UPDATE ON POISONED PET FOOD:

As of March 28th the Pet Connection site has now reported 2,300 cases reported to their data base, a climb from 1,459 on March 24th when Molly last reported. There a a few other items to report. The Animal Medical Center of New York has posted a pdf printout for veterinarians as to the diagnosis of 'Food Related Acute Renal Failure'. The American Veterinary Medical Association has also established a page of resources pertaining to this recall, and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has issued a press release advising caution as to the presently "presumed cause" of the problem ie aminopterin. The Aspca notes that the connection has not been definitely proven, and that other effects of aminopterin such as intestinal damage and leukopenia have yet to be reported in the case histories.

Also, if you are interested in previous pet food recalls in the USA the FDA site provides a list of them at http://www.fda.gov/cvm/petfoods.htm . A rather interesting selection.

Finally, a little quote from the Pet connection site:

"But there are a couple of other reasons why even before the recall, we at Pet Connection didn't recommend foods, and in hindsight, one of those looks pretty sensible. We have absolutely no way of checking out any company's claim regarding any (!!!! Molly) food."

Molly has always been aware of the presence of "relabelling" in the pet food industry, of how many types of pet food actually come from "the same vat" and differ only by labels, but until this recall she was unaware of the full extent of the practice. Also, as a long term opponent of the "food cultism" rampant in North American society (the delusion that one can make a significant difference in anyone's health-animal or human- by going beyond simple common sense prescriptions that often boil down to "eat less") she has had more than a little scepticism about some pet food claims, particularly when cult words such as "natural" are attached to them. What Molly was unaware of before this event was the way that some so-called "premium" line such as Iams, Eukenuba and Nutro were actually little different from the recycled tires and ground glass foods peddled at Wal-Mart. Live and learn I guess. Once more this emphasizes my long term suspicion that there is no such thing as a "better" dog or cat food, just as no cult diet works with humans. My opinion as to "don't ever switch if nothing is going wrong" is now graven in stone.

Molly