It’s so much worse than the fox guarding the hen house…
Imagine if your pet got sick, and the illness led to your beloved pet’s death. You learn your pet died because of heart disease somehow linked to the “complete and balanced” grain-free pet food you trusted. The FDA announces an investigation. You and thousands of other pet owners are slightly comforted that perhaps FDA will stop other pets from dying like your pet did. But will that FDA investigation be in the best interests of pets?
Maybe not. Some very concerning information has been graciously provided to TruthaboutPetFood.com by a concerned anonymous source.
What the FDA told pet owners is not exactly true…
The FDA’s original announcement of the agency’s investigation into the “Potential Connection Between Diet and Cases of Canine Heart Disease” was published on July 12, 2018. In this announcement FDA told consumers the agency was collaborating with veterinary laboratories in their investigation: “The FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine and the Veterinary Laboratory Investigation and Response Network, a collaboration of government and veterinary diagnostic laboratories, are investigating this potential association.”
In that first FDA announcement, the FDA directly lied to consumers. The truth is – at the time FDA told consumers they were working with “veterinary diagnostic laboratories” – they were actually working with the trade association representing the VERY PET FOOD MANUFACTURERS linked to perhaps thousands of dog illnesses and deaths. Provided to TruthaboutPetFood.com by an anonymous source is the following letter the Pet Food Institute sent out on June 12, 2018 – one month prior to the date FDA told the public they were collaborating with “veterinary diagnostic laboratories”…
Dr. Martine Hartogensis – of FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine Office of Surveillance and Compliance – contacted the trade association that represents the majority of the pet food manufacturers whose pet foods are linked to the DCM illnesses and deaths ONE MONTH PRIOR to FDA telling consumers.
The companies who manufacture the pet foods were MORE IMPORTANT to FDA than the people whose dogs were sick and dying.
And…one month prior to alerting consumers to the pet food problem – the agency had provided the Pet Food Institute a slide presentation on the issue. This slide presentation has NEVER been provided to consumers by FDA – FDA ONLY considered industry important enough to be provided with investigation details.
[pdf-embedder url=”https://truthaboutpetfood.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/PFIFDAslides.pdf”]
(There are 15 pages in the document, more your cursor onto the document, forward and back arrows at the bottom.)
Not only is the fox guarding the hen house, but now the fox has been enlisted to help determine why there was a security breach in the hen house.
And unfortunately, there is more bad news about this FDA investigation.
FDA is also directly working with (these are what we know of)…
- Smucker pet foods, manufacturer of Natural Balance and Rachel Ray Nutrish pet foods; “J.M. Smucker Co.’s in-house veterinarian is working with the FDA to conduct research into potential causes of the disease.”
Both Natural Balance and Nutrish manufacture a grain-free dog food.
- Pet Nutrition Alliance, an organization that offers (somewhat biased) pet food ‘education’ to veterinarians. Pet Nutrition Alliance is “generously” supported by…
In their ‘attempt’ to help FDA in this investigation, Pet Nutrition Alliance sent out a questionnaire to small pet food manufacturers, that appears to be threatening them to respond (in my opinion). The questions were not science based – they were asking these small manufacturers questions if they employ a “nutrition expert” to formulate their diets and if these small manufacturers own their manufacturing facilities.
These two questions will sound familiar to most pet owners – it’s very common marketing of Big Pet Feed (we make our own food, we employ board certified nutritionists). And they are interesting questions because it WAS NOT a board certified nutritionist that caught this problem in pet food – it was Dr. Joshua Stern that found it, associate professor and residency program director for cardiology at the University of California, Davis. Click Here to view the Pet Nutrition Alliance questionnaire (graciously provided by an anonymous source).
How can pet owners depend on the proper outcome of this FDA investigation?
In my opinion, this is one of the worst displays of FDA bias in recent years. Why the agency is ‘working with’ (and only with) the very pet food manufacturers responsible for the illnesses and deaths is beyond me. If the agency truly wanted to act in the best interest of pets, they would have reached out to all pet food manufacturers – to get both sides of the story. If they wanted to perform an unbiased investigation, the FDA would have reached out to Dr. Karen Becker, Dr. Barbara Royal, Steve Brown and other great modern minds of pet nutrition for opinion. If the FDA was truly performing an investigation to protect pets (and not protect industry), the agency would have kept pet owners more informed (AND not lied to them).
But that’s not what happened.
This is a very serious issue that can ONLY begin to be resolved if the FDA is completely transparent with pet owners from this moment forward.
