Merry Christmas from Gunner

Kroger Pet Food Recalled for Aflatoxin Poisoning, Health Risks

Kroger Pet Food Recalled for Aflatoxin Poisoning, Health Risks
Marilisa Kinney Sachteleben Marilisa Kinney Sachteleben
38 mins ago

.Kroger announced on Tuesday that it is voluntarily recalling many of its Kroger, Old Yeller and Pet Pride dry dog and cat food varieties because they could contain aflatoxin. Aflatoxin is a naturally occurring chemical by-product that is toxic. Aflatoxin grows from the fungus Aspergillus Flavus found in corn and other crop foods used in pet food production.

Kroger stores are located in the following states: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia. Other stores within the Kroger food network that are affected by the pet food recall include: Dillons and Gerbes stores (Kansas and Missouri): Baker's stores (Nebraska); Food 4 Less stores (Nebraska, Illinois and Indiana and the Chicago area); and Jay C, Hilander, Owen's, Pay Less and Scott's stores located in Illinois and Indiana. Kroger affiliate stores not affected by the pet food recall include: Fred Meyer, King Soopers, Fry's, Smith's, QFC, City Market, Foods Co., Ralph's and Food 4 Less stores in California and Nevada.

Pet foods have a sell by date of Oct. 23-24, 2011. Visit the FDA website for specific UPC code details. Pet foods included in the Kroger recall are:

Pet Pride Cat Food - 3.5 # package
Pet Pride Cat Food - 18 # package
Pet Pride Tasty Blend Poultry and Seafood Cat Food - 3.5 # package
Pet Pride Tasty Blend Poultry and Seafood Cat Food - 18 # package
Pet Pride Kitten Formula - 3.5 # package
Old Yeller Chunk Dog Food - 22# and 50# packages
Kroger Value Cat Food - 3 # package
Kroger Value Chunk Dog Food - 15# and 50# packages

If you have purchased any of the Kroger pet foods included in the recall, or store brand pet food from any of the stores listed, stop feeding it to your pets. Remove and discard uneaten portions. You should contact Kroger immediately, either by phone at (800) 632-6900 or on the Kroger Pet Food recall assistance website here: http://www.kroger.com/recalls. You will need your sales receipt. You can also return unused portions of pet food to Kroger stores where you purchased the product for full refund.

Parents and children are urged to keep a close eye on pets. Look for these symptoms, especially a combination of these symptoms: lethargy, sluggishness, refusing food, yellowish color in gums or eyes and severe diarrhea, especially diarrhea with blood, this can indicate poisoning from aflatoxin. Yellow eyes and gums are a sign of liver or kidney problems. Cornell University offers information and data on Aflatoxin. Aflatoxin is a potent carcinogen for humans and animals. Just as with human illnesses, the very young, very old and pregnant animals typically suffer the worst. Pets with already compromised health will be more susceptible, too. Make your pet as comfortable as possible. Contact your veterinarian immediately. Here are some helpful articles for treating a cat or dog who has been poisoned with Aflatoxin.

Marilisa Kinney Sachteleben, a 10-year veteran homeschooler, has nearly three decades of experience as a special needs and general education teacher. She has created hundreds of themed units and lesson plans on everything from ancient Greece to biodiversity to personal finance to poetry. She holds a BS in psychology and a degree as Dr. Mom from the university of life. She writes about parenting for the Yahoo! Contributor Network.

Web page is up

Our web page is up and running. The basic information is on the web page. More will be coming but our advertisers are listed and linked to their web pages if they have them. Check it out. www.purplepages4pets.com

Holiday hazard How to keep your pet safe

Lights, decorations, good food…every year, as we celebrate the holidays, we fill our homes with seasonal cheer for ourselves and our families. However, what may seem beautiful and harmless to us may pose hidden dangers to our pets. Don't let an emergency spoil the festivities! Below are some common holiday hazards for dogs and cats and how to prevent them.


1. Electric cords Keep all electric cords securely taped down or out of reach of your pet. Dogs and cats may chew dangling wires and be burned or electrocuted.

2. Ornaments Hang ornaments out of reach of your pet. Dogs, especially, may eat ornaments or wire hangers, which can get caught in the stomach and intestines.

3. Chocolate Keep all holiday foods away from your pet. Chocolate contains ingredients (e.g., caffeine) that can be lethal to dogs and cats.

4. Tinsel, ribbon,
and string Make sure these are kept out of reach and properly disposed of. If swallowed, any of these can require emergency surgery to remove. Tinsel also has sharp edges that can cut the mouth.

5. Lilies, other flowers,
and houseplants Prevent your pets from eating plants or flower arrangements. Lilies are very poisonous to cats.

