Recently, a pet food manufacturer representative couldn’t seem to understand why my attitude was so bad. This is what I told him…
It was somewhat of a heated conversation. He really didn’t want to hear what I had to say, but he did respectfully listen. It all started when he asked me why I didn’t believe the pet food manufacturers…why I didn’t believe most manufacturers would never put any pet in danger. I told him…
You don’t know what I know. You’ve not spoken with hundreds…thousands of grieving pet owners. You haven’t talked to the woman whose daughter was murdered one year, and the next year a pet food killed her dog devastating the family even further. You haven’t talked to the family who spent $40,000 trying to save their three dogs – all of them died – one, two, three…they were confident was caused by a pet food. You haven’t talked to the woman that the FDA callously told ‘if your other cats die, send us their bodies – but until then, there’s nothing we can do to help you’. You haven’t talked to the family whose young son watched the family dog drop dead certainly linked to the pet’s food.
You have not a clue what I know. One family lost seven pets…one painful death after another…in the 2007 recall. To this day the family deals with painful grief – magnified with each pet food commercial they see on TV. You haven’t talked to the pet owner whose 3rd pet succumbed to kidney failure the very day she received the pennies on the dollar settlement from the 2007 recall. And I’d bet you haven’t talked to countless other pet owners whose own health was compromised due to stress and heartache in 2007. These people still grieve so deeply their heart aches years later.
You haven’t had a pet food kill your pet and then read a carefully crafted press release claim “no pet illnesses have been reported”. You haven’t had a jerky dog treat kill your pet and then wait 6 years for the FDA to do something…anything…to stop more pets from dying from the same treats.
You don’t have to be a private detective to make a pet food, but consumers have to be in order to buy safe pet food.
You haven’t had to fight…and I mean fight…for years to give consumers a voice with decision makers of pet food. You’re industry, they welcome your input. But we are just crazy pet owners, and we have to fight to get heard.
And this is just the tip of the iceberg. So, if you feel I have a bad attitude towards Big Pet Food – the best I can tell you is…you don’t know what I know.
Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,
Susan Thixton
TruthaboutPetFood.com
Association for Truth in Pet Food
Pet Food Safety Advocate
Author Buyer Beware, Co-Author Dinner PAWsible
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Jessica
October 4, 2013 at 12:33 pm
Well said Susan. The sad truth is they probably do know all about it, or at least some of it, and they just don’t care. It’s all about the profit for them. The truth is out and someday they will have no choice but to make ethical decisions regarding their products
Hope
October 4, 2013 at 12:55 pm
Of course I agree with Jessica ^. But I really would like to know the pet food manufacturer’s comment back when you gave him a chance to respond? Please?
Susan Thixton
October 4, 2013 at 12:58 pm
He didn’t say much – but did say we should talk more in the future. Not sure what that meant.
vicki
October 4, 2013 at 1:48 pm
Well of course he “didn’t say much” how could he? It’s amazing how quiet someone can become when faced with the cold, hard facts that you so expertly presented!
Thank you So much for fighting for us everyday Susan! And I am sending prayers for your dear friend right now!
John Sturgess
October 4, 2013 at 1:50 pm
He wants to spy on you,,,, is what he wants.
Margie
October 4, 2013 at 2:39 pm
Me too. Please 🙂
Susan P
October 4, 2013 at 1:11 pm
So sad. I lost a dog in 2009 most likely because of pet food he was fed before I had him in my care. What will it take to make these people accountable?
maria segreto
October 4, 2013 at 1:14 pm
Very well said Susan !!!
Karen L.
October 4, 2013 at 1:14 pm
After dealing first hand with these cold, heartless morons and seeing how they treated my vet when he tried to explain things to them, I applaud you Susan! I will never understand how these people can sleep at night after making all these pets and pet owners suffer. As for the FDA, well Susan, you know how I feed about them, right? Luckily, my other 2 cats didn’t die, so I never sent them the bodies and asked for the shipping cost to be reimbursed. Thanks for your continued support Susan. You are truly amazing!
Gitta
October 4, 2013 at 1:15 pm
He didn’t say much – but did say we should talk more in the future. Not sure what that meant.
