Itchmo: News For Dogs & Cats

The Chicago Tribune has detailed information (reg. req.) on how a pet food recall has brought a federal agency to its knees. The agency admits being behind the curve, while the bulk of the investigation has yet to begin. Also, FDA is investigating an Illinois shipment of rice protein used in human food.

Here are the highlights:

The end of this pet food crisis appears more elusive than ever…

About 45 [California] state residents ate pork from hogs that consumed animal feed laced with melamine from China.

What last month was a limited recall of canned pet food is on the verge of becoming a full-fledged public health scare.

The FDA’s real detective work may be just beginning. Having found many sources of contamination, investigators must now determine exactly how widespread the problem is and how it began.

More highlights after the jump.

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On Saturday, April 28, there will be a nationwide march for our pets and we are “marching in memory of our pets that have lost their lives, we are marching in memory of those pets that are fighting for their lives, we march as pet owners, dog lovers, cat lovers and average citizens that are tired of the lowered safety standards for goods coming in to this country”. The march will begin at 10 am Central time and so far, these cities are participating: Austin, Atlanta, Boston, Baton Rouge, Chicago, Southern California area, Santa Fe, Dallas, New Jersey area, Raleigh, Jacksonville, and Columbus. For more information, please visit these websites: Keep Our Pets Safe and Pets Need a Voice Too.

Our cats and dogs are not only our companions and best friends, but sometimes they are our heroes and they save our lives. Here are some pets that alerted their owners of danger. A heroic incident occurred in New Jersey, when a robber entered the store and pointed a gun at the owner’s wife and then the store owner’s dog began barking at the robber. The robber fled the store, but before leaving, he did take a shot at the dog. The dog, a 5-year-old German shepard named Moti (pictured here), had emergency surgery and is doing well and wanted to go back to work the next day. He definitely is a work horse! Good job Moti!

More pet heroes after the jump.
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April is Animal Cruelty Prevention Month (apparently Menu Foods didn’t get that memo). To highlight this great month, ASPCA (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) will be celebrating ASPCA Day on Tuesday, April 10 and are encouraging pet owners to “Go Orange For Animals”. Buildings and landmarks in several cities like New York, Chicago, LA, Austin, Washington, DC , Tampa and Philadelphia will be lit up orange in support of the day.

If you live in New York, come to the ASPCA Day Festival in Union Square on April 10 from 4-8pm. There will be music, pet tips, food, photos with your pet and much more.

How can you celebrate? Light up your house orange. Wear and hand out orange glow sticks (it will remind you of all those raves you went to). Tie orange bows on trees, doors or even on your dog. You and your dog can wear orange — get out all of that orange clothing that you thought was cool when you first bought it but haven’t worn it since. Don’t worry, people won’t make fun of you because it’s for a good cause.

Recalled foods list and what you need to do on one page.

FDA looking into purposeful contamination of wheat gluten. Investigation is still continuing.

Recall expands on Friday. Plus more news from Friday’s summary.

FDA released their summary of the wheat gluten recall. Some key items:

• “FDA’s priority now is to assure that all contaminated product is identified and removed from store shelves.”
• FDA says they started investigating Menu Foods within 24 hours of notice. But it’s not clear what was done in those first 24 hours to save as many lives as possible.
• “Currently sampling 100 percent of all Chinese wheat gluten being offered for import”
• “Laboratories have conducted over 400 sample analyses, and to date have found 21 samples that were positive for melamine”
• “No evidence that any wheat gluten contaminated with melamine has entered the human food supply”

Senator Durbin on WGN Radio’s pet show on Sunday at 8pm Central.

12-city march planned by Keep Our Pets Safe on April 28.

Pet parents urge national change in pet food oversight.

News from Vets:

Reader tips point us to Dr. Michael W. Fox theorizing how genetically modified food could be causing the toxin problem.

A holistic vet shares his thoughts on video.

Senator Durbin (D-IL) announced that he will “hold an oversight hearing on the investigation and regulatory mechanisms that govern the pet food industry” at the Wicker Park press conference in Chicago. You can watch it here.

More from the Chicago Tribune article:

During a press conference today in Wicker Park, Durbin (D-Ill.) said the role of the Food and Drug Administration needs to be expanded to prevent future threats to humans and animals, and to penalize companies that delay reporting health issues.

“The FDA is like a fire department that is only called after the house is burned down,” Durbin said. “We have to change that system.”

Durbin added that the FDA needs to establish a standardized set of regulations and inspection requirements to replace the patchwork of state inspection systems currently in place.

Durbin also said a centralized Web site needs to be created to allow better communication between consumers, veterinarians and the federal government.

“To wait for this information to make it back to Washington and back to consumers is unacceptable,” he said. He said the Senate hearing will be held shortly after the body returns from recess next week.

Thanks paulbos.

It’s so unreal, we had to read twice. A coyote strolled into a downtown (loop) Chicago Quiznos (does that qualify as a rodent problem?) and chilled out — literally, in a cooler. Read the whole AP story after the jump. Or see the video on CNN. How the heck did it make it all the way to near The Art Institute? It totally looks like it’s posing for the camera. Quite a sexy look, really.

We were surprised to hear that coyotes are routinely captured in Chicago. Itchmo lived there for almost 10 years and never saw one. It was quite sad to see him get dragged away, but it’ll be better off in the wild. (more…)

ChemNutra, the US importer who sold the tainted wheat gluten to Menu Foods and others, will be an exhibitor at the Pet Food Forum on April 16 through 18 at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare just outside of Chicago (technically Rosemont). We suspect they will be there to do some damage control.

If you’re going to be there, have a friendly chat with them and get some answers for all of us.

Thanks Stephanie.

They have confirmed with the Illinois senator’s office that he “pledges to hold Congressional hearings when the Senate resumes after Easter break.”

They are also holding a press conference tomorrow 4/5/07 at 2:30pm Central time and is looking for victims of the Menu Foods tragedy. Please contact the senator’s office if you are a victim.

The press conference will be at: 1425 N. Damen, Chicago, IL. See this PDF for details. (Itchmo lived 1 block from that park and its dusty little off-leash dog park.)

Kudos to Pet Connection.

Seattle’s own Nintendo has a little hit on their hands. No, I’m not talking about the Wii, but the cool little Nintendo DS and the game Nintendogs. Unfortunately for many dogs, it seems like many parents have taken to their virtual pets a little too fondly. Now, one Chicago dog has had enough and struck back (we’re sensationalizing, but really, it quite ironic).