The following email was sent to FDA 9/5/2018…
Dr. Patrick McDermott
Acting Director
Office of Surveillance and Compliance
Center for Veterinary Medicine, Food & Drug Administration
Dr. McDermott –
I write you sharing great frustration. It appears that once again, FDA is considering the interests of industry over the interests of pets/pet owners. On July 12, FDA published a notice to their investigation into the “Potential Connection between Diet and cases of Canine Heart Disease”. The FDA specifically told consumers the agency was collaborating with “the Veterinary Laboratory Investigation and Response Network” in this announcement. But..as evidence has been provided to TruthaboutPetFood.com – we have learned this statement was not true. Evidence provided to us shows that FDA was beginning to collaborate with the Pet Food Institute one month prior to alerting consumers of an FDA investigation. Evidence provided to us shows that FDA provided PFI a slide presentation prior to June 12, 2018.
Your July 12 announcement did NOT tell consumers the entire story, the agency conveniently forgot to tell consumers they had been working with a pet food manufacturer stakeholder group – the VERY group that represents most of the suspect pet foods. With all due respect, the fact is the agency lied to thousands of grieving and worried pet food consumers.
It is with great regret that we learned FDA reached out to ONLY one stakeholder organization (the Pet Food Institute) but the agency did not reach out to TruthaboutPetFood.com and/or AssociationforTruthinPetFood.com for assistance in this investigation. The FDA also did not reach out to the other pet food manufacturer stakeholder organization Next Generation Pet Food Manufacturers Association who represents human grade ingredient pet foods. Unless the FDA is open and willing to work with all stakeholder organizations to resolve a serious issue, this displays certain bias of the agency.
With all due respect, how can any consumer trust the resolve the FDA determines in the grain-free/DCM connection? The agency’s actions thus far are clearly in the best interest of pet food manufacturers. How can we trust FDA to find a resolve that is solely in the best interest of pets?
For the best interest of all pet food consumers, we are requesting immediate change to how FDA handles this investigation. We request the agency make public on the FDA website 100% of the investigation thus far – and every step throughout the investigation. We request every email, notes from every phone conversation, every meeting, every document, laboratory results and every email between FDA and who ever the agency has or will speak to in the future. We request daily updates on the FDA website – live (or close to it) updates for pet food consumers.
The FDA betrayed pet food consumers by speaking with industry first. And if law were enforced, this situation might not have ever happened. If you recall – ALL regulatory authorities – each State Department of Agriculture and FDA sat back and did nothing for YEARS while pet food manufacturers were using pea protein, pea fiber, and pea starch when these ingredients were not defined by AAFCO, not legal. As well, Section 1002 of the Food and Drug Administration Amendments Act required FDA to develop “Ingredient Standards and Definitions; (2) Processing Standards; and (3) Labeling Standards Including nutritional and ingredient information”. This legal requirement of FDA was supposed to be completed by September 2009. Unfortunately for ALL pet food consumers, FDA has never completed this work. Considering just ingredient standards AND processing standards – had FDA completed this work as required -perhaps, this could have prevented these illnesses and deaths.
So here we are again, with a serious situation that is costing many pets their lives. Unfortunately we cannot turn back time. BUT, we can change the future.
Please put pet health as priority over industry interests. Please post every single bit of information on the FDA website – daily. Please be transparent with your investigation. Please work with pet food consumers.
Representing Pet Food Consumer Members of Association for Truth in Pet Food –
Susan Thixton
If any pet owner would like to express their opinion on the grain-free/DCM investigation to FDA, you can send your comments to Center for Veterinary Management – AskCVM@fda.hhs.gov.
Example email:
As a pet owner and consumer, I am very concerned at the FDA bias in the investigation of “Potential Connection between Diet and cases of Canine Heart Disease”. The FDA has not been transparent with consumers, and is directly working with the very companies being investigated in this issue. With all due respect, how can I trust the resolve the FDA determines in the grain-free/DCM connection? The agency’s actions thus far are clearly in the best interest of pet food manufacturers. How can I trust FDA to find a resolve that is solely in the best interest of pets?
For the best interest of all pet food consumers, I am requesting immediate change to how FDA handles this investigation. I am requesting the agency make public on the FDA website 100% of the investigation thus far – and every step throughout the investigation. I am requesting every email, notes from every phone conversation, every meeting, every document, laboratory results and every email between FDA and who ever the agency has or will speak to in the future. I am requesting daily updates on the FDA website – live (or close to it) updates for pet food consumers.
Please put pet health as priority over industry interests. Please post every single bit of information on the FDA website – daily. Please be transparent with your investigation. Please work with pet food consumers.
[Your Name]
My sincere apologies to the thousands of pet owners that are directly involved in this FDA investigation. The FDA did you wrong. I’m sorry this happened to you. Let us hope they see the error of their ways and correct that HUGE ERROR.
Big Thank You to Anonymous. Without you, FDA would still be misleading consumers.
Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,
Susan Thixton
Pet Food Safety Advocate
Author Buyer Beware, Co-Author Dinner PAWsible
TruthaboutPetFood.com
Association for Truth in Pet Food
Become a member of our pet food consumer Association. Association for Truth in Pet Food is a a stakeholder organization representing the voice of pet food consumers at AAFCO and with FDA. Your membership helps representatives attend meetings and voice consumer concerns with regulatory authorities. Click Here to learn more.
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Sharon Orchekowsky
September 5, 2018 at 5:36 pm
I just sent my email – and had a very difficult time not changing ALL the language in the suggested email
David Johnson
September 5, 2018 at 5:54 pm
Is there some way to get this pdf? I’d like to,show,it to my vet who insists my dog’s grain free hydrolized soy diet is fine b/c it’s supplemented with taurine.
markedandhealed
July 22, 2019 at 2:57 pm
Are you saying you have no choice but to feed what your vet tells you to? Just change the diet. You’re not going to convince them any differently.
stormidnight
September 5, 2018 at 6:08 pm
How do you fight apathy and the worship of money?
landsharkinnc
September 5, 2018 at 6:26 pm
Should we really have expected anything else … typical governmental subterfuge ….
Kimberly Gorman
September 6, 2018 at 2:01 am
exactly…same applies to so many things…
Amee Rech
September 5, 2018 at 8:44 pm
I had to laugh. This FDA. What a piece of work. I love how they “are investigating” and “communicating to PFI” at this time, but at the same time, already “know” the “majority of the findings were related to small manufacturers” and they “intend to contact them”. Well, shoot me runnin’, don’t rush into anything smart there, FDA. I’m pretty terrible at order of operations, but,..FDA sounds worse.
Debi
September 6, 2018 at 7:55 am
FDA……………Fraudulent Dept. of Assholes
Regina
September 5, 2018 at 10:05 pm
Wow. Did anyone else not see this coming? I had someone ask me about the “breaking news” about grain-free foods being bad for dogs. I told the person that I rarely hit the panic button when first hearing about something like this. I look at who is raising the red flag, and what they stand to gain from it. I mentioned that this is the same FDA that is in bed with “big pet feed” – the makers of Hills Science Diet, Royal Canin, Purina, etc. Those are the brands that use the most grains of all, so of course they don’t want people to think grains are bad (along with using by-products and other questionable ingredients).
Now, I am in NO way advocating for or against grain-free foods, I still think meat is the most important ingredient, and the best source of protein. But, I guess I was right about FDA caring more about the makers of crap pet feeds than they are about our pets’ health.
And also, Susan, you mentioned that Smuckers-owned Natural Balance makes grain-free food. They also make a vegetarian food, which, in my mind, is so much worse! (unless your pet has major food sensitivity issues and can’t digest animal proteins)
And, I was walking a dog around a Petco recently (too hot to walk outside!!!) and saw signs on the floor about how Petco believes in “Science” of pet nutrition. These signs were in the aisles of, and mentioned these three brands: Hills Science Diet, Royal Canin, and Purina Pro-Plan. So, I guess Petco is trying to steer customers against all those “natural” brands that contain more meat and less crap. I didn’t see that they were praising Instinct Raw in the freezer, so, what’s a gullible customer to think?
Jeanette Owen
September 5, 2018 at 11:17 pm
My male cat was eating a kibble with a lot of peas, – peas, pea protein, pea this, pea that & he got so sick & had crystals & blockage & peeing little streams with blood in it and I think it was from too much ash (peas, calc & phos) and az has hard water. I changed his kibble & added water to other kibble (he licked all liquid) & canned food (he would not eat – lol). I also researched & put him on distilled (acidic water, versus alk – water with minerals) & after 4 days – he started improving & after a few weeks – he was peeing big normal pee in his grass litter. You can really see what’s going on in grass kitty litter. His fur is back to normal as it was sticking up & he had a lot of dandruff. He looks so good & is doing great! I read water wants minerals in it & it will pull minerals out of bones, muscles etc. Well it worked! It dissolved his crystals & save an expensive vet visit etc. He now loves Farmina Kibble – & they claim it is low in ash etc & 70 % ANIMAL Protein. He still is on distilled, or RO or purified water – for life. I’m kinda surprised vets have not figured this water “treatment” out – for cats with blockages.
Toby
September 6, 2018 at 1:27 pm
Thank you so much for your post. My 9 year old male cat has been on a wet food, limited ingredient, grain free diet filled with pea this and that since December. He has Never had any health issues and suffered from the exact same thing less than 2 weeks ago. Well no more!! Today he is going back on an animal protein diet and I am going to try the distilled water.