6. Christmas tree Put the tree in a pet-safe room or monitor your pet when he or she is around the tree. Dogs and cats may eat the needles (even from artificial trees) or drink the water at the base of the tree, which can be toxic (especially if it contains preservatives).


In many cases, if your pet has eaten or drunk something toxic, warning signs will include gastrointestinal problems, such as vomiting and diarrhea. Other signs may include tiredness and lack of appetite, especially in cats that have eaten lilies. If your pet shows any of these signs, or if you think he or she has eaten something dangerous but is not showing any signs yet, please call us right away. Treating your pet as soon as possible is essential!

We will be glad to answer any questions you have about your pet's health. Let's work together to make sure your entire family has a happy, healthy holiday season!

Visit Your Pet Portal Today!
For more tips on keeping your pet safe, just visit our practice website at http://www.wvah.net and click on "Pet Portal LOG IN." We look forward to hearing from you.

Here's wishing you a happy and safe holiday season. View your holiday ecard.

Sincerely,
The Doctors and Staff of Willamette Valley Animal Hospital
Willamette Valley Animal Hospital
4975 River Road North
Keizer, OR, 97303
(503) 393-7462

Animals of youtube sing Deck the Halls

Animals of youtube sing Deck the Halls - This is so clever and cute. Merry Christmas from Purple Pages 4 Pets.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-0WVfj76bo

Subject: Priceless

Those of you who have/had animals will probably appreciate it more. It is a story that is hilarious in itself and the person that wrote it is a good writer and made the story even better. Enjoy...

We have a fox terrier by the name of Jasper. He came to us in the summer of 2001 from the fox terrier rescue program . For those of you, who are unfamiliar with this type of adoption, imagine taking in a 10 year old child about whom you know nothing and committing to doing your best to be a good parent. Like a child, the dog came with his own idiosyncrasies. He will only sleep on the bed, on top of the covers, nuzzled as close to my face as he can get without actually performing a French kiss on me.

Lest you think this is a bad case of 'no discipline,' I should tell you that Perry and I tried every means to break him of this habit including locking him in a separate bedroom for several nights. The new door cost over $200. But I digress.

Five weeks ago we began remodeling our house. Although the cost of the project is downright obnoxious, it was 20 years overdue AND it got me out of cooking Thanksgiving for family, extended family, and a lot of friends that I like more than family most of the time. I was assigned the task of preparing 124 of my famous yeast dinner rolls for the two Thanksgiving feasts we did attend.

I am still cursing the electrician for getting the new oven hooked up so quickly. It was the only appliance in the whole darn house that worked, thus the assignment. I made the decision to cook the rolls on Wed evening to reheat Thurs am. Since the kitchen was freshly painted, you can imagine the odor. Not wanting the rolls to smell like Sherwin Williams #586, I put the rolls on baking sheets and set them in the living room to rise for a few hours. Perry and I decided to go out to eat, returning in about an hour. The rolls were ready to go in the oven.

It was 8:30 PM. When I went to the living room to retrieve the pans, much to my shock one whole pan of 12 rolls was empty. I called out to Jasper and my worst nightmare became a reality. He literally wobbled over to me. He looked like a combination of the Pillsbury dough boy and the Michelin Tire man wrapped up in fur. He groaned when he walked. I swear even his cheeks were bloated. I ran to the phone and called our vet. After a few seconds of uproarious laughter, he told me the dog would probably be OK, however, I needed to give him Pepto Bismol every 2 hours for the rest of the night.

God only knows why I thought a dog would like Pepto Bismol any more than my kids did when they were sick. Suffice it to say that by the time we went to bed the dog was black, white and pink. He was so bloated we had to lift him onto the bed for the night.
We arose at 7:30 and as we always do first thing; put the dog out to relieve himself. Well, the dog was as drunk as a sailor on his first leave. He was running into walls, falling flat on his butt and most of the time when he was walking his front half was going one direction and the other half was either dragging the grass or headed 90 degrees in another direction. He couldn't lift his leg to pee, so he would just walk and pee at the same time. When he ran down the small incline in our back yard he couldn't stop himself and nearly ended up running into the fence.

His pupils were dilated and he was as dizzy as a loon. I endured another few seconds of laughter from the vet (second call within 12 hours) before he explained that the yeast had fermented in his belly and that he was indeed drunk. He assured me that, not unlike most binges we humans go through, it would wear off after about 4 or 5 hours and to keep giving him Pepto Bismol.

