33 replies to this topic

[PSmitty]

A little over a month ago, I opened a new bag of TOTW. That was a Thursday night or Friday morning, by Saturday afternoon, my husband came home to a house covered in vomit and diarrhea. By Monday, three of my dogs had the same symptoms and one was going to the vet. I threw away the remaining bag of food. This was about a week before the first Diamond recall (at that time it didn't even include TOTW). I knew in my gut it was the food, and there's no convincing me otherwise now. Of course the bag was long gone, so no checking...I know stuff like this is bound to happen, and probably has been all along, but still, it sucks.

I switched to Hi-Tek Rations (Naturals line, grain free). Supposedly made in their own plant in Georgia. So far, so good.

[bc4ever]

We just switched Daniel to the Sweet Potato and Venison formula about a month ago. Thankfully, our bag isn't in the recall. Yet. We always empty the food into a large container too, but I cut the lot number, best buy dates, etc., from the bag and put it in with the food, just in case. I also include the receipt.

[beachdogz]

I agree with Mary that this has probably been happening all along. We are just more likely to hear about it now.

J.

I fed Diamond about 28 years ago when most people hadn't heard of it and mostly breeders fed it. Then it became more popular. One day, I opened a bag of dog food, and it just looked different. I could tell by the kibble. I fed it, and my dogs had different stools....not bad stools...just different. No one got sick. I KNEW this was not the same dog food. I called the company and told them what I suspected. They told me that I was right....that they had grown so big over the past few months that they had to "contract out" their dog food and mine was coming from a different plant. Well, I'm pretty positive it was not the same recipe. He told me they would send me a new batch from the plant "my food used to come from". So I got a new shipment of 500 lbs. of dog food.

A year later, the exact same thing happened...opened up the bag and knew immediately that it was not the same food. I called again and they again sent me the "right" food. Then I switched foods and stopped dealing with them.

About ten years before that, a successful Springer Spaniel breeder in our area lost her entire kennel to the Dad's Dog Food fiasco where the food that was being transported in a train shifted and was exposed to some sort of toxic metal. A horrible experience.

Then for us there is the salmonella outbreaks from lettuce, tomatoes, tuna, ground beef, and the list goes on...not to mention anything from China.

And I agree, we hear more about it via the internet...but I still think there is an increase over the years.

[G. Festerling]

And I agree with the increase. I personally can't help but feel that it is a mix of the companies getting so big that they loose oversight and pride as well as employee management.
Either way, it stinks.

[bc4ever]

Read this morning that the recall now includes CAT FOOD, and they've changed the identification codes.

[beachdogz]

And I agree with the increase. I personally can't help but feel that it is a mix of the companies getting so big that they loose oversight and pride as well as employee management.
Either way, it stinks.

Don't forget greed....I think that is the number one reason.

[DeltaBluez Tess]

I made the switch a few years ago to Dynamite Dog food....they have their own mill that no other dog food or any other food is processed. Their mill is Medication Free, Urea Free, Meat and Bone Meal Free and Pesticide Free.

I decided to make the switch when I saw some top handlers dog just "look and work" with a certain look and physcial fitness....so I asked and the hander was the Ops manager for Dynamite...long story short, I signed up to be a dealer so the prices break out to about $1 a lbs when I buy 1/2 tons and it is wheat and corn free and no chemicals.

I had have used other dogs food and my dogs got ill or their coats got dull etc.....I decided not to take anymore chances and went to a company that saw the buying process to the milling process and had no other food manufactured at their mills.

right after Tess went on this food, she started to act like a pup and was able to clear thr 4 ft gate to *help me* during lessons.....

When you buy it by the bag at retail it is expensive so I signed up to be a dealer and buy it buy 1/2 to 1 ton. Also my dogs eat 1 1/4 cup a day. The poops are small and not smelly and they never had an runs or throwing up.

I used to buy Diamond for years but after all the recalls, I went searching.

[juliepoudrier]

Diane,
I'm not understanding. If their mill is meat and bone meal free, and they aren't using corn and wheat, what is going into their kibble?

J.

[Journey]

Julie, I went and checked their website, strange but I could not find an ingredient list or protein info.

[DeltaBluez Tess]

Here is what is in their dog food.

