This just came to me today. I can only hope that this will STOP you from buying any pet food treats from China. If you read on you’ll understand. And if you are still not convinced, I have a video taken by undercover cameras showing how chickens are collected and processed in China. It will make your hair stand up. Read labels – not just where the company is located BUT where is the product made and/or sourced?
Chicken and Duck Strips from Costco or ??? I just checked at Snopes and it is true: http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/dogtreat.asp Josie has been ill ever since we got to Florida – not eating,drinking huge amounts of water (this since last Sept. and the vet told me nothing was wrong with her), diarrhea and vomiting. After the second day, she was getting disoriented so we took her to a Vet here. Blood work showed very high kidney numbers and an enlarged and inflamed intestinal tract. They kept her for 4 days on IVs saying she was extremely dehydrated – even though she had been drinking a lot. The first time she vomited it looked like twigs or bark which I bagged and took in to the Vet. Through all of this she continued to want to eat the chicken strips – which most of you know is the only dog treat she has eaten for several years. She had not eaten anything – except chicken strips _ for about 2 weeks. Then she started eating hand fed rice and ground meat. About that time another camper who we have known for several years arrived with their Boxer – Abby – who had been sick for about 2 weeks with similar symptom as Josie plus bloody urine. SHE ALSO WAS ADDICTED TO DRIED CHICKEN STRIPS. They had taken her to a Vet in northern Florida who informed them that the FDA has been warning people about the dangers of feeding dried chicken strips – those made in China – since 2007. I went on line and found many sites using DRIED CHICKEN STRIPS FOR DOGS OR FDA – CHICKEN TENDERS FOR DOGS and it is amazing what is there, All the symptoms Josie has had since last Sept. Many people had lost their dogs and some were lucky enough to save their pets. I can’t believe these thing have not been pulled from the shelves although one of the web sites indicated that WallMart, Cosco, & Sam’s Club has quietly taken hem off the shelves. I can tell you they were still available when we left home and I can still buy them in the super markets down here. I’m upset that my Vet in Franklin and the one here in the Keys didn’t know about this problem. As for Josie – her kidney numbers are improving but have not yet returned to normal – it they ever will. She is now eating better – not real good –but better and is beginning to be more like herself. I will have her blood checked again in a few weeks. Please pass this info on to anyone you know who owns a dog and may be feeding these chicken strips – especially those made in China. Needless to say – Josie is no longer getting any of these and has started eating beef basted milk bones. I am contacting the FDA to report this – they have had 70, 90 or more reports already and say they are putting out warnings but have not gone public with these reports. I don’t know how many dogs have to die before they think it is serious enough to recall them. In case it is helpful, I searched the FDA web site to see what other info I could find on this: http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm048178.htm There’s still not much detail about what the actual problem is, but it certainly seems founded. I do wonder if this only applies to chicken, or if all jerky treats are affected the same way? We give our dogs duck jerky treats – and the label does say they come from China in spite of the front of the package stating they are “an American owned company”; so I am rather concerned now, in spite of not being able to find any info on the FDA site about them. Chances are your duck treats have this symbol (RADURA logo) on the back of the bag, it’s really tiny (perhaps near the bottom right hand corner?) – as the chicken strips have it as well.