Recalled pet food

I have a small 10 year old (9lb) long hair chihuahua. Since day one I’ve been feeding her Dr Hill’s Science Diet canned dog food.
Late last year they issued a recall on said food, so naturally I checked the lot numbers ,etc. All seemed good. Last month they expanded the recall and again I checked but all seemed good.
Well this past week my dog started getting sick with the shits and vomiting.
I have since taken her off that brand and started making her dinners with natural ingredients ( there’s 100’s of recipes online).
She seems to have recovered well so I believe it was the last can I used.
I wrote numerous emails including one to the local news which runs a segment called Consumer Alerts.
They were interested enough that they want my dog and I on their show next week.
So any dog owners out there who feed their dog any Dr Hill’s products should check the recall list.
There are numerous websites out there with stories from people whose dogs have gotten sick or died from this and people are spending thousands of dollars on vet bills.

I am on the email list for recalls from dog food advisor......

https://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-recalls/

I suggest this for anyone who has a dog. Just to make sure. Keeps me informed of all recalls.

IMO, Hills is not a great food. I believe the primary ingredient is animal bi-products.

I use Orijen. I used to used California Natural for my last dog but they sold out to P and G and lost me.




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The raw food diet is ideally the way to go, but I think its too expensive for the average person. If I ever get another dog, I'll probably go with 50/50 Blue Buffalo and raw animal products. Unfortunately, most dog food is filled with grains which they aren't even supposed to eat!

Dogs, and people, do best when they eat the diet they evolved to eat. For dogs a good diet would be raw fatty mince with different organ meats added. I was talking to a guy on the track with his Red Heeler who's been on a steady diet of dried food her whole life. She was only 7 years old and looked at least 15. My dog's about 12 and eats an organic pet mince ( fatty mince and offal) and still carries on like a puppy.
Feeding grains to your dogs is like slow poison, which is most pet foods.

Response from Hill's.


We are saddened to hear about your pet. Would you be kind enough to contact us at your convenience? We would like to gather more information from you in regards to your situation.

Please refer to the reference number below when calling us so we can appropriately respond to your inquiry.

Please call us toll free at 1-800-445-5777. Our office hours are 8 AM to 5 PM CST, Monday through Friday.

We look forward to hearing from you.


Sincerely,

Consumer Affairs
Hill's Pet Nutrition, Inc.

raw meaty bones!!! liver, all kine raw stuff, i blend in veggies like cooked pumpkin into some grease or blood and my dog loves it. my dog eats healthier than i do most the time, she doesnt have the urges for sweets and carbs.

watch out for cheap overhormoned animal parts though.

You'll get a coupon. LOL

It's sad but I'm not sure who's being poisoned faster by what they eat... the dogs or us. If Hippocrates was right and we are what we eat.... I weep for the future of mankind.

Raw feed is nice but commercial raw food has an incredibly high rate of recall. And, home made raw fed is definitely a task.

The first ingredient in your dog's food should be the protein source. AND REMEMBER... if it says, 'chicken' as the first ingredient, THAT IS BEFORE IT IS DEHYDRATED AND THE WATER REMOVED. The water is what weighs so much. So, if it says, 'chicken' as the first ingredient, you need to move that down to about 4th or 5th and see what the next ingredient is.

If the first ingredient is Chicken MEAL, that means it's the chicken AFTER it has been dehydrated.

Most cheap foods list 'chicken' as the first ingredient with some horrible filler as the second. That means the primary ingredient in your dog's food is the horrible filler.

I use chicken as an example but if it's salmon, it must be salmon MEAL, not just salmon. Same with beef, venison or whatever.

I can't stress enough how to read you dog's food label properly.

To each his own and to each dog, differently according to the dog but please please please take note of what you feed your dog.

Hope you get some satisfaction from Hill's.








