Dear Neurotalk Family,

I know many of you have pets and are watching the news about these recalls. I also know that many of you saw this thing coming just like I did. So, the following will not be much news to you. But, the article below is something I rather hurriedly put together at the request of people Emailing me for my take on this phenomenal situation. I hope it helps.

John

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Hi Everyone,

I have very mixed feelings about this phenomenal news event. Of course, I am saddened by the death of the affected pets and the trauma this has caused the owners. BUT, this is the absolute best thing that could happen TO the pet food companies. I could not be more excited about the potential for seeing the much-needed changes in pet food manufacturing that may finally come about as a result of this "scandal". This recall should serve as a HUGE warning shot being fired across all of our bows.

The latest is that 14 pet deaths have been linked directly to the recalled foods, with 6 of them being cats that died in the studies conducted by Menu Foods themselves to confirm that the food was the culprit. The mortality and morbidity rates have shown that cats are more susceptible the effects of this food, which makes sense from a gluten standpoint since cats are a more strict carnivores and would be less adapted to dealing with eating grains. The FDA, as of this date, still holds that they do not know what the exact culprit is while the company itself has been quoted as saying that they believe it is the wheat gluten acquired from a new supplier. They have replaced the gluten and gone back to manufacturing the recalled foods according to one report that I read. So, if that's true, they must be pretty convinced that it's the wheat gluten.

And wheat gluten CAN do this. Gluten, in sensitized individuals, can induce both chronic and acute kidney failure. The form of kidney failure is typically what we call an IgA nephropathy, in which antibodies and immune complexes formed against the gluten are deposited in the kidneys, which leads to damage and ultimately failure. Again, this can be chronic leading to persistent blood (microscopic) and protein in the urine or it can be very acute.

In most of the cases of the "tainted" food deaths, the pets had been eating these foods for months before succumbing to its effects. Many of you saw the emotion-charged interviews on national news that dealt with owners who thought they were doing the right thing by feeding their pets these foods but have now learned that "all of these months" they were poisoning their dogs.

First of all, is it a "tainted food"...one that contains a poison or a toxin in the usual sense...OR is it one that simply has a gluten in it that is too powerful for pet's (or human) consumption? I could easily believe that it is the latter and that they will find that this new source of gluten came from some a GMO or hybrid wheat that IS too powerful for human consumption and that is why it was cheaper and chosen to rpelace the company's old gluten.

It could be the old Starlink (CRY9C) corn story all over again. You remember that one, right? This occurred in 2000 and Taco Bell became the poster child, as they had to recall taco shells suspected of having this GMO corn that was intended only for animal feed. Of course, that story died quickly (like I am trying to keep this one from doing) and the public never heard about the millions of dollars spent to rid our food supply of this transgenic maize (GMO corn). They ended recalling over 350 brands of corn products in their attempt to clean this situation up. Who knows whether they were really effective, as corn allergies in humans have risen as I certainly believe they have in pets.
Their concern was it may cause "allergic reactions". Well, if you call immune-mediated reactions like rheumatoid, lupus, and asthma "allergic reactions" then that might be accurate.

This story should be sending shock waves through the public and veterinary communities but the response thus far has been one that seems limited to being concerned in a way similar to an E. coli outbreak. But if we KNEW beyond a reasonable doubt that it was the wheat gluten and if we KNEW what wheat gluten was capable of (like we who study celiac disease know), then we should be seeing the bigger picture here: That is this just the tip of the iceberg and that dogs and cats have been dying from this stuff all along and we have not known it. Then all it takes is for us to wake up to the fact that dogs and cats should not be eating these grains to begin with, whether man has genetically modified these foods to death or not (which they have).

The startling fact is that it is well-established that the lectins of gluten (wheat, barley, rye), dairy products (e.g. casein, lactalbumin), soy and corn are ALL capable of inducing serious health issues in those (sensitized) individuals consuming them. I am of the firm belief that these "big 4" are not healthy for anyone. They are simply more harmful to some than others. As I have written many times, it is a matter of when they will cause a problem much more than IF they will. That's why I lovingly call them the "four horsemen of the apocalypse". You are starting to see why, right?

