"Chemical may have sickened or killed 39,000 pets" MSNBC

[garybeck]

AP

WASHINGTON - Pet food contaminated with an industrial chemical may have sickened or killed 39,000 cats and dogs nationwide, based on an extrapolation from data released Monday by one of the nation’s largest chains of veterinary hospitals.

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.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18029173/

[Double T]

1. This is an outrage and SOMETHING will be done about this............

the corporate criminals must be held accountable as a company and individually. There will be many more pet deaths from this heinous, irresponsible company mismanagement as time goes on. The human food is NEXT or ALREADY in the same contaminated state.

[Decruiter]

3. Oh yeah, bank on that one. Sure, something will be done.

BWAHAHAHAHAHA. This is better than Anna Nicole and who is her baby's daddy.

Sorry, not. They are killing countless thousands of our men and women in service, thousands of Iraqis' and you believe something is going to be done about a few thousand dogs and cats.

oh well, you may be right. Just what is one more small distraction. Dogs and cats versus our sons and daughters and lots of Iraq citizens.

Not much.

[hvn_nbr_2]

7. Something probably WILL be done

The FDA will delay, obfuscate, and sit on it. Then IF they ever really find out what happened, they'll put out some phony cover story, and they'll claim they can't release the real info because it would violate companies' trade secrets.

[bbgrunt]

2. bump

[catgirl]

4. Hopefully this will lead to regulations on pet food

Cat litter needs some regulations too (scoop kind). K/R

[DemReadingDU]

5. What is in scoop cat litter?

Why should we be worried about cat litter?

[catgirl]

11. The clumping kind has sodium bentonite added

When cats clean themselves, they ingest little bits at a time. After a while
it expands and clogs their intestines-think of pouring cement down a drain.
Sodium benzonite dust causes respiratory disease in animals, including humans.
It can also cause poisoning. It is a proven carcinagen when inhaled. This has
been known for some time (by vets, the industry, researchers), yet there are no regulations.

Good litters: Feline Pine, World's Best Cat Litter (corn that clumps naturally) and S'weats Scoop

I like Feline Pine because it absorbs the urine and it doesn't smell! Plus it lasts a
long time. We have 5 cats and people are shocked that our house doesn't smell
at all.

[catgirl]

13. Here's a link on sodium bentonite

http://www.care2.com/channels/solutions/pets/620

[DemReadingDU]

14. Thank you, I had not heard this

I will check into alternative litters, I don't want my cat to end up getting cancer or something from scoopable litter.

[WePurrsevere]

9. I agree... we've used Feline Pine for over a decade.....

for very good reasons. IME it's the healthiest (none of that silca stuff or chemicals) and probably most enviromentally friendly litter there is. It can be composted (and/or flushed) and with a multi-cat household it's been a miracle worker on keeping odors down. :)

For those that haven't tried and and would like to:
http://www.naturesearth.com/rebates.html

[catgirl]

12. Good point

the litters with the synthetic fragrances are horrible too.
Synthetic fragrance, or chemicals, aren't good to ingest
either. Plus the fumes can cause asthma in cats and humans.
I have asthma attacks when I'm around it. Syn. fragrance is
yet another industry with no regulations. Chemical companies
are protected. There are numerous chemicals used in fragrances
in the U.S. that are banned in Europe.

[w4rma]

6. Pet food insider sold shares before recall

CFO calls sale a 'horrible coincidence'

The chief financial officer of Menu Foods Income Fund says it's a "horrible coincidence" that he sold nearly half his units in the troubled pet food maker less than three weeks before a massive recall of tainted pet food.

Insider trading reports show that Mark Wiens sold 14,000 units for $102,900 on Feb. 26 and Feb. 27. Those shares would be worth $62,440 today, based on yesterday's close of $4.46 a unit.

That represented 45 per cent of Mr. Wiens's units. After the sale, he still owned 17,193 units and options to purchase 101,812 units, according to insider trading reports.

"It's a horrible coincidence, yes . . ." Mr. Wiens said yesterday.
…
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070410.wxrmenu10/BNStory/Business/home
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x616003

[garybeck]

8. holy crap! that is interesting indeed.

[lovuian]

15. That is HORRIBLE

!@#$%^& to profit over this is HORRIBLE

[ArmchairMeme]

10. What next?

Interesting that currently there is an advertisement for a movie made about Jonestown where hundreds of people who believed in Jim Jones chose to poisen themselves and died.

This comes right after cats and dogs have been poisened by petfood.