"must Not Be Fed To Cats"

[Online Pets]

For a while now I've been noticing stickers on food items from overseas that say "Must not be fed to cats". Some of these items are things that have made me wonder why such as Dried chicken and duck jerky. This may explain a little about it!

http://www.smh.com.au/national/catfood-irradiation-banned-as-pet-theory-proved-20090529-bq8h.html

[Guest lavendergirl]

That is very interesting - thanks for posting. I always check if I am feeding my dog an imported kibble that it is not irradiated. I think the following is a key point:

"Australian quarantine regulations, which demand that pet food not cooked over a specified temperature undergo irradiation of 50 kiloGrays upon arrival in the country."

Some imported pet foods don't require irradiation because they comply with this requirement (presumably).

[Linda K]

the Orijen debacle of several years ago was a major concern for many cat owners, with many cats dying or suffering all sorts of major food allergies as a result of eating batches that had not been irradiated. I photographed a gorgeous Burmese cat that had gone through over a year of major treatment to recover, and was able to leap around thankfully back to her old self - at its worst she had been unable to walk.

[Katdogs]

You'll find several DOLers were affected and mine is one of the few cats who was almost completely tetraplegic but is now still going strong.

Note the article in the paper is from 2009. I think the information is now quite out of date. More cats passed in the six months to twelve months after this article as their owners slowly lost hope or gave in to the drudgery and indignity for the cat of being cared for with paralysis.

[Sagittarian]

For a while now I've been noticing stickers on food items from overseas that say "Must not be fed to cats". Some of these items are things that have made me wonder why such as Dried chicken and duck jerky. This may explain a little about it!

http://www.smh.com.au/national/catfood-irradiation-banned-as-pet-theory-proved-20090529-bq8h.html

So, out of curiosity, now that you know that Wanpy (for example) are irradiated on entry in the country (never used to be but recent deliveries have been), has that affected how you view the product?

Sags

[Online Pets]

For a while now I've been noticing stickers on food items from overseas that say "Must not be fed to cats". Some of these items are things that have made me wonder why such as Dried chicken and duck jerky. This may explain a little about it!

http://www.smh.com.au/national/catfood-irradiation-banned-as-pet-theory-proved-20090529-bq8h.html

So, out of curiosity, now that you know that Wanpy (for example) are irradiated on entry in the country (never used to be but recent deliveries have been), has that affected how you view the product?

Sags

To be honest, i don't know. I'm not overly happy about it and am doing some research into the irradiation, the possible health side effects etc. Until i have all the information i don't know what my view is. At the moment i am thinking i will probably phase those products out and replace them with an alternative that hasn't been through these processes. My dog loves them sooooooo much though!

[tdierikx]

You'll find several DOLers were affected and mine is one of the few cats who was almost completely tetraplegic but is now still going strong.

Note the article in the paper is from 2009. I think the information is now quite out of date. More cats passed in the six months to twelve months after this article as their owners slowly lost hope or gave in to the drudgery and indignity for the cat of being cared for with paralysis.

I remember all those months of care and assistance you had to put in with Rocky Katdogs... and I also know how close it got to looking hopeless before she started to show signs of recovery.

And the saddest part of Rocky's traumatic experience was that she had hardly eaten much of the stuff at all because she obviously didn't like it... scary!

Ever since seeing what happened with Rocky, I've been so careful to only feed my animals Australian made food - even if it's the cheaper stuff (Bonnie) - they love it, and it's not been irradiated.

T.

[Sagittarian]

Being Australian won't mean a product contains no irradiated ingredients. You need to get assurances from any company to be perfectly sure.

No cat food is irradiated coming to Australia - they are either approved for importation or not approved. Dog food that is irradiated (along with treats) will have the sticker advising that the food is not suitable for cats.

It is easy to spot irradiated product now, so should actually provide a higher measure of confidence in what you are buying.

Sags

[Danois]

Good to hear Rocky is going well.

Milo thankfully made a full recovery.

[Katdogs]

Thanks TD and Danois. It was a horrible Christmas. Danois, your Milo was very lucky to be a monstrous huge cat! I got out of most of the threads and forums because they were making me so miserable, but every so often I check in with the Itchmo forum. There's almost a new alert every day in the US about food for dogs and/or cats, it's really scary, but they're very alert to new problems there and have a way of dealing with them. I'm still not confident that anything other than one alert neuro and a very small distribution network made the Orijen less devastating that it could have been, and we still don't know what the long-term effects on dogs and cats could be!