RAT Poison Killed all those pets

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The FBI is investigating all of this, because there is a possibility that someone- maybe a disgruntled employee- did this. It MIGHT not be due to any malfeasance on the part of Menu Foods. The one thing it's very hard to protect against is tampering at the manufacturing level; you have to be able to trust employees. It could be at the supplier level, maybe not even Menu Foods itself.

I have a cat, and I'm as concerned as anyone else, but I hope that the FBI will turn up the root cause of the problem. I will say that Menu Foods seems to have taken its sweet time reporting the situation once its customers like P & G and Wal-Mart began informing them that consumers were calling them with reports of pet deaths. THAT certainly should not be overlooked; I want Menu Foods to have to take some real responsibility for its foot-dragging.

If it does prove to be a supplier problem or one based at Menu Foods itself, I hope that someone will focus on how it happened. It could be a misunderstanding or mishandling on the part of some overworked, underpaid, badly trained employee. I have a saying: "You can't run a million-dollar business with minimum-wage minds". American business keeps forgetting that real quality and trustworthiness can be accomplished only with well-trained, well-paid, highly motivated employees. Every day, your life is in the hands of badly-paid, poorly treated, highly disgruntled people- as in every time you eat fast food, buy meat, poultry, eggs or produce at the supermarket, or microwave a frozen dinner.

Maybe this horrible situation will bring some focus to that, depending on how the investigation turns out.
 
Terroriwst Attack?

On the surface, it sounds like a major league terrorist attack, but you do have some valid points worth pondering as this investigation continues.--Laundry Shark
 
Worse Than I Thought....

Well, there's a report on Breitbart that the cause has been pinpointed- a rat poison that's illegal here in the U.S., sprayed on wheat imported from CHINA.

Now, what the dickens are we doing importing wheat from China, when we have the richest wheat-growing soil on Earth here in our Midwest? Don't answer- I already know that it's corporate greed, aided and abetted by politicians. SO much cheaper to exploit Chinese workers than to pay American farm workers a living wage. Wouldn't want any corporate honchos or lobbyists left without enough money to join the country club of their choice...

With crap like this going on, our legislators are busily stomping out gay marriage, trans fats, and smoking in bars.

Jeez Louise!
 
They can't be sued...

for pain and suffering. My hubby who is a lawyer told me all those people whose pets died from this tainted food, can only collect on the worth of the pet. because pets are considered personal property, Pain and suffering does not apply. This is a horrendous law and should be changed. If one on my dogs,(Babies)died this way, I would be beside myself. Dogs are like a member of the family to most pet owners.
 
Think of all the food scares we've had recently: Spinach, Scallions, beef, and now this. Who's to say that some of this wheat didn't get made into flour?

We have a Food & Drug Administration for a reason. The USDA is there for a reason. So is the EPA. So is customs. But when you starve the agencies, and cut back on inspectors, and expect industry to regulate itself, this is what happens.

A lot of stuff just like this was happening 100 years ago. Teddy Roosevelt (A Republican, btw, and a really cool guy - yes, there are Republican politicians I like. If you got me started on Dwight Eisenhower, we'd be here all day ;-) signed the legislation that started our system of food inspections. I wonder what Teddy would think of what's going on now.
 
I personally wouldn't buy any food item that was grown or made in China especially after viewing a documentary on how polluted the soil is. It's so bad that they have to rely on heavy doses of fertilizers in order to grow food. None of it would be considered safe to eat over here. Of course what's unfit for human consumption is usually what ends up in animal feeds and not just imported ingredients but parts of animal remains raised everywhere in N.America that get tossed into the mix. It will be interesting to see what the real story is behind this, too early yet.
 
One of RJ's two Dalmatians came down with kidney failure in the last couple days. We took Casey in to a specialist in Houston for treatment today, but the prognosis may not be good. We don't think it's related to food, his woofy-dogs get dry food. Have we missed something?? I keep a bag of doggy-treats in my garage fridge, could that be the source? It's a brand I get at Wal-Mart, they're chewy treats shaped like a sausage-in-a-biscuit, not "moist/wet" or "gravy-ey" like the tainted food. I don't feed the treats all that often, half the current bag is still left.
 
I would think that pretty much any crop grown in China would be subjected to some serious acid rain action. Absolutely stupid to be importing any food product from China at all, that place is just one giant toxic nightmare that generates so much pollution we get their smog coming up and over into west coast skies sometimes. A consumer revolt against anything Chinese can't start soon enough. Easier said than done I'm sure, but we should all stop feeding this monster sooner rather than later.
 
Just to set the record strait, the toxin found while used as rat poison elsewhere in the world, that is not the only use as it is licensed in the United States to treat cancer.

The wheat used was not wheat grain but wheat gluetn imported from China, and according to news reports no one at this time belives it was any sort of planned act. Rats are a huge problem where ever grains are farmed, stored and or processed, hence the treatment of wheat with this sort of toxin. One must then assume there is a process of "cleaning" the stuff off grain or it's by-products before it ends up as human or animal consumable goods.
 
Typically the rat poison in question is placed in bait traps situated around the outside of the storage facility, not inside the grain bins/silos. Perhaps some sort of human error resulted in the poison bait getting mixed in with the grain, which was then turned into gluten.

It's also possible that American or Canadian wheat was exported to China, and then processed into gluten, and resold to the pet food company - for less than making it here would have cost. It's all about fractions of pennies when it comes to profit or loss for big production lines, after all.