Wen
October 25, 2018 at 4:00 pm
Hi. I just dropped my 10 yr old cat at the vet today for what appears to be a urinary blockage. They are still running tests and giving him fluids. I started googling and found this page. We updated our home’s water filtration system a year ago and have been giving our cat the reverse osmosis water instead of tap. I thought this would be good because our local tap is extremely hard. Do you know if it’s ok to give cats this kind of filtered water or do I still need to buy purely distilled water? I just want to do what’s best for him. Thank you for any input you have.
NIRALI
September 6, 2018 at 1:16 am
I am constantly doing research on pup food. I make homemade food for my pups and I try to supplement them as balanced as possible..I rather spend a ton of money and time to feed my babies REAL home food than any of the ‘dog food’ out there.
Currently, I’m reading on the company ‘VetriScience’ for a source of Taurine, L-Carnitine and Glucosamine. But I need to read up more on this company as well, because I simply do not trust any of the products out there anymore!!
ef
September 6, 2018 at 5:22 am
Why don’t you use freedom of information act to get the missing information from them?
samiswan
September 12, 2018 at 10:36 pm
To ef ~
FOIA only applies to certain aspects of public information. Private corporations don’t have to respond to FOIA, or any other similar requests. {That’s why some politicians are so keen on privatizing elements of our government – they won’t have to answer for the actions on those newly- privatized segments anymore.) Say it with me: “Why, those sneaky bastards!”
Even good people can be tempted, which is how corruption slips into various levels and offices of government. Once an appointed/elected official is compromised, any sense of duty to honor an FOIA request, to share information the public is entitled to, etc., just slithers right out the door.
Submitting FOIA requests to government can either be disappointing or rewarding. Think of it as an adventure! The FOIA was created to open a curtain of secrecy for the public, but a lot depends on who is in office and how difficult or dishonest said person has decided to be.
My comments are in no way intended to denigrate the many governmental employees who work far too hard for very little money, really. I know some truly fine people who work in government, and I admire their dedication.
Please forgive me for blithering on. I worked in corporate law for 17+ years before I got sick, and I’m still trying to shake it out of my little brain.
P.S. Thanks to Susan for bringing us the stories that never show up anywhere else!
Theresa
September 6, 2018 at 7:30 am
But it’s not just the big pet food companies, it’s also the boutique brands. They all have the suspected ingredients. Even some whole grain recipes have the suspected ingredients. And I contacted The Honest Kitchen and they are not changing their recipes. They said this does not affect them yet chickpeas is the third ingredient in the food I’m feeding?
Gary
September 6, 2018 at 10:14 am
If this is a problem with the pet foods themselves, shouldn’t the companies making the pet foods be taking the lead in this issue? FDA or any agency takes way to long, and they will just farm it out to a university. Most of the pet foods that are reporting the problems are smaller boutique brands that do not conduct any research. They just follow consumer trends. That’s how grain-free got started. It’s not a science-based trend.
Susan Thixton
September 6, 2018 at 10:20 am
What do you mean by “smaller boutique brands”? You sound just like Dr. Lisa Freeman (but she couldn’t define boutique brands either). I’m actually insulted by your comment Gary. All the the BIG brands are not food – they are feed. If you are comfortable providing your pet recycled garbage, Big Pet Feed is perfect for you. But there are a growing number of consumers that do not want to feed their pets out of an industrial garbage can. So they turn to small pet foods that are utilizing 100% human edible ingredients. With certainty I can say that many small brands know more about proper nutrition for pets than the Big Box brands.
Tanner
September 8, 2018 at 10:03 pm
This is very true. Most dog foods, including the brands considered high quality such as The Honest Kitchen, Just Food for Dogs, Orijen, etc…, have potatoes and legumes included in their foods. For those that want to avoid feeding potatoes and legumes the challenge can be finding a grain free diet that does not include the two suspected ingredients. As a raw feeder I do not face this challenge but, when I was looking at options when moving from kibble, I noticed how many diets included potatoes and legumes.
Elena
September 25, 2018 at 1:35 pm
This is all very confusing for a pet owner. Anytime I walk into a pet store, all I see is grain free food. I have to special order a grain inclusive formula of the two brands I use (the grain free formulas always seem to have such high protein). I was in a Petco recently to buy a leash, (I prefer to shop st small independent pet stores, but my usual one did not have a good selection of leashes). Again, the grain free and raw foods were front and center. Before all of this started, I was beginning to feel guilty for feeding my dogs very reputable grain inclusive kibbles so I began feeding them a highly rated wet, grain free food as a topper which is on the Truth About Dog Foods 2018 list. I was finally feeling confident that I had found the best of both worlds. Now I am hesitant to feed them this wonderful wet food because it had chick peas and peas listed right after the meat. My head is spinning. How do you find a grain free formula without peas, legumes or potatoes/sweet potatoes but now I am questioning grains also.