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agreed with above,

i think making your own or just feeding the dog part of what you eat is the best, and i enjoy it!

most things worth doing are a task

if i have freezer space i can make veggie and liver slop, blend and freeze in quart ziplocks only filled an inch thick sideways so it can be broken up...

then feed that 3 times a week, about 20 percent of her daily intake so she doesnt have diarhhea.

and meaty bones and things like beef heart. i get big island beef heart for 2.60 a lb, liver for about 1.50, and bones for a dollar a lb. with good meat on em, ive made plenty stew.....

straight from the slaughterhouse. on the mainland i would try all the small organic local animal raisers asking for cheap spare parts....

Food Pets Die For: Shocking Facts About Pet Food

Food Pets Die For: Shocking Facts About Pet Food

Ann Martin was the first to expose the fact that euthanized cats and dogs are common ingredients in many commercial pet foods. For the updated and revised second edition of her grassroots bestseller, Ann expanded her research to find that commercial pet foods can also contain diseased cattle, contaminated meat, moldy grain, roadkill, and rancid fats from restaurants. Also new is a chapter on how cats and dogs are often used (and frequently abused) to test the nutritional claims of pet food ingredients.
An excerpt from Ann Martin's Food Pets Die For: Shocking Facts About Pet Food

Television commercials and magazine advertisements for pet food would have us believe that the meats, grains, and fats used in these foods could grace our dining tables. Chicken, beef, lamb, whole grains, and quality fats are supposedly the composition of dog and cat food.
In my opinion, when we purchase these bags and cans of commercial food, we are in most cases purchasing garbage. Unequivocally, I cannot state that all pet food falls into this category, but I have yet to find one that I could, in all good conscience, feed my dog or cats.

Pet food labels can be deceiving. They only provide half the story. The other half of the story is hidden behind obscure ingredients listed on the labels. Bit by bit, over seven years, I have been able to unearth information about what is contained in most commercial pet food. At first I was shocked, but my shock turned to anger when I realized how little the consumer is told about the actual contents of the pet food.

As discussed in Chapter Two, companion animals from clinics, pounds, and shelters can and are being rendered and used as sources of protein in pet food. Dead-stock removal operations play a major role in the pet food industry. Dead animals, road kill that cannot be buried at roadside, and in some cases, zoo animals, are picked up by these dead stock operations. When an animal dies in the field or is killed due to illness or disability, the dead stock operators pick them up and truck them to the receiving plant. There the dead animal is salvaged for meat or, depending on the state of decomposition, delivered to a rendering plant. At the receiving plants, the animals of value are skinned and viscera removed. Hides of cattle and calves are sold for tanning. The usable meat is removed from the carcass, and covered in charcoal to prevent it from being used for human consumption. Then the meat is frozen, and sold as animal food, which includes pet food.

The packages of this frozen meat must be clearly marked as "unfit for human consumption." The rest of the carcass and poorer quality products, including viscera, fat, et cetera, are sent to the rendering facilities. Rendering plants are melting pots for all types of refuse. Restaurant grease and garbage, meats and baked goods long past the expiration dates from supermarkets (Styrofoam trays and shrink-wrap included), the entrails from dead-stock removal operations, and the condemned and contaminated material from slaughterhouses — all of these are rendered.

The slaughterhouses where cattle, pigs, goats, calves, sheep, poultry, and rabbits meet their fate provide more fuel for rendering. After slaughter, heads, feet, skin, toenails, hair, feathers, carpal and tarsal joints, and mammary glands are removed. This material is sent to rendering. Animals who have died on their way to slaughter are rendered. Cancerous tissue or tumors and worm-infested organs are rendered. Injection sites, blood clots, bone splinters, or extraneous matter are rendered. Contaminated blood is rendered. Stomach and bowels are rendered. Contaminated material containing or having been treated with a substance not permitted by, or in any amount in excess of limits prescribed under the Food and Drug Act or the Environmental Protection Act. In other words, if a carcass contains high levels of drugs or pesticides, this material is rendered.

Before rendering, this material from the slaughterhouse is "denatured," which means that the material from the slaughterhouse is covered with a particular substance to prevent it from getting back into the human food chain. In the United States the substances used for denaturing include: crude carbolic acid, fuel oil, or citronella. In Canada the denaturing agent is Birkolene B. When I asked, the Ministry of Agriculture would not divulge the composition of Birkolene B, stating its ingredients are a trade secret.

