The Government of the United States via the FDA website announces yesterday that The Procter and Gamble Company has voluntarily recalled "specific lots" of "dry pet food". Apparently this is the Salmonella issue that has plagued many pet foods in the recent past.
This recall covers "specific lots" of both canine and feline formulas of the IAMS and Eukanuba brands.
If you feed IAMS the procedure for determining if the food that you have on hand has been potentially contaminated is available at: http://www.iams.com/en_us/data_root/_pdf/8-14-13%20Iams%20Product%20Information%20Dog.pdf
If you feed Eukanuba the procedure for determining if the food that you have on hand has been potentially contaminated is available at: http://www.eukanuba.com/en-US/SpecialAnnouncement.pdf
I hate to beat a dead horse here, so to speak, but I always caution people to be careful to not buy a particular food or dog product based solely upon advertising. I understand that accidental contamination can occur during the manufacture of dog food. Everyone makes mistakes. I have made a great many of them over the years. However, it seems that pet food contamination (or at least contamination of which consumers are aware) is growing at a rapid pace.
So, look at the logos I have attached to this post. I am not certain that Eukanuba is " The best you can do for your dog" (although I am not suggesting it is a bad food, generally, in the uncontaminated lots). Also, I would ask the question of the IAMS brand ; "Yes, Whats really in your dogs bowl ?" Apperently if I purchased the wrong lot of some IAMS brand food recently, it could be salmonella.
Again, let me be clear, I am really not picking on these brands. I am sort of picking on the Dog Food industry in general. Lots of hype and marketing surround these dog foods today. Confusing claims, exaggerated benefits and lots of way overpriced dog foods are out there. When I worked for Petco in Peachtree City, Georgia we actually carried a $80.00 bag of dry food (it was a little over 20 pounds if my memory is correct). That is about $4.00 a pound. Center Cut Pork Ribs are only $3.49 a pound at my local Publix. Beef Roast is $3.99 a pound. However, we actually sold one or two bags of the $80.00 dog food a week. I suppose P.T. Barnum may have been right. He is rumored to have said " There is a sucker born every minute" or something to that effect. The truth is however, that these contamination problems can (and do eventually) hit any of the brands regardless of price.
So, my advice has always been, dont overspend on food just for the sake of buying a "natural", "holistic", "organic", "essential", "freeze dried raw" etc. food simply because of the marketing. There are many marketing fads that come and go.
If your dog has dietary or health issues and needs a particular type of food buy what the veterinarian recommends. Otherwise, my humble opinion based upon many years of feeding and raising healthy little guys and girls, is that if the dog is doing well on the food you are feeding (regardless of how cheap and out of style it may be) why change? If it aint broke dont fix it.That being said, if you are feeding IAMS or Eukanuba now and are thinking of switching to a different brand due to availability or concerns about future contamination. Contact me and I will be happy to talk to you about what other food may make for the easiest transition for your dog. Many times switching foods can upset the stomach so it is important to switch to one with a similar formula to avoid potential problems. However this does not necessarily mean that the food you switch to has to be in the same price range. Believe it or not, it is possible to switch to a food in a lower price range and have the same or better quality.
If you are interested in more information about my opinions on dog foods I wrote a couple of earlier blog posts that may be helpful to you:
- You can read about Corn as a food ingredient. (you may be suprised about my opinion on corn)
- One of the first posts I wrote on this blog was about Nutrition. It goes into some detail about the different varieties of dog food that are available today.
-William-
William Moore
William Moore Canine Training
678-702-4791
fayettedogtrainer@gmail.com
