Archive for October 2, 2009
Recalled: Thiamine deficiency in some of Diamond’s Premium Edge cat foods causing serious illness
Premium Edge, a line manufactured by Diamond Pet Foods, is withdrawing (one of the words du jour that pet food companies use to avoid the word “recall”) its Premium Edge Finicky Adult Cat and Premium Edge Hairball formulas due to a dangerous thiamine deficiency in the foods.
One of my readers wrote me about this yesterday, but I couldn’t find anything about it on the company’s web site. I phoned them, but they didn’t return the call.
So I tried again today, and was directed to this new online statement:
Diamond Pet Foods has withdrawn from distribution the following date codes of Premium Edge Finicky Adult Cat and Premium Edge Hairball cat: RAF0501A22X 18lb., RAF0501A2X 6 lb., RAH0501A22X 18 lb., RAH0501A2X 6lb. The calls from pet owners or veterinarians regarding this issue have been centered in the Rochester, NY area. All retail outlets shipped the above lots were contacted, asking them to pull the product from the store shelves. The retailers were also asked to contact their customers via email or telephone requesting them to check the date code of the food. However, if you or anyone you know has these date codes of Premium Edge cat food, please return them to your retailer.
Symptoms displayed by an affected cat will be neurological in nature. Any cats fed these date codes that display these symptoms should be immediately taken to a veterinarian.
Product testing proved no contaminants were discovered in the cat food; however the cat foods were deficient in thiamine. Diamond tracked the vitamin premix lot number that was utilized in these particular cat foods and have performed testing on another lot of Premium Edge cat food that used the same vitamin premix, and it was not deficient in thiamine. No other neurological signs have been reported on any other product manufactured by Diamond Pet Foods.
The affected cats were quite ill, mostly with neurological symptoms. The first sign was a lack of interest in eating, followed by symptoms including muscular weakness, vomiting, lethargy,rigid posture, circling, increased respiratory rate, lack of recognition of their owners, dilated pupils, and seizures.
Fortunately the cats have responded to thiamine supplementation and hospitalization, and my reader reported that Diamond is footing the bills for treatment.
This is just one more example of companies not getting it. Don’t hope these things won’t leak out; they will. The minute a product problem is suspected, be open about it. Stop trying to call it something other than a recall when you pull your product off store shelves, and if animals are getting sick, blast it all over the PR channels, and make sure veterinarians are aware of the problem.
Otherwise, these endless small stories, buried on corporate web sites and dragged into the light of day by grieving pet owners, will turn into nothing but death by a thousand tiny cuts for the pet food industry, eroding consumer confidence and damaging companies’ reputations beyond repair.
http://www.petconnection.com/blog/2009/10/…
Technorati Tags: veterinarian, cat
Recalled: Thiamine deficiency in some of Diamond’s Premium Edge cat foods causing serious illness
Premium Edge, a line manufactured by Diamond Pet Foods, is withdrawing (one of the words du jour that pet food companies use to avoid the word “recall”) its Premium Edge Finicky Adult Cat and Premium Edge Hairball formulas due to a dangerous thiamine deficiency in the foods.
One of my readers wrote me about this yesterday, but I couldn’t find anything about it on the company’s web site. I phoned them, but they didn’t return the call.
So I tried again today, and was directed to this new online statement:
Diamond Pet Foods has withdrawn from distribution the following date codes of Premium Edge Finicky Adult Cat and Premium Edge Hairball cat: RAF0501A22X 18lb., RAF0501A2X 6 lb., RAH0501A22X 18 lb., RAH0501A2X 6lb. The calls from pet owners or veterinarians regarding this issue have been centered in the Rochester, NY area. All retail outlets shipped the above lots were contacted, asking them to pull the product from the store shelves. The retailers were also asked to contact their customers via email or telephone requesting them to check the date code of the food. However, if you or anyone you know has these date codes of Premium Edge cat food, please return them to your retailer.
Symptoms displayed by an affected cat will be neurological in nature. Any cats fed these date codes that display these symptoms should be immediately taken to a veterinarian.