At the rendering plant, slaughterhouse material, restaurant and supermarket refuse, dead stock, road kill, and euthanized companion animals are dumped into huge containers. A machine slowly grinds the entire mess. After it is chipped or shredded, it is cooked at temperatures of between 220 degrees F. and 270 degrees F. (104.4 to 132.2 degrees C.) for twenty minutes to one hour. The grease or tallow rises to the top, where it is removed from the mixture. This is the source of animal fat in most pet foods. The remaining material, the raw, is then put into a press where the moisture is squeezed out. We now have meat and bone meal.

The Sources of Protein We Feed Our Pets

The Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO), in its "Ingredient Definitions," describes meat meal as the rendered product from mammal tissue exclusive of blood, hair, hoof, hide, trimmings, manure, stomach, and rumen (the first stomach or the cud of a cud chewing animal) contents except in such amounts as may occur unavoidably in good processing practices. In an article written by David C. Cooke, "Animal Disposal: Fact and Fiction," Cooke noted, "Can you imagine trying to remove the hair and stomach contents from 600,000 tons of dog and cats prior to cooking them?" It would seem that either the Association of American Feed Control Officials' definition of meat meal or meat and bone meal should be redefined or it needs to include a better description of "good factory practices."

When 4-D animals are picked up and sent to these rendering facilities, you can be assured that the stomach contents are not removed. The blood is not drained nor are the horns and hooves removed. The only portion of the animal that might be removed is the hide and any meat that may be salvageable and not too diseased to be sold as raw pet food or livestock feed. The Minister of Agriculture in Quebec made it clear that companion animals are rendered completely.

Pet Food Industry magazine states that a pet food manufacturer might reject rendered material for various reasons, including the presence of foreign material (metals, hair, plastic, rubber, glass), off odor, excessive feathers, hair or hog bristles, bone chunks, mold, chemical analysis out of specification, added blood, leather, or calcium carbonate, heavy metals, pesticide contamination, improper grind or bulk density, and insect infestation.

Note that this article states that the manufacturer might reject this material, not that it does reject this material.

If the label on the pet food you purchase states that the product contains meat meal, or meat and bone meal, it is possible that it is comprised of all the materials listed above.

Meat, as defined by the Association of American Feed Control Officials, is the clean flesh derived from slaughtered mammals and is limited to that part of the striate muscle that is skeletal or that which is found in the tongue, diaphragm, heart, or esophagus; with or without the accompanying and overlying fat and the portions of the skin, sinew, nerve, and blood vessels that normally accompany the flesh. When you read on a pet food label that the product contains "real meat," you are getting blood vessels, sinew and so on – hardly the tasty meat that the industry would have us believe it is putting in the food.

Meat by-products are the non-rendered, clean parts other than meat derived from slaughtered mammals. This includes, but is not limited to, lungs, spleen, kidneys, brain, livers, blood, bone, partially defatted low temperature fatty tissue, and stomachs and intestines freed of their contents. Again, be assured that if it could be used for human consumption, such as kidneys and livers, it would not be going into pet food. If a liver is found to be infested with worms (liver flukes), or if lungs are filled with pneumonia, these can become pet food. However, in Canada, disease-free intestines can still be used for sausage casing for humans instead of pet food.

What about other sources of protein that can be used in pet food? Poultry by-product meal consists of ground, rendered, clean parts of the carcasses of slaughtered poultry, such as necks, feet, undeveloped eggs, and intestines, exclusive of feathers, except in such amounts as might occur unavoidably in good processing practice.

Poultry-hatchery by-products are a mixture of egg shells, infertile and unhatched eggs and culled chicks that have been cooked, dried and ground, with or without removal of part of the fat.

Poultry by-products include non-rendered clean parts of carcasses of slaughtered poultry such as heads, feet, and viscera, free of fecal content and foreign matter except in such trace amounts as might occur unavoidably in good factory practice. These are all definitions as listed in the AAFCO's "Ingredient Definitions."