But why do these proteins wait to cause problems? That is a great question and one that keeps people from seeing the truth about these harmful glycoproteins/lectins. The fact is that the onset of the lectin-related disorder- whether it be rheumatoid arthritis, type-one diabetes, lupus, etc- is usually preceded by a secondary event, such as viral or bacterial infection. Other things such as vaccines can act as triggers as well. As a result, there is a rather sudden influx and attachment of these inflammatory proteins to various cells in the body ushering in what we often refer to as "autoimmune" disorders. Of course, I hate that term because it implies an immune system that has gone haywire, attacking the body for no reason. No! Our body and immune systems never makes that kind of mistake. These things happen for a reason and these food proteins are ofetn the culprit. Viruses also play a role (described on my Website).

All one needs to do is study celiac disease (gluten intolerance) to see how all of this works and appreciate the health implications that accompany this extremely common condition. And it does occur in dogs and cats. That has become painfully obvious over the past 7 years I have been studying this. The Irish setter is the only known breed to suffer from gluten intolerance but it is clear that gluten is affecting many, many or our breeds or dogs and cats. And why wouldn't it? It is affecting us and we have had millennia to adapt to eating wheat. The pets have only been eating wheat-based pet foods for about 20 years now.

This leads to the final point (other than the fact that many of you are up in arms about so many of your "quality pet foods" being made by one big company in Canada): Are your pet foods "scientifically" made like you think? I used to think so. Hey, I used to parrot back what I was taught that the pet food companies spend millions of dollars and years of intense research coming up with balanced and nutritious foods. I used to warn people not to add any table food so that they did not upset this "balance". I was one of their biggest fans...patsies.

But then I woke up and wrote "Gluten Intolerance and Your Pet". Why are we feeding dogs and cats wheat, barley, soy, and corn (and now dairy products...again...after removing them all 20 years ago). I'll tell you why. It is because of one of two things: The manufacturers of pet food either don't have a clue as to what they are doing OR they know better and are doing the wrong thing anyway. I'll let the reader decide but if I were in the pet food industry, I'd rather claim ignorance.

If the research and development departments of these companies that are starting to use dairy products again in their foods TRULY think that lactose is the culprit (rather than the lectins of casein, lactalbumin, etc), then the executives in charge need to fire the entire lot of them and start afresh. If they really don't know what gluten can do to the kidneys, joints, intestinal tracts, brains and other organs of our beloved pets, then they all need to go back to school or find another line of work.

DO NOT let this story die. It does not matter whether they ever tell us that wheat gluten caused these problems. The fact is that it CAN...and does...and that it has no place in pet food. The gluten found in the non-recalled dry food versions of these foods is only incrementally better, causing subclinical issues that shorten our pet's lives.

Do you really want to know why the average dog's life is 12 years and that of the cat is 13 years (in the USA) when the former can live to be nearly thirty and the latter to 40? Look no further than what's in their bowl. In a study that was done in Europe, those pets that were fed table scraps lived an average of 3 years longer than those fed commercial diets alone. Why? Highly processed foods cannot possible contain all of the essential nutrients found in fresh meats, fruits and vegetables. And if our veterinarians can't understand that, then they too need a refresher course.

The combination of these foods being woefully deficient in nutrients and the fact that they are downright HARMFUL is an abomination. It is time to change this. Let this recall story be a warning sign but please do not let it die.

I hope this helps,

John

PS. The fact is that wheat gluten CAN cause kidney failure all on its own and with the relatively small number of deaths that have occurred, the gluten IS the most likely culprit. Wheat gluten can cause an IgA nephropathy that can either result in chronic or acute kidney failure.There does not have to be another toxin involved. In fact, mold toxins primarily affect the liver and the amount of other toxins that could be present would have to be much higher to cause kidney damage. And if they were that high, many more individuals would be affected.