Product testing proved no contaminants were discovered in the cat food; however the cat foods were deficient in thiamine. Diamond tracked the vitamin premix lot number that was utilized in these particular cat foods and have performed testing on another lot of Premium Edge cat food that used the same vitamin premix, and it was not deficient in thiamine. No other neurological signs have been reported on any other product manufactured by Diamond Pet Foods.
The affected cats were quite ill, mostly with neurological symptoms. The first sign was a lack of interest in eating, followed by symptoms including muscular weakness, vomiting, lethargy,rigid posture, circling, increased respiratory rate, lack of recognition of their owners, dilated pupils, and seizures.
Fortunately the cats have responded to thiamine supplementation and hospitalization, and my reader reported that Diamond is footing the bills for treatment.
This is just one more example of companies not getting it. Don’t hope these things won’t leak out; they will. The minute a produce problem is suspected, be open about it. Stop trying to call it something other than a recall when you pull your product off store shelves, and if animals are getting sick, blast it all over the PR channels, and make sure veterinarians are aware of the problem.
Otherwise, these endless small stories, buried on corporate web sites and dragged into the light of day by grieving pet owners, will turn into nothing but death by a thousand tiny cuts for the pet food industry, eroding consumer confidence and damaging companies’ reputations beyond repair.
http://www.petconnection.com/blog/2009/10/…
Technorati Tags: veterinarian, cat
Diva The Dachshund Dog
This is Diva, the 3 year old Dachshund dog breed from Jackson, New Jersey. Photo sent by Mom.
Related Posts By Name Or Location:
- Champ The Mixed Breed Dog
- Jasper The Miniature Schnauzer Dog
- Taz The American Pitbull Dog
- Diva The Boxer Dog
- Jackson The Golden Retriever Dog
Crate Training for Housebreaking Your Shih Tzu
Pet Info Shih tzus are among the breeds that are housebreaking-friendly. Despite this, some people still are torn between using a crate to train a dog, compared to more creative maethods and techniques that have been developed over the years. But whatever solution you eventually arrive at, keep in mind that your target is to prevent all […]
Technorati Tags: dog
Gianna The Shih Tzu Dog
This is Gianna, the 4 year old female Shih Tzu dog breed from Staten Island, New York. Photo was sent by Annette.
Related Posts By Name Or Location:
- Paris The American Pitbull Dog Breed
- Ramona The French Bulldog
- Ruger The Black Labrador Retriever Dog
- Mikey Johnson The Boxer Dog
- Axl The English Mastiff Dog
Griffith goes home, again: Sometimes doing what’s best is also doing what’s hardest
It has been a couple months since pariah dog Griffith arrived in Sacramento after Facebook, Twitter and real-live people helped bring him from the streets of L.A to my home in Sacramento. It took a couple weeks of R&R and several trips to the vet to get him all patched up, vaccinated, neutered. But it didn’t take long to discover what an amazing dog he was … “bomb-proof†as my trainer/friend Megan of Common Sense Dog Training said, after keeping Griffith for a week while I traveled east for work. When I picked him up she handed me a list of more than a dozen training commands that he had mastered while attending her version of doggy boot camp, including my (and Gina’s) personal favorite “poodle up†which prompted him to sit up with his front paws dangling and mouth ready for a Scooby snack. (Gina kept him for a weekend too, and puppy Faith fell in love with his good spirits.)
I adjusted pretty quickly to having a second – and more exuberant – dog around. After all, my life as a single dog owner began in 1998 when I adopted my yellow Labradork Davis from the Sacramento County shelter. Davis happily accepted rescue cat Kennedy when we adopted her from the City of Sacramento shelter in 1999 on the day that John Jr. & Caroline’s plane went down in the Hudson. (Note: I wanted to name her John-John, but no one thought such a name befitted this girl’s gray-glam style.) Davis’ non-plussed approach to the cat suited Kennedy fine and there was no drama at all adding this feline to the family.
