The PetsitUSA Blog

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• Pet food recall: Feline’s Pride Chicken Formula Cat Food
• Merrick didn’t tell pet owners of salmonella contamination
• Lydia celebrates two years as a canine cancer survivor!

Pet food recall: Feline’s Pride Chicken Formula Cat Food Posted: 01 Jul 2010 06:56 PM PDT Holy moly! I’m having freakin’ deja vu. Here’s another recall for pet food contaminated with salmonella. This one is for Feline’s Pride Natural Chicken Formula Cat Food. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – July 1, 2010 – Buffalo, NY – Feline's Pride is announcing a voluntary recall of Feline's Pride Raw food with ground bone for cats and kittens, Natural Chicken Formula, Net Wt. 2.5 lbs. (1.13 kg., 40 oz.) produced on 6/10/10,  because it may be contaminated with Salmonella. People handling raw pet food can become infected with Salmonella, especially if they have not thoroughly washed their hands after having contact with the raw pet food or any surfaces exposed to the product. [...] The product is packaged in uncoded  plastic containers and sold frozen to private consumers nationwide. Once thawed, the pet food has a shelf life of about 1 week. The firm manufactures the pet food by an as-ordered basis. This recall affects only those orders placed and shipped from June 10 through June 17, 2010. [...] This product should not be fed to pets but should instead be disposed of in a safe manner (e.g., in a securely covered trash receptacle). People who are experiencing the symptoms of Salmonella infection after having handled the pet food product should seek medical attention, and report their use of the product and illness to the nearest FDA office. If you have any questions, the FDA is telling pet owners to contact the company at (716) 580-3096, Monday –Friday from 10 am – 4 pm EDT. Read the rest from the Feline's Pride Issues Nationwide Recall of its Natural Chicken Formula Cat Food Due to Salmonella Contamination. I don’t know what’s up with pet food and salmonella, but I sure hope these pet food companies get their stuff together and figure it out!

Merrick didn’t tell pet owners of salmonella contamination Posted: 01 Jul 2010 06:44 PM PDT Today the FDA sent a letter to Garth Merrick, owner of Tejas Industries about salmonella contamination in their Merrick Beef Filet Squares. Back in January, Merrick voluntarily recalled the food after the FDA found possible salmonella contamination. Now the FDA wants to know what’s up and why they didn’t give pet owners the whole scoop on the recall. On December 2, 2009, FDA collected a sample of Merrick Beef Filet Squares manufactured by your Plainview, Texas facility and repackaged by your Hereford, Texas facility. Analysis of this dog chew revealed the product to be contaminated with Salmonella meleagridis. [...] Our inspections revealed that the manufacturing processes used by your firm to manufacture pet treats are not controlled and that contamination of these products may occur through inadequate treatment or through recontamination of the treated products due to improper storage or handling after processing. Specifically, your firm could not provide evidence that your manufacturing processes eliminate pathogens such as Salmonella during processing because your firm does not consistently monitor critical factors in the process such as time and temperature; nor could you provide evidence demonstrating that recontamination was not likely to occur post-processing. Further, your firm could not provide evidence supporting the adequacy of your in-house sampling and testing program, for example, explaining the location and number of samples collected for each lot of finished product. We recognize that your firm initiated a voluntary recall of Merrick Beef Filet Squares by letter to your customers dated January 11, 2010. The recall was initiated following FDA sampling and your firm’s internal sampling, both of which revealed the presence of Salmonella. However, your recall strategy may be determined to be ineffective to the consumer level for the following reasons: • Your firm delayed your public communication to alert consumers who may have the recalled product in their possession until after FDA issued an FDA Health Alert on January 14, 2010. • Your recall communications to distributors, retailers, and consumers only included case lot coding 9323, which was different from the lot coding on some of the individual bags. Due to a labeling error, some of the affected bags were coded with the lot code 9333. • Your recall letter did not identify the hazard involved. Your letter to wholesale and retail consignees indicated the product was recalled because it “may not have been processed properly.” Recalls can be less effective if the recall communication does not concisely explain the reason for recall and the hazard involved. Merrick has been given 15 days to get respond to the FDA. Read the rest of the letter from the FDA to Garth Merrick, CEO of Tejas Industries, Inc. Mr. Merrick, did you folks learn anything from the pet food recall a few years ago? You do remember that, don’t you? Do you remember how many pet owners were enraged to find out pet food companies weren’t telling the whole truth about the pet food they manufacture? Since then, some companies have tried really hard to change, and are trying to do the right thing for their customers, and the pets that eat their food. It looks like you guys decided to do business as usual, though. Sad, very sad! Honestly don’t you think you would have been much better off telling folks, “hey, our stuff may be contaminated with salmonella. Return it and we’ll make it right?” Instead, you’re getting slapped with a violation from the FDA because you weren’t up front about what was going on. I’m guessing that’ll piss a few people off!

Lydia celebrates two years as a canine cancer survivor! Posted: 01 Jul 2010 04:19 PM PDT My dog Lydia is a canine cancer survivor! Typing that is super emotional for me. It was just two years ago when I found myself crying my eyes out as I typed My dog Lydia has cancer. The tears in my eyes as I type today are much different than the ones I cried back then! When I first heard the words “your dog has cancer” I wasn’t sure if we’d still be together a few months later, (let alone two years!), but here we are! Lydia, Archie, and I are celebrating today! It was two years ago today that she had surgery to remove a couple lumps that turned out to be cancer. Her vet didn’t have much hope at first, and told me she may be with me for another six months – if we were lucky. On the other hand though, he said he’d never seen this type of cancer (anal gland cancer) caught so early. His hope (and mine!) was that he was wrong and he referred us to an oncologist. Lydia’s oncologist was much more optimistic and started her on chemotherapy right away. She went through one treatment per month for nine months, and is doing absolutely fabulous! We’ve done a heck of a lot of living in the past two years and have learned to enjoy every single day more than ever before. I don’t know about Lydia, but I’ve learned to appreciate her life (and life in general) in a different way than before her diagnosis. A day doesn’t go by without me telling her how wonderful she is and how much better my life is because of her. I am so thankful that she’s still here with me. We still get to hang out on the couch, go for long walks, play her favorite games, and cuddle up at bedtime. She’s she’s still here – and she’s happy and healthy! Cancer is a nasty, nasty beast – whether it’s human or canine cancer. I know way too many people who have fought cancer themselves, or lost people and pets in a short amount of time. In fact, I lost both of my parents within months of being diagnosed, and more recently, I lost my cat Tequila within a month of learning she had cancer. So, I’m fully aware of how Lydia’s cancer could have gone. The past two years have truly been a gift. I don’t know why we were chosen to receive this gift, but you can bet I’m a very grateful recipient! As I type this Lydia is lying on the floor next to me – quite content and quite healthy! She and Archie celebrated after their dinner with some ice cream and cookies. Lydia even got a new party hat and a fancy collar. You would never know by looking at her that Lydia has been through so much. She’s definitely a fighter, she’s my hero, and my little cancer survivor. If you want to keep up with Lydia, she has her own Facebook page: Lydia, canine cancer survivor.

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