So, what are you feeding now?

The Menu Foods pet food recall encompassed 91 brands, according to this story in the Toronto Star.  Ninety-one!  It sure makes you wonder, doesn’t it, because you know that there are not 91 different dog and cat food recipes on store shelves.  You know that this incident proves that a brand like Petsmart’s “Authority” brand might just be Science Diet with a different label.  The pet food industry is in terrible need of transparency on so many levels, and maybe all the information being released (and being leaked) from this incident might finally be the means by which consumers are enlightened.  Menu Foods is being punished for the error of their ways, although certainly not the same way affected dog and cat owners have been punished.  Still, their stock price has dropped about 50% over the past week, and I doubt it will go up as personal and class action suits are announced in both Canada and the US.  The increased consumer awareness of animal testing will probably take its toll as well.

So, what to feed now?  I’m using up some cans of food which are recalled brands, but not recalled batches, but I’m doing it with trepidation.  And I’m resentful.  I’ve been resentful of many of the major pet food brands ever since I took that annoying “Pet Food Fundamentals” continuing-ed class, which was taught by a Hill’s rep, and which seemed to mock small, private brands like Merrick and Fromm.  I used to feed Merrick exclusively, but as our cat family grew to double-digits, it became too expensive.  Our dogs eat ”Dick Van Patten’s Eatables”, and even though I like to mock the name, it seems like a great food which the dogs love.  They’re thriving on it, too - positive weight loss, good skin and coat quality, etc.  I happened to have two free cans of Mighty Dog, and we offered them to the dogs as a snack and the dogs weren’t all that interested.  They want their Eatables!  At about $3 per can, those dogs have good taste.

So, I’m left wondering what to do about the cats.  I have a business license, and I need to write some letters to see about buying Merrick in wholesale quantities.  Even if I have to buy $500 at a time, if I can buy it wholesale it will save a lot of money over retail.  Feeding nine cats costs a fortune (and my cat count as been as high as twelve), but this food recall was a reminder of the importance of paying attention to diet.  One great thing about the better-quality foods is that the pets eat less yet feel full.  I’m willing to switch to anything which is manufactured in small batches in private plants, and I guess I’ll again consider making my own food.  The cats really like “Spot’s Stew” for example, and the ingredients look very simple.  If I can find a homemade food “base” and can add my own meat, vegetables, etc., that might be something I could try.  It’s just the workload which is daunting… I don’t know if I can squeeze another chore into my day.  On the other hand, not popping the tops of cat food cans will stop my nails from being broken and tattered, so that could be part of the reward.

Has the food recall changed what you plan to feed your pets, or will you just soldier on with what you’re using now?  Depending on how many cats I’m caring for, and whether or not I can buy wholesale, I may have to stick with my Petsmart specials.  When we only had four or five cats, feeding Merrick was expensive but it was a cost that we accepted.  If I was to feed Merrick to all the cats now, and pay retail, it would cost us about $450 per month.  I should be able to make a pretty damn fine cat food using filet mignon and Alaskan king crab for that kind of money, huh?

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 03/23 at 03:02 AM

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  1. Our dog eats Solid Gold… it has been a great brand for us, and I believe that it contributed to my beloved Boomer and Crash’s long life.  It is a bit pricey.

    Posted by Kristine  on  03/23  at  04:16 AM

  2. I have to say I’M so glad I started feeding Blue Buffalo last Oct.I just feel so bad for all those pet owner’s.If you have not heard of Blue here is a link.
    http://www.bluebuff.com
    It does not use glutens ,it has no wheat,corn or soy. Its the only food with Life Source Bits.

    Posted by Sharon  on  03/23  at  04:34 AM

  3. We’re going to continue with the Nutro we bought before the recall. Since it’s one packet a day shared by 4 cats and still with enough left over for two dogs to clean up, I don’t think it’s enough to be a problem, when these dates are supposed to be fine. We have about a 3-month supply on hand. This gives me three months to read my Pitcairn book again, and try to determine if we can make food realistically or not. I don’t want to go back to BARF, since we can’t afford that, and only one of my cats would really enjoy that. (Tom would gladly hunt and kill and eat birds - he goes nuts for raw chicken so giving him a wing is a fantastic treat.) Cooking would be better in terms of controlling what ingredients they would be happier eating.

    And I don’t belive you could feed the cats on filet mignon- it’s what $20/pound? that’s not enough to go around for 9 cats, even with $450/month.

