No, they are not the same. If you look at the nutritional makeup, the meat, protein, etc balance, they differ greatly.

No.

The basic ingredients are often the same, but are used in different proportions.

More horse tonsils in this batch for this company, more rice and vegetables in that batch for that company, etc.

It depends...some are and some aren't. You have to compare labels. A vet once told that as far as kibble goes the "puffier" ones were found to have more nutrients than the smaller denser ones in studies done. Probably because the vitamin stuff is sprayed on in most places.

Are these the only two products effected by this recall? My cat will only eat nine lives (he is a picky little thing) Is that ok to give?

http://www.menufoods.com/recall/index.html

Here is a link that might be useful: Recall list

Each label is manufactured according to a recipe given to menufoods by Iams, Nutro, whichever label the food is being sold under. It's my understanding that the wheat in question is used as a binder or something like that in the gravy portion of the foods that are affected.

Lisa

Something to keep in mind as well is that these pet food manufacturing plants are only inspected when there is a complaint. That makes me a bit uncomfortable. Are there standards? Doesn't sound like it.

I think these companies should be held responsible. I have seen pet owners on tv interviews who have joined a class action suit against Menu Foods. I am wondering if it is such a good idea to include in the class, consumers who only purchased these products, yet had no bad result (damages per se). I think the inclusion of those people (happens in all class actions), compromises the claims of the petowners whose pets were adversely affected by the food.

It is so sad. My only hope is that this problem doesn't at some point affect the dry products. I will be in deep trouble, since Nutro is one of the recalled wet products. Should the Nutro dry products be recalled - I don't want to go there.

I think that as a petowner/lover, you are feeding your animals the best possible product you can afford and are relying on the manufacturer to make it a safe product as well. Ugh, this situation is very bad for all petowners.

Now is the time to start using top notch brands. I didn't need to buy any food but last night I went to get another bag of kibble and bought the last bag they had. Phew. I thought just in case people would see the light and there was a run on the brand that I like. IF you need a good reason, the company did a test on actual animals with their poisonous food and they died. That's unacceptable.

Quirky, top notch labels are being recalled. Science diet is being recalled.

I'm not too sure anymore what brands are actually top notch labels. An earlier thread about different dog foods had a link about dog foods and what to look for on the label and what to avoid. I checked out the various dog food websites and read the labels, and science diet food had many of the ingredients to avoid. So needless to say, if dry dog food ever gets affected, I won't know what companies to trust. At that time, I will probably start making my own dog food with fresh meat. Actually, this contamination is so scary to me, that hubby and I have talked about starting to make our own food now, just in case the dry food does become or already is contaminated and we just don't know it.

"Quirky, top notch labels are being recalled. Science diet is being recalled."

Hate to tell you this and be a dog food snob but Science diet is not top notch. I've come to this determination by reading labels and researching the owners and manufacters of this brand in addition to SD user testimonials and even those in the veterinarian profession. Not awful but it's not top notch either. It is what dog food snobs call a 'grocery store brand'.

OK, I am scared to death. What the heck are we supposed to do??? I am going to consider making some food for my babies. I have to be back at the vet this afternoon to get another blood draw and urine on my lab mix. Someone posted about the Nutro Dry being a possible (?) problem...that's what mine were eating. Is there SOMETHING that someone knows for sure is OK? I don't care what it costs at this point. I know that there's some kind (or maybe there are several labels) that are in the health food stores. What do you all know of this? I live where there is NO market like Whole Foods or Wild Oats. HELP!!

I didnt see nine lives on that list. It may be "grocery store food" but it was obviously not effected by this and it is the only thing my cat likes. I tried top notch foods from Petsmart and my cat refused to eat them,and judging by the smell,I cant really blame him.