So, they are right in pointing the finger at the wheat gluten but the FDA is very wrong in saying that gluten cannot cause kidney failure.

Dogtor J,

Thanks for taking the time to present us with a good explanation of what has happened with pet food.

Marilyn

here is that the SPEED with which this situation presented indicates
a biological toxin, either from bacteria or fungus contamination, or pesticide
or other chemical residues on the source.

I understand the autoimmune factors for celiacs, but these occur over time.

But the gluten has been in pet foods for a long time, and a sudden
event like this just doesn't wash for me, as being due to autoimmune causes.

I recall "peak X" that resulted in the removal of all tryptophan products from
the market years ago. It was not identified except for the "peak" that showed up in gas chromatagraph testing for many years. This occured in Japan in 1989 and caused an epidemic of EMS (eosinophilia myalgia syndrome) where some people died.
Finally in 2003 the mystery was sort of solved:
Given the complexity of our food production chain, an organism or contaminant could be introduced at any time in the process. The wheat itself could have been contaminated in situ as well.

I think only time will tell. And it may be a long time too. For now, removing wheat gluten from pet foods (some do not have it in there) is the only way to be sure your pet is not getting possible contaminants. There are some varieties that do not have gluten in them. I also wonder about dry vs moist.
So far no dry products have shown up on the recall lists. Only moist, and with gravies. If this IS a contamination issue, I would start to worry about corn gluten as well! It could develop into a huge issue over time!

How about RAT POISON??? That is what is being reported in the news this morning.

I just signed on again....after searching early this morning.

This particular compound will be explained, I think more in depth, later.

Chinese herbs are also often contaminated with drugs and other substances.
Phenylbutazone and tranquilizers most commonly.

We have to be very careful importing things, where countries have different laws. They probably don't care you know, it is illegal to have more than 2
dogs there. After all they EAT dogs and we see dogs as friends and companions.

I wonder what is wrong with OUR wheat? too expensive??? So this is a cost issue? That poor Yorkie in photo is really sad.

Edit to add-- I just looked up aminopterin--- it is a drug used here briefly in the past as a chemo agent for leukemia.
you can read about it here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aminopterin

It is not a poison in the sense of arsenic/heavy metals etc. It is a drug when used in high amounts
becomes toxic to living tissue by interfering with folate metabolism. For example, Coumadin is used in rodent poisons here. In small
amounts Coumadin (warfarin) is therapeutic and prevents blood clots---in high doses it causes bleeding, and hence death of
mammals. So one could call it a "poison". The aminopterin is a cellular poison. And I was right in my suspicions that dose/weight seems
significant here. Kittens died quickly...larger cats with treatment, recovered somewhat.

It is very sad all around tho...that MSN article has 3 photos...very sad.

Here is a comment I received:


They've been reporting that Aminopterin levels of at least 40 ppm were detected in the tainted cat food.

According to a relative of mine (who is a chemist in the pharmaceuticals industry), this is a high- and extremely dangerous- quantity of this particular drug.

I found a bit of an abstract from an article posted in the Annals of the NY Academy of the Sciences suggesting that aminopterin was found to be toxic to rats and chicks in quantities as low as 3 ppm, which is in line with the numbers proposed by said relative.

As far as the death toll, according to petconnection.com's tally, they've received over 1,300 complaints of pet deaths believed to have been associated with these foods. (They are no longer reporting tallies for sickened pets who have survived.) These numbers have continued to grow by the hundreds daily since PC set up their database.

Additionally, some individuals who have gotten through to the FDA are reporting that the representatives they spoke with have discussed totals 'in the thousands'.. and I read earlier today that they've received somewhere in the neighborhood of 4,400 complaints thus far. Anecdotal evidence, to be sure- but it's pretty clear at this point in time that there have been far more than 16 casualties at this time.