Hydrolyzed poultry feather is another source of protein – not digestible protein, but protein nonetheless. This product results from the treatment under pressure of clean, intact feathers from slaughtered poultry free of additives, and/or accelerators.

We have covered the meat and poultry that can be used in commercial pet foods, but according to the AAFCO there are a number of other sources that can make up the protein in these foods. As we venture down the road of these other sources, please be advised to proceed at your own risk if you have a weak stomach.

Hydrolysed hair is a product prepared from clean hair treated by heat and pressure to produce a product suitable for animal feeding.
Spray-dried animal blood is produced from clean, fresh animal blood, exclusive of all extraneous material such as hair, stomach belching (contents of stomach), and urine, except in such traces as might occur unavoidably in good factory practices.

Dehydrated food-waste is any and all animal and vegetable produce picked up from basic food processing sources or institutions where food is processed. The produce shall be picked up daily or sufficiently often so that no decomposition is evident. With this ingredient, it seems that what you don't see won't hurt you.

Dehydrated garbage is composed of artificially dried animal and vegetable waste collected sufficiently often that harmful decomposition has not set in and from which have been separated crockery, glass, metal, string, and similar materials.

Dehydrated paunch products are composed of the contents of the rumen of slaughtered cattle, dehydrated at temperatures over 212 degrees F. (100 degrees C.) to a moisture content of 12 percent or less. Such dehydration is designed to destroy any pathogenic bacteria.

Dried poultry waste is a processed animal waste product composed primarily of processed ruminant excreta that has been artificially dehydrated to a moisture content not in excess of 15 percent. It shall contain not less than 12 percent crude protein, not more than 40 percent crude fiber, including straw, wood shavings and so on, and not more than 30 percent ash.

Dried swine waste is a processed animal-waste product composed primarily of swine excreta that has been artificially dehydrated to a moisture content not in excess of 15 percent. It shall contain not less than 20 percent crude protein, not more than 35 percent crude fiber, including other material such as straw, woodshavings, or acceptable bedding materials, and not more than 20 percent ash.

Undried processed animal waste product is composed of excreta, with or without the litter, from poultry, ruminants, or any other animal except humans, which may or may not include other feed ingredients, and which contains in excess of 15 percent feed ingredients, and which contains in excess of 15 percent moisture. It shall contain no more than 30 percent combined wood, woodshavings, litter, dirt, sand, rocks, and similar extraneous materials.

After reading this list of ingredients for the first time and not really believing that such ingredients could be used in pet food, I sent a fax to the chair of the AAFCO to inquire. "Would the 'Feed Ingredient Definitions' apply to pet food as well as livestock feed?" The reply was as follows, "The feed ingredient definitions approved by the AAFCO apply to all animal feeds, including pet foods, unless specific animal species restrictions are noted."

If a pet food lists "Meat by-products" on the label, remember that this is the material that usually comes from the slaughterhouse industry or dead-stock removal operations, classified as condemned or contaminated, unfit for human consumption.

Meat meal, meat and bone meal, digests, and tankage (specifically animal tissue including bones and exclusive of hair, hoofs, horns, and contents of digestive tract) are composed of rendered material. The label need not state what the composition of this material is, as each batch rendered would consist of a different material. These are the sources of protein that we are feeding our companion animals.

In 1996 I decided to find out the cost of this "quality" material that the pet food companies purchase from the rendering facilities. Aware that a phone call from an ordinary citizen would not elicit the information I required, I set about forming my own independent pet food company. Stating that my company was about to begin producing quality pet food, I asked for a price quote on meat by-products and meat meal from a Canadian rendering company and from a U.S. rendering company. Both facilities I contacted were more than pleased to provide this information.

As I was just a small company and did not require that much material to begin production, the cost was higher than it would have been for one of the large multinationals. Meat and bone meal, with a content of a minimum of 50 percent protein, 12 percent fat, 8 percent moisture, 8 percent calcium, 4 percent phosphorus, and 30 percent ash, could be purchased by me, a small independent company for less than 12¢ (Canadian) a pound. As for the meat by-products the prices varied: liver sold at 21¢ per pound, veal at 22¢ per pound, and lungs for only 12¢ per pound.

