Rumor

[eternaljester81]

Annette,
You may have already said, but was your friend's friend feeding wet or dry Canidae?

[2cats2dogs]

Annette,
I didn't mean to imply that I thought you worked for a pet food company.  I apologize if it sounded that way and I appreciate your sharing your friend's experience with us. 

 I was really surprised that the person from Canidae was acting like the whole pet food recall situation is not such a big deal, that people blame the food when their pet actually died from something else, etc... I had hoped to get a very different response when I called, such as, "Yes, we test our foods and can guarantee they're melamime-free," but instead, I got a vague answer about the difficulty of testing for melamime and the fact that it's been around for a long time without causing problems, that people are trying to make other companies look bad, and no one actually knows if a lot of the "reported" deaths actually happened.  It almost sounded like the Canidae person could have been working for Menu or Diamond, the way she was downplaying the whole thing.  Has anyone else tried calling there? 

At this point, I guess I'll keep feeding them Canidae for now, because it's still the only one I can find that guarantees all ingredients are fom the U.S., does not produce food in any shared space with recalled brands, and has an ingredient list I feel good about-- some of the others I was looking at today (all the Natura ones) have phenyalinine (however you spell it) listed as an ingredient, which is basically aspartame.  The Karma has rice protein, and a lot of the others have corn as a major ingredient.  Or else the infamous vitamin k.   Or they are affiliated with a meat-rendering plant. After doing so much research, I would think there'd be at least one dog food that was both safe and had all healthy ingredients.  If anyone has any suggestions, please share.  Thanks !!

[lacy]

2cats2dogs,
Im not recommending any food or very smart about ingredients, but I think the listing for the ingredient Phenylalanine is naturally occuring in the food. It naturally occurs in eggs, milk, bananas, and meat. Im just guessing though. Maybe it warrants a call to Natura. But I wouldnt completely rule out Natura. They are testing all foods for melamine before putting them on the market, so they say.

[2cats2dogs]

Lacy,

You're right about the phenyalinine.  I had attempted to google it before and it came up as aspartame, but I must have spelled it wrong, because I tried again and it came up as a naturally-occurring amino acid in meat and other foods.  I did end up calling Natura and both people I spoke to there were very courteous, acted like the pet food recall was a big deal, and answered my questions in a way that left me feeling confident about their products.  I am off to buy a bag of California Natural for my dogs.  Thanks, everyone, for your suggestions and comments. 

[Annette]

I recieved a response from Canidae today.  Does anyone know if it is legal to post it here or must I paraphrase it?

[Cindy Nevarez]

Ok...you know how the FDA, et.al are saying that everything's OK now? And have been down-playing this thing all along?

Well, what if certain companies are worried about how the after effects of the recalls are going to hurt their bottom line, and not to mention that it might cause some of their employees to jump ship because they don't want to work for companies that possibly kill pets? Hmmmmm?

So the Uppity Ups of those companies start telling their employees; 'See it's not that big of a deal...even the FDA says the food is safe.' Or how about; 'These people are just hysterical...they are seeing things that are not there.' Or worse; 'Now look here, in the paper, only 16 animals died, the FDA says everythng's Ok now...these people have just created a hoax.' Then Mr./Ms. Uppity Up tells Mr./Ms. Employee, 'Don't play into it...just say everything's fine when they call on the phone.'

I'm sure by now a lot of employees are either leaving their jobs or trying to leave their jobs if they have any kind of conscience about what they do for a living. I'm also sure that the employer would be worried that a disgruntled employee will add to the fury and amount to even less revenue.

Ah, yes...one can only imagine what goes on behind closed doors at a multi-million dollar corporation.

[Cindy Nevarez]

That's what we've been doing all along anytime someone gets reponses from companies. Anyway...who are they gonna sue?

