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Leasa: Hi Susan, we have certainly received a lot of calls and emails concerning your article. We only became aware of any situation with the Gaston plant besides the limited recall on some Diamond foods this morning.
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Our food has not been made in the California Diamond plant for about a year. Instead of paraphrasing, here is the response to this I just drafted that should answer any questions. Please feel free to contact our corporate office at 800-364-4863 or dane@solidgoldhealth.com with any questions or concerns.
Diamond Pet Foods manufactures four Solid Gold® dry dog foods: WolfKing, WolfCub, Just a Wee Bit, and Hund-n-Flocken. The remainder of our dry dog foods and both dry cat foods are made at Crosswinds Pet Foods in Kansas.
All WolfKing, WolfCub, Just a Wee Bit, and Hund-n-Flocken sold in the United States are made in the Diamond Pet Foods plant in Meta, Missouri.
The Diamond Pet Food plant in Gaston, South Carolina makes a very small amount of WolfKing, WolfCub, and Just a Wee Bit for export purposes. There are no safety concerns with these Solid Gold® foods made in Gaston and are not part of the limited voluntary recall of Diamond Pet Foods.
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Greg: This is only dry food right? Apologies if I should know that Diamond only makes dry but it wasn't mentioned in the main article. A few comments have mentioned bags but wanted to be sure. Thanks.
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Susan: Good Point Greg - yes, this is only dry food.
My kitty is on a small amount of the TOTW only... a good thing I gave her "varied diet".
TOTW is only 1/5 of the dry kibbles brands (I mix up to 5 brands of kibbles to feed her) I feed her and besides the dry, she gets a can of wet (not TOTW thankfully) & home cooked meals as well as raw feed 1-2 X a week.
Think I'll skip TOTW pack for now JIC!!!
Eek... and my kitty loves them too.
I don't push it on people, I don't preach it, I don't talk endlessly about it...I merely suggest it...and there is no need to answer me, personally, just ask yourselves:
Have you ever considered a raw diet or even a BARF diet and if not, why not?
Just ask yourselves that question. You don't have these recalls and other issues on the raw diet. I'm not here to argue or debate it. If you ARE sincerely interested in learning about it, have questions about it, PM me. If not, carry on.
It's reasonable to consider home-prepared diets (cooked too as well as raw, although raw is more biologically appropriate), absolutely. I mull it over from time to time but have a hard time actually getting to the "try it" stage (this is not unique to cat feeding; it's a problem for me with a lot of things ).
I would stop short of thinking it solves all your possible recall issues though. Without getting into great detail, human food is processed in the same high-volume factory way that can generate a large recall. Choosing a small, local provider can mitigate that a bit, but the only way to completely avoid problems is to be raising and butchering the meat yourself and be absolutely perfect in handling it.
It's reasonable to consider home-prepared diets (cooked too as well as raw, although raw is more biologically appropriate), absolutely. I mull it over from time to time but have a hard time actually getting to the "try it" stage (this is not unique to cat feeding; it's a problem for me with a lot of things ).
I would stop short of thinking it solves all your possible recall issues though. Without getting into great detail, human food is processed in the same high-volume factory way that can generate a large recall. Choosing a small, local provider can mitigate that a bit, but the only way to completely avoid problems is to be raising and butchering the meat yourself and be absolutely perfect in handling it.
Yeah..most people wouldn't allow their families to consume raw beef or chicken, even organically grown and/or grassfed. Disease and bacteria can strike -any- raw food, no matter how many virgins soaked their feet in the dead animal's blood and offered their toenails as sacrifice to the great organic god in the sky.
I'm not quite so picky, but I also know better than to assume that just because I prepared it raw, doesn't mean it's going to be any healthier for myself, or my cat, than if it came out of a can, all nice and tidily processed with ammonia to kill everything evil in it and lots of nummy added vitamins and nutrients and bits and pieces of pretty orange carrot for coloring. So sure, I give my cat -freshly ground- raw chuck when I'm making my meatballs. I eat some too. We take turns.
I'm not going to assume it's going to be a safe thing to offer as a whole meal though. Even the freeze-dried food bag warns people to wash their hands -thoroughly- after touching it, because it can harbor bacteria once it's been re-hydrated. And we're giving THAT to our cats. Unfortunately, cats can't read.
Something to think about when you toss an uncooked chicken wing to Fluffy.
I would suggest that you study the digestive system of a cat and dog, the enzymes and such before making such statements. I won't argue it unless false information is put out there.
I would suggest that you study the digestive system of a cat and dog, the enzymes and such before making such statements. I won't argue it unless false information is put out there.
Hm, so by your statement, which doesn't actually inform us of anything...
I am gathering that you imply...
that cats have some digestive immunity to salmonella, which is most often found on raw foods that have been contaminated with it.
