Certain varieties of Nutro dry cat food have been voluntarily recalled because of incorrect mineral levels that could make kitties sick. Return Nutro Natural Choice Complete Care and Nutro Max foods with expiration dates between May 12, 2010 and August 22, 2010 were affected.
You Had A Cat. Here Are Some Cat Ashes. Problem Solved!
By May 20, 2009
How do you verify the identity of your cat after he’s been cremated? Matthew has no idea if the box he received really contains Spike’s cremains or the cremains of someone else’s pet. His vet offered to print out a new certificate with the correct name on it, but that seems less like a “solution” than a “waste of printer ink” designed to placate without providing answers.
Bizarre Pet Products: Feces-Eating Prevention Pills
By May 15, 2009
One of the problems with dog ownership* is having to reconcile the concepts of “best friend” and “eats her own poop.” My late cocker spaniel, Lady, treated the front lawn as her personal snack bar, and was particularly fond of the gifts the local rabbits left there for her. I never realized that there were products designed specifically to stop this behavior.
Consumer Reports Offers Tips For Saving On Pet Food
By April 24, 2009
The Consumer Reports Health Blog has some good suggestions for pet owners who might not have quite as much money to spend on their animals as they used to.
Welcome To The New Improved Consumerist
By April 1, 2009
Extensive market research that we paid out the @#$ for has determined that this blog doesn’t contain nearly enough pictures of cakes and cute animals. Today, at the beginning of a new fiscal blogging year, we’re pleased to bring you additional photographs of things you’d like to pet or eat.
Cat Arrives Frozen After Plane Ride
By March 4, 2009
Breeder ships rare pregnant cat via airline. It arrives frozen and dead. According to the airline’s vet, the cat died from uterine toxicity from multiple dead kittens. Because the baggage handlers thawed, froze, and thawed the cat again, there’s no way for the breeder to prove that the cat died from being frozen. The airline has offered to refund the breeder’s ticket, but admits no culpability in the cat’s death.
14 Brands Of Pet Food Recalled
By September 15, 2008
Mars Petcare US is recalling 14 brands of dry dog and cat food made between February and July of this year, after two people who may have had contact with some of the food became infected with Salmonella. If you feed your dog or cat any of the brands listed below, here’s how to check the package code.
Hartz Flea & Tick Remover Harms Some Cats And Dogs
By September 9, 2008
If you plan on treating your dog or cat for fleas, talk to your vet and read these stories before applying Hartz. There are multiple instances where pets have responded adversely to the products, in some cases dying. Hartz agreed to remove a flea product for cats and kittens in 2006 based on similar adverse reactions, but according to the stories from angry pet owners (warning, they will make you want to hug your pet), there are still plenty of problems with current Hartz products.
Starbucks New Healthy Breakfast Tasted, Opinions Formed
By September 5, 2008
Starbucks bravely asked us to try their new…
U.S. Marshals Raid Rat-Infested PETCO Distribution Center
By June 20, 2008
The FDA sent U.S. Marshals to seize “various animal food products” stored at a PETCO distribution center in Joliet, Illinois yesterday, because the storage conditions had been deemed unsanitary twice in a row:
By January 24, 2008
“Hi, you’re not going to believe this,” the caller said “but I am calling from Fort Worth, Texas, and I accidentally picked up your husband’s luggage. When I opened the luggage, a cat jumped out.” [NY Daily News]
Owner Still Has To Pay For Dead Cat's Banfield Health Plan
By January 16, 2008
Sarah Harper was surprised to learn she would have to keep making payments on her cat’s “wellness plan” even after the cat was dead. She was told that she had signed a one-year contract and would have to honor it. Though the service sold by Banfield pet hospitals is packaged like and sounds like insurance, it’s not, it’s a payment plan. The media kit Banfield sends to reporters explicitly says “wellness plans are not insurance policies.” The contract does say that owners will still have to make payments even if the animal has passed away. However, brochures provided to consumers don’t say anything like that, instead saying things like it’s, “”the best preventive care your pet needs to maximize its life,” and that after you enroll, “your pet is on its way to a happier, healthier and longer life!” Catveat emptor.
Which Do You Prefer? One Cat? Or A Thousand Rats?
By December 21, 2007
Luis Martinez, 42, has managed his brother’s grocery in East New York, Brooklyn, for two years. At first, despite weekly visits from an exterminator, the store’s inventory was ravaged constantly by nibbling vermin.
Purina On Virgin Mary-Esque Packaging: They "Reflect The Close Bond Between The Consumer And Their Pet."
By April 24, 2007
We received a response tonight to the inquiry we sent Purina on 4/09/07 asking if there was any truth to the rumors (which we spread) that the recurrent “Woman And Kitty” imagery that bedecks numbers of their pet food packages seemed to recall, if not draw directly from, the “Madonna And Child” motif (undoubtedly to serve manipulative marketing ends).
Contaminated Pet Food Linked To 30% Increase In Feline Kidney Failure
By April 10, 2007
The veterinary hospital chain saw 1 million dogs and cats during the three months when the more than 100 brands of now-recalled contaminated pet food were sold. It saw 284 extra cases of kidney failure among cats during that period, or a roughly 30 percent increase when compared with background rates. It’s not clear if those animals ate the contaminated food, though it seems likely.
Dear Purina: Why Do You Love The Virgin Mary So?
By April 9, 2007
As we mentioned last week, the packaging on several kinds of Purina cat chow feature pictures that seem to be influenced by the Madonna and Child motif. To get to the bottom of the mystery, we sent Purina this letter:
Purina Pays More Homage To Madonna And Child Motif, For Some Strange Reason
By April 5, 2007
Yesterday we posted about how a package of Purina Naturals cat food bore striking resemblance to the Madonna And Child motif, a central icon of Christianity, represented in hundreds of paintings through thousands of years of human history.
