Animal Food

Tony Peters | April 7, 2007
Well, I don't have any human children and don't plan on having any, however I consider my animals (two Japanese temple cats, Zipper and Sketch, and a GSP, Muji) to be my children. So when we found out that the canned food we feed our GSP was contaminated with poison off Muji went to the vet for tests which thankfully came back negative. Our trust of the pet food industry has been damaged. We had been in the process of shifting out cats to Blue Buffalo at recommendation of Amy. But Muji, my overly energetic German Shorthaired Pointer is very touchy about her food and doesn't like Blue Buff's wet food (dry isn't a problem).

So yesterday following a recipe from our vet we bought 6 kidneys, 2 hearts, 2 livers (all beef) 4 lbs of cheek meat, 5lbs of hamburger meat, 2lbs chicken gizzards, and 4lbs of chicken livers for protein. in addition to 4lbs of carrots, 2lbs of kale, 2lbs of broccoli and a head of parsley (quadruple recipe). Everything went into a huge pot with a quart of water and set to stew. All night long it stewed and this morning we chopped, bagged up and froze about a month's worth of wet dogfood. First meal was eaten happily and what surprising it wasn't really that hard to do.

I can't imagine not having my animals in my life and given the state of the pet food industry the time out my life for their continued well being is well spent.

Jackie Mason | April 7, 2007
[hidden by request]

Kerry Odell | April 8, 2007
I wouldn't go so far as to say my dog is on the same level as my son, but we do love her and she's part of the family. We use nutro...not the ones on the list, but you never know what else they will find. What amazes me is that this happened in the higher end brands. I'd expect it to be found in generic and lower end food....thinking they cut corners or something.

First the peanut butter (my mom actually ate an entire jar of the contaminated stuff, but she only has it on toast in the morning so although she built up enough to get sick, it wasn't enough to where she saw a doctor. She changed brands of bread and a couple other things and thought the problems were related to those. By the time she ruled them out, the recall made news.)...and now dog food. What's next? Water?

Scott Hardie | April 8, 2007
Today's Newsweek has an overview of the pet medication fad that touches on the underlying issues related to this: (link)

Every few years, some threat (reasonable or not) becomes the national scare for the summer. In recent years it has been flesh-eating bacteria, West Nile virus, anthrax, shark attacks, child abductions, and sniper shootings. This year, after recalls on spinach, peanut butter, and pet food, I wouldn't be surprised if tainted food continues to dominate our collective anxiety for the rest of 2007. This is going to be one lousy Halloween for the kids.

Tony Peters | April 8, 2007
I find the concept of a weight loss drug for a dog to be rather odd. My dog is my weight loss drug, Muji requires a minimum of 30-45 minutes of running or she drives us insane....I mean completely I wanna kill this dog crazy. We have take to using two tennis balls and a Chuck-it to wear her out before actually doing anything with her during the day. OK I admit I was chosen as the father of an athletic dog but I wanted a companion for hiking and such but to me having a dog is reason to out and about see the world and meet the neighbors if nothing else. Dogs like people are healthier if they get regular exercise