Every now and then we all need a laugh…. so here’s yours for today!! It’s all in good ‘clean’ fun!!!

(Parents - please be sure your kids don’t try this at home!!! Jokes are all in fun but I certainly wouldn’t want any animal or person being injured!)

HOW TO CLEAN YOUR TOILET: INSTRUCTIONS

1. Put the lid of the toilet up and add 1/8 cup of pet shampoo to the water in the bowl.

2. Pick up the cat and soothe him while you carry him towards the bathroom.

3. In one smooth movement, put the cat in the toilet and close the lid. You may need to stand on the lid. Read more »

Abusers are controlling victims by threats to their pets. Recent surveys show in 74% of abuse cases the victim owns a pet and in nearly three-quarters of those the pet is threatened, abused or killed. Victims are often afraid of leaving for fear of what may happen to their pet.

When Pets are Caught in the Middle of Domestic Abuse - A desperate phone plea from a woman whose husband was beating her rottweiler to death is one call that will forever haunt Elizabeth McGowan.

“I was trying to tell her to get herself out of the situation, but she would not leave,” said McGowan, director of the New York Association for New Americans’ Center for Women and Families, a Manhattan agency that serves the immigrant community. “This woman was injured protecting her pet because she had no place to go.”

For domestic violence workers, it is an all-too familiar scenario. Read more »

One of Itchmo’s readers has started a forum thread - Medical Costs for Treated Affected Pets - in the Itchmo forums to compile a

“record of the costs associated with treating the pets that have been affected by eating contaminated food. This topic will include all vet bills, in-house testing, tests sent out to diagnostic labs, treatments, prescription diets (prescribed by your vet) and anything else that is medical. Sadly, it will also include costs for euthanasia and cremations for those pets that are now running at the Rainbow Bridge.”

Read more »

Well mom has been awfully worried since all this recall stuff has been going on and lots of our friends parents too. Now just gotta let y’all know, that Bruti and I are very spoiled Springers and mom caters to us and pampers us alot!!

Anyway, once all this recall business started up mom decided to go with homemade rather than trust any of the commercial dog foods out there. Turned out to be a good thing because she had been feeding us Natural Balance, not one of the ones on the recall but she figures that any manufacturer that doesn’t make its own brand isn’t to be trust now anyway! Read more »

It looks like they’ve finally pinned down the reason the petfood contaminant melamine is causing renal failure in dogs and cats who ate the contaminated petfood products. Unfortunately this will bring no relief or solace to the thousands of sick, dying and dead dogs and cats or their owners!

From the Sun News Canada

New Focus for Pet Food Probe - TORONTO - 4/28/07 - A chemical process that occurs between two compounds, one used to make plastics and another employed in pool chlorination, may explain how North American pets were affected, some fatally, by recalled pet food products, researchers suggest. Read more »

The contaminated petfood is moving along the foodchain now. Contaminated petfood that was deemed unsuitable for cats and dogs was turned into hogfeed and before it was caught, looks like some of the hogs were introduced into the human foodchain.

The powers that be, including the FDA, have been criticized for moving too slowly in getting this situation in hand. Maybe because it was ‘just’ petfood, the sense of urgency wasn’t there. Well, it looks like the ’sense of urgency’ will hit top notch now that people are involved, unfortunately too late for the thousands and thousands of dogs and cats that have been affected!!

Some excerpts from the Chicago Tribune

Food Safety Worries Mount - WASHINGTON - 4/29/07 - The tainted pet food scare, which has swelled into a serious crisis for animal lovers, now has spread to humans.

California officials have revealed that the contamination got into the food chain: About 45 state residents ate pork from hogs that consumed animal feed laced with melamine from China. Melamine is used to make plastics, but it also artificially boosts the protein level—and thus the price—of the glutens that go into food. Read more »

Today, this weekend and upcoming, all over the country, people and pets are marching to show their support for each other and those affected by the contaminated petfood and to bring a united voice to the powers that be that we won’t stand for this anymore!

