Metal found in bag of puppy food

[Sugars Mom]

I had an upsetting moment today when feeding Sugar her dinner. I poured out her food from the dog food bag into the measuring cup and a sharp edged ring-like piece of rusty-ish metal came out! I was horrified to see it, as if I had not, and it was gulped down with her food it would have caused some very serious damage I’m sure! I immediately sent the dog food manufacturer an email after quickly looking for recall notices on this food and not seeing any. I will be contacting the pet store where I bought it in the morning. The food I found the metal in is First Mate grain free Pacific Ocean Fish Formula Puppy.

I feel really uncomfortable to continue with this food as my confidence in the quality control is obviously questionable and wondered what brands you all feed your pups. I have tried a number of different foods and found this one to be the best for Sugar’s fur, (it became soooo soft and smelled good,) while having to feed a lot less then the other brands, and significantly minimizing the amount of poop and making the cost reasonable. I switched from Natural Balance Sweet Potato and Fish food and saw a big improvement when going to the First Mate brand.

[dutchringdog]

WOW, glad you found them !!!! That would ruin my confidence in a food too!!! I use Purina for my gals. I have always used that brand for every dog, no problems with anything from it.

[Sugars Mom]

I did get a reply to my email response last night from the sales rep of First Mate which pleasantly surprised me; being a Sunday evening and all. I emailed pics to him and I'm waiting to see what he has to say about it. I mean, how did this happen? Where did this piece of metal come from? Is this the only one or are there more out there? I haven't dumped out the rest of the bag to look for more, and haven't feed her this morning as I don't know if I should, although, half the bag has been eaten already.

I have very mixed feelings about this as I really like the food and want to keep her on it but I want it to be safe...I guess I'll see how they handle it.

[Marjolein]

wow, what a name for dog-kibble "First Mate grain free Pacific Ocean Fish Formula Puppy"

anyway, I would definately complain, let them know. Maybe you can prevent other dogs getting this inside them?

[Kristie E]

I have probably at some point tried everything.... I liked flint river ranch but it got to be too expensive. I feed kirkland's best from costco... I know that diamond brand food is good too. you can get it at Tractor Supply co...

[Sugars Mom]

wow, what a name for dog-kibble "First Mate grain free Pacific Ocean Fish Formula Puppy"

anyway, I would definately complain, let them know. Maybe you can prevent other dogs getting this inside them?

First Mate is the brand, and I have been in touch with the sales rep from there. He responded right away, so that got him points. He was very apologetic and went on about the high quality controls they have and how serious they are taking this and they will be investigating all angles to see what this was and how it could have happened. He had the pet food store refund my money for that bag and offered replacement in whatever I wanted. I decided to take the same food again (but with a different lot number!)

Its an awful feeling to think that if I had not noticed this and Sugar had eaten it, when she got sick, I wouldn't even have known where she got it from. I hope this is an isolated incident and no dogs ever get sick or hurt from eating something in their food that shouldn't have been in there.

I've never heard of Diamond. Maybe they don't have it here in Canada.

[Kristie E]

I was curious so I looked it up on Diamond's website. They do have it in Cananda, I wasn't sure where exactly you were so I can't tell you particulars, but it is there. Do you have Costco there? The signature line is actually right up there with some of the high pricey foods you find in the pet store. I haven't checked recently but Diamond used to make their food also. My doggy budget keeps getting squeezed and Gwen stomach has forced me to try quite a few different foods and this one is not only pretty inexpensive, it looks like I could eat it to in a pinch

[Raven]

How fortunate that that piece of metal was found! Did you state that you had taken a picture of it? Even if you didn't and still haven't, I recommend doing so, along with keeping whatever communication you've had with the manufacturer.

While what people feed their dogs in this thread...I'd like to piggy-back on that while veering off....

I feed Thor Canidae. He gets raw veggies as well for treats, but also some cooked chicken, gizzards, etc., and some commercial pet treats--as training treats. (Researching raw, or partially raw, at some point, but that would be down the line.) Canidae is supposed to produce more efficient stools.

Ever since I got him, his stools have been loose. Vet says some dogs just produce loose stools. (They appear formed as he expels until they hit the ground.)

He is fed twice a day. Almost immediately, he can evacuate. (Also, immediately after eating, he is super-charged...WANTS to run-run-run, but I want him to rest for an hour before further activity, (He gets it, but he tries to engage.)

Seems like a "sugar rush" to me with his activity surge--so that's one thing.

Another thing is the loose stools.

Any thoughts?

[Sugars Mom]

Hmmm, I remember Sugar having that burst of energy after eating when she was younger...she doesn't do it anymore. She is older now...but also on different food. Sugar has nice firm stools, not too firm and not too loose, another reason why I like the First Mate food for her. Maybe someone else has some ideas about what you're seeing.

