OT/ Pet Food Recall

[waterfaller1]

For those of you who may not know, or have'nt been following the pet food recall, I urge you to at least log onto this site as a guest and start reading in the Nutrition forum. http://forum.dog.com/asp/
This site has the list:
http://www.itchmo.com/
Natural Balance ,one of the top Premium dog foods has been added to the list, as well as several others..Blue Buffalo, Innova..
There are mumblings about Chicken Soup For Dog Lover's Soul.
Not only the wheat gluten, but also products of corn & rice have been added to the list of tainted foods.
Read this sad story:
Dear Cavalier Friends, Breeders, Family and Acquaintances,
Last week our dogs began getting sick. We first thought that they had somehow contracted a stomach virus from our family, because we had been sick with a stomach virus earlier in the week. I took two of my dogs to my local vet and she said to withhold food for 12-24 hours until their vomiting stopped. We did this and then slowly started adding in cooked chicken breast and white rice to their diet. At first it appeared as though they were all improving. Then by late Friday night my oldest girl, Katy, Roweland Tequilla Sunrise began to go down hill quickly. I took her back to my vet early Saturday morning and my vet said that she appeared to be in Acute Renal Failure…by 6:00 p.m. Saturday, we very sadly lost our precious Katy girl.
By late Saturday night, Abby our 10 month old little girl from Germany, Rosebury Royal Queen began showing signs of decline. Sunday morning, we loaded up 3 of our dogs and started on our way to Texas A& M University’s Small Animal Emergency Clinic. We took Abby and our Champion Proudfox Timothy Tinsel (Timmy), and Rivermead Lady Letitia (Tia). All but Abby, still had a good appetite at this point, the only signs we were seeing was large amounts of urine output. We made the 3-hour trip and once arriving, we quickly learned that all three dogs were in Acute Renal Failure.
The doctors at A&M were almost certain that it was from some sort of Toxic Exposure and being that we recently moved to a new house about 7 weeks ago, we were exploring all possibilities, such as our water, our soil, etc. We came back home very late Sunday night. Monday morning, we quickly began calling Environmental Specialists…both municipal and private agencies.
Monday morning, we learned that Abby had taken a rapid decline at the hospital overnight and that her chances were very slim at best. The doctors requested that we let her go and have them perform an autopsy in order to perhaps figure this out and save the other dogs. By Monday afternoon, we loaded up again with our remaining dogs and took them to A&M University Hospital.
Regalcourt Peach Bellini, Peaches, is in severe acute renal failure with her numbers being off the chart.
We will see this morning if she has made any improvement overnight. Regalcourt Joyous Holly our 6 month old girl, has one number off the chart, but another number close to normal range. There is good hope for her. And Regalcourt Zoe Girl, is fairing the best, mostly because she has always been a very particular eater, never eating real dog food unless she had to, more often she was fed cottage cheese and turkey breast from the refrigerator.
With several college professors and doctors, fortunately for us, verifiably some of the best in the nation, working on our case, around 9:00 p.m. last night (4-16-07), the doctors met with us and confirmed that it was the Natural Balance Venison and Brown Rice Dog food that is the cause. The autopsy on Abby confirmed the crystal formation that is seen in all the renal failure cases concerning the recent dog food recalls. The college staff shared with us that notice had just been provided by the FDA that Dick Van Patten’s Natural Balance Venison and Brown Rice was added to the list late yesterday evening.
At this point we are prayerful and hopeful that some of our Cavaliers will recover with the intensive 24 hr. top notch care that A&M University is giving. We are however, completely devastated to say the least. It feels as though our world has been turned upside down. Please keep us in your prayers. We have phoned a few people that we know that are also feeding Natural Balance…if you know anyone please feel free to forward this email and cross post. When we asked, with the list of "bad" foods so long, what is safe to feed? The doctors response was paused …you might say reluctant…to say anything that might later be discovered to be misleading.. .or wrong. The doctors said their best answer is "We just don’t know for sure what food is safe…what food will be added to the list next."
For those of you that do not know us, we are active within our clubs. The Kennel Club of Greater Victoria, where I serve as Treasurer, and also The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Club of Greater Houston, I publish the newsletter.
We pray you and your beloved companions are all well and safe,
Dave and Jennifer Snell
Victoria, TX.

[Me No Nemo]

From the Chicken Soup website:
Q: Is the rice used in your food safe? A: Yes - our white rice, brown rice, rice bran, rice flour, and brewers rice that we use in various formulas are all safe and free from melamine contamination. Q: How do you know that the rice protein concentrate did not contaminate other foods? A: We have procedures for cleaning out our equipment between batches, to avoid cross contamination. We were recently audited by Silliker Labs, a company that evaluates human grade manufacturing facilities. We scored 100% for prevention of cross contamination, something we are very proud of. Q: What is rice protein concentrate? A: Rice protein concentrate is a by-product of the rice syrup industry. Unlike other rice ingredients, it is very high in protein. It is not the same ingredient as white rice, brown rice, brewers rice, rice bran or rice flour. Q: Do you use wheat gluten or rice protein concentrate in your foods? A: We do not use these ingredients in any of our own brands. We did use rice protein concentrate in two Natural Balance recipes that have been recalled - Natural Balance Venison & Brown Rice dry dog food and Natural Balance Venison & Green Pea dry cat food.

Website can be found here:
http://www.chickensoupforthepetlover...notes/cats/95/

I've been in touch several times with them and they've assured me that their products are NOT involved in any way. Thanks, though, for the heads up!!!

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[waterfaller1]

Whew..I'm glad you knew. I have been trying to call you all morning about it Missy..

[Me No Nemo]

Yep, I check regularly. When you call...you can speak directly with their vets on staff. I've been really happy with their food and Bailey does very well on them, so I'm glad there's no problems. BTW, you must not know my number as I haven't heard my phone ring all morning and there are NO messages. Sheesh, you'd think you'd have that memorized by now...duh!