Let your voice be heard! Join the march!

From Pets Need a Voice Too 

The media has greatly misrepresented the true numbers in this tragedy. Retailers across the country continue to stock their shelves with tainted and recalled pet food. Pets all over the world continue to die and get sick from foods that the FDA has not put on an “official” recall list and have not enforced the removal of all tainted products.

LATEST NATIONWIDE MARCH INFORMATION

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. Read more »

ANI is finally stepping up to the plate and issuing their own recall (after FDA urging!!) of products they make for other companies. You’ll notice that none of the products that carry their label are on the list.

On the list you will find brands such as;

• Natural Balance
• Blue Buffalo
• Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover’s Soul
• Harmony Farms
• Costco’s Kirkland Signature Premium
• Mulligan Stew

Oddly enough, most all of these brand issued recalls for the contaminated products before ANI would even commment. And many of these are just now showing up on the FDA list of recalled products.

From American Nutrition Inc.

American Nutrition, Inc. Issues Voluntary Recall

The Denver office of the FDA informed American Nutrition, Inc. today that certain samples of rice protein shipped to its production facility have been contaminated with melamine, an industrial chemical used to make plastics and fertilizers that may be harmful to animals if consumed. The rice protein in question was obtained from San Francisco-based Wilbur-Ellis Company. Read more »

At this point all I want to do is rant and rave as I continue to make additions to the recall list. One after another after another, and everyone pointing fingers at someone else! These companies need to take responsibility for their products! If they actually made their own products themselves, they might have something to be proud of and they wouldn’t be in this mess to start with!

This from the Blue Buffalo Company

April 26, 2007

Dear Pet Parents,

Due to a product-tampering incident, I regret to inform you that we are recalling all BLUE dog can products, Spa Select cat can products and BLUE Health Bars effective immediately. It is extremely difficult for us to make this announcement as we spoke with many of you last week, before this tampering incident was known, and assured you that only one production run of Spa Select kitten dry food was unfit for consumption. Read more »

With all the hundreds of petfood recalls, you know there are thousands and thousands of pets affected by this but for some reason the FDA continues to report only “16 confirmed deaths.”

This is a chance for anyone out there whose furbaby had been affected by  the poison the manufacturers are parading as petfood.  Did you lose a pet? Have a pet sick from the affected petfoods?  Itchmo Forums’ readers have put together a post card blitz to get the word out!

My Pet Counts! Postcard Blitz

We are calling on all pet owners, parents, guardians who have lost a pet due to contaminated pet food or had a pet become ill to join us in a post card blitz to demonstrate the full scope of this pet food recall disaster. Read more »

Well, seems not a day goes by with another addition or two to the dog food and cat food recall list. Today we have two… so far; we have Diamond Pet Foods’ ‘Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover’s Soul’

From their website

Diamond Pet Foods has announced it is withdrawing a limited number of canned products manufactured by American Nutrition. This action is limited to three specific canned products: Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover’s Soul Kitten Formula 5.5 oz. cans, and Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover’s Soul Puppy Formula 13 oz. cans, and Diamond Lamb & Rice Formula for Dogs 13 oz. cans. Read more »

Dancer, an itty bitty, teeny tiny, little chihuahua is aiming to be Guinness World Record top dog for smallest dog. My own two furbabies being Dogster members, we’re quite familiar with fellow Dogster, cute little Dancer and his wonderful mom who had devoted so much time to needy dogs at a shelter and rescue organization until vision loss due to Congenital Toxoplasmosis caused her to lose her drivers license.

Here is Dancer’s ‘Arrival Story’ from his Dogster profile, as told by his mom, Jenny.

I must share how much I love my little Dancer. This little guy has given me a lot to look forward to from the day he was born. It all started when I received a phone call from a friend whose neighbor had moved out of their apartment and left this pitiful little female Chihuahua. I ran right over to check on her. She was underweight, dehydrated and pregnant! I took her to my vet who informed me that all in all she would be ok. Read more »