Pet Food Recall - What You Should Know (And Do) .pdf and .rtf files available
I’ve uploaded a condensed version of my “Pet Food Recall - What You Should Know (And Do)” post in .pdf and text formats.
Feel free to download the “Recall2Page.pdf” file, print it out, send it to friends, etc. If you would prefer to copy the text into a publication of your own (a newsletter, on your business stationery to hand out to clients, etc.), download the “Recall2Page.rtf” file instead. Please keep the text intact and include the proper byline (”by Ann Dupuis of Your Dream Dog, yourdreamdog.com”). If you wish to include the text in a publication that is for sale rather than free, please contact Ann Dupuis for permission before publication.
May 2nd, 2007 at 1:21 pm
Thanks Ann, great info! Is it possible to get a listing of the dog foods that we beleive to be safe as an accompanyment?
May 2nd, 2007 at 2:47 pm
You’re welcome, Carl!
Unfortunately, the question “what should we feed our pets?” is one with no simple answer — and that was true even before the pet food recall.
Too many Americans have problems answering the question “what should I feed myself?” (especially with the prevalence of pre-packaged and fast food) and that’s led to epidemics of diabetes and obesity — epidemics which are actually reflected in our pet population as well.
The answer to both questions is pretty much the same: We and our pets should be eating healthy, wholesome, fresh foods in moderate quantities with a wide variety to ensure nutritional needs are met. Supplements (vitamins and minerals in specific balances) may be needed to complete the diet. Oh, and moderate exercise is important, too.
Sugars, artificial ingredients, preservatives, and the like should really be avoided.
I don’t think there is any such thing as “the perfect diet” for ourselves or our pets simply because there are times when we’re going to want to (or have to) take shortcuts or settle for lower-quality ingredients (say, something that’s been grown conventionally rather than meeting organic standards).
Just as there aren’t any pre-packaged foods available that are “the best diet” for people, I don’t think any of the commercially available pet foods provide the “ideal diet” for our pets. I /do/ think that some of the higher-quality commercial foods tend to get closer to “ideal” for our pets than human pre-packaged foods do for us….
The science of nutrition is an evolving one, and a diet that seems healthy one year may be castigated the next (Atkins diet, anyone?).
My approach is to educate myself on nutrition (both for humans /and/ for pets) and to continue looking for more information and updated information.
The books I recommend in the “Dog Diets” category under Recommended Products are ones that I currently use in preparing home foods for my own dogs, and also in evaluating commercial foods for my pets. (I have several more pet-diet books that I /don’t/ recommend, either because they’re older or because they have what I consider to be faulty information or inadequate recipes and advice.)
One source of information that I trust is the Whole Dog Journal: http://www.whole-dog-journal.com/
Their February issue includes their annual list of “top dry dog foods” and their March issue includes their annual review of canned dog foods. These specific articles are available for sale on their website, and I highly recommend you subscribe to get future issues (the individual articles are a bit pricey, the year’s worth of issues is available online for a reasonable price and also available by mail).
The Dog Food Project website at http://www.dogfoodproject.com has a wealth of information on commercial pet foods, including information on how to identify the better products, ingredients to avoid, how to read labels, and the like.
There’s also a “product list” that includes in-depth information on many commercially available dog foods.
In my opinion, the Dog Food Project has a higher standard than I follow myself, and some of the ingredients on their “ingredients to avoid” list are ones that I don’t feel that strongly about one way or another. (One example: there’s an entire page devoted to Menadione, or Vitamin K, which I’ve actually talked to my vet about and researched a bit — and it seems as though Menadione is a bigger PR problem for pet food manufacturers than it is a health problem for our pets. Another example: they consider that the most recent picks by the Whole Dog Journal are off the mark with about 1/3 of the “recommended” foods not meeting the standards set by the Dog Food Project — and the Whole Dog Journal’s standards are pretty high.) So take some of what’s listed there with a grain of salt, and do some further research if necessary to come to your own conclusions.
I wish I had a better (shorter and more definitive and more helpful!) answer for you!
Ann