    Posted by Georg  on  03/23  at  06:29 AM

  4. Actually, filet mignon is $12.29 per pound here.  But you’re right… the pets could eat the $7.99 London broil and they’d never know the difference wink

    I just ordered a couple of dog and cat food cookbooks.  I have Dr. Pitcairn’s books, but wanted more ideas to wrap my little head around.

    Posted by Leigh-Ann  on  03/23  at  06:48 AM

  5. I consider myself very lucky as I was feeding Yoshi the affected Science Diet food but well before this health scare.  Before that it was IAMS.  I took her off because it seemed to give her gas and constipation.  Now I feed her Wellness brand kibble and either Wellness or Natural Balance canned food.  She loves it.  And it is human grade ingerdients so in an emergency I can spread it on toast for me.  grin

    It may not be connected but when I mentioned to the pet store lady about Yoshi’s digestive changes on Science Diet she said that the conpany had recently asked stores to send back certain types of canned food and seemed to be re-tooling their recipies.  She said it seemed odd to her but didn’t know what the issues were.  This was in Fall 2006.  Hmmmmmm…

    Posted by Von Krankipantzen  on  03/23  at  01:47 PM

  6. The doggy is getting a mix of kibble and wet, both Pedigree, which aren’t on the bad list. Ingredients: water sufficient for processing, chicken, beef, beef liver, beef by-products, corn starch, wheat flour, tomato pomace, etc. The kitty’s standard kibble is 9 Lives - I twinge to admit this publicly, but see, early in his kittenhood I tried to feed “good” food.  He totally scorned Iams, and I thought I’d win because I was bigger, but it didn’t work out that way. Dr. Mike said no food was good for him if he wouldn’t eat it, so The Finn and I compromised.  For wet food right now he’s getting Sheba Premium Cuts. Ingredient list: water, chicken breast, duck breast, tapioca starch, guar gum; 2nd ingredient list: water, tuna, prawns, potassium chloride, carob gum.

    Posted by Helly  on  03/23  at  04:58 PM

  7. Helly, you may know this already, but the Sheba Premium Cuts is designed just as a “supplemental” treat, and isn’t fully balanced with vitamins, minerals, et al.  I find the label to be confusing because the product is called, for example, “Chicken and Duck Dinner in Sauce”, and it seems that something called a “dinner” should be complete and balanced.  I’m pretty sure it’s just intended to be fed as a treat though, like you might feed some shredded cooked chicken, or some flakes of tuna.  I only mention it so you know that the kibble in this case should make up most of the diet, with the wet food as an appetizer.  I love the Sheba Premium Cuts—it gives me a little thrill when I open the seafood variety and see tiny little mussels inside.

    I totally understand how fussy cats are, and how you need to feed them what they’re willing to eat.  I try to raise non-finicky foster kittens by exposing them to all sorts of smells and tastes and textures, but I’m not always successful.  I also know that no matter what sort of premium food I buy for the cats, Chelsea will be a butthead and won’t eat anything unless it’s cheap and costs 20 cents a can.  The most expensive food that she actually enjoys is Fancy Feast.

    Posted by Leigh-Ann  on  03/23  at  08:13 PM

  8. I’m familiar with the “Blue” brand of food from Petsmart, Sharon… thanks for mentioning it.  The cats like it, but I get annoyed because I can only find it in the small 3 oz. cans, so it costs more than it needs to.  I often wean kittens onto it because they have a couple of specific kitten foods, and those can be hard to find. 

    The worst thing about Blue Buffalo is that there’s always a brand rep in our Petsmart, and she’s so annoying!  She talks and talks and talks, and she’s misinformed about a lot of things (she tried to tell me that cats MUST have kibble to stay healthy), and she bugs me.  To get to the food we have to run the gauntlet of the “crazy Blue food lady”.

    Posted by Leigh-Ann  on  03/23  at  08:18 PM

  9. Georg, I don’t know if I would/could do BARF for the cats, because I think they might be reluctant to eat it.  Our household kitty glutton, Derek, liked some frozen ready-to-serve raw food morsals I once bought as an experiment, but he’ll eat absolutely anything.  The dogs are such better eaters, so if I am doing to start doing BARF, it would be with them.  I’ve been giving the big dogs snack portions of raw food since last year, and they just love it.  I’ve never tried to make their complete diet raw, however.

