When I first heard about the dog food recall, I have to say that I frantically looked up everything I could find because I was scared into thinking that Bella had eaten the tainted food. I searched all over the ‘net before I could find any real answers to what was going on. While she doesn’t eat wet-food that often, after I moved down here I did stock up on it, this was back in January. So you could only imagine what was going on in my head when I found out that the “chunks and gravy” kind of food that was produced between December 3, 2006 and March 6, 2007 was recalled.
It took me three years before I could find dog food that Bella would actually eat. I think I’ve gone through every single brand of food I could find for her. She’s a very picky eater, so it made it very difficult for me. She’s been through Mighty Dog, Alpo, Science Diet, Eukanuba, Iams and many more. When I found out that each of these products had been recalled, my heart literally skipped a beat. I was lucky enough to not have fed her the Mighty Dog that I stocked up on. She’s been eating table food for quite some time now and after coming across recopies for home-made dog food back in February, that’s the route I’ve taken ever since.
It saddened me to hear that 16 deaths occurred in direct connection to the tainted food. There were also an estimated 5,000-10,000 pets who may also be affected by it. My question is, who’s paying for this? Why should the consumer have to cover vet bills when it was the fault of the company who produced it. Based on an article found on this dog food recall guide, Menu Foods (the company who started this) will take full responsibility and you will be compensated for it. The vet won’t send the bills to them, you still have to keep a copy of all of your vet records and receipts for pet food purchases as well as your vet bills. So basically, Menu Foods is treating this as sort of a mail-in rebate for your dog. I say have the vet send the bill directly to them, but hey – that’s just me.
There is a 133 page PDF file containing ALL dog food that was recalled, 133 PAGES. You never realize how many people are effected by products until you think of the mass production behind things. Right now you’re probably sipping the same drink that 3,000 other people in the US alone are drinking along with you. With numbers like that, especially with animals, it’s pretty scary. I’m glad that Bella wasn’t effected by this, but am truly sorry to everyone who was for such a horrible mistake.