Afraid to leave him by himself in the house, Perry and I loaded him up and took him with us to my sister's house for the first Thanksgiving meal of the day. My sister lives outside of Muskogee on a ranch, (10 to 15 minute drive). Rolls firmly secured in the trunk (124 less 12) and drunk dog leaning from the back seat onto the console of the car between Perry and I, we took off. Now I know you probably don't believe that dogs burp, but believe me when I say that after eating a tray of risen unbaked yeast rolls, DOGS WILL BURP. These burps were pure Old Charter. They would have matched or beat any smell in a drunk tank at the police station. But that's not the worst of it. Now he was beginning to fart and they smelled like baked rolls. God strike me dead if I am not telling the truth! We endured this for the entire trip to Karen's, thankful she didn't live any further away than she did.

Once Jasper was firmly placed in my sister's garage with the door locked, we finally sat down to enjoy our first Thanksgiving meal of the day. The dog was the topic of conversation all morning long and everyone made trips to the garage to witness my drunken dog, each returning with a tale of Jasper's latest endeavor to walk without running into something. Of course, as the old adage goes, 'what goes in must come out' and Jasper was no exception.

Granted if it had been me that had eaten 12 risen, unbaked yeast rolls, you might as well have put a concrete block up my behind, but alas a dog's digestive system is quite different from yours or mine. I discovered this was a mixed blessing when we prepared to leave Karen's house. Having discovered his 'packages' on the garage floor, we loaded him up in the car so we could hose down the floor.

This was another naive decision on our part. The blast of water from the hose hit the poop on the floor and the poop on the floor withstood the blast from the hose. It was like Portland cement beginning to set up and cure. We finally tried to remove it with a shovel. I (obviously no one else was going to offer their services) had to get on my hands and knees with a coarse brush to get the remnants off of the floor. And as if this wasn't degrading enough, the darn dog in his drunken state had walked through the poop and left paw prints all over the garage floor that had to be brushed too.

Well, by this time the dog was sobering up nicely so we took him home and dropped him off before we left for our second Thanksgiving dinner at Perry's sister's house.
I am happy to report that as of today (Monday) the dog is back to normal both in size and temperament. He has had a bath and is no longer tricolor. None the worse for wear I presume. I am also happy to report that just this evening I found 2 risen unbaked yeast rolls hidden inside my closet door.

It appears he must have come to his senses after eating 10 of them but decided hiding 2 of them for later would not be a bad idea. Now, I'm doing research on the computer as to: 'How to clean unbaked dough from the carpet.'

And how was your Thanksgiving?

Raisin Toxicity in Dogs

If you have a dog ... PLEASE read

this and send it on. If you don't

have a dog, please pass along

to friends who do.

Written by:
Laurinda Morris, DVM
Danville Veterinary Clinic
Danville , OH

This week I had the first case in history of raisin

toxicity ever seen at MedVet. My patient was

a 56-pound, 5 yr old male neutered lab mix

that ate half a canister of raisins sometime

between 7:30 AM and 4:30 PM on Tuesday. He

started with vomiting, diarrhea and shaking

about 1 AM on Wednesday but the owner didn't

call my emergency service until 7 AM.

I had heard somewhere about raisins AND

grapes causing acute Renal failure but hadn't

seen any formal paper on the subject. We

had her bring the dog in immediately. In the

meantime, I called the ER service at MedVet,

and the doctor there was like me - had heard

something about it, but... Anyway, we

contacted the ASPCA National Animal Poison

Control Center and they said to give IV fluids

at 1 & 1/2 times maintenance and watch the

kidney values for the next 48-72 hours.

The dog's BUN (blood urea nitrogen level) was

already at 32 (normal less than 27) and

creatinine over 5 (1.9 is the high end of normal).

Both are monitors of kidney function in the

bloodstream. We placed an IV catheter and

started the fluids. Rechecked the renal values

at 5 PM and the BUN was over 40 and creatinine

over 7 with no urine production after a liter of

fluids. At that point I felt the dog was in acute

renal failure and sent him on to MedVet for a

urinary catheter to monitor urine output overnight

as well as overnight care.

He started vomiting again overnight at MedVet

and his renal values continued to increase

daily. He produced urine when given lasix as a

diuretic. He was on 3 different anti-vomiting

medications and they still couldn't control his

vomiting. Today his urine output decreased

again, his BUN was over 120, his creatinine was

at 10, his phosphorus was very elevated and his

blood pressure, which had been staying around

150, skyrocketed to 220 ... He continued to vomit

and the owners elected to Euthanize.

This is a very sad case - great dog, great owners

who had no idea raisins could be a toxin. Please

alert everyone you know who has a dog of this

very serious risk.

Poison control said as few as 7 raisins or grapes could

be toxic. Many people I know give their dogs grapes

or raisins as treats including our ex-handler's. Any

exposure should give rise to immediate concern.

Onions, chocolate, cocoa, avocadoes and macadamia nuts can

be fatal, too.


Even if you don't have a dog, you might have friends

who do. This is worth passing on to them.

Confirmation from Snopes about the above ....

http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/raisins.asp