Time off

It's been such a busy week of blogging, Jake took long walks and also spent some time enjoying his yard. Remember to read Itchmo every day. Eat good food and be happy!

Life is grand!

Friday! TGTIF day again

Late Thursday night and Friday recalls kept hitting our email alerts from Itchmo and later from the FDA. That was the bad news, but the good news is at the same time we have solutions to the growing questions of what to feed.

Jake went to his vet today for "junior wellness exam" and first part of his boosters. We asked about our new adventure in home cooking. She said it could be absolutely fine but must be done correctly. She's seen dogs do very well on this approach and recommended talking to UC Davis Veterinary School. They will do telephone consults on canine nutrition!!! I'll be calling, armed w/ all my questions from the last month of many hours of research into proper recipes for Jake. He weighed in at 21 1/2# and she'd like to see him take off about 1/2#. That should be easy. Fewer biscuits, John...and w/ nice weather Jake will be playing in the yard more in addition to his usual twice daily walks that always occur rain or shine (what sunshine...this is the Pacific NW?) during the winter.

I found my email from The Honest Kitchen today interesting. Also someone on the Itchmo boards suggested Dr. Harvey's. I don't want to feed a raw diet, but otoh the vegetable mix that allows me to add my own cooked meat in the correct proportion would work fine if it is one of those days we might have run out of prepared home cooked and want to provide the usual tasty dinner. This would have the added advantage of already including proper vitamins and minerals. Both Honest Kitchen and Dr. Harvey's have things that would fit into our new eating plan for Jake, which will not include raw meats. Organic food that these two companies make themselves so they should know exactly what they're putting into it. Or at least one hopes that will be the case. AAR, these two companies are worth your checking out if you are among the growing number of concerned about the four footed family members of the household.

Recalls continue to roll in

The pet food recalls continue to roll in. Signed up for Itchmo alerts, the news comes right in my email. Following links and reading more articles in various newspapers around the country, I'm learning that we have good reason to question the human food supply. Much of the food that goes on our own tables comes from out of the country. If shipments from China tainted our pets' food, and at least some of that was marked "human grade," I can't help but wonder about the food that comes in meant specifically for the family meals.

From what I'm reading from Itchmo, both Natural Balance and Blue Buffalo recalled products today that was made by American Nutrition. I just viewed American Nutrition website and they are claiming all their foods are safe. Uh-oh.

We keep waiting for the other shoe to drop and drop it does. Only now more shoes have dropped than an centipede would need.

Recipes for Dogs

There's an awfully cute site called "The DoGie BaG, a Bistro for Dogs" which has recipes of dogs page. Their Daily Feeding Guidelines for a 20 lb. Dog fit Jake's 23 lb rather well. He certainly approved wholeheartedly of what we prepared from it for a week's worth of food! Usually a picky eater at best he dove right in two nights in a row and polished his bowl. The "fun" part of DoGie BaG recipes is the variety they afford. They list proteins, carbs and veggies allowing choices in each category and telling you how much for each category by weight or volume. Then the recipe tells what to add in addition to make it complete and balanced. So easy to make a whole week's worth at once. We used well washed cups from Nancy's Yogurt, filling almost to the top. Two go in the fridge, four in the freezer to be defrosted as needed, the remaining helping goes into his bowl for that first night. In the interest of full disclosure we're using 1/2 the total amount for a full meal and putting his favorite dry kibble, Karma by Natura on top for the other half of his dinner. Friday Jake goes to his vet. We'll discuss what we're doing and get her recommendations. Also, I expect soon Monica Segal's K9 Kitchen will arrive. It was back ordered, and no wonder with the constant flow of recalls and less than full disclosure on the part of Menu Foods. The advice from Monica Segal will be specific for Jake after I read the book and have a consultation by email. I expect she will approve of the recipe Jake is having this week but may "tweak" it a bit as far as the supplements. Will report back on this tale of what Jake is eating and how he likes it as time goes along.

The Right to Good Pet Food

I posted the following response on Itchmo Opinion: The Right to Good Pet Food:

WTG, Itchmo. Right on all counts.

A first step could possibly be to require each manufacturer to have their products tested by an INDEPENDENT LAB, thoroughly tested and not just for %protein, %ash, %fiber, %moisture, etc. This would, I admit, be expensive. It’s been proven necessary. Let it come out of the salaries of the owners of the companies themselves. They were greedy and negligent. Let them bear the financial burden. This is not to let the FDA off the hook but to provide a first step in the remedy of our current situation.

I know that some of the producers of dog and cat food are innocent of recent tainted ingredients being added to their foods. I don’t mean to punish them in my proposal but rather to give them a mandate to insure the products are safe for us in the future also.

Our Jake, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, ate his first home cooked dinner last night and loved it. No ill effects tummy wise, either. I’m still in process of due diligence to make his food complete and balanced while hoping that I can return to dry kibble, which I think is better in the long run for his teeth. There were NO problems at all reported regarding the company we buy his food from. They own their own plant for their dry food and will build or buy a canning facility in the wake of this Menu foods disaster. I simply want more safeguards in place.

As a matter of fact, I’d like more safeguards for our human food. For that we must turn to the FDA and make ourselves heard. Many of the dog food companies do use human grade ingredients, so that would also go a long way towards giving us safe manufactured dog foods products to select from.

Itchmo, thank you for all your very hard work and a job well done,
Carol

TGTIF

There were more postings about the food recall issues today, some of the best still to be found on Itchmo, and also a checklist of recalled foods on the Oregon Veterinary Medical Association site.

Meanwhile, TGTIF! Beautiful sunny day here in our town. We went for a leisurely walk this afternoon. Here Mom said to look both ways before crossing the street.


And then Mom sent us ahead so she would have "interesting subject" going down the sidewalk!


You can see what I mean by bright blue skies decorated by beautiful clouds, a perfect TGTIF kind of day.

The "gluten story," strike three

Itchmo's alerts are terrific. Another just came in, and as some of us suspected the corn gluten from at least one supplier is also tainted w/ Melamine. Melamine isn't even legal in the USA. It's toxic...generally a fertizer used in China and I guess some other parts of the globe. So Royal Canin, earler having recalls in S. Africa due to corn gluten, has had to recall a list of their products from the shelves here due to rice gluten. It was voluntary, but since it did test positive for Melamine what else could be done but pull it! I only hope the specialty pet supply stores get the word as quickly as those of us who have Itchmo alerts do.

The bad news is that corn gluten is in many pet foods here in the USA. I wonder how many got the tainted stuff??? The FDA doesn't believe any of the tainted corn gluten made it into the United States. Meanwhile, many pet owners are now waiting for another shoe to drop. FDA officials plan a trip to China to check out the factories involved in the manufacture of the imported gluten, but so far do not have visas.