Listen Carefully, Grasshopper!

MaryK

MaryK

Honored Member
Dogster said:
Oh no. I looked at the label of Shivon's jerky treats (something new I recently bought) and they were made in China!!!!:eek::mad: I feel so stupid!!!!!:oops: Why the heck didn't I check the label?!?!?!:mad::oops: I threw them out right away.:sick: I've been so careful until now... OMD... Thankfully Shivon is okay.
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As Jackie says, don't beat up on yourself, you're not stupid at all, you trusted the brand as we all do.
 
648117

648117

Honored Member
Wow, I had no idea that chinese dog treats had all these problems and to be honest I never looked at the country of origin on the packet. And Holly has some Waggin Train products (but not jerky).

Now I think I'm going to start buying only NZ made natural treats so there will hopefully be less risk of contamination or irradiation. I was starting to move toward NZ made treats anyway so I'll just do it sooner now.

I knew nothing about irradiation before I read that article, how do you even know if something has been irradiated? I don't think it would be on the packet.

Does anyone know how you would find this out? or find out which countries use irradiation?

Hopefully Holly's Orijen dog food is ok.
 
648117

648117

Honored Member
Thanks for the info about the "radura"

I looked at the WagginTrains Pork Barrel packet and it was made in china and has the radura and contains glycerin :eek: :mad:
so she wont be getting them anymore. At least she has only had two out of the packet and before that she had a different brand which hopefully wasn't irradiated or contained glycerin (but I don't have the packet so don't know).

One of her other treats had glycerin but no radura (made in Thailand) :) ,
her bully sticks are natural NZ made ones so they wont have glycerin or the radura :)
and I don't have the packets for the other treats or Orijen kibble that she has so I'll just have to look at the packet next time :( .
Although the dried lambs ears shouldn't have glycerin and hopefully don't have the radura and the other treats are the same brand as the one confirmed to not have the radura so hopefully they are ok but I'll have a look next time I'm at the supermarket.

And her training treats (when not using her kibble) are human food so should be ok
 
MaryK

MaryK

Honored Member
Pleasure, glad I could help.

Be careful with Thailand, haven't had dog food from there, but the eggs, labelled 'free range' here in the supermarkets are from Thailand and made me vomit, so much so I went off eggs for a while, now we buy local free range, straight from the chicken. (And I never had an allergenic reaction to any food before). So I don't buy from Thailand now for the dogs either, just to be safe. Watch human food too, sorry do not want to be a scaremonger, but it too can be irradiated. I've just come home from visiting an elderly lady, we checked her dog treats first, most hit the bin, then HER FOOD and sure enough, on the bread and some other products was the radura symbol. It's getting to be widespread:mad:

I stick with organic now for all of us and still watch the labels carefully.
 
648117

648117

Honored Member
Our eggs come from the two free range chickens living in our backyard :D

The treats from Thailand were not irradiated but did contain glycerin which is fine when it's not irradiated (according to that article that's what caused the problems with the Australian cats).

But I'm going to phase these treats out anyway. They are just treats that I can break into small pieces and put in my pocket without them making a mess or making the pocket stink, that's the only reason I use them. I think I've found a NZ made substitute that I'm going to order in a couple of days, hopefully they have the same qualities that the other ones have so I can use them instead :) .
 
MaryK

MaryK

Honored Member
648117 said:
Our eggs come from the two free range chickens living in our backyard :D

The treats from Thailand were not irradiated but did contain glycerin which is fine when it's not irradiated (according to that article that's what caused the problems with the Australian cats).

But I'm going to phase these treats out anyway. They are just treats that I can break into small pieces and put in my pocket without them making a mess or making the pocket stink, that's the only reason I use them. I think I've found a NZ made substitute that I'm going to order in a couple of days, hopefully they have the same qualities that the other ones have so I can use them instead :) .
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Wish mine did *sigh*, that's the best way to have eggs for sure:love:(y)

I didn't see anything about Thailand's goods being irradiated, thank you for clarifying that, but having had such a ghastly experience with the eggs, am now VERY wary of anything coming from there.

The only treats I use are the dried liver and am going to check next time I buy them from the pet market. The packet just says 'dried liver' nothing more. I think/hope that's all they are, should be o.k. as everything is supposed to be labeled etc. listing ingredients etc. But am going to start making my own. As Jackie says, it's scary!:mad:
 
MaryK

MaryK

Honored Member
Dogster said:
But I can't believe what KIND of glycerin they put in dog food.:eek::sick: Shivon's other treats (thankfully, she doesn't eat those much) (and they're made in Canada) contain vegetable glycerin, but now I'm not so sure exactly WHAT it is:sick: : http://goodnessgracioustreats.wordpress.com/2012/03/07/glycerin-a-diesel-by-any-other-name-wouldnt-taste-as-sweet/
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Thank you for the links Dogster. Just been reading through it and the links on the page. OMG!!!!!!!!:mad::mad::mad: It's almost too hard to accept that human beings (or are they human) can put a lethal chemical concoction into our dogs food and market it as 'what every dog needs, wants, loves' etc. And virtually NOTHING is done about it:mad::mad: Of course profit is the bottom line, and whilst I have nothing against people or companies making a profit in business, I DO have a LOT against unethical practices and what is happening in dog food/treats is EXTREMELY unethical!!!!!!!!!!:mad::mad::censored::censored::sick::sick::sick:

The reading made like a course in bio-chemistry! Noted that Pedigree Dentastix and Good Bites are sold here, and fortunately my dogs had them once, never again, as for some reason I didn't really like them. So changed back to raw marrow bones.