Turning to Fiber and Fat Sources in Pet Foods

The main ingredient in dry food for dogs and cats is corn. However, on further investigation, I found that according to the AAFCO, the list is lengthy as to the corn products that can be used in pet food. These include, but are not limited to the following ingredients.

Corn four is the fine-size hard flinty portions of ground corn containing little or none of the bran or germ.
Corn bran is the outer coating of the corn kernel, with little or none of the starchy part of the germ.

Corn gluten meal is the dried residue from corn after the removal of the larger part of the starch and germ, and the separation of the bran by the process employed in the wet milling manufacture of corn starch or syrup, or by enzymatic treatment of the endosperm.

Wheat is a constituent found in many pet foods. Again the AAFCO gives descriptive terms for wheat products.

Wheat flour consists principally of wheat flour together with fine particles of wheat bran, wheat germ, and the offal from the "tail of the mill." Tail of the mill is nothing more then the sweepings of leftovers after everything has been processed from the week.

Wheat germ meal consists chiefly of wheat germ together with some bran and middlings or shorts.

Wheat middlings and shorts are also categorized as the fine particles of wheat germ, bran, flour and offal from the "tail of the mill."

Both corn and wheat are usually the first ingredients listed on both dry dog and cat food labels. If they are not the first ingredients, they are the second and third that together make up most of the sources of protein in that particular product. Perhaps the pet food industry is not aware that cats are carnivores and therefore should derive their protein from meat, not grains?

In 1995 one large pet food company, located in California, recalled $20 million worth of its dog food. This food was found to contain vomitoxin. Vomitoxin is formed when grains become wet and moldy. This toxin was found in "wheat screenings" used in the pet food. The FDA did investigate but not out of concern for the more than 250 dogs that became ill after ingesting this food. It investigated because of concerns for human health.

The contaminated wheat screenings were the end product of wheat flour that would be used in the making of pasta. Wheat for baking flour requires a higher quality of wheat. Wheat screenings, which are not used for human consumption, can include broken grains, crop and weed seeds, hulls, chaff, joints, straw, elevator or mill dust, sand, and dirt.

Fat is usually the second ingredient listed on the pet food labels. Fats can be sprayed directly on the food or mixed with the other ingredients. Fats give off a pungent odor that entices your pet to eat the garbage. These fats are sourced from restaurant grease. This oil is rancid and unfit for human consumption. One of the main sources of fat comes from the rendering plant. This is obtained from the tissues of mammals and/or poultry in the commercial process of rendering or extracting.

An article in Petted Industry magazine does not indicate concern about the impurities in this rendered material as it relates to pet food. Dr. Tim Phillips writes, "Impurities could be small particles of fiber, hair, hide, bone, soil or polyethylene. Or they could be dirt or metal particles picked up after processing (during storage and/or transport). Impurities can cause clogging problems in fat handling screens, nozzles, etc. and contribute to the build-up of sludge in storage tanks."

Other tasty ingredients that can be added to commercial pet food include:

Beet pulp is the dried residue from sugar beet, added for fiber, but primarily sugar.
Soybean meal is the product obtained by grinding the flakes that remain after the removal of most of the oil from soybeans by a solvent extraction process.

Powdered cellulose is purified, mechanically disintegrated cellulose prepared by processing alpha cellulose obtained as a pulp from fibrous plant material. In other words, sawdust.

Sugar foods by-products result from the grinding and mixing of inedible portions derived from the preparation and packaging of sugar-based food products such as candy, dry packaged drinks, dried gelatin mixes, and similar food products that are largely composed of sugar.

Ground almond and peanut shells are used as another source of fiber.

Fish is a source of protein. If you own a cat, just open a can of food that contains fish and watch kitty come running. The parts used are fish heads, tails, fins, bones, and viscera. R.L. Wysong, DVM, states that because the entire fish is not used it does not contain many of the fat-soluble vitamins, minerals, and omega-3 fatty acids. If, however, the entire fish is used for pet food, often times it is because the fish contains a high level of mercury or other toxin making it unfit for human consumption. Even fish that was canned for human consumption and that has sat on the shelf past the expiration date will be included. Tuna is used in many cat foods because of its strong odor, which cats find irresistible.

