Cat deaths linked to Orijen

[Bonkers]

   This is truly hearbreaking. For these cats to continue to suffer from the effects caused by Champions negligence is truly unforgiveable.

   I would be willing to bet that no one has received any monies over the $2,000.00 limit that they had imposed.    

This is just a thought, but if there was a lawsuit involved, would they not be subpoened and have to disclose the test results?

[raggiesrule]

I have just heard that we have lost another Orijen cat, rest in pease little Ginger you will always be in your families hearts. And please send some healing thoughts to her family they have now lost both their cats to the affects of Orijen with Smokey passing in March. 

Jo
(I do not know where this will end but the losses seem to be never ending)

[Bonkers]

  And to think that all of this could have been avoided. 

  I know that this may not offer much solace to those who have lost their furry friends, but hopefully they will find some comfort in knowing that they did not perish in vain.

  For it is by their sacrifices, that they have caused changes to occur so that others may NEVER suffer the same fate.

  Continued prayers being sent out to all of Orijen's victims.

 

[The Cats Mother]

For those of you following the Champion involvement in this issue, particularly in relation to the Compassion Fund, this is just to let you know that some updated information was received today in relation to the Fund in response to some specific questions emailed to Champion.

The application close date for the fund has been extended so that any  new cases diagnosed can be included in the reimbursement programme. The new close date was not announced.

The case by case consideration of existing claims that exceed the $2000 cap on the fund are about to start being considered. The time frame for that was not announced.

Regarding continued financial support for those owners whose cats have not yet fully rehabilitated and require ongoing care, the response was that the Fund allows for more than one claim to be made and the majority of owners are below the $2000 cap in their first claim so the programme, in that way, allows for further support. What will happen regarding owners whose initial claim exceeded the $2000 cap and who also have ongoing expenses in caring for their cats was not announced.

Regarding the results of the research Champion were doing into irradiation effects on cat foods, they have said that the primary and secondary research they carried out "played a key role" in Australia banning the irradiation of cat foods. Now that Australia has banned this process, Champion are no longer conducting research into this matter since their research was centred on proving that irradiation of cat foods was not safe. The terms "primary and secondary research" were not described and details of the results were not announced.

This is quoted pretty much verbatim from personal correspondence received. Clarification of some of the response is being sought. For the sake of public scrutiny and interest any clarification obtained will be shared.

As an affected owner seeking compensation over and above the cap on the fund as well as for ongoing expenditure I am refraining from posting personal opinion and removing all emotion from the equation per independent advice received. As well, I am not about to perhaps jeopardise others' positions while we still apparently have Champion's goodwill.

[raggiesrule]

I will be very interested to see what eventuates from this and would like to thank Cats Mother for chasing up Champion and getting a response. I would also like to thank all the people on this list who are supporting us your amazing support IMO has made all the difference.

Jo

[The Cats Mother]

Thanks Jo and I echo your sentiments about all our supporters on here. It's good to know we have support from far and wide for our efforts to seek justice. I won't let up on this and I won't let anyone get away with anything, least of all Biosecurity Australia and I think the PFIAA have a lot to answer for too. They didn't believe it was irradiation and they talked one supporter out of giving us exposure via his website. Well don't they look stupid now. Hopefully the Ministerial Council meeting again in November will force regulation of this corrupted industry and put them all in their place. It's rotten to the core.

[raggiesrule]

Have been thinking about Orijen's response a lot. Whilst it is nice to hear they are considering ongoing costs & accounts over $2000 and so very pleased for those whose cats are being diagnosed still that they have access to the fund I still have to ask why they haven't released test results from the food sampling as they said they would. I question this even more when they talk about their primary and secondary research playing a key part in Australia banning irradiation of cat food. I would ask what research and if they are prepared to release it to the Australian govt why have they not released it to our vets? It has to be remembered we still have ill, paralysed and dying cats and this is not what would be expected based on either the Irish research or Ian Duncan's research. Again I ask Champion to release information to our vets.

