larry

I wonder why the FDA is so slow to release the names of the other factories/brands that also bought the problem rice protein concentrate....

one vet we know said that in a lot of cases of dogs that they get with skin allergy problems 9due to diet) that if they took the dogs off schmacko's and other similar treats (with the various colours, flavours, etc) that this helped a lot with reducing the skin problems. While the dog's main food can be the main cause of diet allergies, treats can also be a big cause...

winterpaws-i am quite pro-australian and i have a lot of friends in the farming industry here :rolleyes: i think that in future years australian food, wine, etc will continue to get more popular due to our clean and safe environment we feed our dogs natural balance, and home made food. i hear a lot about what deals usa company's get in order to get ahead in the world market....(mind you the awb in iraq also wasn't 'above board') i also used to have a business in the past that made gourmet foods for people(we have sold it years ago), and i met a lot of other food manufacturers here in WA, so i am quite positive towards australian manufacturers, and the food standards here. I have visited the usa many times, as we have relatives there, and i am not impressed with the diet that most (but not all) of the people eat there. There are other reasons i prefer australian made-they got mad cow disease, australia never did due to our feed regulations, etc, etc i also have read a lot about the many, many problems in the china food industry, so my wife and i refuse to buy foods from china, so we certainly wouldn't feed our dogs foods made using ingredients from china. eg in WA there is a company called anchor foods that makes australia balsmaic wine vinegars, we use these rather than imported ones... there are many locally made foods that are as good as imported ones, and i prefer to use local, and support local companies ! eg azzurra gelati, casa dairy products, too many wines to list, lake crystal salt, anchor foods vinegars, etc

i just heard that the USA made natural balance has had a recall of some of it's lines http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/ this is not the same as the australian made natural balance http://www.naturalbalance.net.au/

hi showdog, i do care where my dog's food is made, especially if there are quality problems ! i am also concerned if company's are using ingredients from china, especially with china's history of quality problems with food..

you can get Natural Balance , this is a super premium food that is made here in australia, using only Australian ingredients! Their food is lamb and rice based, and this is good for a lot of dogs with allergy issues with wheat and/or beef.... I understand that they also export this food to quite a few countries overseas ! I always prefer to support australian companies www.naturalbalance.net.au we feed our dogs on this and they are doing great ! http://www.naturalbalance.net.au/outlets.php has a list of outlets. you can get is delivered via priceless pets http://www.pricelesspets.com.au/ who also deliver a lot of medicines quite cheap ! At least with foods made here in australia you don't have problems like the recent USA recalls. I think that a lot of the USA 'super premium' brands have lost a lot of 'status' in many pet owners view, with their using ingredients from china.... Advance is also made in australia, but they are owned by mars, a usa company....

i also wonder if they have all the suspect batches.... they are still working out whether it was just the wheat gluten from china, what if there are other problem ingredients ? We don't yet know what other ingredients come from china....

it will be interesting to see what other manufacturers are affected as time goes on .... people have been buying food produced in the USA, but now they are finding that it may be using ingredients from china...... It would be interesting to find out what USA brands use ingredients from china ?? I have read that more USA factories,some of which that make dry and wet pet food have also been buying from the same supplier of the poisoned wheat gluten… Del Monte , Hills and Nestle affected : http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-0...od-recall_N.htm http://www.wltx.com/news/story.aspx?storyid=48323 http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/i....xml&coll=7 http://www.huliq.com/17173/alpo-cuts-in-gr...tionwide-recall http://www.northcountrygazette.org/article...nerAnxiety.html http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17870750/ http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070331/ap_on_...pet_food_recall

it looks like the the main problem was some wheat from china had chemicals in it, and some of the the wheat was processed and converted to wheat gluten, and this still contained the poison. the contamination wasn't discovered by the manufacturer but by customers reporting deaths in their pets, then the recall started. however-we can only hope that they have all the suspect batches of the problem ingredient.... - http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/Jan06/....dying.ssl.html it sounds like there have been pets dying from this contamination since october, and only now they have discovered it.... why would you trust menufoods now, if it's taken so long to discover there is a problem ??? -we don't know how much poisoned wheat there was, so how do you know anything made using wheat from china is safe, if we don't know who produced the suspect wheat, and when it was made, and who bought it ? -we also don't know what other manufacturers in and out of china could have used the problem wheat... -testing for this poison is expensive i assume so not all companies would have done this yet. -i also don't believe that once the chinese manufacturer discovers what wheat is a problem, that they will necessarily destroy the wheat vs sell it cheap.... larry

so far they have said that only certain batches of wet food were affected... but it depends on what other companies may have also bought contaminated ingredients from china ! they only found out about this problem once people complained about their dogs getting sick... http://www.petconnection.com/index.php that's why i only buy australian made....

http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/Jan06/....dying.ssl.html :-( this is like the recall they had in asia for pedigree in the past, just a lot bigger.... http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_...15/ai_114410165

