Warning About Pet Treats

[ruby2]

Link: http://www.naturalnews.com/034551_pet_treats_China_deaths.html

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is still reportedly trying to pinpoint the cause of an illness outbreak affecting an increasing number of dogs all over the country. According to a recent warning issued by the FDA, dog owners need to be aware of the source of their pet treats. Many chicken jerky treats imported from China have been making dogs severely ill.

[Tralee]

Good post ruby2.

Thanks

[Guest english.ivy]

Being someone who suddenly lost a dog to treats I'm very careful and picky about what treats my dogs now eat.

I wouldn't feed myself or my dogs anything made in china.

This warning was bought up awhile ago, amazing it's still happening

[Stitch]

That warning has been current for some time now.

It is very difficult in some instances to know exactly what is in the food we are eating let alone what we are feeding our dogs so where ever possible I thoroughly read the packet.

I used to feed piggy ears as the ones I always got were supposed to be made in Australia with human grade ingredients however you never really know as some Australian suppliers now get their piggy ears from Brazil.

Recently I switched over to a low fat alternative ie. kangaroo tendons and kangaroo jerky. That has also proved to be difficult as I discovered some of the tendons had shards of bone (not able to be seen) in them which I found afterwards as my dogs left the bits of bone!!!

I have now tossed that brand of tendons and have bought the cleaner, thinner variety which have no where to hide bone in them.

I also give the Natures Own small treats so I hope they are still OK.

[westiemum]

Yep same here - if the packet has the word 'China' on it I dont go near it. I spend ages reading packets both for me and my dogs - I'm sure people think I'm nuts but I find it incredible whats actually in some of thse products when you read the label carefully. Off topic but butter and margarine are a good example - never ever eat margarine these days.... and RMBs are still the best treats/meals for dogs IMO...

Edited January 4, 2012 by westiemum

[Maddy]

Some pet food places actually do their own treats and that's mostly what our dogs get.

The place near us does dried roo tendons, air-dried bones, liver treats, air-dried roo bones/small tails and pig ears/snouts. The dogs seem to really prefer these over other treats and they contain nothing but meat or bone.

The cost is about the same as the more heavily processed treats or less, depending on where you buy (about $1 a bag for oven-dried liver treats) and there's no worry about melamine or dangerous levels of sulfur dioxide.

If that source wasn't available to us, I think I'd just be making them myself. I imagine one of those things for making dehydrated fruits and jerky would do the job just fine.

Given food contamination from that region isn't always accidental (a friend who visited said they actually put melamine in quite a few food products for human consumption) I'd be very wary of anything produced there, even if it actually had proper labeling (which it rarely does).

[Boronia]

I would also not buy dog treats from China.

Here is some more info from Hoax Slayer in their January 2012 issue http://www.hoax-slayer.com/122-22.shtml

Edited January 5, 2012 by Boronia

[megan_]

Beware that they don't actually need to declare that something contains ingredients from China. Anything that says "Packed in Australia" or "Made in Australia from local and imported ingredients" often contains ingredients from China. I always ask and get told " the supplier is Australian". That means nothing. An Australian company could be importing Chinese ingredients. I always check the origin of the ingredients and if it isn't 100% clear I give it a miss. The only commercial treats they get these days are the odd pigs ear anyway.

[Rachelle J]

Check out Australian Pet Treat Company for you treats, I have used them for years and the products especially the treats have been good and Australian made.