New Food Recall - Natura

[Tommy Coyote]

Salmonella.

 

California Natural: Evo: Karma: Healthwise

 

http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-recall/natura-pet-expands-recall/

[Ross Bash]

I know (or seem to recall) that while it's against the BC Board's policy to promote or recommend particular products (if I'm wrong about that, someone please correct me), an ongoing problem I've experienced with pet food recalls and the lack of effective regulation generally with pet food manufacturers is finding an online rating source that can point me to the best manufacturers and products, while not requiring me to re-mortgage my house or sell a bodily organ to afford it.

For example, I've regularly checked a couple of what appear to be reputable and reposnible online rating sources (so they say), only to find that a brand that they rate highly is the one I just learned had been recalled. What seems to often happen is that the manufacturer may have high quality standards in what it actually produces, but farms out some of its production to another company (like Diamond with its notorious plant in SC) which does not adhere to the same quality standards.

So...does anyone have a suggestion about an online rating source that is reliable at least most of the time?

Thanks.

Ross Bash

[waffles]

Just do your own research, it isn't so much about specific brands anyways since any food can be recalled.

Fromm food is not made by a huge corporation (like proctor and gamble) and are their own family owned company. However, any food can be recalled. If you want the most control over your pets food then ditch the commercial stuff and feed raw.

Anything you feed has risks so pick a company that is owned and manufactured on their own (not bought out by some huge corporation) which I believe have a better track record. I believe both Fromm and Earthborn claim to have never had a recall and are not owned by any other company and have their own factories for processing their food.

I personally got tired of trying to read all the fine print and spending all the money on premium food and have recently switched to a raw diet for my boy and am happy to be saving money. To each their own-just be aware that spending more money does not guarantee a better or safer product. Wellness was recalled and is one of the priciest foods around my area.

[Maralynn]

It's not that it's against board policy, it's just that there are LOTS of different things to consider when choosing a food and that there is no one right food for every dog.

[RichardH]

Whole dog journal has a yearly review of food and treats. Just at a glance it looks like they recommend brands that the better pet stores agree with. Ymmv.

 

-Rich

[Gideon's girl]

NutriSource is also a small family owned company and never had a recall. They have both grain free and grain inclusive options and they don't cost an arm and a leg.

[Ross Bash]

Followup question to Waffles: We've made some of our food for the dogs and also thought about raw feeding, but were concerned about problems like salmonella and e-coli increasingly associated with U..S. production of raw meat. It's also hard to impossible to avoid risk from overuse of antibiotics, steroids, etc. in commercial meat production whether it's for human consumption or pet food (short of buying organic or raising your own stock and having it slaughtered locally). So do you just take the risk in feeding raw or do you have some way by which you minimize or avoid the health risk?

I agree with you on doing your own research and looking for companies (usually smaller companies) that actually do their own production, but that's no guarantee that they always actually do so; doing their "own" production was a draw for us with Wellness despite its cost, but we then learned that their most recent recall involved production of some of their puppy food that had been farmed out to Diamond (in Diamond's SC plant which has a long history of recalls).

One solution might be to require the manufacturer to state on the bag or can who actually manufactured it (and maybe also where), but that's not something I've ever been able to find out, even with a lot of research, simply because it's not something a company discloses on its website (i.e., you find out only after the recall when the company has to report it publicly).

I'd be interested to know though how you minimize the kind of health risks associated with raw feeding when it involves meat products that are commercially produced.

Thanks.

Ross Bash

 

P.S. I still read the fine print on the package whether I'm buying food for me or everyone else I'm helping to feed. We also buy organic when we can afford it, although our nearest organic stores (e.g., Whole Foods and Trader Joe) are 30 miles away.

[waffles]

What health risks are you referring to? Salmonella an e-coli? Handing a piece of raw meat to my dog is no different than you handling meat for yourself and cooking it. The funny part is I don't eat meat myself but have quickly learned to get over the ick factor with handling meat.

If you are interested in learning more about raw feeding I suggest joining the yahoo rawfeeding group. You'll get all your questions answered once you join and can read their files and archives. You'll get better answers than I can give probably. The reason I like it though is because it is actually simpler for me than picking kibble out and I have access to a good amount of venison and my own chickens but do buy pork from a wholesaler.