“Dog food recall in the USA due to contaminated ingredient : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menu_Foods It looks like the recall was due to rat poison in one of the ingredients (wheat gluten) that came from china.... Another reason why you don't want to get any pet food (dog, cat or fish) that uses wheat ingredients from china...... as they won’t be sure what stocks are contaminated. Be careful buying any fish foods that are made in china, as wheat this is a common ingredient ie wheat, wheat germ, wheat gluten could all be affected.....”

the above advice people are giving about plants and foods are quite good you may also want to increase the amount of omega 3 oils in your dog's diet which helps you dog's skin to repair itself.. eg fish oil, oil supplements-we have used omega magic plus

one of our dogs is on a special diet as she has Megaesophagus and we give her flaked chicken, so she needs more omega 3 oils in her diets, so we give her omega magic plus. megaderm is good, but costs about twice as much

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/03/17/petfood.r...l.ap/index.html http://www.fda.gov/oc/po/firmrecalls/menu03_07.html http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2007/NEW01590.html http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story...32-2702,00.html Menu Foods -- a major manufacturer of dog and cat food sold under Wal-Mart, Safeway, Kroger and other store brands -- recalled 60 million containers of wet pet food Friday after reports of kidney failure and deaths. Below are lists of specific brands recalled by Menu Foods, in addition to Procter & Gamble's recall of certain Iams and Eukanuba products. Menu Brands lists the brands on its Web site, www.menufoods.com, and advises consumers to call 1-866-895-2708 for more information. Recalled cat foods Americas Choice; Preferred Pets; Authority; Best Choice; Companion; Compliments; Demoulas Market Basket; Fine Feline Cat, Shep Dog; Food Lion; Foodtown; Giant Companion; Good n Meaty; Hannaford; Hill Country Fare; Hy-Vee; Key Food; Laura Lynn; Li'l Red; Loving Meals; Main Choice; Nutriplan; Nutro Max Gourmet Classics; Nutro Natural Choice; Paws; Presidents Choice; Price Chopper; Priority; Save-A-Lot; Schnucks; Sophistacat; Special Kitty; Springfield Pride; Sprout; Total Pet; My True Friend; Wegmans; Western Family; White Rose; and Winn Dixie. Recalled dog foods America's Choice; Preferred Pets; Authority; Award; Best Choice; Big Bet; Big Red; Bloom; Bruiser; Cadillac; Companion; Demoulas Market Basket; Fine Feline Cat; Shep Dog; Food Lion; Giant Companion; Great Choice; Hannaford; Hill Country Fare; Hy-Vee; Key Food; Laura Lynn; Loving Meals; Main Choice; Mixables; Nutriplan; Nutro Max; Nutro Natural Choice; Nutro; Ol'Roy; Paws; Pet Essentials; Pet Pride; President's Choice; Price Chopper; Priority; Publix; Roche Bros; Save-A-Lot; Schnucks; Springsfield Pride; Sprout; Stater Bros; Total Pet; My True Friend; Western Family; White Rose; Winn Dixie and Your Pet.

we feed our dogs the australian natural balance i prefer to buy australian made compared to imported foods. you can get it from priceless pets

have you tried increasing the amount of omega 3 oils in your dog's diet ? using a supplement like megaderm, or omega magic (which is cheaper) or fish oil capsules may help ?

have you tried omega 3 oil supplements ? as increasing the amount of omega 3 oils in your dog's diet can help the skin and coat to repair themselves ?

have you tried increasing the amount of omega 3 oils in your dog's diet ? eg oily fish, fish oil, omega magic plus, megaderm, etc this is a natural way to help your dog to repair it's skin.....

Have you ever tried natural balance ? i prefer to buy australian products where possible, rather than use imported goods we feed our dogs this and it has performed well for us.... it's all natural, and it's a low allergy lamb and rice formula (with no beef or chicken protein) that's made here in australia they have a couple of distributors that deliver very cheaply (eg priceless pets-we use them for our tablets ) http://www.naturalbalance.net.au/ you could probably ask them to send you a sample ?

Have you ever tried natural balance ? i prefer to buy australian products where possible, rather than use imported goods we feed our dogs this and it has performed well for us.... it's all natural, and it's a low allergy lamb and rice formula (with no beef or chicken protein ) that's made here in australia they have a couple of distributors that deliver very cheaply (eg priceless pets-we use them for our tablets ) http://www.naturalbalance.net.au/ you could probably ask them to send you a sample ?

Hi baboni i can see that the melbourne guys are listed on the natural balance website http://www.naturalbalance.net.au/outlets.php with the way that traffic is getting worse in the cities, and petrol prices going up, home delivery is certainly getting more attractive.....

we have a relative who insists their dog is not fat.... so i have learnt not to bring up the subject....

hi hesapandabear that explains it.... the australian natural balance doesn't have any chicken chicken is quite cheap in the USA compared to other meats, so it's a popular meat source for pet food.....

no problem, i'm glad to help anyone who cares a lot about their pets is a good person in my books :-)