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March 23, 2007

Pet Food News - Menu Foods Toxin May Have Been Identified

by Ferdinand T Cat

According to ABC News, the current theory for the reason that Menu Foods products have been killing animals is that the wheat gluten was contaminated with a rat poison called aminopterin.

Aminopterin is not legal for use as a pesticide in the United States. It is used in cancer chemotherapy because it is antineoplastic: that is, it inhibits cell growth. Cancer cells are more likely to be affected by this than healthy cells, which is how chemotherapy works.

As a pesticide, the drug is sprayed in small concentrations so that it only affects small animals. In general, aminopterin will only cause renal failure in high doses. In a child, you'd fix the problem by giving him or her lots of water to dilute the poison. That won't work with pets, because you can lead a cat to water but you can't make him drink. Your veterinarian, however, has equipment that can help clean toxins out of the kidneys.

It's worth pointing out that there are a lot of IFs in the chain leading to this conclusion. IF aminopterin is the culprit and IF the problem is caused by concentration in the affected food products THEN maybe dilution or cleansing would help.

There's another conclusion at the end of those IFs, which is that the size of the animal is going to be reflected in the strength of the reaction. Most dogs are larger than cats, which may be the reason cats are more at risk. It is also known that some dogs have developed an immunity to aminopterin, and their cells are currently being studied to determine what is protecting them. The joke is that the purpose of this research is to make aminopterin more lethal so it can continue to be used as an anti-cancer drug.

We will continue to keep you posted.

Respectfully submitted,

Ferdinand T. Cat

Trackposted to Right Pundits, Outside the Beltway, The Virtuous Republic, Blog @ MoreWhat.com, Perri Nelson's Website, The Random Yak, Adam's Blog, basil's blog, Stuck On Stupid, The Amboy Times, The Bullwinkle Blog, Cao's Blog, LaTogaStrappata®, sissunchi, Allie Is Wired, Faultline USA, third world county, Woman Honor Thyself, , stikNstein... has no mercy, The World According to Carl, Pirate's Cove, The Pink Flamingo, CORSARI D'ITALIA, and Gone Hollywood, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

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