Australian Pet Food Irradiation Warning

Recent claims by pet owners and vets that dogs and cats have been poisoned by contaminated, imported pet food has thrown the spotlight on the largely unregulated pet food industry. Vets and pet owners are calling for a government watchdog to oversee the pet food industry, claiming that at the moment the industry relies too much on self regulation.

Each year Australians spend more than $2 billion feeding their cats and dogs. The pet food industry is big business.

KraMar Pet Food Company has had to recall its - Supa Naturals Chicken Breast Strips - from sale after a number of acquired Fanconi-like syndrome cases have developed in small dogs.

Champion Pet Food has now recalled its - Orijen - brand cat food in Australia.

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• pet
• food
• industry
• Vets
• and
• owners
• animals
• Cross
• Media
• Ownership

[2012stargirl]

In Queensland Australia. they irradiate.. Certain Tropical fruits such as Papaya, Mangos, Custard apples..Lychee's, and also herbs and spices !.. masterfoods herbs and spices Brand are safe.. They don't irradiate .. Abundant Earth., Real Foods, Planet Organic,Melrose, Brand and all certified organic products are safe They do not irradiate thier products..

[CrossMediaOwnership]

@2012stargirl - thanks for your feed back.

[Tsarocksmysocks]

i'm guess which ever company irradiatied didn't do it properly since only that brand was reported, irradition is extremly good at killing thoses germs, sadly some people are (sorry if i sond racist) china of irradition

[CrossMediaOwnership]

Irradiation isn't the problem... suppressing information is!

It's unfortunate that a desire for profits by Kramar and Origen have been put ahead of the health and welfare of innocent animals.

Demand correct labelling for irradiated products!!!

Remember, this case proves irradiating food can have unpredictable consequences.

Even if problems arise only every now and again, I feel this is more than enough reason to enforce the public's right to know.

I want labels for Irradiated products!!!

[doggieskye]

How can radiation be good for any food!

[dogsarebetter]

If you live in Australia, for god sake just feed for dog/cat/ferret a raw diet. Since Australia's processing practices with imported foods is screwed. There are pretty much no good food options.

[VivaMongo]

@UpNFlames71 Dr Childs actually reccomended avoiding any food supplements. Just said to keep her fed and watered with whatever she will eat and massage her hind quarters gently where she was paralysed. Ordinary supermarket cat food (non imported!) tuna and chicken was all she would get down. Had to encourage her to drink as much as possible too (bought a water fountain which helped).

[UpNFlames71]

@VivaMongo Do you recall what treatment she did for your cat? So far none of the vets here that I talked to knew about this issue. So far we are giving her vitamin, antioxidant supplements and clindamycin.

The good thing is she still eats and drinks but sometimes needs help into the litter box.

[VivaMongo]

So sorry to hear your cat may have been affected - can't sugar coat it, it's not an easy thing to go through and as you may have read not all cats survived. Plenty have made recoveries though so hope your cat pulls through. Have to keep them eating and drinking so they can fight through the MS like symptoms. Our biggest aid was having a Sydney vet neuro specialist Dr Georgina Childs who discovered the syndrome helping us At SASH VETS she's the world expert. Good luck

[UpNFlames71]

@VivaMongo Good to hear. I live in the USA and I have an 8 Month old cat that shows same symptoms and two vets here weren't sure what's going on. My cat loves to eat duck treats from China that my dogs get daily. She's been eating them daily all her life and it shows that they are Irradiation treated. Didn't know it was an issue until I started to search for a cause. Today was her first day without these treats. Hope she turns out OK.

[VivaMongo]

@UpNFlames71 Took about 6 months of hand feeding/drinking (like a baby) day and night but she eventually started getting movement back and has pretty much made a full recovery now. Thanks for asking, it was a long nightmare at the time but thankfully she survived and is a happy and very spoilt family member still.

[UpNFlames71]

@VivaMongo How is your cat now?

[comeseeben]

I love Australia, but we need to get our pet food Industry better regulated with stricter laws. until then I will continue to make my own pet food or go the frozen barf diet.

[AtalayaC]

@CrossMediaOwnership This doesn't prove anything about irradiation. What we need is more vigorous research as to what exactly happened. We have been doing studies on food irradiation for decades and have found no links to ill health affects in humans. Also, it's noteworthy that Orijen isn't the only foreign brand of pet food that was imported to Australia and subjected to irradiation.

Don't jump to conclusions. This is why we have parents not vaccinating their children for fear of autism.