Hills, HIGHLY recommended by vets is also on the list.

I haven't been much into buying the doggy treats, have always for some reason I cannot explain, seen them as akin to giving kids a lot of sweets, so have given my chaps cheese (not processed I refuse to eat that myself so I sure wouldn't give it to the dogs or the cats) and dried liver. Am now having doubts about the liver too, going to check with my pet market, they're decent people, and ask them where, what etc., put the third degree on them, the liver treats come from. All the label says is dried liver, so am crossing fingers it's not contaminated.

I personally feel the ONLY way to stop these heinous practices is to hit them where it hurts most IN THEIR HIP POCKETS!!!!!!!!!! If everyone, or a large percentage, of pet owners stopped buying their products and STATED WHY they'd get the message and reform! Better get off my soap box but this type of thing makes me absolutely furious!:mad::mad::mad:
 
Dogster

Dogster

Honored Member
You're right, MaryK. But it's REALLY hard to stop people from buying crap, believe it or not. Sometimes they're convinced by vets, sometimes they think it's the cheapest thing (even though there are many healthier foods out there that are cheaper). I'm also very health-cautious when it comes to myself and my dog (my parents are health-cautious, I blame them, LOL:p) Those treats were strictly for recall/come. I have a couple of trusted brands of treats that I use for training sessions, and I also use cheese and ham (her favourites, I have to say).:D I need to switch up the treats pretty often, cuz Shivon is a picky dog, and needs lots of motivation.:rolleyes:
 
jackienmutts

jackienmutts

Honored Member
*-I got so confused and tired of trying to decipher all the pet labels (without first having a PhD) that I very rarely buy treats any more (besides bully sticks - and then only buy grass-fed, etc). I use my own treats for trick, nosework, reactivity, and 'general' training and just use chicken, hot dogs, cheese, beef, or whatever else I come up with. When you really look at the cost of a bag of dog treats, the cost isn't really all that different - only the trouble. And personally, I'd rather know what's going into my dog's mouth. If you want "dried/hard" treats for trick training, someone gave me a tip and it works just fine: cut up string cheese (really easy to cut :D) into little bits, spread out on a plate and let dry uncovered in your fridge for a few days, it hardens a bit, and the dogs still love it - heck, it's cheese! I do buy Zukes (not sure how far and wide they're available), and I recently discovered Yummy Chummies - holy cow, the dogs flipped over them, they're dried salmon, made by a small family company in Alaska, and when you open the bag, you're almost overwhelmed by the smell :eek: ... if you get my drift. :LOL: The get those for speciall stuff - they really gotta work hard to earn those treats!!! :ROFLMAO:

Not sure if any of you looked at the site "The truth about pet food" any further (the site where the link I provided above came from) but it's so informative, scary, and all kinds of words that fail me now. Susan Thixton calls herself the red caped crusader, and indeed she is. She's on a mission to inform pet parents as best best she can about all that goes on in the big pet food industry - both good and bad. It's free to subscribe to her newsletter, for anyone who's interested. I've been getting it for a few years and am so glad I do. She's my hero.
http://www.truthaboutpetfood.com/about-truthaboutpetfoodcom.html
 
jackienmutts

jackienmutts

Honored Member
Dogsgter, haven't read the link yet, will when I get home from work tonight - just popped in for a minute this morning with my coffee before work. :coffee::LOL: Off and running now......
 
Dogster

Dogster

Honored Member
I buy Zuke's too, Rollover sometimes, and freeze-dried liver. Hmm, Gotta check out those Yummy Chummies, need Shivon to run faster for agility, LOL:D Thanks for the link, I'll get reading!!(y)
 
MaryK

MaryK

Honored Member
Dogster said:
You're right, MaryK. But it's REALLY hard to stop people from buying crap, believe it or not. Sometimes they're convinced by vets, sometimes they think it's the cheapest thing (even though there are many healthier foods out there that are cheaper). I'm also very health-cautious when it comes to myself and my dog (my parents are health-cautious, I blame them, LOL:p) Those treats were strictly for recall/come. I have a couple of trusted brands of treats that I use for training sessions, and I also use cheese and ham (her favourites, I have to say).:D I need to switch up the treats pretty often, cuz Shivon is a picky dog, and needs lots of motivation.:rolleyes:
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Yes, sadly, you're right Dogster. I have a hard time convincing my partner, but now he knows the government and FDA are behind a lot of it along with corporate greed, he's starting to take me seriously as he's very anti governmental control on food medicine etc. because he's researched a lot on the human side and brother, that's an eye opener too!

Unfortunately vets aren't the best for advice on dog nutrition. And even sell some of the crap treats, including dental bones, Hills is heavily promoted by them and another one, cannot recall the name but know it if I see it, which I KNOW isn't any good for dogs.

My grandfather was way ahead of his time when it came to healthy eating, so I blame him and my mother:D

I wasn't meaning you Dogster, I understand and know you would only buy the GOOD treats for Shivon. I'm lucky, neither dog is fussy, although Zeus just doesn't like really anything other than raw meat or kibble - thinks I'm about to poison him if I offer anything else:eek::D Oh he will eat cheese, after much sniffing and inspecting it:D

Ra Kismet will eat anything (including trying to snaffle a decomposing bird corpse YUCK when out walking the other day).

My partner wants to go back to the 'old ways' learned from his parents, of feeding the dog the same as we eat. But as I eat veg only, not vegan, and like highly spiced food, this isn't really an option. Though LOL I am sure Ra Kismet would love some highly spiced curry for his dinner, the nose certainly works overtime when I'm cooking:LOL:
 
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