Jo

[Bonkers]

  Yes, Champion should definitely do the right thing and release any reports concerning the Orijen. To try to hide whatever may have been found only raises more questions and does nothing to enhance the view of them being a reputable company.

[The Cats Mother]

Well this will enhance their reputation even less:

For those of you who don't visit the Itchmo forum here is a link to a thread that has been posted on there by someone who has done some digging

http://itchmoforums.com/news-recall-related/in-the-public-interest-orijen-irradiation-t8862.0.html



The OP has invited cross-posting so here it is.

No surprises there really. Just makes me even more determined to see justice done one way or another.

I wrote a long letter to Champion having had no responses to email questions and another phone call about the "key role" they thought they had played in getting cat food irradiation banned and about what was happening for owners whose claims were over $2000. This info was brought to my attention from someone on Itchmo in time for me to incorporate it into my letter, which was mailed on Thursday.

Regarding the "key role" I had a response from AQIS as follows:

As per our discussion last week I can now confirm that neither AQIS nor Biosecurity Australia received any information/correspondence directly on this matter from Champion, the manufacturer of Orijen pet food products.


The phraseology made me wonder if they had had anything indirectly so I duly asked that question and here was the reply:

Hi

 

By directly I mean via any direct correspondence with Champion. When the issue gained traction at the beginning of the year we did become aware of information on the Champion website that related, but from what I understand this did not form part of BA’s decision to recommend removal of irradiation as a quarantine treatment option.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Cheers

 

D


So, no key role there. And for good measure I included copies of correspondence to me from Minister Burke and opposition Senator Colbeck who was supportive in asking questions of the Minister and AQIS in the Senate, which confirmed who did provide information and how that information was used in the decision to cease cat food irradiation, and told them about Dr Georgina Child's research paper about to be published and her visit to Canberra to meet with members of the Minister's Dept and others which really was the turning point to getting the ban.

[raggiesrule]

Thanks for posting this information TCM. Becomes more and more obvious that what Champion say and what they actually do has little in common. The documents released and what they show, the way they initially addressed veterinary concerns about Orijen and what it was doing to our pets, the way Australian vicitms have been treated, the spin Orijen put on things for example their knowledge of the irradiation & their input into the Australian govts decision when they have not bothered contacting the govt at all in this regard, their failure to release information despite their promisesto do so, their failure to keep vicitms informed of what is happening and many other things all make me very concerned for other owners and their pets who are drawn into thinking that this company's food is a safe option. Surely whether something is safe or not has a lot to do with the integrity of the company making the food. IMO given what we have been through and are still going through this would have to viewed skeptically in the case of Champion.

Thank you to those who have done all the hard work and got this information released.

Jo

[The Cats Mother]

For those of you unable to access the Itchmo forum  

I am copy/pasting Public Informer's post. They said cross-posting was fine so I'll take them at their word...


QUOTE: (PUBLIC INFORMER)

Hullo
I have been following this issue closely for several months

Perhaps you remember this see Page 3
http://www.championpetfoods.com/Australia_Consumer_Release_Mar10.pdf

And this post:
Post # 225 on the link below
http://itchmoforums.com/news-recall-related/problems-with-orijen-in-australia-t6985.225.html

and this one:
post # 479 Point 1 on the link below
http://itchmoforums.com/news-recall-related/problems-with-orijen-in-australia-t6985.465.html


Now you might like to read these documents to compare:
http://www.filefactory.com/file/ahh0aa0/n/2_Orijen_irradiation_Docs_released_under_FOI_pdf

And these supplementary documents:
http://www.filefactory.com/file/ahhh99a/n/3_Formal_review_responses_to_questions_pdf

And if you are interested in the procedures and many communications involved over several months to obtain this information:
http://www.filefactory.com/file/ahhh99c/n/1_FOI_Application_procedural_docs_pdf


How to use filefactory:
You will need to have pop-up blocker disabled (or disable it when prompted)
Either click on link or paste the link into your browser bar
Scroll down a quarter page to the two buttons Free Download and Premium Download
Click on Free Download button on the left
Message appears “your download link will appear in 30 seconds”
After the 30 second countdown -
Click on message “Click here to begin your download”