[waffles]

Also wanted to ad those are both found in things other than raw meat-spinach and peanut butter were recalled in the past for salmonella and a local company here, Rich products just recalls some frozen meals for e-coli contamination. Can't live life in a bubble. Dogs also choke on kibble and dog toys. They break teeth on nylabones. There is risk to everything in life so it's just what you feel comfortable doing. Everyone has their own beliefs on what's good bad and safe or harmful.

[Gideon's girl]

Healthy dogs are quite capable of handling bacterial contamination. They have a pH of 1 in their stomach and a short intestinal tract that makes it easier for them to deal with whatever is on what they pick up. Mine have a passion for week old roadkill toads.

 

Yes, the raw meat from the grocery store has antibiotics and hormones and whatever else in it, but it is still WAY better than the meat they commonly use in kibble, which has all those things and may have been left laying around for a while before being processed six ways to Sunday.

[Ross Bash]

Waffles and Gideon's Girl -- Thanks; that's the kind of information and leads I was looking for in my replies and question (e.g., I suspected, but never knew for sure, that dogs were more capable of dealing with the kind of stuff that would kill you and me -- roadkill for example, although roadkill starts to look competitvely digestible for my own consumption when I've just left Shop 'N Save impoverished!). I don't live, or ever intend to live, in a bubble; choosing though to live outside the bubble also means that I still need to become as informed as possible. I agree that risk is inherent in lots of things, but dealing with it as responsibly as I can (e.g., informing myself) is also inherent in my own thinking and decision-making about those kinds of things. Thanks for adding to that with the information you're shared. Ross Bash

[waffles]

You're welcome! I hate to see people literally go broke or go crazy trying to figure out what to feed their dogs. I wasn't putting as much thought into my own diet as I was my dogs and realized that I could just simplify things (and save $). Definitely, by educating yourself on whatever you choose to feed is the best option no matter what you choose. I love listening to my 95 year old grandpa tell me 'we are all stupid' for spending the kind of money we do on dog food, which did not exist or was not the norm for most of his life. His family fed their dogs the scraps of whatever they were eating and didn't think much about it past that-and all their dogs lived to nice old ages. Even when I had indoor/outdoor cats, they had the best looking teeth because they routinely ate whole rabbits and mice. I now keep my current cats inside and they all have dental issues to some degree. I have recently started giving them some raw meaty bones to help.

[Tommy Coyote]

I'm not against feeding raw at all but I did hear one thing that you need to be careful of. The Salmonella may or may not be a danger to the dogs but it can be a real danger to people that the dogs lick. They eat the raw food and then lick the children in the face or lick people on the hands.

 

There is still a lot of hot discussion on feeding raw - some people are so in favor and others think it is dangerous to the dogs and to the people who live with them.

 

I copped out. I feed canned with the dry.

[waffles]

I had a vet tell me the same thing. He then tried to convince me that Iams and Hills were the best food I could buy. I would love to see some science behind the discussion with raw. Have a dog eat raw then lick a Petri dish at various intervals after eating. Then see what is in their saliva. At some point after eating their mouths must not be a risk? Then again I know a few people who have fed raw for decades with no issue and we have all probably seen or heard about all the sick or dead dogs from commercial food. You're never immune to risk.

I see my dog eat chicken poo and deer droppings, pick up rotting deer legs in the woods etc. i see other dogs eat dog poo and even lick urine off thr ground. I can't see how the raw he ate posses any more of a risk to me. Even what dogs step in outside then walk into our houses. I can only imagine all the gross stuff dogs bring into our homes and on our bodies. I just try not to think about it.

[Tommy Coyote]

I wish there were studies for the various types of feeding - raw vs cooked vs commercial foods.

 

There are lots of people who really think feeding raw is the best. But I really would like to see something concrete about a raw diet. Is it even better?

 

Someone on this board wrote one time that when wolves were fed a commercial diet they did better than they had on a raw diet.

 

If someone has some actual scientific info on this will you please put it out here.

[Gideon's girl]

My dogs fav things to find and eat are roadkill toads. Those have got to be loaded with nasty things, but my dogs have never gotten sick from eating them. I was always told that they should be left alone(crated) for a half hour after they eat to prevent contamination from licking. A couple times a week they actually get stuff on their paws, two of mine wash like cats, one has to be rinsed off.

 

Micah, the one in my avatar, was a very sickly puppy until I put him on a kibble especially for healing the gut and then started feeding raw one meal a day. Now, he is very healthy and I can feed him something different every meal with no upset stomachs.

[Gideon's girl]

Double post, sorry.