Lynn
Posted : 3/20/2007 8:36:55 PM
A friend was at a big chain pet store this afternoon and she says that the recall included the Nutro dry as well. I don't know for sure - that is just what she said when she was at the store exchanging bad food cat food and trying to find more to buy. I haven't checked the lists today. I know that they only had the wet on there over the weekend. But after what deb said....and my friend who said the dry was included - but, I don't know if that store had actually pulled the dry or not. I didn't ask her that - I just said are you sure the Nutro dry was included? and she said yes.
Sorry, not much help here on this question since I don't know for sure.
Now, I have heard that it was only in two plants that the problems arose, didn't it? So, if that is the case, maybe you could track down which plant made the dry food and decide from that point. So, that the other plants would have had the same receipe, but would have used a different supplier. You are in a bad place right now, making a tough decision.
At this point, I would err on the side of caution about the food. I knew someone who lost a dog during the Diamond incident. The dog was sick and had testing done, and recovered b/c they took him off the food while he was sick. He got better and they finished off the bag of food and he died. This was right before the announcment. The organs was sent somewhere for a necropsy and the person who did it called him and said that it was unbelievable that the dog had lasted as long as he had. He had been so strong and healthy, that he would have recovered if the remainder of the bag was not fed - but he had a very high amount of toxin in his body. Another dog wouldn't have made it that long. So, to an extent, it can depend on the particualar animal's ability to deal with the toxin. So, I suppose it would be possible to have as much toxin as the next dog, but not get as sick until the limit was waaaay over for the "average" dog.
See where the food was made, that's for sure. Other than that, I realize it is a tough decision.
Honestly, If it were me, I would buy canned jack and cook homemade potatoes for now. The canned jack has enough bone in it that you won't have to worry about adding calcium - especially short term. Maybe over many months, then you might need to add a little. Since this would be given regularly, I would definately place the fish in a colender and rinse very well. It has a ton of salt in the can. You would not need to add a multi vitamin/mineral unless you feed this for longer than a few weeks. He should have a store of nutrients to help him digest this (my girl did not and needed the multi right away- but most dogs can go a few weeks just fine). I don't know if you can rinse the salt out enough to use this very long term for every meal. There would still be alot of salt. But, it would sure buy you some time. Rinse / or peel the potatoes. Add them to a pan that has some filtered water in the bottom. Cover and cook on medium for about an hour and then just mash up the potatoes in the water to make mashed potatoes. You can also bake potatoes. Either way, he will be getting more water this way that from kibble -which I think is better.