lukki - they had a bit on our local news about this last night. A number of PEOPLE have been hospitalized due to handling the dogfood and getting salmonella from that. Ugh! Somehow I think if there was an automatic $1M fine for ANY incident like this, the companies would be much more careful.

Luk,
The list of pet foods are really long. We had a post somewhere (Kitchen TAble?" that talked about recipes for our friends.

I was going to mention a number of times since the pet recalls started showing, that I now go to the recall sites and check on anything major being bought. A number of appliances posters ask about are listed. Have no clue how the dealers continue to sell them.

Was totally surprised when my 50" TV was recalled. I had given up on it, but my son found it could be repaired by replacing 3 capacitors, a known problem. The company got sued and they are replacing all, including personal expenses for repairing. All I need to do is send info to them through their site.

It is well worth checking recalls on a monthly basis. I also got a new DW, upgrade, also due to a recall.

That is bad and so frustrating. I use Wellness and Taste of the Wild. Fortunately, the Wellness products I use are NOT part of the recall - so far. The Taste of the Wild is kept in a large container with a lid and I throw away the bag, so I have no idea. I bought it in February.

I buy Kirkland's brand that is being recalled. My bag (and State) is not on the list but now I am wondering if the recall will be expanded. I am afraid to feed my poor dogs breakfast. This sucks.

You can subscribe to a daily bulletin from the FDA that covers recalls, market withdrawals and safety alerts.

Here is a link that might be useful: FDA Consumer Updates

Emagineer, would you post the recall site you go to?

I've only bought one brand my adult life, so I'm not familiar with the brands listed, but I hope there are some serious ramifications to the makers of those foods.

Even Dick VanPatten has his name on one. Uh oh.

I only had a few minutes this morning when I saw this and immediately thought to post it to warn all my GW dog loving friends. It's just so frustrating, I love the idea of a 1,000,000 fine, boy I bet that would raise their eyebrows! I sure hope those people are ok.

Thanks for the link Natal, I'll bookmark it.

We have a local store that just opened called Dogma, it's specializes in grainless foods and other stuff. I went there a couple of weeks ago and at the owners suggestion started my pup on Fromm's 4 star. They're family owned and have been around since 1904. The food I chose has a little of the healthier grains in it like barley and oats but my dog seems to need some of that. Fromm's also carries a full line of no grain food as well. Their kibbles are made in Wisconsin and it may be a bit pricey but my dog loves it and her fur has gotten so pretty because of it. Their Four Star food has several flavors that can be changed without any problems so dogs won't bore from the same flavor all the time. So far it's worked best and I'm hoping it's never been involved in a recall, but need to check. grrr...

Here is a link that might be useful: Fromm's Dog Food

Thanks for the heads up lukkiirish and natal for the link.
We no longer have any dogs. Our precious Maggie dog was killed because of the additive (from china) in one of her treats in the big recall of five years ago. Before this she was as spunky as a puppy and in just weeks we had to put her down. I'm still very angry about that. Why we still get things from china when we (the USA) know how little they care about safety is beyond me! Politics, I know, but still.
We had been using Call of the Wild for our cats until I finally realized it was what was causing out little Tommy cat to be sick all the time.
I too would like the link from emagineer.

Thank you for posting that, Luk! I got an email from Wellness but I might have easily overlooked it, but thankfully, the food I use from Wellness is not one of the recalls -I buy Wellness Super 5 Chicken for adult small dogs. They typically have not had recalls before - that I know of- and this does alarm me somewhat.
Of course, the dead animals and poop my dogs snack on regularly do indeed cause indigestion, and my losing a night's sleep.

I used to feed my dogs and cats Wellness (CORE), and received email from them. They voluntarily recalled theirs due to it being made in same factory.

I switched to Fromm's months ago. Dogs love it. Switched to Origen for the cats, who also love it - more so than any other I've bought for them.

My local pet store had a misprint. Said buy one get one on the 30lb bags. They were still honoring AND marking the card for the free bags (buy 12 get 1 free). Since last week, we've bought 8 bags and gotten 9 free, and have saved over $500. :D My back closet is full and so is DD2's front closet - I have 3 dogs, she has 4. I may hit store again before ad runs out on the 13th. The manager said all her regulars are buying in bulk. Expiration dates go out as far as 9/2013.

OMG, thanks Lukki! And I just put Ronin back on Taste of the Wild's Pacific Stream three weeks ago. New Mexico isn't on the state list, but I keep it in the bag inside a plastic bin so I can check it for just such a reason. And I will first thing tomorrow morning. Grrrr!

Natal, thanks so much for the link! I immediately went there and signed up.
Lynn

Here is one I use. The FDA site is great though. Hadn't been there before. Thanks for the link. There are many sites and you can get to them by searching your product and adding recall.