Over the next four years, foster dogs of all shapes and sizes came and went. Davis and Kennedy were always initially curious about the new fur-person, but I always managed our expectations by having somewhat different rules for the foster dog (e.g., since not every adoptive family is going to be keen as keen as I am about an 80-pound dog on the couch, that was a no-no for fosters). I kept from getting too attached by being mindful always of their temporary status and usually had a flashy “needs home†flyer made up and circulated within days of taking the needy fellow (usually) or gal in.
 Then along came little Yoda’s litter of six. Dumped sans mom on the steps of the City shelter, this batch of four-week olds were unweaned and undeniably adorable. I scooped them up (ok, it did take some pleading and cajoling… I mean, puppies!!??) and set up a nursery in my breakfast nook. With the help of neighbors and friends who took “puppy shifts†so I could keep my job, we raised this litter right and at 12 weeks, I began placing the Star Wars’ crew… first Chewie, then Leia, Han, Wicket, Dot… and then there was Yo. This was my first litter and I had grown more attached than is healthy for foster moms. I had to keep this last sensitive, shy one. Davis was characteristically uninterested in him (after all, Yoda was neither a tennis ball nor food) and Kennedy had become somewhat of a dog-cat tester for my foster/rescue friends. She was completely comfortable with dogs and just put her paw down when crazy puppies got over-interested.
We were a family of four for several years before hemangiosarcoma claimed Davis prematurely. Then our trio moved to/from DC and Griffith popped up on Facebook *just* at the time my heart and mind were feeling settled enough back here in Sacramento to be up for the adventure of another dog. Yoda is a little iffy with foster dogs… he’s a bit territorial, doesn’t like to share his stuff, and definitely claims his mother as his own. But he has lots of doggy friends and I felt in my gut that Griffith might be a great new playmate. And if not, I was prepared to get Griff on the path to health and happiness and prepare him to be someone else’s fab rescue dog.
Interestingly, the assimilation with Yoda went quite smoothly. There were a few spats over favored toys (which duh, I should have put away) and occasionally Yoda would raise his lip and get a little growly when I was petting Griffith. But I went out of my way to assure Yoda that his place as top dog was secure. I fed them separately, always feeding Yoda first. I gave Yoda treats first. Yoda entered and left the house ahead of Griffith. Yoda was allowed on the furniture as always; Griffith was not. I even walked Griffith on a slightly shorter leash than Yoda so that Yoda was always out front.
A turning point in their relationship came on a Sunday in August when I went with some girlfriends on a hike along the American River. Yoda and Griffith were both set loose to wander ahead down the path. And they were amazing to watch… quickly they formed a two-dog pack and trotted side by side, never out of eye-sight or voice range. When one found something interesting to sniff, the other had to check it out too. They were having a ball.
At the bottom we came upon a family of four who had just made the journey down and set up their picnic. Griffith was the first to greet them, and I raced ahead to make sure he didn’t eat their lunch! The family also loved this hike and rather than mind Griffith’s incessant begging, eight year-old Madi pulled out the family’s jerky stash and started feeding Griff and trying to get him to swim with her.
Madi’s mom Christine and I got talking and turns out the family had been looking for a dog on and off for nearly a year. She told me that many of the shelters they went to had dogs they liked, but wouldn’t adopt them to families with children (this issue deserves its own whole post, so I won’t digress here). I told her where I worked and said I’d be happy to help find them a dog that fit for their family. On our way out, I left my business card on their windshield. My primary memory of that day was just how great it was to see MY two dogs so happy together.
As the next month proceeded, I exchanged a couple emails with Christine while I tried to get a sense of their lifestyle and the kind of dog that would best suit them. I put out some feelers to the local rescue/shelter community and just generally kept my eyes peeled. At the same time, I was watching a scenario I hadn’t expected play out at my house. The hike had definitely bonded Yoda and Griffith and now they played incessantly – wrestling, tumbling, and running about. I stopped worrying about it escalating to a fight… clearly they were past that and they were now just two frat boys in love.