I guess many people consider Science Diet a top notch food because one see's it quite often in a Vets office. Personally I wouldn't, but I know very little. I'm sure its a fine food though. I feed my cats Felidae, and my dog Canidae, contains human grade ingredients. California gold is another high quality feed, and there are others of course.
I guess there are reports comign out that rat poison has been found in some of the contaminated feed!! So I guess a person did it on purpose, these are only initial reports though!!
http://canidae.com/

Here is a link that might be useful: CNN article on rat poison

I'll gladly admit to being a dog food snob, been into more arguments with the Science Diet reps that they would probably like to remember. Science Diet is nowhere near a really top grade food.

Lisa

Ok... just to kind of give a perspective of food processing if it is human or animal. The company (in this case menu foods) will make a food according to a formula. They do it because the plant has the capability of processing this food not because it is exclusive to the brand name. Where I have worked the products were exclusive to both Mc Donalds AND Wendy's. Both were quality products just made to the brand name specs. The same would be applicable to dog foods.. Same producer different recipes. If the supplier of a particular ingredient (ie wheat> supplies a contaminated product then ALL the recipes are contaminated not just one particular brand. I feel sorry for the manufacturer because if they purchased contaminated food product then they would be as vulnerable as the consumer. The quality control that goes on in these places deals with bacteria and not with contaminated food ingredients. They test what is specific to their production, not the over all product if that makes sense:
Lorie

So what do the pet food snobs feed their pets?

I always thought Nutro and SD were top quality, altho I don't use them because my cats don't like them. I guess the pet food snobs will come down on me but I feed Purina ONE with salmon and tuna and Purinas Natural blend in the white bag and Naturals in the green bag. All seven cats have glossy coats, are very healthy and none have any health problems. One is 18 and one is 14 and I had one live till 21. They are strictly indoor and get wet food once a day and again..not the real pricey but not generic either..Fancy feast or Friskies and they aren't on the list.

I'll admit i'm a pet food snob, only for good reason though:) After a year of on/off urinary problems and secondary problems we switched one baby to Royal Canin urinary formula. (still not my top choice) She had been on SD the whole time and switched to the RX diets, she seems better on Royal Canin S/O. I wish there was a better quality food to feed her and help with her urinary issues.

My other two babies eat Blue Buffalo.

Blue Buffalo makes kitty food too, I don't have kitties but I saw it on their website.

gigi7. the dry foods were not in the recall. Pouch and canned only.

I use Newman's Own dog and cat food. It's 100% human grade ingredients and does not contain corn or wheat. It's also 70% organic. I live in a small city, so I order it through Amazon.

I switched after reading about the corn fungus when Diamond Pet food had their recall last year. Once I read more about dog food, I also wanted one with human grade food. Googel "4 d's dog food" and you'll see what I mean.

My dogs have been on Newman's Own about 6 months now, and are doing great. My poodle no longer has a problem with dry, itchy skin, so I think she must have been allergic to corn or wheat.

Although the food is more expensive than the previous product I used, they do eat less of it. I hope in the long run I'll spend less on vet bills and my pets will have happier, longer lives.

Newman's Own also donates money to pet charities. The integrity of the company gives me piece of mind when it comes to feeding my pets.

Here is a link that might be useful: Newman's Own

Top notch...
Natural Balance
Life's Abundance
Blackwood
Regal Pet Foods
Evangers Dry

There is a great post in this thread by blue velvet elvis on scoring dog food.

Here is a link that might be useful: pet food

Our cats are all on RX food. All three of them eat Royal Canine High Protein Weight Control. We also have some Eukenuba Low Residue (RX) for the cat that has IBD/pancreatitis. They always eat dry - although we do keep some canned food around. But always RX.

I know that the dry foods were not recalled, but my vet told me specifically NOT to keep it...don't know why. He's still checking my lab-mix...I'm pretty worried about him. We've been back for tests 4 times now. And, I noticed that at Petsmart this week, miraculously there are several new kinds of (expensive) organic-types of dog food. Hmmmm.....I did try the Blue Buffalo (new here) and they liked it. I also tried Merrick (local company). I got a dry food with no corn, beef, or wheat. Guess we'll see.

