet at this Forum. We all can't wait to hear how your Forum went, who you spoke to, what was accomplished, good news, gosssip and pointers. Hope it was a ball! Mary

[willyagogo]

Hi Mary!!!!

Just got in the door about 10 minutes ago.......it was great!!!!!

Met Kathleen and Mel T.......and of course Dr. Elizabeth Hodgkins!!!!...We even had our pictures all taken together!!

Turned my petition forms with all the signatures in to the MPs....I still have lots more empty forms to get filled (I printed out LOTS!)....I'll mail them to Parliament!

There was talk about a 2nd forum.....they'll let us know by e-mail!

It was both informative and emotional!...Can't wait for the next one!......We really needed to get things rolling here in Canada...and from the collective feelings that were displayed of frustratration, anger, sorrow and general wanting of answers...I foresee action, motivation, and further demands from the PFI just for starters.........from the great group of people I met there tonight!

Over all......I wouldn't have missed it for the world!...It was so excellent to be in a room filled with people that actually know what's going on! Because I've been encountering so many people lately who do not realize the severity of this problem.....this was, to say the least.....empowering!!!!......

[Therese]

Glad to hear it went well, willy! I'm glad you got energized...hopefully it'll have a snowball effect and more folks will get busy too.

When you get a chance, maybe you can tell us more about what went on?

[willyagogo]

Therese!....

No problem!

It started with Dr Hodgkins.....speaking on her experiences in the PFI etc....she went on to basically explain what she would like to see happen as far as regulations go...giving some analogies here and there as to why it has gotten to it's sorry state these days (PFI).

Then the floor was open for questions.....of which mine, was to do with the 6 month lag in label changes even if there has been a change in the ingredients. She had been saying earlier...that we need to know more about the food we are buying by reading the labels (which I do agree with)......my point was, that no matter how astute that we become on what we feed our pets...they can turn around and change the formula and are given, according to the existing regulations, 6 months in which to change the label......what would happen if something were put in that my pet were allergic to? I wanted to know if they are at all currently addressing that.

She agreed with me on that point...and I believe that she said that and how the food is tested would have to change...and then Olivia Chow (MP) added something to that...can't quite remember what was said verbatim.

The Q & A session was pretty emotional at some points....but they were some who had lost pets...were angry and upset.....and they needed to be heard...and they were. One thing I found admirable about this Forum....it was FOR the people, and when they had a question or remark, they truly had the floor and were allowed to speak without interruption...which I thought was so cool!

As things drew to a close....there was some mingling...Dr. H made herself quite available to those with more questions and chit-chat.....I had my son take some pictures of mel t, Kathleen, Dr. H and myself together! It was great!.....Like I said, it was great to be in the same room with a bunch of folks with the same concerns!

There was talk about plans for a 2nd Forum.....to which there was an explosion of applause! Us Canucks are "ready to rumble!".....

[Mary K]

Do we get to see the pictures?        Here I was saying "have a ball" and it sounded like it was actually very emotionally packed.  Anyway, I hope we soon get the labeling we need. No changes in label= no changes in the ingredients/recipe! Too expensive to keep changing labels? Then don't change the recipe!! Get it right the first time. Very simple!

[Kathleen]

It was a wonderful, informative evening. I cannot say enough about the whole evening. Elizabeth Hodgkins is one VERY smart lady--not only is she a Vet but she is also a Lawyer.  I was able to speak to her after the presentation about a particular cat kibble I was using--something new on the market. She was most helpful and down to earth with her suggestions and comments. I am going into a website and purchase her book.
 Do you know that she paid her own way to Toronto in order to present her material  . She is one dedicated lady! Lots of food for thought!

                       Kathleen

[Cindy Nevarez]

Wow.....Willy and all, what a great day you all had! I wish I could have been there!

We need Dr. Hodgkins to come down here and shake some movers, and move some shakers!

The only "forum" I've seen in my city here so far is presented by a local elite boutique type of store for pets and pets supplies, and they are charging people $20 each to get in! I wrote them a very strongly worded email regarding that.

This Dr. Hodgkins sounds like my kind of people.