Pet Food Crusade - Menu Foods recall, pet food recall, recall of canned food

So far, the toxin melamine seems to be present in wheat gluten, rice protein concentrate, and corn gluten originating from China. The corn gluten seems limited to South Africa at this point. No confirmations of tainted corn gluten in the US or Canada.

Pet Owners Wanted : International Documentary Film about Pet Food

Dear All :
We are currently producing a one-hour international documentary about pet food, to be broadcast in 2008.
We're now seeeking cat and dog owners with pets affected by the Menu recall - we're looking for passionate people to share this difficult and frustrating experience on-camera.
Our criteria for pet owners are as follows :
1. Pet owners need to be members of a class-action lawsuit stemming from the Menu Foods recall.
2. If a pet became ill, we'd like to find an owner whose pet is still undergoing treatment for this illness.
3. If a pet has died after eating the contaminated food, we'd very much like to speak to someone who's on the search for a new pet.
4. We're looking for people and pets from urban and rural areas, including working dogs.

PLEASE CONTACT:
Senior Researcher
Pet Food Documentary
petfood@rogers.com

Cat Owner Files Legal Action Against FDA in Pet Food Deaths 8/16/07

Quote: "A grieving cat owner has filed action in federal court to force the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to “perform its duty” and investigate other toxins -- besides melamine -- as the culprit in this year’s massive pet food recall."

More here

Flame retardant - possible link to hyperthyroidism

American Chemist Society - study results and link to abstract; flame retardants found in household dust and commercial pet food may explain prior studies linking certain canned cat food flavors, sleeping on floor, litter use, etc. to feline hyperthyroidism

Other articles on the study:

Science Daily

The Star - 8/16/07

Yahoo - 8/16/07

Forbes - 8/15/07

ASPCA press release 5/3/07

Excerpt:

In a study that was done several years ago on dogs and rats, the presence of melamine in their systems was found to only lead to the development of crystals in urine, but there were no further adverse effects—and nothing that showed a direct link between the chemical mechanism of melamine and the renal failure recently seen in the affected animals.
“Now that we see that crystals are formed when melamine and cyanuric acid are combined in cat urine, it may be that the cause of renal failure is somehow related to the obstruction caused by these crystals,” continued Dr. Hansen.
This also explains why animals whose symptoms were detected early enough, and who were rushed to their veterinarians and put on aggressive fluid therapy—as the ASPCA has been recommending—survived; since this treatment may help to prevent additional crystals from forming, and aid in flushing out the existing crystals from the animals’ urinary tracts, thus relieving the obstruction and reversing the effects of renal failure

Full press release: http://www.aspca.org/site/PageServer?pagename=press_050307_2

Note the part in red above. ONLY lead to development of crystals? Anyone who has had any experience with urinary crystals knows that the urinary tract can become blocked from crystals and this is incredibly LIFE-THREATENING!

Tainted feed fed to swine/hogs

Alarmingly, tainted rice protein concentrate, and possibly tainted pet food, were fed to swine/hogs, so it's possible it's now present in pork products - in the human or pet food supply. When a pet food ingredient is "meat" or "meat byproducts" it is most commonly beef or pork.

The FDA feels the risk to humans is small. Read more here. (What about pets?)

Tainted feed fed to poultry

Tainted grain proteins were also fed to poultry - including chickens in Indiana already processed and in the food supply. Again, the FDA feels the risk to humans may be small, and they are not recalling the meat. (Again, what about pets?)

FDA News

Melamine spiking widespread practice for years

Courtesy of Itchmo

Highlights below from the IHT article:

Here at the Shandong Mingshui Great Chemical Group factory, huge boiler vats are turning coal into melamine, which is used to create plastics and fertilizer.

But the leftover melamine scrap, small acorn-sized chunks of white rock, is then being sold to local entrepreneurs, who say they secretly mix a powdered form of the scrap into animal feed to artificially enhance the protein level.

"It just saves money," says a manager at an animal feed factory here. "Melamine scrap is added to animal feed to boost the protein level."

The practice is widespread in China. For years animal feed sellers have been able to cheat buyers by blending the powder into feed with little regulatory supervision, according to interviews with melamine scrap traders and agricultural workers here.

http://www.itchmo.com/read/melamine-spiking-in-food-widespread-for-years_20070429

Number of dogs and cats affected

Petconnection.com (as of 4/30/07)
- 4,583 pets (2,334 cats and 2,249 dogs) reported deceased
- Total reports of all owner-suspected cases of food-related illness: 14,228.
- These are self-reported numbers, and should be in no way be considered confirmed or "official."
Food and Drug Administration (as of 5/1/07)
- More than 17,000 reports
- 4,150 dead (1,950 cats and 2,200 dogs)
Michigan state survey (as of 4/3/07)
- 135 suspected sick (100 cats, 35 dogs)
Oregon VMA (as of 4/16/07)
- 117 suspect cases (43 dogs and 74 cats)
- Of the suspect cases, at least 45 pets have died (20 dogs, 25 cats)
Banfield network of veterinary hospitals
- 200 to 250 cases of renal failure in cats above expected (30% increase)
- 6 confirmed dead
Veterinary Information Network (as of 4/16/07)
- approximately 1100 cats and 600 dogs suspected
Vetcetera analysis
MSU survey (as of 11/29/07)
- more than 300 pets may have died from contaminated pet food; culprit may be lethal combination of contaminants

Sites for more information

Feel free to contact me at Pet Food Crusade!