And if this is true...
then canned and dried foods that have been contaminated with salmonella (such as the "concern" in this particular thread) would pose no threat to them.
Unless you're implying that the salmonella found on uncooked chicken, is somehow less unhealthy than the salmonella found in contaminated cooked canned cat food?
Or are you trying to say that either is dangerous, and you're actually agreeing with me?
Since we don't know who you are responding to, it's impossible to tell.
Hm, so by your statement, which doesn't actually inform us of anything...
I am gathering that you imply...
that cats have some digestive immunity to salmonella, which is most often found on raw foods that have been contaminated with it.
And if this is true...
then canned and dried foods that have been contaminated with salmonella (such as the "concern" in this particular thread) would pose no threat to them.
Unless you're implying that the salmonella found on uncooked chicken, is somehow less unhealthy than the salmonella found in contaminated cooked canned cat food?
Or are you trying to say that either is dangerous, and you're actually agreeing with me?
Since we don't know who you are responding to, it's impossible to tell.
Ok, I will answer since you did ask.
Of course you can find salmonella on raw meat just as you can in kibble.
Dogs' and cats' digestive tracks are much shorter than, say, a human's which means the food is pushed through them much faster not giving the bacteria a whole lot of time to colonize and make them sick. (We are talking healthy dogs and cats, not dogs and cats who have an immunocompromised system...which you would know.) People will argue that you can find such salmonella in their poo they leave behind. This is true of both raw AND kibble fed dogs and cats. Does this prove they have suffered some salmonella poisoning? Nope. It proves that they pushed it out of their system before the salmonella had a chance to colonize IN their system.
Kibbles that are pulled off the shelf may contain bacteria AS WELL AS mold, which in turn creates a toxin that is deadly to dogs and cats. Not only that, kibble irritates the lining of the bowels, it's supplies a nice, warm, (and wet), environment for bacteria to build as it feeds off of the starches and sugars, (not needed in a dog's or cat's diet), that can be found in said kibble. Raw feeding does not provide such an environment for bacteria because a raw diet is not loaded with unnecessary sugars, unnecessary starches..therefore, the bacteria has NOTHING to eat.
You'll hear all kinds of warnings about salmonella or e-coli with raw feeding. Again, if you're dog or cat is not already immunocompromised, (again, you'll KNOW), it's highly, HIGHLY unlikely to happen. The scare about salmonella and e-coli is really for the humans.
Here's two ways you can get that poisoning by feeding your dogs and cats raw:
1) Don't wash your hands, knife, cutting board or counters after cutting up raw meat. (In other words, use the same sanitization process that you would when preparing your OWN meals.)
2) Get down on all fours, and eat the dog and/ or cat poop that your dog or cat, (raw or kibble fed), has left behind.
I guess there could be a third....
3) You clean up Fido's poo and you don't wash your hands afterwards before touching your own mouth or food that you're going to eat. Which, seriously, if you're that nasty, (general, "you", not "you" personally to the person I'm replying to), you need a serious course on how not to be an idiot.
So, in summary:
Their digestive tracks are shorter and push out the food faster unlike humans who have food stay in their stomachs upwards of 24 hours giving bacteria ALL KINDS OF TIME to grow.
The enzymes in their saliva break that nasty stuff down.
Raw does not contain food for bacteria but kibble not only contains food, it gives them a nice, warm home to start colonizing instantly. Further, those recalls have often times been about bacteria AND mold which produces a horribly deadly toxin for dogs and cats.
If you wash and sanitize just as you normally would when preparing meat for your own family, (heck, even veggies if you're vegetarian), and you don't eat the family pet's poop, the chances of YOU contracting that bacteria is slim to none.
I will stop there since you only asked about that. If you have further questions, I'm happy to answer them.
I don't push it on people, I don't preach it, I don't talk endlessly about it...I merely suggest it...and there is no need to answer me, personally, just ask yourselves:
Have you ever considered a raw diet or even a BARF diet and if not, why not?
Just ask yourselves that question. You don't have these recalls and other issues on the raw diet. I'm not here to argue or debate it. If you ARE sincerely interested in learning about it, have questions about it, PM me. If not, carry on.
That is all.
Commercial (premade) raw pet foods have been subject to recalls.
I'm not arguing against raw diets, I believe they are what is best to feed, if it is done right. But the commercial raw diets, of which there are many to choose from, are not immune to the same issues that plague other commercial pet foods. <sigh>
ThreeWolvesInSnow:
Actually I was asking about salmonella in raw unprocessed chicken, vs. salmonella in canned cat food, not kibble. Since most people in this forum insist that kibble is bad for your cat and recommend against it, I figured I wouldn't go there at all. The information you provided is actually pretty interesting, but it's not germain to the discussion.
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