I don’t know either what that meant – but maybe, just maybe, you did plant a seed! Fingers crossed.
Margie
October 4, 2013 at 2:51 pm
Gitta, But what DiD he say? Did he hear you at all? Is he curious? How do we create curiosity? Our anger is correct, even good. How do we create allies? Ignorance and denial are powerful enemies. How do we grow smarter? How do we wield the weapon of truth with wit, lightness, and sneakiness when we are so angry and brokenhearted? We MUST be MORE than they expect: your truth is well spoken, your grief is tangible. I pray, whether he said anything or not, that your words,your face, your heart, continue to haunt, to cause a pause, to build curiosity. Thank you.
Barbara
October 4, 2013 at 1:15 pm
Thank Heaven for your “bad” attitude!
Debbie Davis
October 4, 2013 at 1:16 pm
Thanks for fighting for us Susan!
Peter
October 4, 2013 at 1:18 pm
Nicely put. The cost of stress to the guardians is an important issue, that is rarely acknowledged. It can be an unbearable burden that if these were not animals, would be treated far differently.
Deborah Stone
October 4, 2013 at 1:25 pm
Thank you, Susan.
I lost 4 of my precious babies to what I believe was from the food I was feeding them. They were healthy and then died suddenly month after month after month after month.
So now with the ones I have left, I am trying to feed them the best food I can find, all the while looking over my shoulder at what YOU are trying to express to the manufacturers of the food we are feeding them.
God Bless you for all you do for us.
Regina
October 4, 2013 at 1:25 pm
Of course, this representative could not understand your attitude. You were coming from two opposite directions. You, a pet lover extraordinaire, him, somebody just earning a paycheck who has never felt the deep love with a pet that we the people on your list have experienced. The fact that he said your attitude was bad, well, I understand why your attitude was bad. When you keep hitting a brick wall, or should I say “get stonewalled” that tends to give you a headache, which will affect your mood 😉
I could not work a job “just for a paycheck” like these people do.
APB
October 4, 2013 at 1:29 pm
I hope you will have another chance to have his ear, because you didn’t get around to the other point: that you are also the voice for those of us who just have had chronically SICK pets. I’m not referring to victims of actual poisoning, but rather the millions more pets who slowly became ill from approved-but-crappy ingredients in commercial pet foods — grains, additives, by-products, literal garbage from rendering — that are not what animals (cats, for sure) should eat for “complete and balanced nutrition.”
Practically every cat owner has lost cats prematurely to chronic renal failure (caused by dry food) or lymphoma, or thyroid issues. Our cats suffer from obesity, allergies, and reactions caused by starches and other ingredients they can’t digest as pure carnivores. And it’s largely from the brilliantly advertised, beautifully packaged mess we’ve been told is “perfect” food for them.
It took me a long time to learn all this and I owe a great deal to this site and several others who are voices in the wilderness. Suffice to say I can barely walk down the pet food aisle in the supermarket without feeling sick to my stomach.
More power to you, Susan, you are a soldier and a saint.
Elizabeth
October 4, 2013 at 8:50 pm
Completely agree, esp. about walking down aisles. And don’t forget when your coworkers continue to feed their poor pets that crap, even after you’ve warned them over and over.
Bill McQuade
October 4, 2013 at 1:52 pm
You may have covered this Susan but I believe I read a report the other day that the USDA stated 40 to 50 percent of all pet food sold in the US was actually made in China. Not just ingredients sourced from China but actually made in China. Can anyone confirm this???
Susan Thixton
October 4, 2013 at 1:57 pm
I don’t think so – but…in all reality, we know very little about the pet food industry. They have managed to keep their doors firmly closed to the consumer from the very beginning. Anything would be possible.
Bill McQuade
October 30, 2013 at 12:02 pm
It was actually in an article I read in a feed industry magazine. 40 percent of IMPORTED dog food comes from China. Attributed to Hound & Gatos pet food co spokesman
.
