POISONED PET FOOD:

INTERESTING ARTICLE:

There's an interesting article in today's Salon.com on cat and dog food by Kirsten Weir. The article not only gives a run down on the present melamine/cyanuric acid problem but also goes into another recent (Dec., 2005) recall of dog food contaminated by aflatoxin, a well known toxin that should have been screened for but was not. The author goes into the weaknesses of the US regulatory system for pet food, something that has been extensively discussed in such places as the Pet Connection site and the Itchmo Blog but bears repeating nonetheless.

As Kirsten points out there are further problems with pet food, such as the substitution of vegetable protein for meat protein and the dubious quality of some of the animal protein added (good ol' spleens, bones, chicken feet, brains, spinal cords ad nauseum-yum, yum!). He does, however, scotch some of the rumours that horsemeat and euthanized dogs and cats are used in pet food. If you know anything about the cost of horsemeat you'll understand why the first is unlikely, and the second would be unlikely for different financial reasons- even if it weren't against the rules of the industry group- the Pet Food Institute.

The article proceeds to say that the various pet food manufacturers have taken a "don't talk" attitude as a response to the way that the story has grown. As an aside, the Itchmo Blog reports today that Menu Foods has had a "gag order" placed on it by a court that "prevents it communicating with individual pet owners in regards to compensation". Given that the companies seem to be gravitating towards an 'omerta' position on this scandal this order may be more than convenient for Menu.

Hop on over to this article to see more on the above and many other subjects that the author discusses.