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March 31, 2007

Notes from Ferdy - Pet Food Problem Starts to Spread

by Ferdinand T Cat

Purina has recalled its Alpo Cuts-in-Gravy products. Previously, it had recalled some of its Mighty Dog food because it had been manufactured by Menu Foods. This new recall is because the wheat gluten used in the Alpo Cuts-in-Gravy is of Chinese origin and is believed to be contaminated by a fertilizer called melamine.

At this point, I would not be using any pet food with wheat gluten in it. We have no idea what was used where by whom, and it's better safe than sorry. It's scary to think that I owe my life and continued good health to the fact that the Other Cat refuses to eat anything with gravy or sauce in it.

In prior articles I discussed the uses and pathology of aminopterin, which was identified as the toxin by a New York lab, but is no longer considered to be the source of the problem. The toxic effects of melamine are not as well-known, because it's not used as a poison. Its advantage as a fertilizer is that it does not wash out of the soil during watering. The theory is that after the watering, bacteria in the soil digest the melamine and leave behind useful chemicals like urea and nitrates. I suppose the problem is that if the proper bacteria are not present in sufficient quantities, the plants suck up the real stuff and you get a major league pet food disaster.

Still, the playbook to this point is that melamine is only toxic when high doses collect in the kidneys or bladder.

It's worth noting that melamine can be combined with formeldahyde to manufacture resins and plastics. These products are also called "melamine", and you can find all sorts of places that tell you it's completely safe. It turns out, however, that the real, non-plastic melamine is considered safe for humans, and has no effect on rats. Unfortunately, nobody ever tested it to see if it was dangerous to cats. This is what makes the science of pathology so much fun.

In the meantime, check the labels of everything you buy.

Respectfully submitted,

Ferdinand T. Cat

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Comments

sheesh who would have ever thought feeding pets would be so complicated?..good post Ferdy! :)


Posted by: http://www.womanhonorthyself.com/ at March 31, 2007 11:24 PM

I think u got a good blog!!
I hope you can visit mine. It's all about
DOG and
DOG FOOD.
You wll learn valuable information about dogs and how to feed them the real thing.

http://dogfoodsecrets.blogspot.com/

Follow the instructions there, and read their articles and you will keep your dog alive for more 5-8 years more than expect!! I publish new and exclusive articles every single day for free!!


Posted by: alkaser at April 2, 2007 5:19 PM

HTML is not allowed in comments; however, if you put in a raw URL (http://www.somewhere.com/page.html) it will automatically be converted to a link.. Also, it is likely your comment will not appear unless you refresh the page manually after posting it.

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