Sheep Guarding Llama

At 6:00 this evening Dominica went to the Rutherford Animal Hospital and picked up Oreo who appears to be feeling a bit better.  He was extremely excited to be going home where he will be very spoiled.  He is not out of the woods yet, of course, as kidney issues are extremely dangerous.  We will be monitoring him very closely for weeks.

Sofie, a miniature schnauzer from Bristol Township, Pennsylvania is alive but only barely after eating food from dog food manufacturer Nutro who contracts out their food to Canadian pet food giant Menu Foods. Sofie was given just two weeks to six months to live as her kidneys fail after eating contaminated pet food from Nutro. Sofie is just two years old and, like my dog Oreo, is not counted by Nutro when they claim that there are no dogs affected by their pet foods.

Sofie’s owner, Adrienne Ostrowski, has set up a MySpace page dedicated to saving Sofie’s life. Be sure to check them out: www.myspace.com/helpsavesofie You will most likely need a MySpace account to be able to view the page.

Since we have been dealing with the pet food recall first hand I wanted to provide some useful information to people who may have pets affected by Menu Foods’ tainted pet food.

1) Check the Menu Food Recalled Pet Food List as well as any lists handled directly by your pet food brand. Menu Foods manufactures over ninety different brands of dog and cat food so be careful to not assume that your food isn’t one of them. Only wet food is included in the recall – not dry food. If you pet has eaten the food on the list do not look for symptoms – simply take your furry friend to the vet for a checkup and tell them that they have been exposed to the tainted food. Don’t take unnecessary risks by waiting for symptoms that may be very hard to catch until it is too late.

2) Watch for the symptoms. Symptoms include vomiting, loss of appetite, lethargy, increased water consumption, increased urination, etc. The symptoms can be very hard to detect so be cautious. Better safe than sorry. You pet doesn’t know how to tell you when something like this is wrong. Kidney failure results in death – when in doubt ask the vet.

3) Do NOT throw away or return the tainted pet food! The pet food companies want all evidence returned to them. Save this or at least some of it. There is every possibility that this will be important in a following class action lawsuit. Menu Foods has known about this for a month and did nothing about it. They are undoubtedly liable for the vet bills, medication, treatments, pain and suffering, etc. There have been many deaths already and there will be more.

4) Contact the FDA. If you live in the United States the Federal Food and Drug Administration needs to know about your sick pet. If you don’t report them then they don’t have the correct demographics and figures. It is with this information that they can better solve the problem and they can better prosecute the guilty parties.

5) Feed your pet healthy food.  At this point it is probably best to avoid any pet food containing wheat gluten, just in case.  A good place to start for finding quality pet food is on PETA’s No Testing list.  There are many high quality brands on here and at least one if not twenty that you pet will really love.  Not only will your pet thank you but so will all of the dogs and cats that won’t become laboratory test subjects.

Reports in Canada are beginning to surface in a number of pet deaths now linked to the poisoned food provided through Ontario, CA manufacturer Menu Foods.  Previously only pet illnesses were reported from the United States.  It appears that the number of animals sick and dead from Menu Foods is skyrocketing.  Everywhere you turn there is someone who has had an animal die of kidney failure over the past few weeks – almost all within the time span when Menu Foods was aware of the issue and keeping silent while attempting to sell as many of their tainted cans as possible.