In researching my first post on the food recall, I was struck by how difficult the companies involved made it to find out which specific foods were being recalled. The list Menu Foods provides is incomplete. Iams/Eukanuba, Hill’s, and Purina make you sort through several pages before you find the pertinent information. It’s confusing enough without them making it harder.
In a round about way, a recall like this is one reason we feed our pets high grade foods like Wysong, BrightLife (Dogs and Cats), Innova, Canidae (Dogs), Felidae (Cats), and Wellness (Dogs and Cats). I look for foods that use human-grade, organic, hormone-free ingredients as much as possible. These foods run a much lower risk of having contaminated or spoiled ingredients in them than the brands listed in the recall. Also the brands I use don’t contain fillers or dyes. They may cost more, but your pet is getting a much better diet and is digesting more of their food so you can feed them less. This means a healthier pet, which is cost-effective, and smaller poops, which is nice. You can really tell the difference between the high-grade foods and the other foods when you compare their canned food. High-grade canned food doesn’t stink and is usually completely inoffensive. I can’t say the same for the lower grade foods.
When we first got Saffron, she had been eating grocery store dog food because that’s what was available where she was found. She smelled swampy, she had wicked gas, and her coat was a little rough. After eating high grade food for a while, she stopped smelling like a swamp, stopped emitting stink bombs, and her coat became silky soft—enough so, that people are surprised when they touch her. I’m regularly asked what makes her coat so soft and I think it’s her diet.
You may not find the high grade foods in chain stores like Petco and Petsmart, but your independent pet supply stores will carry them. And they’ll be able to tell you more about what food would be best for your pet. Don’t forget to ask for free samples either. Most stores are happy to offer you a variety to try so you find what your pet likes without buying a whole bag.
Dog biscuits sold by Wal-Mart under the Ol’ Roy brand are now included in the recall and Menu Foods has extended their recall. It now includes foods made between November 8th and March 6th. The recall previously only went back to December 3rd. They are also including 20 additional varieties, but not any new brands.
Sunshine Mills is the manufacturer of the Wal-Mart Ol’ Roy dog biscuits. (Sunshine Mills’ site may be having trouble coping with increased traffic.) It isn’t clear to me from the article as to whether they are recalling other products they manufacture and their site hasn’t been updated. You should know they also make several other pet treats (Crunchin’ Bones, Dr. Dental Chews, Gym Bones, Meaty Treats Jerky, Puffs N’ Purrs, & Pup Corn) and apparently several pet foods (Lassie Natural Way, Buttons and Bows(Cat), Canine Principle, Feline Principle, Field Trial, Cat Cafe, Chatham(Dog), Chatham(Cat), Hunter’s Special, Sportsman’s Pride, Thrifty(Dog & Cat), Nurture, and World Pet Foods).
Dog biscuits sold by Wal-Mart under the Ol’ Roy brand are now included in the recall and Menu Foods has extended their recall. It now includes foods made between November 8th and March 6th. The recall previously only went back to December 3rd. They are also including 20 additional varieties, but not any new brands.
Sunshine Mills is the manufacturer of the Wal-Mart Ol’ Roy dog biscuits. (Sunshine Mills’ site may be having trouble coping with increased traffic.) It isn’t clear to me from the article as to whether they are recalling other products they manufacture and their site hasn’t been updated. You should know they also make several other pet treats (Crunchin’ Bones, Dr. Dental Chews, Gym Bones, Meaty Treats Jerky, Puffs N’ Purrs, & Pup Corn) and apparently several pet foods (Lassie Natural Way, Buttons and Bows(Cat), Canine Principle, Feline Principle, Field Trial, Cat Cafe, Chatham(Dog), Chatham(Cat), Hunter’s Special, Sportsman’s Pride, Thrifty(Dog & Cat), Nurture, and World Pet Foods).
Update: Here’s a long list of up-to-date and safer foods for your pets. I say ‘safer’ because we’ve seen what can happen. But this list has been research by calls to the companies and they note if questions were not answered.
You can find out much more on the recall on my Pet Food Recall Archive Page.