    Kranki, I’ll feed Wellness if I can get my hands on it (there’s only one store I know of which sells it) because they make food in large cans!  When you’re feeding nine cats at a time, it’s a thrill to have a 13 oz. can to work with.  The cats all seem to like the food, too, except the aforementioned Chelsea.

    Posted by Leigh-Ann  on  03/23  at  08:25 PM

  10. Kristine, there’s a type of Solid Gold dog kibble ("Holistique") that I covet whenever we go to Petco, because the big dogs still get some kibble to eat.  It’s so expensive though, usually about $50 for a bag, so I end up buying the Nutro Large Breed Senior.  Kibble only makes up a small part of the big dog’s diet, but I like to make sure whatever I buy is loaded with glucosamine, chondroitin, etc.  The Nutro is about $30 for a 40 lb. bag, and the ingredient list isn’t terrible.  Solid Gold definitely has a great reputation, and we used to give it to our two small dogs before we took them off kibble completely.

    I really hate that economics contributes to my pet feeding decisions, but it’s a trade-off I have to make.  It contributes to what I decide to feed myself, so I guess it’s understandable.

    Posted by Leigh-Ann  on  03/23  at  08:31 PM

  11. I remember Ralston Purina ? that was good food.
    nowdays it’s nestle purina , but it’s not on the list.. it has some animal byproducts and some
    thing s that make it not my 1st.choice? i fed it
    to my cat “mini the mouch” a stray from tinker st. cafe (old home of bob dylan). she lived 17yrs
    on that stuff. it is cheap.. whats needed here is a good base dry , that can be fed with raw meat?
    one thats cheap. unfortunatly the good 1’s are
    expensive.  maybe if enogh people get pushin hard
    enough? (like we did in ‘69 woodstcock)? an we’r
    persistant, we can get one these maufactures to
    sell us a “basic” dry, a food good enough to feed
    and add our own choices of raw meats?
    sigh..

    Posted by johnypaycut  on  03/25  at  02:19 PM

  12. With 9 cats I can see why you can’t really feed Merrick. I hope you can find a way to get it wholesale! I’ve had to deal with Merrick regarding a spoiled case of food I got from them, and they were incredibly nice and helpful (and very prompt about sending a replacement case and assuring me quality control would be taking a look at the situation). We’re only able to give it to Salem because he’s a “spoiled only child.” smile (And it’s cheaper than all the vet visits and steroids we were paying for before we figured out the possibility of food allergies.)

    Posted by Helena  on  03/26  at  06:05 PM

  13. Lee Ann,
    I think most all pet food Company reps are mis informed, I have had same thing with Nutro and Euk Reps, They have to have so many conversions aday and those Euk Reps have evan told me Corn and Wheat is good for your pets.DUH!!!!! And Nutro rep has evan came as much taking peoples foods out shopping carts and put there’s in and saying my food is better than what you are buying...Its a Big Marketing Game, So No they all are not Knowable on products only things they have been told to say, and what they adlibe to it..Any One can sign up and work as a in store rep the Company’s are always hireing....

    Posted by Sharon  on  03/28  at  05:33 AM

  14. I agree that the reps are misinformed, Sharon, and the problem goes really deep into company infrastructure and policy.  I was taking a vet tech class on advanced pet nutrition, and while it was taught by a vet, it turned out to be a vet who worked for Hills!  And, surprise surprise, the vet was a big cheerleader for corn, and talked about what a great source of protein corn is, and insisted there are no known cases of corn allergy.  The latter assertion was just a bit of semantical gymnastics, because she later admitted there were many animals with corn *sensitivities*.  Regardless, the big pet food manufacturers have their paws into everything - they finance special training for vets and vet techs, they finance special research centers, and they give people in the animal care field lots of freebies (free dinners at conferences, free goodies like watches for completing company-run nutrition training courses, etc.).  There’s a huge conflict of interest that needs to be stopped or regulated or something, because it seems to me that the people at Iams, et al, would love for us to stay misinformed.

    Posted by Leigh-Ann  on  03/30  at  03:33 AM

  15. And Helena, I meant to ask - what was the problem with your cans of Merrick?  Was the spoilage problem obvious?  What flavour was involved?  I’m curious about what to look for when I’m using Merrick, and glad to hear they treated you well, because I still love them.

    Posted by Leigh-Ann  on  03/30  at  03:35 AM
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