[Annette]

Here is the response I received today:

Dear Annette,


Although forums are great places to share ideas and story's, sometimes facts can be misconstrued with "rumors". We found out about the collie breeder in question weeks ago from an e-mail from her friend, and have been following her blogs and phone calls to our retailers. We have been doing everything possible to assist the collie breeder in question with this horrible unfortunate situation. We contacted the collie breeder in question, she didn't contact us.  We have e-mailed her specific questions to assist her find the cause of her pets deaths and received no correspondence backs. We have called her vet numerous times with no calls back. We hate to to defend our actions but thought it necessary as CANIDAE is about doing the right thing, all the time. Unfortunately, no matter what we say people will try to find loop holes in our verbiage. You obviously have viewed the customers who have tested CANIDAE on their own, only to find the results negative. CANIDAE has never tested positive for Melamine, nor has CANIDAE ever used the suspected ingredients. CANIDAE's main concern is to provide the best products possible to your pets.
    Sincerely,
    Team Canidae

[Cindy Nevarez]

Thanks Annette,

BTW, didn't they tell 2cats2dogs on the phone that they HAVEN'T tested for melamine?

[Therese]

Annette,

The letter you posted is fine. If at anytime anybody's unsure about something you want to post feel free to email me privately and I'll be happy to help.

Therese

[ally]

Annette,  I'm glad to see you at least received a response.  I'm still waiting for mine, but I only sent it today.  Because I mentioned what's being discussed on the blogs and forums, I suspect I'll get a similar reply to yours in that regard.  I hope not.  I was trying to illustrate to them that by not being forthcoming, it's my belief they are only hurting themselves.  Worried pet parents are using the well-read sites online to keep themselves as informed as possible.  I wish the pet food companies could see that & take it into consideration.

Maybe I'm being too optimistic.  I honestly don't know anymore.....

[Annette]

I responded to Canidae with the following:

Thank you for your response.  I did not, however, hear of the two dead collies from the Internet.  Rather a friend who knows a friend of the owner telephoned me to tell me.  She has stated that Canidae tested positive for melamine.  I believe people would be much more comfortable if you were to test each batch as I know at least one other manufacturer is now doing and be more specific on your web page.
 
Again, thank you for responding.
 
Sincerely, 
 
Annette M. Carricato, V.M.D.
Kaliber English Setters
hometown.aol.com/kaliberknl/profindex.htm

Their response was:

Annette,
We are actually first in line for the Melamine test kits when they become available, so we can test each batch ourselves, even though we have never used the ingredients that are in question.
Thank you,
Team Canidae

[T. Eric]

They have kits available for Salmonella and E.coli, drugs and pregnancy.  These kits are simply screens.  That's all!  They are not an actual TEST. 
Drug kits have a level they must reach before the screen appears positive.  A watered down sample may show negative when it may not be.  What level of detection will these Melamine screens be set at before they show the substance is there? 
Per FDA - Melamine at low levels should not be a threat to humans or pets.  Will they set the detection kit levels at what the FDA thinks it's low enough to pass?
Why isn't it that they have not had the food tested by a laboratory?  In my opinion: A simple screening test isn't good enough for me to feel comfortable.

Hope all you and your pets stay safe.

[Caylynn]

Phenylalanine is NOT the same as aspartame.

Phenylalanine is an essential alpha-amino acid.  It is one of the many amino acids that make up proteins.  We require this amino acid in our foods - that's why it is called an essential amino acid.  We NEED to eat foods that contain this amino acid.

Phenylalanine is one of the components that they use to make aspartame, but it is not aspartame.

A few individuals suffer from a disease that renders them incapable of processing phenylalanine, so they have to be careful to consume only as much as they require for health. 

Here is some reading you can do on phenylalanine:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenylalanine
http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/aminoacids/pages/phenylalanine.html

[Caylynn]

At this point, I guess I'll keep feeding them Canidae for now, because it's still the only one I can find that guarantees all ingredients are fom the U.S., does not produce food in any shared space with recalled brands, and has an ingredient list I feel good about-- some of the others I was looking at today (all the Natura ones) have phenyalinine (however you spell it) listed as an ingredient, which is basically aspartame. 

Phenylalanine is NOT aspartame.  It is an essential amino acid that humans require for health (I'm not sure about cats and dogs, but it is essential for humans to obtain phenylalanine from their diets.)

Another food you might want to look at is Orijen - all Canadian ingredients, antibiotic-free, hormone-free and not associated with any of the companies involved in the recall (they make their own products.)  They are Canadian, however, and use Canadian ingredients, so if you are looking for US-only products, then it won't be the right one for you.  I, however, have trust in quality Canadian and EU products, where the standards are at least as high, and in some cases higher, than those in the U.S.