Ah - but now there IS a recall of dry food. Hills/Science DietPrescription Diet m/d Feline dry food.

Here is a link that might be useful: pet connection

That was on our news tonite, silvergold. Also mentioned that the wheat gluten is contaminated with a product used to make plastics. The FDA is now saying their tests show no rat poison.

Like others here, I'm also feeding Blue (Buffalo)and it can be purchased at PetSmart. My dog loves it........especially the canned.
Canidae and Solid Gold are two other brands that are good and are usually carried (in my area) at Dog Grooming places.

Here is a link that might be useful: Blue

Yep - malamine found in the pet food. So, it isn't just rat poisen

No one has mentioned that the poison was in wheat that came from China. Where in the ingredients did it say parts made in CHINA. Is any one at all interested what wheat from China was doing in American pet food? This whole fiasco is getting bigger by the day. I for one want to know just what someone is pulling over on us and our pets.
oakleif

I feed Eagle holistic and Merrick. I don't want any corn or wheat in the food and no artificial presevatives. Whole sources of meat instead of meat by products and the specific meat needs to be identified. Chicken instead of chicken by products for example.

Lisa

Hi oakleaf. They are saying you should not give your pets any food containing wheat gluten at this time. Both the rat poisen and malamine where found in the wheat gluton used in the recalled foods. The story on the news this morning just said to avoid wheat gluton completely until they are sure exactly what the issue is. All testing is in the preliminary stages still. Hills latest dry food recall was because this food also uses the wheat gluton from China.

The only other things that have been mentioned by professionals in the news to avoid are the adatives BHA, BHT, and I think ethelyn glycol (or something like that). There is another additive as well that I can't remember. None of these are related to the recall that I know of - just questionable ingredients to give a pet.

I used Iams for over 17 years - then the dogs didn't seem to do so well on it any more. So 1.5 years ago I switched to Nutro dry kibble. In the month or so before the wet food recall, I noticed my dog's coats weren't as nice, they vomited on/off yellow frothy stuff, and they avoided eating it until the last moment before we went to bed. Sometimes I had to encourage them with people food on it. These are dogs that are 12, have always willingly ate dry kibble, live indoors with us, and never over eat. The vet and I attributed it to hunting dogs doing what they like to do on our long daily walks (we live in the middle of nowhere, where there are many tasty temptations on the trails).

Then around the first part of March, one of mine had violent seizures for the first time in her life at age 12. There is a family history; her brother has mild seizures 2-3 times year. so mild we don't medicate for them; and I know they can spring up at any age, so truly that is the most likely answer. However, that day I stopped feeding the Nutro, and began home cooking cold turkey.

That strange vomiting with both dogs ended that day (despite the fact I thought switching to such a rich home cooked diet would cause some upset). Coats sleeked back up in short order. Please knock on wood for us, but no seizures yet (I still am reluctant to connect that to the food, because of the dog family history, but need to put it out there because I do think there is something less than fatal in this food that was at the least causing the vomiting/tummy upsets. My girl had a cluster of 6 in less than 24 hours, and it took days before she was "normal", ie pacing for hours, some vision issues, couldn't sleep, wobbly legs, etc.) It was a nightmare. Then I heard about the wet food recall.

I thought I was a food snob. I did ask questions, but 1) how can I know if I am not told truthful answers re QC and ingredient issues, and 2) frankly, accidents like a bad batch of X can happen - to both pet and human grade food. I don't know what to think now, except that if commercial wet food has issues with rat poison, plastics poison, god-knows-what-else is still in it that is causing problems less than death in it, too much Vitamin D (the Royal Canin lawsuit, which btw, I had tried the cat food years ago and it was simply awesome at the time, but still, they screwed up)... well, I can guarantee that as a home cooker, I can be more careful than that. I am just lucky that I can make the time to home cook - what a burden that would be in other circumstances for a lot of people.

The cat would be harder to do a good home job with; so I am trying Felidae dry kibble.