In her book The Natural Cat, Anitra Frazier describes the "tuna junkie" as an expression used by veterinarians to describe a cat hooked on tuna. According to Frazier, "The vegetable oil which it is packed in robs the cat's body of vitamin E which can result in a condition called steatitis." Symptoms of steatitis include extreme nervousness and severe pain when touched. The lack of vitamin E in the diet causes the nerve endings to become sensitive, and can also induce anemia and heart disease. However, excess levels of vitamin E can be toxic. A veterinarian with an understanding of nutrition should be consulted.

One commercial food that most cats and dogs seem to love are the semi-moist foods. These kibble and burger-shaped concoctions are made to resemble real hamburger. However, according to Wendell O. Belfield and Martin Zucker in their book, How to Have a Healthier Dog, these are one of the most dangerous of all commercial pet foods. They are high in sugar, laced with dyes, additives, and preservatives, and have a shelf life that spans eternity.

One pet owner wrote to me explaining that she had fed her cat some of these semi-moist tidbits. The cat became ill shortly after eating them, and even professional carpet cleaners could not remove the red dye from the carpet where her cat had been ill. In his book, Pet Allergies: Remedies for an Epidemic, Alfred Plechner, DVM., writes, "In my opinion, semi-moist foods should be placed in a time capsule to serve as a record of modern technology gone mad."

The pet food industry corrals this material, then mixes, cooks, dries and extrudes the stuff. (Extruding simply means it is pushed through a mold to form the different shapes and to make us think that these so called "chunks" are actually pieces of meat.) Dyes, additives, and preservatives are routinely added and they can accumulate in the pet's body. According to the Animal Protection Institute of America newsletter, "Investigative Report on Pet Food," "Ethoxyquin (an antioxidant preservative), was found in dogs' livers and tissue months after it had been removed from their diet."

After processing, the food is practically devoid of any nutritional value. To make up for what is lacking, vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and supplements are dumped into the mix. If the minerals added are unchelated (chelated means minerals will more readily combine with proteins for better absorption), they will pass through the body virtually unused. Most are added as a premix, and if there is a mistake made in the premix, it can throw off the entire balance. Veterinarians Marty Goldstein and Robert Goldstein have stated that the wrong calcium/magnesium ratio can cause neuromuscular problems. As an example, when I had the commercial pet food tested by Mann Laboratories for my court case, most of the minerals showed excess levels.


Source: https://www.aplusflintriverranch.com/article-foods-pets-die-for.php


RMS

that was crazy as F and i just skimmed, rereading now..... good for people to see

get out of that huge loop,
find small loop systems, farms down the road who use organic practices, and pay the price for your own food.
then you will have awesome dog scraps....
buy an animal share once every few months.

edit, to the op, good luck and i feel for you and your dog. hopefully all is well now.
i had three dogs, lost two and now i feed home meals instead of ol roy and gravy train like i used to. they died of other causes but it could have been part of their mentality and behavior...its been emotional.

That site I posted earlier for recalls has some decent explanations of what is in most dog foods. Find out what 'animal byproducts' means (DDDD Dead, diseased, disabled and something else. It's like posted above about using dead and diseased animals in dog food). Some decent info.


The food I use is insane. If what they claim is true, the fish are all line caught within 100 miles of the factory. The fruit is all hand picked, again within local restraints. Way overboard (as my vet used to say). He used Science Diet for years and recommended it. I used to argue with him all the time. He told me I was obsessed. LOL


It's 100 bux for a 30 pound bag but, that's less than I spend on pot or booze so.... I'm OK with it. LOL


I have been through the sick dog syndrome from bad food. Never again.

They’ve expanded the recall 3 times as of May 15.
Since I originally posted this my dog has not been eating any more processed dog food.
All her food is homemade now.
The news sent me an email today and they’re going to run the story today or tomorrow.
Dr Hills pet food sent me a form to fill out explaining any vet costs to be filled out by the vet.

so what food dog can you recommend??