I even found that a med I'm on had a flagged warning added two months ago. Why my doctor is still prescribing, since I'm one of the no go, eludes me. Speaking with the pharmacists, most recalled meds never make it to the pharmacy. The key word is "most" though. I asked about TEVA, which produces many of the generics and he told me they were one of the best. But if you look at the recall data, they are the "most" recalled.

How the heck are we going to deal with the dog food issue? Being an informed consumer is going to require more time than they take to produce the products.

Here is a link that might be useful: Recalls

It's scary that the recall is mostly GOOD brand dog foods. Not stuff you buy at the supermarket, etc. We have always fed our pup a high quality food. Those are the ones being recalled!!! We use a Dick Van Patten roll food - thankfully it's not on the recall. I think their dry food was recalled once before.

We've switched to a few Blue treats lately. After the first recall, and because our pup has a few food sensitivities, we went to a part dog food/part regular (people) food diet. She gets chicken and Natural Balance roll (think summer sausage) twice a day. About half a teaspoon cottage cheese with her evening meal. She also eats green beans, peas, bits of apple, etc.

Scary indeed!!

tina

Hey Everyone, finally got some time to stop back by and read. So glad all you got the information as these are some popular foods.

I don't know how many of you would be interested in changing the brand you are feeding your dog, but if you are, I highly recommend you look into the Fromm's. Like Allison, I got a free back from the store we buy it from too which brings the cost down to the same range as other foods cost. I love that the kibble is US made and after doing a couple of searches, I could not find a history for any recalls of their food which speaks volumes to me.

A really good site I have used is The Dog Food Advisor, they have information about everything dog food including a history of the dog food recalls. It's an easy way to see if your dog food or a food you're interested in has experienced a recall and they include some of the particulars about it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Dog Food Advisor

it is probably a good idea to carefully wash your hands whenever you handle petfood!! i know i don't always...

dogs usually don't get the same type of bugs that people do but we definitely could get very sick from something like this (or from feeding them a raw diet and not being careful with washing hands, their bowls, etc,etc afterwards)

One of my Westie�s has food allergies and is picky about what he eats. I�d been feeding him Call of the Wild for the past several months until two weeks ago when we switched, because he was starting to itch too much and show signs of allergy. Thank heavens for that! It is just so hard to find something he can eat that he likes. And I just bought a bag of Chicken Soup for the Cat Lovers Soul - but the number is not on the recall advisory. Thanks so much for the info!

This is why I switched to Halo dog food (amongst other reasons). You don't see this brand showing up on recalls. Not only are the ingredients "human grade" but it is also recommended for dogs with cancer. My dog's allergies cleared up to completely after I began feeding him this brand exclusively (not saying that other dogs would have similar luck). Ellen Degeneres was so impressed with this company she is now part owner.

I wouldn't mind trying Halo or Fromme either one, but have not seen either around here. I'm going to have to check them out.

tina

Flyingflower, Wellness is human grade too and still part of the recall.

Tina, see if you have a Hollywood Feed in your area:

Here is a link that might be useful: Hollywood Feed

Tina,

You can find local dealers for Fromm's on the Fromm's Website and in our area, Halo is available at Petco. I was going to give the Halo a try but when comparison shopping, I found the Halo brand to be the MOST expensive product in it's category which was a big disappointment. After all, Ellen is supposedly all about the animals yet her companies products are not only priced out of range for the normal shopper, but they're priced higher than equally competitive foods as well. Fromm's has never experienced a recall either.

From my understanding this recall is about what food brands were manufactured at a specific Diamond plant in SC, where the Diamond brand foods tested positive for Salmonella.

If I still fed commercial dog food, I would probably feed something from Champion Pet Foods (Acana or Orijen), Fromm, or Honest Kitchen, all three companies have a fairly good reputation and customer service. I know Fromm and Champion both manufacture their own dry foods.

I know Champion and Honest kitchen seem fairly open about where their ingredients are sourced from and the quality of them. Champion states on their website that no ingredients in their foods (including vitamins and minerals) are sourced from China and they use made for human consumption fresh meats. Honest kitchen I think also uses made for human consumption ingredients, and claims no ingredients are sourced from China as well.

Thanks Allison, looks like they are in TN, but west Tennessee. (I'm in southeast.) Will check further on both these two. Thanks again!

tina

When I was researching cat food I checked on Halo and Fromm's. I eliminated Halo when I found they included garlic in the food. And Fromm is only available at one location ... a new independent pet store. That doesn't give me a lot of confidence for long term availability. They've been offering a lot of discounted coupons recently and I have a feeling they won't be around for long.