Hope all the links still work

These documents have now been placed in the public domain, in the public interest.
Cross link, cross post, cross-question the responsible parties, use as you will, they belong to all of you.
UNQUOTE

[The Cats Mother]

Yep looks like the links are working here is Clark Stride's Post 225 since some of you you can't access it
QUOTE (CLARK STRIDE CHAMPION PETFOODS) POST #225 DATED 3O NOV 2008
Hello Cato:

Champion did not know our food would be irradiated when it arrived in Australia, we found out after it was done.
We had no control of the levels of irradiation applied to our product.
When we did find out we made the assumption that the company(s) hired by the Australian government would know the affects (if any) of the irradiation process on the products that it was being applied too. We were not consulted prior too or told the level of irradiation that had been applied.
UNQUOTE

also:
QUOTE CLARK STRIDE CHAMPION PETFOODS POST #479 DATED 22 DECEMBER 2008
Hello Raggierule:

Our hearts go out to everyone who has been affected by this most unfortunate occurrence in Australia. At Champion we are pet owners and lovers also. I can only imagine how difficult it is for multiple pet owners like yourself to have to watch all but one go through this affliction. Our hearts go out to you and your loved ones wishing them a full and speedy recovery.

Hopefully I can answer all of your questions to your satisfaction.

1.   Champion was not aware our food had been irradiated until after it was on the market. The importer of ORIJEN looked after all of the Australian registration, documentation and regulations. It was not until they complained to us about the high cost of importation that we became aware of the process. Champion no longer exports to any country which requires irradiation. We  have also changed our policy regarding export procedures, Champion now requires our importers to inform us every step and regulation for importation. If we could have a decision back, it would be to allow our products to be irradiated. We didn’t know this would happen and after we found out, we assumed the process was safe, we are not the experts in irradiation. We had no idea of the actual levels of irradiation.

2.   As I stated above we were not aware until after the product was already on retail shelves.

3.   It is our understanding that all food as been removed from all retail shelves and is also no longer available on-line. If this is not correct please let us know where it is still available and I will personally contact the store.

4.   In the study at MSU done on our foods, there were a few compounds discovered. The summary from the veterinary toxicologist at MSU was that they did not find any chemical compounds that are known to cause neurotoxicity. That said, the compounds appear to be preservative in nature. The relevance of these compounds is not known, other than they are not known to cause neurotoxicity. The preservative compounds found were BHA and BHT (a common food antioxidant). The MSU test does not quantify the amount of these compounds present, so we have done further tests to determine the quantity of BHA and BHT in the food. We have determined there are some trace amounts of each of these two compounds in the food. Champion Petfoods does not add BHA and BHT to the food, but we have traced the presence of these antioxidants to one of our ingredients. We are addressing the presence of this antioxidant in our ingredient and ensuring that our ingredient channels are free of synthetic antioxidant. Although BHA and BHT are approved for use in pet food, we do not use them as antioxidants in our foods. The levels found in the food from Australia were minimal and are far less than the approved maximum level for pet food. We are continuing to investigate the compounds found in the food and serum samples sent to MSU; however, both the Veterinary Toxicologist at MSU and our consulting Veterinary Toxicologist have not identified any of these compounds as having a known toxicity.
UNQUOTE


Trust this helps
The Cats Mother

[Bonkers]

To put it simply, THEY LIED. And if they lied about this what else are they not being truthful about?

Let us also remember that bones were once found in their food as was the toxic preservative BHT. AND they have yet to disclose the full results of the tests that were done on the irradiated food.

I hope they have now realized that most pet owners are not as nieve as some in the PFI would like to believe.

[The Cats Mother]

And if they lied about this what else are they not being truthful about?

The fact that their all-Alberta/Canadian-fresh-food pet food contains dead diseased and disabled animals from an all American rendering plant, Griffin Industries

[Bonkers]

CM, Can you supply more info as to exactly what products from Griffin Ind. are used by Champion? I see from their website that they manufacture rendered fats along with animal by-products.  

http://www.griffinind.com/SByproducts.php