But I stopped seeing Kennedy. After living her entire life underfoot and always in the room with us, she was living almost exclusively, by her own choice, in the garage. She has a kitty door, and her food and litter box are out there. But now she was choosing to stay out there – despite the heat and loneliness. I’d bring her in, set her down and she’d scoot back out there quickly. Perplexed, I started paying more attention to the pack dynamic. And I discovered that it was Yoda, not Griffith, who was acting in a threatening manner toward Kennedy. After living with this cat his whole life, Yoda was now asserting himself by chasing after Kennedy, growling, and generally being not nice to her. I don’t know if he really would have hurt her or not, but she seemed to think so.
I tried making Kennedy’s life in the garage a bit better by providing her a fan and a comfy bed and going out there to sit with her more. But over time I just couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that this just wasn’t fair to her. She’s probably 12 or 13 years old and has spent ten years inside with us. I didn’t want her spending her last few years alone in the garage. She’s too social and too much a part of the family to be ostracized.
So on a bit of a lark I asked Christine via email if she and her family remembered Griffith from the hike. I explained a little about our situation and said I wasn’t sure yet if I could part with him, but wanted to see what her reaction was to the idea of him. Within minutes, Christine emailed back:
“WOW! Madi was hoping after m
http://www.petconnection.com/blog/2009/10/…
Griffith goes home, again: Sometimes doing what’s best is also doing what’s hardest
It’s been a couple months since pariah dog Griffith arrived in Sacramento after Facebook, Twitter and real-live people helped bring him from the streets of L.A to my home in Sacramento. It took a couple weeks of R&R and several trips to the vet to get him all patched up, vaccinated, neutered. But it didn’t take long to discover what an amazing dog he was … “bomb-proof†as my trainer/friend Megan of Common Sense Dog Training said, after keeping Griffith for a week while I traveled east for work. When I picked him up she handed me a list of more than a dozen training commands that he had mastered while attending her version of doggy boot camp, including my (and Gina’s) personal favorite “poodle up†which prompted him to sit up with his front paws dangling and mouth ready for a Scooby snack. (Gina kept him for a weekend too, and puppy Faith fell in love with his good spirits.)
I adjusted pretty quickly to having a second – and more exuberant – dog around. After all, my life as a single dog owner began in 1998 when I adopted my yellow Labradork Davis from the Sacramento County shelter. Davis happily accepted rescue cat Kennedy when we adopted her from the City of Sacramento shelter in 1999 on the day that John Jr. & Caroline’s plane went down in the Hudson. (Note: I wanted to name her John-John, but no one thought such a name befitted this girl’s gray-glam style.) Davis’ non-plussed approach to the cat suited Kennedy fine and there was no drama at all adding this feline to the family.
Over the next four years, foster dogs of all shapes and sizes came and went. Davis and Kennedy were always initially curious about the new fur-person, but I always managed our expectations by having somewhat different rules for the foster dog (e.g., since not every adoptive family is going to be keen as keen as I am about an 80-pound dog on the couch, that was a no-no for fosters). I kept from getting too attached by being mindful always of their temporary status and usually had a flashy “needs home†flyer made up and circulated within days of taking the needy fellow (usually) or gal in.
 Then along came little Yoda’s litter of six. Dumped sans mom on the steps of the City shelter, this batch of four-week olds were unweaned and undeniably adorable. I scooped them up (ok, it did take some pleading and cajoling… I mean, puppies!!??) and set up a nursery in my breakfast nook. With the help of neighbors and friends who took “puppy shifts†so I could keep my job, we raised this litter right and at 12 weeks, I began placing the Star Wars’ crew… first Chewie, then Leia, Han, Wicket, Dot… and then there was Yo. This was my first litter and I had grown more attached than is healthy for foster moms. I had to keep this last sensitive, shy one. Davis was characteristically uninterested in him (after all, Yoda was neither a tennis ball nor food) and Kennedy had become somewhat of a dog-cat tester for my foster/rescue friends. She was completely comfortable with dogs and just put her paw down when crazy puppies got over-interested.
We were a family of four for several years before hemangiosarcoma claimed Davis prematurely. Then our trio moved to/from DC and Griffith popped up on Facebook *just* at the time my heart and mind were feeling settled enough back here in Sacramento to be up for the adventure of another dog. Yoda is a little iffy with foster dogs… he’s a bit territorial, doesn’t like to share his stuff, and definitely claims his mother as his own. But he has lots of doggy friends and I felt in my gut that Griffith might be a great new playmate. And if not, I was prepared to get Griff on the path to health and happiness and prepare him to be someone else’s fab rescue dog.
