Is Nutro pet food making animals sick?

A story yesterday in the daily briefing that I get from ConsumerAffairs.com (I'm a consumer writer in my regular gig) says that at least six dogs have died in the past two months, and scores more have been made ill, from eating Nutro-brand foods. The findings are based on complaints filed on the ConsumerAffairs Web site and interviews with pet owners.

The piece, by Lisa Wade McCormick, also reports that at least one unnamed Nutro employee resigned because she was disgusted by the company's lack of responsibility. It also suggests Nutro is attempting a stealth recall by removing the contaminated food from circulation.

Anna and Anja: Nutro victims?

In the meantime, the US Food and Drug Administration has found no toxins in the samples it tested, and Nutro insists the food is fine. There has been no official recall.

Click here to read the entire story from The Daily Consumer and draw your own conclusions. A lot of questions, no easy answers.

Anyone here had a bad or good experience with Nutro?

(photo from ConsumerAffairs.com)

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It was the photo of a woman with a big white cat on the cover of today's Sun-Sentinel business section that first caught my eye. A cat in the business section? (We cat people are suckers.) The story, from The Associated Press, tells about the increasing number of cash-strapped pet owners being forced to turn to food banks to feed their pets.
Click here to read the entire story.
It's still another sign of these tough economic times.

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Talk about food issues!
When I first saw this photo of Orazio, a 35-pound cat from Italy, on the Animal Crazy blog done by the Orlando Sentinel, I honestly thought it might be a hoax.

I mean, is this a cat? Or a sofa cushion posing as a cat?

Turns out that while Orazio's large lifstyle has received almost no press here, he has been a hit with foreign papers ranging from the South Africa Cape Times to the India Statesman. "Pussing on the Pounds" was the London Mirror headline. Others hailed three-year-old Orazio, who lives in Eupilio, as "the real Garfield" -- the cartoon kitty famous for his love of lasagna.

Me, I don't think it''s so cute to let your pet get this obese. Owner Laura Santarelli claims she "finds it impossible" to keep Orazio slim. Really? So this means Orazio can use a can opener or open the refrigerator door on his own?

We were able to get Dolan, our Maine Coon mix, to shed three of his original 16 pounds through simple portion control, and (the hard part) ignoring his ceaseless whining as he adjusted to his new rations. And click here for Angie's previous post on her dogs and their weight struggles. Posters suggested everything from low-protein to green bean diets, things I think you might want to check out with your vet first.

So -- is Orazio's owner just an indulgent pet parent ("He's so cute when he's fat!") or irresponsible?

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