New information shows tainted food may have sickened or killed 39,000 pets -- mostly cats.

Only one good thing that may come out of this is that an agency overseeing the health of pets -- something similar to the CDC for humans -- may be put in place:

http://newsgrinder.blogspot.com/2007/04/data-reveals-that-tainted-food-may-have.html

I'm not surprised. The corporate bs about 16 dead dogs and cats was too obviously not based in the world of reality.
Makes sense cats would be more vulnerable--they tend to eat their food fresh (sometimes still twitching)--dogs are more into scavenging so probably have digestive tracts that can handle harsh chemicals better.

According to this report, "Banfield, The Pet Hospital, said an analysis of its database, compiled from records collected by its more than 615 veterinary hospitals, suggests that three out of every 10,000 cats and dogs that ate the pet food contaminated with melamine developed kidney failure. There are an estimated 60 million dogs and 70 million cats in the United States, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association.

"The hospital chain saw 1 million dogs and cats during the three months when the more than 100 brands of now-recalled contaminated pet food were sold. It saw 284 extra cases of kidney failure among cats during that period, or a roughly 30 percent increase, when compared with background rates.

The chain shares its data with the Food and Drug Administration -- and FDA officials "previously have said the database compiled by the huge veterinary practice would probably provide the most authoritative picture of the harm done by the tainted cat and dog food.

The chain also reported that the data indicates the contamination was "overwhelming toxic to cats" as compared to dogs.

=============

P.S. I've heard nothing but bad things about Banfield. I prefer my local vet who has practiced here for the past 25 years and runs her own "store" - making decisions based on what is best for the animal...

All old meat from grocery stores etc are all tossed in the hopper with many other meat parts/cadavers you don't want to even think about. At the rendering plants.....they don't bother to take the plastic wrappers off or remove the foam trays....or remove the collars from euthanized dog carcasses that are added. It's all tossed in and chemically treated. Our pets have been getting all the nastiest of nearly spoiled meats....heated and treated. ALL those 100 brands are nearly the same food. NONE of those brands should ever get back on the market. The industry should focus on just creating a decent food for our pets...with decent standards. Our pets should not be eating other animals organs etc. The DRY cat food can cause urinary blockages when the ash that's added is not mixed in properly and the volume in a batch, spikes.
Our Pet food industry has much to pay for....much to answer for.

Yuk.

And look how pretty and/or cute they make their packaging for pet food.

The health food store cat food I bought is not going over well with my cat at all. He taught me a lesson -- peed somewhere that wasn't a litter box (first time ever).

what are you feeding him from the health food store? I used to feed Petguard to my cats and the only place I could get it was from the local health food store. I now feed them Wellness, which they seem to really like.

He hates it. If I put warm water on it, he'll toy with it. That's it.

Is Wellness readily available?

in Virginia Beach, VA. If you go to their website (www.oldmotherhubbard.com), they will list where you can get Wellness, which is made by Old Mother Hubbard. I do know that Petsmart does not carry it, but not sure about Petco (not in this area). They make both cans and dry food. Good luck in finding it.

I order all our dog food through http://www.petfooddirect.com. They carry Wellness. I've never had a problem with petfooddirect other than the shipping can be a little slow. But they have an automatic repeat order function which appears to work around that minor annoyance (I've never tried it).

You can get a free sample of it at http://beowulfs.com/ My cat loves it, thought the sample was treats. You can also find out if it's available in your area.

zalinda