That pet food recall has expanded yet again. Now it includes Alpo Prime Cuts in Gravy wet dog food (made by Purina) and Prescription Diet m/d (made by Hill’s) for cats … the first dry food to be recalled. None of the pets in my extended family circle eat these, as verified by my calling them all and making sure of that, but I wanted to pass it on.
What is really obnoxious about these latest additions is that Alpo is eaten by oodles of dogs. It’s a big brand. And … the prescription cat food? It’s for cats with diabetes who are overweight … so it’s getting fed to animals who already have problems.
Look, your pet’s food has no reason whatsoever to have wheat gluten in it. It isn’t there for any nutritional purpose, can’t even be digested (at least by cats, I don’t know about dogs), and all it does is act as a filler or for appearance sake. Read the labels. Avoid wheat gluten. I’ve been avoiding it since Fuzza got IBS, which the vet said probably came from … get this … eating wheat gluten. The kittens now eat Purina Kitten Chow, because once I got around to reading the label some of the expensive stuff we were feeding them did have wheat gluten, and quite frankly, I don’t want to end up with more cats that get IBS and then die too young from cancer (and yes, I think the two are related). Purina Kitten Chow may not be the best thing out there, but at least the ingredients are mostly identifiable and mostly not just there to make it look good.
My mom is currently cooking for her dog, because she’s a little spooked about what foods may be recalled next, and quite frankly, I don’t blame her. I am too. I am considering putting the cats on an actual non-cat food diet as well, though I don’t know how I am going to pull off making meals for the cats on top of everything else, even if I do it in bulk … and it’s not going to be cheap. We tried it for a while with Fuzza, and none of us were all that thrilled with the idea. But hell, I am nervous about feeding them anything I buy in a store right now.
Gods, the poor pets and poor pet owners going through all this, the thought just sickens me to the core, and even though I haven’t been personally effected by this recall of poisoned food, I can’t stop myself from crying about it every time it crosses my mind. It’s just so horrible.
Other posts at Just Orb containing more information about this recall: