RECALL: Royal Canin

OMG! Karlin, thank you so much! This is why I love this board. I had absolutely no idea. We were actaully just at the vet yesterday because he was pooping all blood and they couldn't figure out why. They have since treated him and things are back to normal. They did take blood but those results won't be back until Monday.

I am on the phone with the vet dermatologist as I type to get switched to different food. Thank you so much!!!!

I agree with Kodee. I am sticking with companies who ONLY use ingredients that are GROWN/MANUFACTURED/PACKAGED in the US/canada. So far, Natura (innova Evo) and Wellness meet those criteria and my dogs are doing well on them.

That Chinese company exports hundreds of products so there is no telling what will be next on the list.

Debbie & Monica...very good point! For the moment, I'm following those guidelines, plus no rice, corn, or wheat gluten/protein concentrate. Of course, you are right that it could be any ingredient that causes the problem.

Regarding Chinese growers -- ironically I was reading an article not too long ago, but before this food concern, about ongoing worries about some Chinese growing practices -- mainly putting in additives. I can't remember where I read this but it was talking about the human food chain and the challenges of regulating production in such a huge country with relatively weak infrastructure.

All this said -- as the Whole Dog Journal currently notes, previous food related scares with pet food have been due to other causes -- problem in production or storage within the plant, not ingredients imported from elsewhere.

And the FDA article I just posted the link to, points out that there's some regulation on what manufacturers state on their bags of food (but general confusion in many cases) and what a label seems to 'mean' may not be the case. For example one could list meat as the first ingredient and corn, second; another corn first and meat second, but because of the moisture removed from meat, the food with 'corn' listed as the first ingredient may actually contain more meat.

Likewise certain terms carry NO meaning -- eg 'human grade', 'premium' etc, but have become common inthe higher end o fthe food market. The FDA article says:

Other Label Claims​

Many pet foods are labeled as "premium," and some now are "super premium" and even "ultra premium." Other products are touted as "gourmet" items. Products labeled as premium or gourmet are not required to contain any different or higher quality ingredients, nor are they held up to any higher nutritional standards than are any other complete and balanced products.
​

The term "natural" is often used on pet food labels, although that term does not have an official definition either. For the most part, "natural" can be construed as equivalent to a lack of artificial flavors, artificial colors, or artificial preservatives in the product. As mentioned above, artificial flavors are rarely employed anyway. Artificial colors are not really necessary, except to please the pet owner's eye. If used, they must be from approved sources, the same as for human foods. Especially for high-fat dry products, some form of preservative must be used to prevent rancidity. Natural-source preservatives, such as mixed tocopherols (a source of vitamin E), can be used in place of artificial preservatives. However, they may not be as effective.​

"Natural" is not the same as "organic." The latter term refers to the conditions under which the plants were grown or animals were raised. There are no official rules governing the labeling of organic foods (for humans or pets) at this time, but the United States Department of Agriculture is developing regulations dictating what types of pesticides, fertilizers and other substances can be used in organic farming.​

Click to expand...

Makes your head spin, doesn't it? :huh:

Hog farmers feed their pigs leftovers from the manufacturing of pet food (ugh). They have already quarantined one hog farm where they found melamine in the pigs. It is just a matter of time that they decide it has gotten into the human food chain. Who knows what they feed chickens.

http://www.petconnection.com/blog/category/2007-food-recall/

It just blows my mind that food that is not fit for dog consumption is fit for hog consumption that is in turn fed to humans!! How can that possibly be a better option than just throwing the junk out?!

If we are what we eat? Aren't we also what the animals we eat, eat? (does that make sense??)

Some pretty scary stuff is fed hogs in Europe and the US as well -- I remember reading an article in Time or Newsweek on concerns about Mad Cow related disease in other species that are fed things that many would consider questionable. Another reason to opt for organic pork where there are some strict standards in Europe for example; I don't think there are standards yet for what constitutes 'organic' labelling in the US.

