The massive pet food recall of March 2007 which resulted in hundreds of commercial dog and cat food products to be removed from store shelves and veterinary offices. After more pet food recalls each month, is it safe to feed our pets commercial dog and cat food?

In March 2007, many major pet food manufacturers began recalling their dog and cat food products due to contamination from vegetable proteins imported from China. The contamination caused kidney failure that resulted in some deaths of dogs and cats that were otherwise healthy. This prompted an investigation from the Food and Drug Administration. At the onset, one of the largest pet food manufacturers, Menu Foods, of Ontario, was one of the first companies to single out the toxin, wheat gluten in their cuts and gravy style pet food. So first thought is that only the wet type dog and cat food was affected, but later discovered, that some dry foods also were affected.

After Menu Foods went forward with their pet food recall, there was a domino effect and other pet food manufacturers followed suit with similar pet food recalls. There were big name companies like, Proctor and Gamble, Del Monte, Hills Pet Nutrition, and Nestlé Purina PetCare Company, just to name a few, that issued recalls for their pet food products. These companies produce such brands as Alpo, Mighty Dog, and Prescription Diet, Science Diet, Iams and Eukanuba. Many of these brands are trusted household pet food products that may have been contaminated by the toxic wheat gluten. Wheat gluten is gluten made from wheat that is formulated to look and taste like meat from what I have gathered. In other words, those chunky meat products in Fido's and FiFi's bowl is no meat all, but wheat gluten made to look and taste like meat!

Since the FDA investigations into the contaminated pet food, many pet food manufacturers have aggressively scrambled to remove the suspect pet food from store shelves and screen their supplies more thoroughly.

For more information on this pet food recall, visit Pets Are Family Too for links and information to the FDA and pet food manufacturers! If you are like many of us and want to be sure about what your pet is eating and provide homemade dog food, check out Homemade Dog Food Recipes

Remember, if your dog or cat is vomiting and showing signs of illness, stop feeding it the pet food and take them to the veterinarian immediately!

Be aware of what you are feeding your pet family member, because there is more on this subject in the next article and the pet food recall is updated often!