From their website

"This superior formula is free of the common allergens corn and wheat, and is made with fresh hand-trimmed USDA chicken and turkey, fresh low-ash lamb. It also has chicken cartilage that is rich in natural glucosamine. On top of that it contains prebiotics and probiotics to aid digestion.

Our food is made with minimal processing to help preserve the natural goodness of the ingredients. Conventional dog foods will cook ingredients up to 4 times in their manufacturing process. Our small-batch recipe is not baked. Instead, we use state-of-the-art technology that utilizes a low-temperature, high-moisture extrusion. This method assures all starch is cooked and minimal damage occurs to the proteins. To maintain this optimal freshness, our new 40 pound bag features a one-way air valve."

[DeltaBluez Tess]

I also give my dog RedPaw fat.

I used to feed Flint river for years but the prices went up and they only offered dog food. They are a very good company too. dynamite also offer human and equine products. My senior horse gets their feed too. They just recently offered cat food so I will be getting a bag for my cats as well as my mom's cat.

Tess is on the Dynamite supplements for her joints, (Yucca, Free and Easy which has -gluco/chrondite, HA etc) as well as other supplements. It has helped her quite a bit and now she has congestive heart failure, pulomary Hypertension and kidney diease. We just pulled her off the Dynamite dogfood since the protein levels are higher and now she is on K/D. They think she has six months more to live. She is on herbal supplements as well as prescribed meds. She has two Aunts that are her personal vets and God-mothers. We took her off the supplements (but not the meds) and she began to rapidly decline (stiffness and lack of energy) so we put her back on the supplements and she is feeling much better and running around like a banshee. Ironically enough after this, both vets changed their dogfood to Dynamite.

The other dog food that I really liked was the "GO" dogfood. I won a bag at a dog trial a few years in Canada. My dog LOVED it but at that time it was not sold in the States. it's a fantastic food and I also highly recommend it.

[Tuxedodog]

For once I lucked out and the bag of Diamond Naturals that is mostly gone, wasn't on the recall list. Tractor supply has a $5 off any bag of dogfood coupon, but what the heck am I going to buy? I guess I will take the recall list with me and check serial numbers. I don't rely on the people in the stores actually being careful enough to get all of the bad bags - after getting home from the grocery store to find out that I bought eggs a month out of date. I would also be careful of the re-sellers. During one of the big Purina horse feed recalls, the person who owned the farm where I boarded called the store where the feed was bought and was assured that they didn't sell any of the recalled feed. I checked the empty bags in the barn and found 5. I was torn between being thankful for once, for bad housekeeping in the barn and upset that my horse had been eating toxic feed for a month. Purina did refund the money.

[Mark Billadeau]

The recall is for public health concerns, not due to impact on canine health. The risks here are not that different from feeding raw poultry.

I suspect (but cannot prove) that the contamination occurred in the enrobing process (spaying fat onto the extruded kibble to add flavor and increase fat content). During the extrusion process the kibble gets hot enough to kill the salmonella while the enrobing fluid may not have been heating long enough at the typical enrobing temps to kill all the salmonella. Heating kills salmonella, and adversely impacts other beneficial nutrients. The FDA recently recommended that finished pet foods be tested for salmonella; a 7 day long process. Either Diamond (and the companies that contract Diamond) has not started following the recommendations or the amount of salmonella at the time of testing was too low to be detected (FDA has stated this is a possibility in salmonella testing) and needed time to grow in the bags on the shelf.

The reason the source of the human infections were able to be traced to the dog food was the CDC can "finger print" the DNA of the salmonella which turned out to be a rare form and had the same finger print and salmonella found in unopened bags. Improved science and technology allows us to see things we not able to see before.

Manufacturers need to do everything they can to ensure their products are safe.
Consumers need to take appropriate actions to protect their health.
FDA Tips for Preventing Foodborne Illness Associated with Pet Food and Pet Treats
July 27, 2007

[Cowgirl_Tuff44]

Sigh. I just switched to TOTW from Diamond because of the recall... Don't think it is on the list, but I expect it to be soon.

This is why I am so eager to get my herd of cattle going. And our goat for milk. And our chickens... And the garden. I'm going to enjoy it so much when I know where all of my meat and such is coming from and then I can stop getting all of these darned emails about recalled dog food. Amen to the day I get 100 acres...