[Kristie E]

Lonnie had loose stools for most of his life.... I had given up on finding something that would resemble normal. I changed his food to a mix of mulligan stew and I forget.... I would know if I saw the bag.. anyway.. voila normal.

Gwen couldn't stomach Lonnie's food, I tried all sorts of grain free foods and quite frankly they ran through her like water. She gets food with rice bran in it now and has what I would consider normal poop. Although I can tell when my husband has been giving her treats because she can't tolerate much dairy and he likes to take the pups to the shop and feed them ice cream... Gwen LOVES it.... and hot dogs and scraps of ....... I could go on.

As for wanting to run around like a banshee after she eats... That is Gwen for you, Izar is the same way too. I struggle to keep them from going crazy especially since Danes are prone to stomach issues and bloat.. I can't complain too much though the dogs look great and super fit.

[Raven]

Thanks. There's only one store around here that sells Canidae and the husband said that grain-free is coming soon. I'll incorporate that slowly as he is sensitive to any dietary changes that aren't raw veggie-related. (I love that the husband came home with that information as an "announcement." When we first met, he had no use for animals...but he's cleaned rescued bunny butts and cleaned up cat/dog vomit and diarherra (sp) and brought scared, undersocialized birds to vocalize and play and.....

[Saniya23]

Dry dog food is specially formulated to support growth, ensure correct muscle, skeletal and organs development, improve coat and skin condition as well as improve performance of competition dogs.



comfortis flea control

[alspyce]

I'm going to get slammed for this:
My first thought on the metal was that it may have come from a euthanized pet,(along with the euthanasia drugs/antibiotics/etc.) rendered into protein meal, without the collar/tags having been removed. Maybe an ear tag from someones cow. I once found metal in a frozen, raw dog food formula.(Bil-Jac)
I don't trust dog food companies to put my dogs health ahead of their profits, regardless of what they claim.
I may be wrong, but I think Honest Kitchen is the only one to have never been recalled, but for the best results most folks do add meat to all of their recipes.

Now I feed home prepared Raw.

[alexis]

It's likely that the metal came from a cargo container ingredients were shipped in - my dad has worked in food processing all his life and sometimes bulk shipments of soybeans or rice or whatever brought to the plant by train are shipped in containers that held coal or metal bits or other inedibles. The plant staff should have noticed and sent back the shipment for being contaminated, but maybe one snuck through?

I'd say it's highly unlikely that the metal bit came from any kind of animal - meat that goes into dog food is usually processed twice before it gets into the food (once to butcher the animal & pull the bits for human consumption, and then again to get the rest for pet food).

[alspyce]

Unfortunately, dog food is not held to the same industry standards as human food.

This is a rather mild video, there are lots of them, many are very disturbing, and not for the faint of heart.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7bSRgIB ... creen&NR=1

[Sugars Mom]

This thread was started last year when it happened...it sure is horrible to think the metal could have been a dog tag

I looked at the pic I had taken of the piece of metal and not sure what exactly it could be. Tried posting a pic but says file too big. PITA trying to post pics sometimes...

Oddly enough, after I stopped feeding this food, I noticed a big difference in Sugar's behaviour. While on this food, she was having periods of lethargy and depression. Vet couldn't explain it. I never thought it was food related but after I switched brands, all that stuff went away and hasn't been back since. So makes me think it was the food that made her react that way.

[Diesel]

What brand did you switch to?
I feed our dogs Acana Grasslands which is a grain free product out of Alberta...there is a few varieties of flavours, we usually feed the lamb/fish flavour but they even have Bison!
http://www.championpetfoods.com/acana/
I do find it a little expensive but the pet store where I buy it has a buy 12 bags get one free deal which helps lower the cost.
It's lucky you noticed the piece of metal before Sugar ate her food!

[Lauren]

I feed our dogs Acana Grasslands which is a grain free product out of Alberta...there is a few varieties of flavours, we usually feed the lamb/fish flavour but they even have Bison!

That is what I use for training treats now. I switched dogs and cats to it for 3 days. They liked it, but the volume of poop was 5X raw and the cat's pee started to stink. So now I have a lifetime of training treats that they LOVE!!! I just got spoiled to the tiny pellets of poop they put out now.

The ingredients are impressive!

[Sugars Mom]

I tried a few varietys of Acana and but she was allergic to their grain free food, (lots of ingredients in their food) and her poops went runny with that food.

I have found 2 Natural Balance limited ingredient recipes that has worked. Fish/potato and lamb/rice.

[Sugars Mom]

Here are some pics of the metal I found...



Here is the size compared to the kibble: