I had this go round with Whole Foods last year. I asked them about stocking a brand of meat substitute that is made here in the US - has been in business for 60+ years making high quality meat substitutes with nary a recall. I got a bunch of blather about standards and supporting developing countries. I'm all for supporting developing countries - I'll happily pay for a hand made scarf made from hand sheared and hand spun wool from somewhere if that is what I want. I simply see no sense in paying inflated prices for "exotic" foods that are manufactured without any kind of standards or controls. The whole "organic" thing makes me crazy. What does "organic" mean anyway - it means whatever the vendor wants it to mean - it doesn't necessarily mean its better for you, but it always means its more expensive. I love our farmer's markets - only locally grown produce. I love the stands the farmers set up out on the little roads to sell their produce. I love that they know my name because they see me every week. I'm a lot more comfortable with that than I am with something imported from China (or other places). Okay, I'll quit ranting. So far so good on the pet foods for me, but I'm giving real thought to making their food myself.

I have called that number probably in excess of 200 times since yesterday morning. The number is busy, busy, busy. Why is it so hard to put out a list of the affected foods, numbers, etc.? I have also found that the IAMS site that I am directed won't load, I guess it is overloaded???? If the food recalled were manufactured for human consumption, you can bet there would be more information available to stem the tide of lawsuits. Because it is confined to pet food/animals, these manufacturers don't think it is as important because they don't face lawsuits. However, they would think it important if their foods were boycotted because of their ignorance and inattention. Has anyone been able to get through on the number QQ posted? Just ridiculous and very frustrating.

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.

As a Diamond distributer we got a letter from Diamond that unknown to them American Nutrition put rice gluten in some of their products and they recalled these. UNKNOWN TO THEM! I can hardly belive that! We distribute Diamond because they told us they make their own products, they don't. boopadaboo, I was driving down the highway the other day and thought about the recall and all the animals people love and gave them the best they could give them. I thought about you and Sadie, it was as if my heart was breaking I started crying and just couldn't stop, well I did stop my truck and just sat on the side of the highway and cried. It is sad enough knowing about the cats and dogs not valued but I always thought when they get their good home they will be safe. We are so powerless. There is someway we can take our power back from the companies that are controling our food supply, by making them accountable. It is only about money for them.