For example, 'downer' cows -- those considered too sick for human consumption or that are already dead on arrival at meat plants and which we worry about going into our dog's food -- instead get rendered into PIG and CHICKEN FEED and are thus routed BACK into the human food chain through this back door!!

From the New York Times (my emphasis):

Dr. DeHaven said that the decision announced on Tuesday to ban downer cows from the food supply means that most such animals will be sent to rendering plants, which boil the carcasses to produce protein for poultry and swine feed, tallow, fat, oil and other products, including some used in cosmetics. As a result, much of the screening for mad cow disease will move away from slaughterhouses to rendering plants and farms. Dr. DeHaven described that change as a major shift in the surveillance system for the disease and said the government would have to start working with renderers to make sure the tests are done.

Click to expand...

From: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/01/n...&en=ef5881d0c947cbc2&ei=5007&partner=USERLAND

I think what goes into the commercial food chain is so hidden away that most people would be stunned to learn the actual facts (such as the above) of commercial food production -- I know we are discussing animal food but what about what ends up on our tables?

BLEGH! That enough to make a girl turn VEGAN!!

Well...maybe not..I do love me some cheeseburgers

Patronise your local butcher who carries organic, locally sourced beef! I don;t buy a lot of red meats, but now and then I like to make a good hamburger or meatloaf and get organic meats for this. Also supports local, animal-welfare friendly, small-scale farmers.

Thank God I don't eat a lot of red meat, but I do love pork! Barbecue ribs being my favorite. What can I say, I'm a southern girl through and through. And besides that, there is a barbecue place on every corner here. If you don't like barbecue, you are kinda out of luck.:lol:

Ugh! I think I learn something new everyday on this board, probably more than I did in college )!

Karlin turned me on to the Ecover products and I have fallen in love with them. You can get them at the Whole Foods stores in the US so I think I might start buying more organic produce and protiens while I am there.

some of you were earlier wondering if Royal Canin were recalling some products in Canada too-- a few weeks ago Royal Canin recalled pet foods in Canada. Im not sure if it was just cat food or both dog and cat food.

Haven't been on this site for a while, but logged in today because of the RC recall. I feed Wrigley RC 27 and just bought a new bag on Wednesday. I haven't opened it yet, and the exp date says 0205008. Thinking I should take it back to the store and start feeding him home cooked food for now. It's such a shame, as he really loves this food and seems to be doing very well on it.

Don't know what else to switch him to. I don't want to feed him home cooked food alone.

I know, it so so frustrating. Lily was doing so well on RC. Before we picked her up from the Vet earlier, I went to the pet store and bought a bag of Wellness. They do not use any of the suppliers of the affected rice. I am going to feed Lily boiled chicken and rice for a few days at any rate, then switch her over to the Wellness.

This is what their site says:

April 19, 2007

Dear Pet Parents,

Like many of you, we were upset to learn that the presence of an illegal contaminant has again been found in the pet-food supply, this time involving rice protein concentrate.
We have no reason to believe that any Wellness or Old Mother Hubbard products are affected in any way. In fact:

• We do not source rice protein concentrate from Binzhou Futian Biological Technology, the manufacturer of the contaminated rice protein concentrate.

• We do not purchase rice protein concentrate from Wilbur-Ellis.

• We have visited the plants where we source our rice protein concentrate, and they have consistently met our stringent standards. We have been purchasing from them for several years and have not recently added any new suppliers.

We wanted to make you aware of the facts concerning our ingredients and quality assurance program.

Why We Use Rice Protein Concentrate

Rice protein concentrate is an expensive, premium and natural ingredient that is used in, for example, cereal, baked goods, and in some premium, natural pet foods. It is a source of protein with strong non-allergenic properties. At Wellness, we use rice protein concentrate in a handful of products that are formulated for allergies, including:

• Simple Food Solutions
• Two flavors of the WellBars (Fish and Sweet Potato and Yogurt, Apple and Bananas)
• Old Mother Hubbard Puppy Treats

These are our only products that contain rice protein concentrate.

