Appetite -- if you'll pardon the pun -- for information on the Menu Foods recall continues unabated.
The Los Angeles Times reports today that the FDA is lowballing its running count of fatalities from rodenticide-laced cat and dog food, which currently stands at an official 16. (Fifteen cats and one lone dog.) According to the story, VIN, the Veterinary Information Network, which is where most vets go to get their news of the moment, reported 471 cases of kidney failure within 10 days of the recall.
Meanwhile, dog writers are duking it out over these allegations of underreporting, with Gina Spadafori, executive editor of Pet Connection (which has logged close to 2,000 self-reported -- albeit unsubstantiated deaths) being tossed off the Dogwriters-L list for her impassioned posts on the subject. Who says dog writers don't eat their own?
Now word that at least one human has reportedly gotten sick from eating some of the pet food when she tried to lure her terrier into trying it. (Clearly, he knew something she didn't.) The telltale sign? Foaming at the mouth.
If you're looking to switch to a different food, PetSit.com is continually compiling and updating a list of brands that do not use ingredients from Menu Foods.
And, because there is a Yahoo Group for almost everything (from Harry Potter to crock-pot cuisine ), concerned owners and victims of the recall are congregating at the http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/MenuFoodsClassAction/.