What worries me is that this sort of thing may just be the tip of the iceberg. How many other toxins have found their way into pet foods? And what about the elderly who have, at least in the past, been forced to eat dog food to survive?
 
"If it does prove to be a supplier problem or one based at Menu Foods itself, I hope that someone will focus on how it happened. It could be a misunderstanding or mishandling on the part of some overworked, underpaid, badly trained employee. I have a saying: "You can't run a million-dollar business with minimum-wage minds". American business keeps forgetting that real quality and trustworthiness can be accomplished only with well-trained, well-paid, highly motivated employees. Every day, your life is in the hands of badly-paid, poorly treated, highly disgruntled people..."

this quote reminds me of the story about one of the astronauts who, just before the rocket was launched, reminded himself that every nut and bolt in that contraption was supplied by the lowest tenderer...

You pay peanuts, you get monkeys.

My partner and I have stopped buying a range of biscuits (cookies in USA) that were made in Melbourne, the factory was closed by the manufacturer, Kraft, and production was moved to China. The packaging is identical, except for the fine print, "Made in China for Kraft Foods, Fishermans Bend, Victoria, Australia." The original factory was at Fishermans Bend.

Chris.
 
Dalmatians have a rather strange renal system compared to other canines. There may be some hope for your freinds Dalmatians. I have one that went into renal failure about 7 years ago. A few sessions of dialysis brought her back. She is now 14 and has no apparent problems. We feed her a low protein food and I give her only filtered water.
Also Dalmatians are prone to kidney stone blockages. If a stone gets in there and plugs up the urinary system, you can also get renal failure as well. In this case you only have hours to get treatment before complete renal failure sets in.
Let us know how your freind's Dalmatian does.
As for people treating their dogs as they are members of the family. Up north, it's pretty common. Down here, it's almost rarely. I do behavioural therapy for a local shelter down here, and from what I see and encounter is amazing. People down here are quite comfortable to throw their dogs out in the yard along with a 25 lb bag of dog food and forget about them. Even in the 100F heat! Just on my own block here in the neighborhood people let their dogs run loose, no tags of course.
We even had a couple down the street go to Las Vegas for a week, and instead of sending their dogs off to a kennel they just let them loose in the neighborhood. When their two labs took up residence on our front porch, we took them in. I finaly got the owners cell phone number and called them in Las Vegas and they told me to just cut the dogs loose, they'll find food at the neighbors house!
Then there is the story of the woman across from me who had her 32 year old alcoholic son move in with her. She bought him a Rottweiler to make him "more responsible". He eventually gave the dog away for a bottle of booze. Too bad, it was a very nice Rottweiler.
It's an endless mess!
 
Allen, thanks for asking. The diagnostic is that Casey has a congenital kidney problem. They're very small and malformed. He's between 3 and 4 years old so his kidneys have always been under a strain, increased blood pressure, and have suffered further damage. Even if he responded to treatment, he'd need continued twice daily injections and other care, and likely wouldn't live but a few months. So the decision has been made to 'let him go.'   :'-(

His litter-mate Abby hasn't had any indication of a problem but some diagnostics may be done to determine if she may be at risk. RJ had a Dalmatian previously. Albie did suffer from kidney and/or bladder stones so he's familiar with that.

Care of animals is all over the map for sure. I have several friends who are very well-caring. I was talking with a friend in Brownsville yesterday evening, he said (kinda jokingly) that they care for their pets better than they did for their kids. I noticed several months ago during a cold snap a dog tied outside a local auto-repair outfit. There was a food and/or water bowl, but I couldn't see if they were empty, and the pup was barking and scratching to get inside (it was the weekend so the place was closed).
 
I am so sorry to hear about Casey. As a previous owner of a multitude of Dalmatians (for over 30 years!) we have had our trials and tribulations with the breed. Fortunately, we only had one kidney stone dog and this one. We have been very lucky. We have switched over to retreivers (by accident by the way) and they are sooo easy compared to Dal's. Dalmatians are not for everyone. You have to keep them busy to bleed off that excess energy. If anyone you know ever has a problem with this, tell them to play Frisbee for 20 minutes a day. Dalmatians know how to play by instinct and the rest of the time they will act like normal dogs.
I should have not been so general with my comments about people in this part of the country not taking care of their pets. Of course there are great dog owners here are well. I think that the cold up the north kind of forces a bond with household pets, and down here with our milder climate it's less so.
But some of the things I have seen or heard would curl your toenails!
 
On low wages and the elderly's dierary

Yesterday one of guys was perplexed as to what to write his next paper on, so I suggested that he must have some unusual or funny experiences at work that would make an interesting paper; and he said, "Mister D., if I write a paper about what goes on in the kitchen, you'd never eat at Applebee's again." Another guy mentioned his restaurant of employ as well, another national chain, but I forget which: "You won't ever eat there, either."

Then on my way out Friday afternoon, the sweet Cleaning Lady who does our wing in a black cocktail dress, no less--her uniform!-- asked me if I was old enough to remember when "all those old people were eating dog and cat food because it was cheap and nutritious"? Indeed, I do, as I remember being "bad to the bone"; yesterday, however, it was more like "chilled to the bone." No fish fry tonight, thank you.

I hope your pets get better, everyone!!!

Good God.
 

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