A possible reason why the official reported pet death numbers

[kestrel91316]

are so low????

Yesterday a client reminded me of a case 18 months ago that was EXACTLY like these current cases, and so I wanted to report it to the FDA. When I have tried to call the area Complaints Coordinator over the past 2 days, the phone message says to leave a contact number in voicemail, but THE VOICEMAIL BOX IS ALWAYS FULL.

They appear to have inadequate staff to field all the calls, or aren't checking their voicemail, so OF COURSE they don't know the real numbers. How many vets with REAL CASES of this give up trying to contact the FDA because they are busy practitioners with work to do?

I still haven't reached FDA. I was able to fax a report to LA COunty, at least.

[napi21]

1. That's awful, and should never happen, but there's also another

reason the death numbers are low. In my case, my cat is 19 years old. Sure he seems happy & healthy, but if he died tomorrow, it would never have occurred to me that it was caused by anything but old age.

I would think alot ofanimals fall into a catagory like that. Renal failure is difficult for the average person to diagnose, and I suspect many would believe the pet had died from natural causes.

[Henryman]

10. I'm surprised the outbreak was noticed.

I'm curious to see how the FDA linked 10 pet deaths to the food. It seems to ba a small number to base a recall on. I wonder if there is more to the story?

[kimmerspixelated]

2. I don't trust the FDA anymore.

Ever since they got too cozy with Big Pharmas, all they care about is the money. If something is not approved by the FDA, I assume it will probably be better for me or the pets. How screwed up is that?

[TZ]

6. Blame USDA for this

Its these guys responsibility to inspect factories the process food. There aren't nearly enough inspectors for human food let alone pet food. Thats why we will keep seeing this kind of crap for both human and pet products. FDA's responsibility is to keep track of the contamination. Its not what FDA and USDA (and EPA too) are DOING thats the problem. Its what they are NOT doing. No enforcement of regs

[kestrel91316]

13. Wrong. FDA is in charge of inspecting pet food manufacturing.

I called USDA at the start of this and they said they had nothing to do with it.

[TZ]

15. I thought that USDA..

did all the animal work. I swear I read an article quoting a USDA guy complaining that they were way understaffed. Hmm. Maybe the article was wrong. Of course I bet FDA and USDA will point fingers at each other to blame. Isn't that the way things work these days?

[kestrel91316]

16. USDA inspects meat for human consumption.

When I called USDA they indicated they had nothing to do with animal feeds.

Here you go:
http://www.fda.gov/cvm/aboutcvm.html

But here's the rub. FDA REGULATES. There is no ongoing inspection like there is for human foods. They apparently only get involved when a problem turns up. And then pass more regulations.

Not the way I'd do it if I were in charge, but that's just me.

[TZ]

17. Thanks for the info

Passing regs only helps if you actually enforce the damn things and it doesn't seem like that happens. But maybe enough "bad press" will help. I think certain pet food companies are going to be filing bankrupcy very very soon.

[shireen]

3. how the hell is this pet food made?!

It sounds really weird that so many companies are purchasing from one source.

This is really sickening. I don't have pets right now (except fish) but if i do get a dog someday (allergic to kitties, unfortunately), they're eating home-cooked, organic, or pet food from Whole Foods. I don't trust brand-name canned foods anymore!

[SoCalDem]

11. You should think about how OUR food is made /processed too.

Think of all the once-independent companies that are now just a part of another giant conglomerate.

Their products are probably made the same way.

all those "ingredients" in your food that you cannot pronounce come from somewhere...probably all come form a few (or less) suppliers..

this scare might be the canary in the coal mine that starts to wake people up..

take Kraft for instance.. It's not just mac & cheese anymore:

Most of these "kraft family brands" used to be independent companies , sourcing their ingredients from many places.

http://www.kraft.com/brands/namerica/us.html

[Pugee]

4. I thought that they were only referring to the "test" animals that died

Petconnection is informally trying to get some idea of the number just to show that it is a big problem. They were advocating reporting to the FDA, but the FDA is not making it easy. They do link to the FDA site, although their main concern is the recall and source of the poison. Too many people don't trust the government to worry about it anyway. More info on who to report to here:

http://www.petconnection.com/blog/category/2007-food-recall/

[Nikki Stone1]

5. THis is the underfunded, crony-filled FDA

:kick:

[TZ]

7. along with USDA and EPA as well.

I think all us pet owners should send our cans of recalled food to the White House and have it fed to their pets and see how they like it!!!:mad: :mad: :mad:

[Nikki Stone1]

12. You may be getting a visit from Agent Mike.

Make sure to have a beer for him. I hear he drinks Bud.

[1monster]

8. We had to put down our sheltie about a year and a half ago when

she suddenly developed kidney failure. Up until a month or so before she died, she had always been very healthy.

One of the first things my husband asked when I told him about the pet food problems was, "Do you think that's what happened to Sweetums?"...

[kestrel91316]

14. I lost a feline pationt a year ago to ARF, and never suspected food.

It turns out (I know because the owner called me yesterday about it) that he was feeding the cat a lot of Authority chicken slices in gravy.

Was the contaminated gluten in use then, with less of the aminopterin, so it took more to do the job?????

[whistle]

9. It is not a statistic if it is not recorded