The following is an email I received today from Neil Rosenblum, owner of NYC’s Pet Stop, where I buy food for my dog, Benny, and my cat, Noni. I take their health very seriously and so, thank goodness, does he. His good advice is to take the time to do research to educate yourself about the issues, the options, and the players. However, this info is not on the company’s website, and it should be!
The real problem, he says, is the greed of the large companies that make most of the food we feed our animal companions. And he points out — as did Whole Dog Journal — that wheat should not be part of the diet of a carnivore to begin with.
He doesn’t say, however, that he’ll no longer carry brands he doesn’t trust, and I think that’s what pet store owners need to do.
For me, the key is keep my pet’s food as close to chemical-free as possible, and to know my pets well enough to know quickly when there is something wrong.
There is little or no quality control by large pet food manufacturers. Standards are low. Food not fit for human consumption is allowed in pet food, including diseased parts of sick animals. Nobody seems to be checking incoming or outgoing ingredients at Menu Brands, and the companies whose brands it manufactures haven’t loudly demanded new standards.
Read Mr. Rosemblum’s email, and be careful what you give your pets. Their lives depend on your vigilance.
Dear Friends and Customers,
The staff at Pet Stop has always been concerned with the dishonesty of many of the larger pet food manufacturers and we have spoken our mind about the quality of the ingredients contained in dog and cat food.
There have been recalls in the past ten years, most involving aflotoxins in the grain but “the big news” soon blew over and business went on as usual.
I believe that this current incident will be a “wake-up” call to the consumer about what the pet food industry (by this I mean the giant companies) have been poisoning your animals every day, 365 days of each year. It is not only tainted and substandard grain imported from other countries (big savings in the cost for these mega companies) which by the way has no business being in the diet of a carnivore but it is time to realize that each and every product in these foods is substandard and your animals are suffering because of GREED! How many more innocent animals will have to be sickened and possibly die because of this GREED!
I think that it is time for you, the parent of these innocent animals to empower yourselves by not trusting information from me, your vet, animal trainer, or people on the street. Each of us have our own opinions and that doesn’t make them “the gospel”. Instead, spend some time on the internet, reading books, periodicals like “The Whole Dog Journal”, animal nutritionists that don’t have an axe to grind, etc, so that no one can “snow you anymore. Once you have the knowledge about this ugly industry, you will be able to stand-up to all of us and make your own intelligent decisions about what is best for your animal family members.
The misinformation and disinformation has to stop now.
Please read the information below from urban hound to get a true sense of what this recall really means to you and your dogs and cats.
Neil Rosenblum
Pet Stop
I agree that you can’t trust ANY of the major pet food manufacturers. The recalls proved that point in a cruel way. I wouldn’t even trust pet store food. I now buy food from http://familypetfood.com, it is holistic food and the veterinarian who formulated it (Dr Jane Bicks) is involved in the day to day operation of the company, she even has a weekly phone conference where people can ask her questions. What other pet food company is doing that? They won’t sell it in stores because they can’t control freshness of the product if they do that. So it is shipped direct to your home. They have free samples on the site, and a very informative video about commercial pet food.