Cat deaths linked to Orijen

[Perseus]

Champion PetFoods has put up another press release update on their half-a$$ efforts in making good on this tragedy:

http://www.championpetfoods.com/Australia_Consumer_Release_Mar10.pdf

[Bonkers]

  So now they are saying that they will review cases on an individual basis for those that exceed the $2000.00 limit for medical expenses.  But they only allow 2 claims per household. Hmmm......     Gotta love the disclaimer at the bottom of their statements.

[maxymia]

Yes, but still no change in what they are covering after they have recieved several emails from us affected cat owners. This still means that under their restrictions we will be lucky to be compensated for half of our costs. Very generous of them seeing as our lives have been totally turned upside down due to their negligence. 25% of cats affected are now dead. After many requests to compensate the people who have so sadly lost their cats due to eating Orijen there is still no mention of compensation for these poor people, some are even having to go to counselling to cope.The rest of us just sit, wait & hope there aren't any other affects in the future. Champion constantly state they make all of their decisions with their own pets in mind, I feel sorry for their pets.

Another point is that there is still lots of conflicting statements but we will get to the bottom of who, out of all parties involved, are telling the truth and who isn't and only then will all be revieled.

The only good point is that it was brought to thier attention this week that we in Australia are still waiting for their January 2009 announcement with details of the $10,000 donation to homeless cats of Australia and that if they were not going to release details in this statement we were going to make it public. better late than never. Funny how they make changes/announcements to again look like they are an amazing company to the rest of their market but still refuse to pay all of our costs.

I would like to leave you with a quote from the man himself, Peter Muhlenfeld of Champion Petfoods

“Pet food is a huge business and it's really interesting to see how much people choose to spend on their pets,"
From Edmonton Journal, 24th August 2006

[Bonkers]

TCM, Have you any new developments to report? Any more responses to your letters??

[maxymia]

Thanks for all of the support it really means a lot. It is lovely to have people care about us from the other side of the world. Thank you.

Speaking of support or rather the lack of, I thought I would let you all know that one affected cat owner  had emailed three questions to Champion in relation to the Compassion Fund. This person has now sent this email with three legitimate questions to Champion four times. Each time letting them know that they did not recieve a reply the last time. I have seen these emails and they are not rude at all so I can't see any reason why Champion should be ignoring this person, but for some reason they do. The amount of affected cat owners that have emailed Champion and get ignored is beyond belief. They keep stating how much they extend their deepest empathy for us and blah blah blah. Yet they can go to bed at night knowing they are ignoring the people they should be helping the most. Absolutely disgusting behaviour Champion. Then again there is no money for them in Australia now so why would they care

[Bonkers]

   Your probably right in saying that why should they care when they are no longer in the Australian market. But I do not understand why they would not have the decency to reply to a few emails. I suppose they feel they have made all the statements needed in attempt to save face and that they are trying to put all this in the past.    Do you know if the organization that they pledged money to ever received it?

[The Cats Mother]

TCM, Have you any new developments to report? Any more responses to your letters??

TCM, Have you any new developments to report? Any more responses to your letters??

The letter I received as formal reply to my letter to the Minister alluded to advice being given to pet food importers regarding the issue. They posted an update to their Notice to Industry, the challenging of which formed the basis of my letter to the Minister, the same day that they replied to me. It warns about the effects of irradiated diets on cats - here it is in its entirety:

Notice to Industry 7/2009—Safety of Irradiated Pet (Cat) Foods—Update to Notice 33/2008-09

The Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS) posted a Notice to Industry on 23 December 2008 about the Safety of Imported Pet Foods. This purpose of this notice is to update and advise Industry of additional information related to Notice 33/2008-09:

    * Pet food must comply with Australia’s import conditions before an import permit is issued by AQIS to an importer.

    * Where imported pet food has not undergone moist heat treatment to achieve a minimum core temperature of 100°C for at least 30 minutes or equivalent during the manufacturing process, AQIS offers importers the options of subjecting the pet food to moist heat treatment or irradiation, as a condition of import.

    * Importers are advised by AQIS to consult with the irradiation provider and inform themselves about the possible effects of irradiation treatment on their particular product prior to electing to undertake such treatment.

    * AQIS has become aware of scientific literature (see below) regarding the irradiation of pet (cat) food. This is not an exhaustive list of literature available on the subject.

    * Importers should continue to monitor scientific literature on this issue to consider whether it has any relevance to their imported products and to ensure they remain informed and up-to-date.

    * Ultimately it is the responsibility of the pet food manufacturers and importers to determine if irradiation treatment could be a risk to pet health.


References:

   1. Cassidy JP, Caulfield, Jones BR, Worrall S, Conlon L, Palmer AC, Kelly J. Leukoencephalomyelopathy in Specific Pathogen-free Cats. Vet Pathol 2007; 44:912-916)
   2. Caulfield CD, Cassidy JP, Kelly JP. Effects of gamma irradiation and pasteurization on the nutritive composition of commercially available animal diets J Am Assoc Lab Animal Sci 2008; 47(6) 61-66



I then wrote to AQIS asking if this was the sole means of communicating with pet food importers, as I was concerned that just to bury this notice in an obscure spot on their website would not help new importers as after all, Champion/Renasence had clearly not examined the AQIS website to discover what our regulations were. The manager with whom I do most of my communicating responded immediately to advise that each individual pet food importer was sent a copy of the Notice when it was issued and that all new import licence applicants for import of pet food are also sent one with their application form. This is a positive result to my representation to the Minister, a start at least.