Lynne Fowler
October 4, 2013 at 1:59 pm
Very well said, Susan. Knowing I fed my dog the food in late 2006 and watched her waste away and die then finding out I was feeding her the food recalled and then getting that pitiful check years later is something that is with me everyday. And since 2007, watching recall after recall and knowing it wasn’t announced until someone else’s pet was dead, brings it back over and over. I have homecooked since 2007 and will do so for the rest of my life. I will never trust another pet food company, 100% again. And knowing what I know from here and elsewhere, I know my dogs are far better off without the commercial pet foods.
Beth VanDusen
October 4, 2013 at 2:30 pm
Amen! I like your attitude!
Flick, Dot and Buzz
October 4, 2013 at 3:11 pm
Thanks Susan,
Pet lovers think your attitude is perfect… it’s only the industry making money selling what they describe as ‘pet food’ that could possibly see your attitude as ‘bad’.
Thanks for all that you do!
Caron Allen Taira
October 4, 2013 at 3:49 pm
Thank you for sticking up for us Susan. You said and did the right thing. These people brainwash themselves and are clueless.
JackieRodgers
October 4, 2013 at 4:38 pm
Thanks Susan for taking a strong stance in the face of one obviously soooo ill informed. I have heard the FDA relabeled as the Fear and Death Administration. Maybe rightly coined since much of what they supposedly do, even in regard to human food and drugs, is so corrupt. It is hard to know in this country what is actually in our human food as well. So how much more should we think truthful information will be given to pet parents concerning the contents of pet food or treats. As pet parents, we MUST educate ourselves with up to date information as is found on this website and be our pets advocates. Our pets are totally dependent on our being informed so that they can live as vital animals and members of the family.
Mare
October 4, 2013 at 5:20 pm
Bravo Susan! Thank you for all you do for us and the ones we love!
dearcat
October 4, 2013 at 9:32 pm
God bless you, Susan. Keep the pressure on. Maybe someday the manufactures may realize their errors and, to their dismay, that they will radically have to change their manufacturing processes and quality of ingriedients.
Janine
October 4, 2013 at 9:33 pm
Blue Buffalo killed my doberman from their chicken no grain
dog food. It was the vitamin mixture that had too much D.
It almost took my other dog as well but she made it after
much time and vet intervention.
During this time I worked for the company and couldn’t get
customer service to respond to me for days!!
I was let go two months after they killed my dog because they felt I could not represent their company.
Dianne
October 5, 2013 at 12:39 am
Hopefully you got a good severance package or took them to court for wrongful dismissal.
Rhiannon
October 12, 2013 at 9:46 pm
So sorry about your dog. Wow, if you worked for the company and they didn’t even respond to you, then the general public has no hope for a response from them if anything goes wrong again.
Rose
October 4, 2013 at 10:02 pm
You go Susan, your attitude is perfectly fine. It hurts knowing you carry all this knowledge of people’s grief on your shoulders. Your fortitude in your belief to help pet owners feed their pets for their health deserves nothing less than upmost respect. If he was trying to intimidate you or push your buttons, it did not work. You kept your cool and your class. I applaud you!
Nina Wolf
October 5, 2013 at 12:53 pm
or….
“you won’t acknowledge what I know to be true.”
Yvonne McGehee
October 5, 2013 at 8:02 pm
Excellent. Sock it to ’em for all the heartbreaking damage they have done and continue to do. Thank you on behalf of all of us. Yvonne
lynn
October 6, 2013 at 3:02 pm
i would call it caring and only that!!!i am taking care of a friends two little dogs that has had nothing but dog food… kidney problem… took them to the vet… well i am now feeding them what i feed my gang homecooked. know what? they are doing better each day. i have taken care of these two for 2 months . their fur is great their eyes are now clear. think dog food is good? i wish everyone could have seen the change in my two friends dogs… unbelieveable all great!sad when they go home it will be down hill as they get a dog food diet… again!my first dog born on christmas day in 1979 she passed in 2005… nothing but homemade and treats too!nothing from a dog food company.so let this man tell me if dog food is good.i would tell him to prove it to me and ask him how long dogs live on dog food then look at the ones who eat homemade… big difference.i just don’t trust rtheir lies to pet parents.
Carla Mirchandani
October 7, 2013 at 12:55 am
Susan, you are so strong and persistent and caring.
Sasha
October 30, 2013 at 12:24 am
Thank you!