P.S. The store and Nutro were very stand up about taking our returned sacks of dry kibble for full credit.

If I wasn't home cooking, I would try Canidae. Caveat - I have no way of knowing for certain how they process food, their QC, if it truly is safe, etc. But I do like what I see enough that I am trying their cat food.

And the other aspect I don't like is the FDA's small quiet statement that they are looking into this tainted wheat gluten shipment to see if it made it into our human grade food chain. They said they don't know for sure yet - it is possible. I find that scary. And not something I know how to protect myself or family against ingesting, you know? Labels just aren't the whole story or all that they are cracked up to be.

P.S. For anyone serving canned Alpo prime cuts in gravy, per a Seattle dog blog, Purina announced a recall late Friday of those canned products. See link below at itchmo.com for details. Seems to be something new every day on this thing.

Here is a link that might be useful: Friday new recalls of Hills dry and Alpo Canned

I feed my cats Iams dry food. Should I be worried? Should I switch them to something else? I know they haven't said it's in that dry food brand (YET), but what if they do say so a couple of weeks from now? I'll be kicking myself. I don't even know what I should switch them to.

Hi rivkadr - I would recommend checking the label. If there is wheat in it, stop using it. One of our cats eats Eukenuba Low Residue - there is no wheat in it.

Agree with silvergold.

I'd further say that as they announce a potential problem ingredient, just stop using any product that has it listed. At least until it has been investigated.

I know how you feel - I did switch to Felidae, but how the heck can I be sure this won't be a recall waiting to happen as well? No matter what I think, there is no way to be sure any more. I am not feeling good about my ability to do what is right for my pets right now.

Doubleshot - when you say you were feeding your dog Nutro dry kibble which dry kibble was it, they make about 6 different varieties. I've fed my dogs Nutro Lamb & Rice for years and it was the best thing ever for giving them a shiny coat and stopping my oldest dog, now 13, from having diahreah.

BTW, in todays paper, it was rat poison in the recall,it was melamine. Used as a fertilizer over in China, banned for that purpose in North America

pkguy - I exclusively fed the Nutro Natural Choice line, and the flavor was Chicken, Rice and Oatmeal. Until lately (would have to check the calendar/vet records to see when exactly, but it started last year), it was a wonderful food for my dogs - all the skin, coat, digestive, & excessive licking as though an allergy might be present kind of issues that had been occuring with the Iams dry food were eliminated. We were very pleased with the food.

Given the issues I was having with the Iams, I tried to pick a kibble that did NOT contain the two most common causes of allergies - wheat and corn. This product did not and was formulated especially for sensitive stomaches. My dogs simply fell upon it and devoured it (until sometime last year).

So whatever was causing my dog's vomiting was not related to wheat or corn. The other listed ingredients likely contain the culprit. I don't think Nutro is a bad company or that the food is inherently "bad." I do know that something in the batches I got during the time period I mentioned were not good for my dogs and caused the vomiting. And it wasn't limited to one single sack.

As I have read it, the lab that detected rat poisoning has not changed their position - ie, that batch tested did contain rat poison (there are some good vet blogs out there with veterinarians discussing this "discrepancy" between the FDA and the other lab tests). Other batches have contained melamine, which can cause toxcity long term, but from what I read, is not likely at all to cause the rapid death and damage seen in a majority of the pets affected. The cause of that is still undetermined (again, this coming from veterinarians discussing the symptoms). And of course, Iams products contained a chemical that they were warned not to put into their pet food, that they did anyway, and now are in dutch for having done so (chromine something?? Don't know exactly, don't care either since I don't feed Iams).

So, we are at a minimum of 3 laboratory tested and validated chemicals in various food batches, which means that quality control on pet food has either gone south or is not what it has been represented to be. Any food can be a great food, until the addition of a contaminated item. If that is the batch you feed your dogs, then the results will follow. It is rather a crap shoot. I am totally at a loss as to what the safe thing is to do.