http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18405363/wid/11915773?GT1=10008

It doesn't look like it's high enough to hurt anyone or any animal, but it's scary that this is in "human-grade" meats also.

We only eat organic meat and product, I'll have to look at where our meat comes from , from now on...Thanks for the post!

and so it continues....

Boy, I'm about ready to divorce myself from society and move to a far away temperate island - where I can grow my own food and spend all day with my dog (he hates the office as much as I do...).

I agree, this sucks. i'm glad I eat organic.

all in all, crappy raw meat is probably much better for your dog than Kibble!

 Quote: tedefthymiadis

all in all, crappy raw meat is probably much better for your dog than Kibble!

Now THAT I agree with!! (you are implying that your dog doesn't share the organic meals??! haha. Sadly, that would sure break MY bank account!)

This is spiraling even further out of control.

From the above linked article (emphasis is mine):

 Quote:

Birds that were given the contaminated feed will not be allowed to enter the U.S. food supply. Farmers will be compensated if they destroy the birds that consume the feed.

"Really?" I say to myself. "And you are you going to prevent that from happening?" Here's the next paragraph in the same article:

 Quote:

The agencies also said there was a “low-risk” to humans and no food recalls were expected at this time. They are uncertain how many chickens were involved, how many entered the food supply or where they went.

So, um, how is it exactly that can they assure us that it won't enter the food supply?

And from this article- http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18425362/ :

 Quote:

Officials said that as many as 3 million young chickens out of 9 billion slaughtered annually may have eaten feed that potentially included an ingredient containing the melamine. They have already been slaughtered for human consumption, but because there is no evidence that consumption is unsafe, no recall has been issued.

Hmm. I smell a contradiction.

For those who haven't been keeping up on this, the tainted pet food byproducts have been feed to poutlry AND hogs. And that's just what they know right now. Considering how new things keep popping up, I don't trust anything right now if I don't know where it came from.

Also, if you think your dogs are absolutely safe from this scare because you feed raw...think of this:

 Quote:

However, Dr. David Acheson, an assistant commissioner for the Food and Drug Administration, said the threat level to pets is greater than to livestock or humans.

“It was only a small portion of what the poultry was fed, and human consumers will only use poultry as a small portion of their diet,” Acheson said.

By contrast, pets often eat the same product exclusively, he said.

Feed chicken as a staple for your dog's raw diet?

Do you have or know of a child who going through a phase where all he'll eat is chicken nuggets? I know LOTS of little kids like this. It's not a small portion of their diets, AND the chicken they consumed in relation to their body weight is much higher than it would be for an adult with similar eating habits.

Contradicting reports everywhere; new and scary info coming in almost daily...we can't bury our head in the sand on this one. Time for the FDA to wake the hell up, and in the meantime...find out where YOUR food is coming from, not just your dog's.

Rant over. Sorry. This makes me REALLY angry.

 Quote: natalya zahn

 Quote: tedefthymiadis

all in all, crappy raw meat is probably much better for your dog than Kibble!

Now THAT I agree with!! (you are implying that your dog doesn't share the organic meals??! haha. Sadly, that would sure break MY bank account!)

OK. It's easy to joke around, but that's some scary information. After all those kibble recall stories, I just wasn't reading the chicken reports closely enough and now I'm worried too. This is just out of control. Thank goodness it's almost summer and I'll be able to do my shopping at the weekly farmer's market (all local meat/produce), but it won't be cheap...

Paying a premium for the cache of politically correct "organic" food is one thing, but you shouldn't end up risking your health, and that of your families & pets, if you can't swing the extra $. We're headed for a very scary future...

I know I'm probably opening myself up to some attack here, but I have the time and patience and money to feed raw but choose not to. I feed a very good dry food and my two dogs are doing fantastic on it. They have clear eyes, shiny and glossy coats, firm stools, great energy levels and are very healthy and well adjusted dogs.

To think that by feeding raw based on chickens that are picked up on sale at wal-mart or costco I'm increasing their lives is a little strange and ignorant. I shop at Wal-Mart and Costco but have a hard time accepting that the chickens that are sold there are high-quality organic, free-range chickens that are not fed by-products or injected with hormones and steroids. Face it, if you're paying 50 cents a pound for chicken, you're not buying high quality meat that's not going to pass on the crap that it has in it on to your dog.

There's a reason why pregnant women aren't supposed to eat fish because of mercury or human's are cautioned not to eat animals that ingest other animals, whether naturally or through the feed that they're fed. All those chemicals and diseases present in the original food source are passed on in a concentrated version.

 Quote:

To think that by feeding raw based on chickens that are picked up on sale at wal-mart or costco I'm increasing their lives is a little strange and ignorant. I shop at Wal-Mart and Costco but have a hard time accepting that the chickens that are sold there are high-quality organic, free-range chickens that are not fed by-products or injected with hormones and steroids. Face it, if you're paying 50 cents a pound for chicken, you're not buying high quality meat that's not going to pass on the crap that it has in it on to your dog.

True, but unless you feed organic food, your dog is still getting the same meat in his food. FWIW, federal law prohibits the use of hormones (and I believe steroids also)in poultry.