Interestingly, the assimilation with Yoda went quite smoothly. There were a few spats over favored toys (which duh, I should have put away) and occasionally Yoda would raise his lip and get a little growly when I was petting Griffith. But I went out of my way to assure Yoda that his place as top dog was secure. I fed them separately, always feeding Yoda first. I gave Yoda treats first. Yoda entered and left the house ahead of Griffith. Yoda was allowed on the furniture as always; Griffith was not. I even walked Griffith on a slightly shorter leash than Yoda so that Yoda was always out front.
A turning point in their relationship came on a Sunday in August when I went with some girlfriends on a hike along the American River. Yoda and Griffith were both set loose to wander ahead down the path. And they were amazing to watch… quickly they formed a two-dog pack and trotted side by side, never out of eye-sight or voice range. When one found something interesting to sniff, the other had to check it out too. They were having a ball.
At the bottom we came upon a family of four who had just made the journey down and set up their picnic. Griffith was the first to greet them, and I raced ahead to make sure he didn’t eat their lunch! The family also loved this hike and rather than mind Griffith’s incessant begging, eight year-old Madi pulled out the family’s jerky stash and started feeding Griff and trying to get him to swim with her.
Madi’s mom Christine and I got talking and turns out the family had been looking for a dog on and off for nearly a year. She told me that many of the shelters they went to had dogs they liked, but wouldn’t adopt them to families with children (this issue deserves its own whole post, so I won’t digress here). I told her where I worked and said I’d be happy to help find them a dog that fit for their family. On our way out, I left my business card on their windshield. My primary memory of that day was just how great it was to see MY two dogs so happy together.
As the next month proceeded, I exchanged a couple emails with Christine while I tried to get a sense of their lifestyle and the kind of dog that would best suit them. I put out some feelers to the local rescue/shelter community and just generally kept my eyes peeled. At the same time, I was watching a scenario I hadn’t expected play out at my house. The hike had definitely bonded Yoda and Griffith and now they played incessantly – wrestling, tumbling, and running about. I stopped worrying about it escalating to a fight… clearly they were past that and they were now just two frat boys in love.
But I stopped seeing Kennedy. After living her entire life underfoot and always in the room with us, she was living almost exclusively, by her own choice, in the garage. She has a kitty door, and her food and litter box are out there. But now she was choosing to stay out there – despite the heat and loneliness. I’d bring her in, set her down and she’d scoot back out there quickly. Perplexed, I started paying more attention to the pack dynamic. And I discovered that it was Yoda, not Griffith, who was acting in a threatening manner toward Kennedy. After living with this cat his whole life, Yoda was now asserting himself by chasing after Kennedy, growling, and generally being not nice to her. I don’t know if he really would have hurt her or not, but she seemed to think so.
I tried making Kennedy’s life in the garage a bit better by providing her a fan and a comfy bed and going out there to sit with her more. But over time I just couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that this just wasn’t fair to her. She’s probably 12 or 13 years old and has spent ten years inside with us. I didn’t want her spending her last few years alone in the garage. She’s too social and too much a part of the family to be ostracized.
So on a bit of a lark I asked Christine via email if she and her family remembered Griffith from the hike. I explained a little about our situation and said I wasn’t sure yet if I could part with him, but wanted to see what her reaction was to the idea of him. Within minutes, Christine emailed back:
“WOW! Madi was hoping after m
http://www.petconnection.com/blog/2009/10/…
Prevent Puppy Biting
If your household has a new puppy, I am sure that you have been the victim of his sharp little teeth. Among the targets is the skin on your hands and feet, any loose shoes you haven’t put away, and well, I am sure you already know nothing is safe.Here are a few practical tips […]
Forever young again: Heather, 1996-2009
This is what she’s doing on the other side now — except I don’t have to be worrying about riptides.
She would have been 13 next month. A good long life, never long enough.
.
Extremeanimallover's Blog 