Natal, I'm curious about garlic? I have no problem with it for my pup. Is there something negative about garlic for cats?

I really like the Natural Balance rolls. I don't want to go with a canned food and Abby is not huge on canned food, which is fine with me. She is not a big dry food eater, although she gets enough of that texture with treats. Since there's nothing wrong with what we're using, I should probably stick with that.

tina

This is from the ASPCA:

Onions, Garlic, Chives

These vegetables and herbs can cause gastrointestinal irritation and could lead to red blood cell damage. Although cats are more susceptible, dogs are also at risk if a large enough amount is consumed. Toxicity is normally diagnosed through history, clinical signs and microscopic confirmation of Heinz bodies. An occasional low dose, such as what might be found in pet foods or treats, likely will not cause a problem, but we recommend that you do NOT give your pets large quantities of these foods.

Here is a link that might be useful: food to avoid feeding your pets

Did a little more research and it looks like Halo may have eliminated the garlic from their dry food, but it's still in the canned.

Thanks - I knew about onions and do not give those to Abby. I am almost positive I asked our vet about garlic (used as seasoning), but maybe I'm thinking of something else. Another reason I should probably keep her on what she's on. . .

Natal, Fromm's is a family owned business and has been around since 1904. Their website clearly states all of their food is made in the USA and the ingredients are sourced from here as well. When the store owner was talking to me about them, he said their popularity is growing so fast, they are having a hard time keeping up with orders. And they just had to expand out to a larger plant in Wisconsin. Several people I've talked to at our local dog park use it and say their dogs can't get enough of it.

I doubt very seriously they're going anywhere any time soon and offering coupons is just a marketing ploy not a signal that they are going out of business.

Our dog, Ellie has been on it now for a few weeks and the difference in her coat is night and day. She loves the stuff.

Don't the Natural Balance Rolls have sugar in them? I think they do, and I think it's high up on the ingredients list, like the third or fourth ingredient.

Lukk, I was referring to the new store, not the food.

Oh crap Roo!!!

While it is on the recall, I am still reasonably confident in Wellness products. My dogs have been on them for 11 years and they are happy with it and very healthy. Their food was not part of the recall but I don't plan on changing brands at this point in their lives.
On the other hand, I have had food poisoning twice in that time from restaurant food. Once, it was very serious, I was sick for 3 weeks (and lost ten pounds- the upside!)

Lukk, I was referring to the new store, not the food.

Oh! Ok, well that's weird that they'd only have it at one store, have you used the Fromm website to see if it's in any other stores in your area? I know they try to stay clear of the big box type pet stores but heck even a little farmers market down the road carries it here.

I checked. The only store that came up within 25 miles was the new one. I live in a large city and I found that strange.

I know you do, that's why I found it so hard to believe. I'm in a more rural area and there's got to be at least 5-6 stores close to me that have it.

I'm seriously thinking about "trying" to make the switch to Halo now that I know the dry formula doesn't contain garlic.

Found a great site for comparing different dog and cat foods. It's fairly comprehensive. It includes info on where the food is sourced and if anything comes from China.

Here is a link that might be useful: pet food comparison

That's weird, they don't list Fromm's!

I can also vouch for Halo. I alternate between the dry Salmon and Chicken for my dogs. Prior to Halo I've used Orijen/Acana/Wellness/BLUE. I've never even heard tell of Fromm's, maybe it's not available in Canada..?? Or if it is, I've just never noticed it anywhere I shop.

My dogs love the Halo and have done really well on it. They're both dogs who love food and love to eat. Mealtime is a great part of their day, lol. They don't have any sensitivities or allergies, but I've heard that can be a good choice for dogs who do.

I noticed they don't include all foods. Guess just the ones they sell.

Thanks again for the Life link on the other thread.

We order Flint River Ranch for our allergy ridden dog. They also use human grade ingredients and haven't had any recalls. I love being able to go online and order it and have it sitting at my door instead of lugging dog food home.

Because it doesn't have preservatives, we only order it as we need it and clean the plastic container each time we empty it to make sure we don't get contamination from the residue of the stored food.

That is a good link, thanks Natal!

Sooo, my dog's food is only a 3.5 (Wellness Super 5 Chicken Adult Dogs), hmmm, I don't plan on changing at all as my dogs have been on it (one of them) for 11 years and they are both very healthy and active. But I also give them a considerable portion of pure meat each day which they love.

I think this is funny too, once years ago, I gave one of the dogs a very rare piece of steak, she didn't know what to do with it and licked it awhile but never ate it. And she is my "food motivated" dog. So no raw food for her!

However, I hate even typing this, but with my next dogs I will go with something completely different. Probably homemade cooked food.