The veterinary neurologist that has been logging all the affected cats, seeing as many as possible and conducting post mortems on the deceased, has finished writing her report and it is now in peer review. When published it will be submitted to AQIS/Biosecurity Australia and she feels that this will create the pressure that is required to have gamma irradiation as an importer's option for quarantine treatment repealed. The latest study from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, links below, will hopefully be the final nail in the coffin. This has also been communicated to AQIS, Biosecurity Australia, the Minister and to the veterinary neurologist.

http://www.naturalnews.com/025971.html

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090330200722.htm

Further work is still needed to address the other requests in my letter to the Minister, regarding a full review of all food irradiation and associated labelling laws. I am working closely with other interested parties to keep this in the forefront of minds in the department of the Minister. I have received letters/emails from government depts regarding studies carried out that prove the safety of the process (ha!). It will be much harder to challenge this unless we suddenly start seeing human beings affected with unequivocal links to irradiated food. Evidently all the published studies and reports to date of the dangers of this process have been to no avail. World Free Trade Agreements and the International Atomic Energy Agency have seen to that. 

[Bonkers]

   I am glad to see that your diligence has finally started to pay off. What a shame that these steps were not taken by AQUIS before this tragedy. Not saying that they are completely to blame, but I do feel that Champion/Renasense were in to much of a hurry to enter your market that they neglected to research adequately on the dangers of irradiation. Keep up the good work! By the way how are your kitties doing?

[The Cats Mother]

Colette is doing really well thanks Bonkers. I'm now confident she will make a complete recovery. Her front legs are really strong and her back legs are coming back. Just waiting for her to regain full feeling in her paws and be able to straighten them out and stand up. She has been able to wash properly since Friday night, face and ears and down her body. She can now twist round to do that with confidence without overbalancing. Also pooping on her own again but it is unpredictable at times when that will happen Still urinating without control but not all the time any more. I'm hopeful full continence will return. She is bright and happy, she even played with the kittens' toybox yesterday, poking in the holes to get mice and little balls out, She is one of the lucky ones. Thanks again for your interest and asking after my girl. 

[Bonkers]

  Well finally some GOOD news for a change! That is wonderful to hear that Colette is expected to make a full recovery. You must be very happy and also sooooo relieved...

[The Cats Mother]

Thank you, yes. You have no idea how much 

[maxymia]

Hi all. I thought I would give you an update of what I know is happening. A few affected cat owners have been making a lot of noise and now, finally we are at the second stage of this. The 'big guns' have been stepping in:

Dr. Child (specialist neurologist taking care of most of the cases) is releasing her report which will make a BIG impact and she has also been in contact with AQIS from day one. Australian Veterinary Association have been gathering info and are lobbying the Government and have also been in contact with DAFF/AQIS on a number of occasions. Australian Companion Animal Council have been crucial in raising this issue with The Minister of DAFF very early on and also on a number of occasions, have also brought it up in several meetings and have been working very hard in regard to AQIS and Food standards Australia/New Zealand for the need of a regulated pet food industry and for pet food to be classed as food. Australian Small Animal Veterinary Association are dealing with this issue and are working hard with the AVA. RSPCA has personally met with The Minister and has directly raised this issue with him and on follow ups to this meeting, they have also written a very involved letter to AQIS and continue to do their part (they have been very active in making changes). Senator the Hon Richard Colbeck (Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to The Minister of Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry) has submitted senate Questions on Notice and Senator The Hon John Cobb (Shadow Minister for Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry) will be doing the same when parliament sits in may. Organic Federation of Australia is publicising this issue on their monthly newsletter which goes out to all members as well as every Government department in Australia. Biological Farmers of Australia have their senior publicist conducting research on this issue and is putting together their own letter to lobby agianst pet food irradiation. Safe Food Queensland will be sending out enquiries into this matter. Food Irradition Watch have an article and a letter people can send to the Government on their website. Food & Water Watch in the US will be informing throughout the US via their website, newsletters etc. Anti Nuclear Alliance of WA, Organic Growers of Australia, Natural Health Society and several vets are also writting to The Minister and there are more that will be joining. Many others have offered support and I am sure there is more going on that I am not aware of.

Now that the bigger organisations are doing their part I am confident we will get somewhere

AQIS have released the following Notice to Industry and although it is a step in the right direction it is still not good enough. I believe in giving credit where credit is due so I guess we have to be thankful that Champion referenced the Cassidy/Caulfield study when investigating what went wrong with their food in Australia (with SASH, ANVC and government departments involved) and that they publicised it on their November 28, 2008 update. However, I still think they needed and still need to do more.

http://www.daff.gov.au/aqis/import/general-info/ian/09/7-2009

Also a veterinary student is working on a media release to send off to vet journal, newspapers and other sources. The media release is in regards to the fact that vets and vet staff in Australia are still unaware of the Orijen situation and the effect it has had on so many cats, and how lack of knowledge among vets leads to no action by the vet community on these sorts of issues.

I hope this helps to give you a clearer picture of what has been going on here in Australia. We are very lucky to have so many organisations that have and still are personally talking to The Minister of DAFF and AQIS to help get the changes that are so urgently needed. Without these big voices often calls fall on deaf ears.

[Bonkers]

   This is great news that so many have joined in your efforts to stop the irradiation of pet foods. If successful, I wonder if this may eventually lead to further examinations on the irradiation of all foods that enter your country.

[maxymia]

It is great news that so many others have been getting involved. I do believe that if it wasn't for the personnel meetings that quite a few of these organisations have had with The Minister earlier on, that we would not have the small result that we have had.

RSPCA have recently sent a letter to AQIS so I am hopeful that this will help as well.

I am starting to get confident that we will get there and remain hopeful that this will not only open up further examinations on the irradiation of foods in our country but worldwide.

Thank you for your support

[Bonkers]

  I hope you will continue to keep us posted on your progress. Your determination and commitment to this issue will hopefully bring about many changes concerning irradiation.