Our Quality Assurance Program

All of Wellness and Old Mother Hubbard products are produced according to our proprietary recipes, with our specified ingredients, and our quality standards.

• We require a complete cleaning and sanitation between each product run to help ensure the purity of our products.
• Our facilities are regularly audited by Cook & Thurber, a HUMAN FOOD auditing firm.
• We require that our suppliers provide ingredients that are free of contaminants.
• Our employees monitor the quality control processes at all manufacturing plants.

New Enhancements to Our Quality Assurance Program

Wellness has consistently provided healthy, natural products to pet parents. Whenever our industry is confronted with a new issue, we incorporate new procedures into our quality assurance program. We are doing so here and will continue to take all appropriate steps to help ensure the continued integrity of all our products. For example, we are supplementing our vendor qualification processes to require them to show proof of testing for new known contaminants, and we are expanding our own testing procedures to address a wider selection of ingredients and contaminants.

Working Together

The presence of illegal contaminants like melamine in pet food is a new issue, and one that is being investigated by the regulatory authorities. While we have no reason to believe our products are affected by this matter, the uncertainty those issues have created across the industry is of great concern to us. We urge government and regulatory officials to continue acting with due speed to identify the source of the contamination and hold that entity accountable.

The safety of our food supply is important to all of us. Working together with other industry stakeholders, we firmly believe that confidence in the supplies of food for our pets and our families can be restored.

As always, if you have any questions, we are happy to help. You can reach us at 1-800-225-0904.

Well, I have thrown away the last of the RC that was in his food container, and will take the unsealed bag back to the store next week. In the meantime, Wrigley had ground sirloin with pasta for lunch and was more than a happy chappie!

Will do some research before buying any other dry dog food.

what to feed and how to switch over quickly-----

Do any of you know of a wheat-gluten free, rice protein free, corn gluten free dog food that is carried by petco or petsmart? We do not have any other pet stores here, and I am currently feeding RC puppy 33/special 30 which has corn gluten meal. It hasnt been recalled yet, but I am afraid now that it is only a matter of time.
My girls are really picky eaters, so I want to give them something they will eat easily.
Should I just go to chicken & rice until I can find something or order online? How long can they be on a diet of chicken & rice with veggies and fruit?
I have seen the evo and wellness suggested - is one of them a small size kibble and easy to chew? My girls are tiny at 7 1/2 months.
I also have the natural balance turkey roll for treats. It is a dog food and doesnt have any of the above ingredients. Can I just give them that with fruit and veggies?
I dont have experience with anything other that commercially prepared kibble and dont them to miss out on any nutrition.
Thanks so much.
Ginger

Petco carries Solid Gold, which is a great quality food. They have a brand called "Barking at the Moon" which is grain free and my dogs loved the sample I brought home.

Chicken Soup and Evo kibble both are very small in size.

We seemed to have lucked out (knock on wood) on this one. Bianca eats Solid Gold Hund-n-flocken. The size of the food is like M and M's; I do not know if you consider this "small" or not. Seems small to me! She really likes it. I mix it with veggies/salmon oil , a teaspoon of their canned turkey/sweet potato mix, and Angel eyes once in awhile. Quite the concoction. Maybe I will try home cooking. Maybe I will actually cook for MYSELF once in awhile. But Bianca loves Solid gold. They were very prompt on the phone when we called them and answered knowledgeably right away our list of questions, and emailed us back promptly (we didn't know which one would be faster). -Natalie

Should I start with boiled chicken and rice and slowly add the new food or leave them on the current RC corn gluten meal (not recalled yet) and start adding the new food?

Can puppies have too much protein? The howl at the moon looks great but has such a high protein content. What is the advantage of that much versus 28-32percent protein?