anyone concerned about our small pets? anyone? [insert sound of crickets]

[architeuthis666]

All I hear about are cats and dogs. Seems like no one is in the least bit concerned if food contamination has affected our beloved guinea pigs, rabbits, ferrets, rats, hamsters, lizards, frogs, turtles, tortoises, etc. (except that one guy who posted about fish food). (EDIT: thank goodness for this web site, it's the only one I've found that even carries the statements from small pet food makers, keep up the good work).

For all of us whose small pets suddenly got sick and died without warning right around the time of the recall, we'll never know. We'll never get any closure at all. And there's no one on the 'net or in the government who even seems to care, never mind doing anything about it.

I hope all you cat fanciers and dog lovers can appreciate how much we loved our sweet little guinea pig who purred when you stroked his sides. Watching him die miserably from sudden, spontaneous kidney failure at only 18 months old was heartbreaking.

[Therese]

architeuthis666, I'm really sorry to hear about your guinea pig. It doesn't matter what kind of pet one has...they're all special family members...and it hurts to lose them.

Can you tell me what kind of food your guinea pig was eating?

Therese

[Mary K]

My smaller "pets" are wild birds that I feed various seed to. I try not to get it at Walmart, now, and make sure that it is made in US. You just don't know with wild birds. They may go off and die, and be replaced by others that look the same. Many brands of bird seed are "pumped up" with protein and other vitamins. I asked myself why they do this; obviously to make up for the deficit caused by eating the processed seed! Nature would do a better job. Dilemma, as we birders love to watch them eat, and they certainly seem to prefer feeders to foraging. Guess I made mine lazy. There is something put on by Cornell Lab of Ornithology called Operation Feeder Watch, and this could show a decline in backyard bird numbers in the coming years. I hope not!

[reddancer]

I'm sorry abaout your guinea pig. My 3 year old guinea pig also died last month.... I will never know why. I am wondering if it was his food. He got sick in March and lost a lot of weight, then he seemed to bounce back and then went downhill and died while I was out of town. I'm thinking it probably wasn't the food, but you never know. I was feeding him Hartz brand guinea pig food.

[Geff]

All I hear about are cats and dogs. Seems like no one is in the least bit concerned if food contamination has affected our beloved guinea pigs, rabbits, ferrets, rats, hamsters, lizards, frogs, turtles, tortoises, etc. (except that one guy who posted about fish food). (EDIT: thank goodness for this web site, it's the only one I've found that even carries the statements from small pet food makers, keep up the good work).

For all of us whose small pets suddenly got sick and died without warning right around the time of the recall, we'll never know. We'll never get any closure at all. And there's no one on the 'net or in the government who even seems to care, never mind doing anything about it.

I hope all you cat fanciers and dog lovers can appreciate how much we loved our sweet little guinea pig who purred when you stroked his sides. Watching him die miserably from sudden, spontaneous kidney failure at only 18 months old was heartbreaking.

I'm sorry about your beloved Guinea Pig. We had one when I was little, & she was pretty special. I don't think most of us here only care about cats & dogs, it's just that my only 4 legged family member is a feline, so that's what I write about.

I have a friend who's very much into small parrotts. Interestingly, she finally posted a couple times on her bird lists regarding food safety & told me she found very little interest.  Because the FDA is playing "cover thy corporate rear" we will probably never really know who & how many were killed from this nightmare.
Take the highest number we can find & multiply it by.............?