As far as IgA nephropathy related to gluten sensitivity, my cat has been eating products containing wheat gluten for much of his life without incident. He became ill (acute renal failure) almost immediately after having consumed a relatively small quantity of the recalled food. I have been offering him another cat's dry prescription diet as he recovers, because I'm leery of purchasing any pet food at this time. He has shown no sign of problems on the prescription food, despite the fact that it too contains wheat gluten. As such, while gluten may be a serious problem for some animals, I'm inclined to believe that the gluten itself was not the problem for him.

Just a few thoughts.

Here is my response:

Thanks. I do now believe it was the aminopterin, especially with the numbers now being posted. That was the illogical part of all of this....the small number being reported at first. But, as far as the IgA nephropathy, it is a fact that gluten can do this and this point needs to be remembered because this story is much bigger than the poison and people are starting to see that.

The fact that a pet was eating this gluten-containing food all along may just be the cofactor in why they died when the aminopterin was introduced. There has to be a reason why some were affected and died and while others didn't. It also helps to explain why the cat was so much more affected. This story is likely to be the "syndrome" effect that I talk so much about, where multiple factors come together to produce the disease state, such as in the case of epilepsy, cancer, MS and many other disease states.

For example, carcinogens don't "cause" cancer in most cases. Viruses do. The carcinogens simply "motivate" the virus into causing the cancer. But, the viruses alone don't do it. In fact, some need helper viruses to do this. But that alone doesn't result in cancer. We have to have an incompetent immune system ("governor") for cancer to develop. It takes a fair amount of wrong-doing to end up with an incompetent immune system, such as a poor diet (for quite some time), air pollution, lack of sleep, immune-suppressive drugs or chemicals, etc etc. So, the combination of all of these things results in cancer, which used to occur in the elderly and now occurs in the young. Why? We all know the answer to that one.

God in His infinite wisdom and love actually made it quite hard for His beloved Creation (man and animals) to get sick. It's just that we've made it sooooo much easier, with our harmful diets, crazy lifestyles and polluted environments. Most people can see that inconvenient truth, I believe.

John

Well said. Life without convenience food is inconvenient, but it's so much better for your health.

Same goes for pet food! We've made our own for years after seeing positive results. DH jokes that our cats eat better than we do . I dunno. Eating raw turkey meat just doesn't appeal to me .

Claire

From my understanding of the situation, it was comtaminated wheat gluten, had nothing to do with gluten intolerance. If contaminated wheat gluten was used in bread, bread eaters would get sick too. There has been way too much contamination in the last year or so. That scares me!!!!

I think you're both right, DogtorJ, and Mrs. Doubtfyre!

On TV today, they said that one lab says it's rat poison (and is sticking to their findings), but another lab has recently found a chemical called Melamine in BOTH moist & dry pet foods! The Melamine is used in the making of plastics.

One news rumor said that the Melamine was in the "wheat gluten" that is imported from China.

There is now concern that the Melamine may have also entered the human food chain!

Frankly, from all of this terrible suffering and death of the animals and their human companions (now HUNDREDS of deaths are being reported), I recommend avoiding all pet foods, both moist and dry, at this time, period, and feed the same good quality (and gluten & milk-free) people food to your pets, as you eat, trying to reproduce something like they would eat in the wild.

For sick animals, in addition to getting them to a good vet right away, if they are able to eat--then, perhaps an organic baby food that is gluten-free & milk-free, could help, in addition to medical care.

Today, the story has expanded, and it's really sad.

Carol
http://cantbreathesuspectvcd.com

This is a tough situation for a number of reasons. The main thing is we need more specific information on the number of affected pets and more info on the newest toxin, melamine.

I can tell you that I see food-related issues day in and day out. I have been categorically removing all gluten, dairy, soy and corn from my patient's diets (at least in those whose owners will comply) for the past 7 years and watching chronic conditions disappear right and left. So, as I watch the news and see that the "official" number of deaths is less than 20 while the estimated number of afflicted is in the thousands, I can see why there is such a range. The average dry pet foods of today are not very well tolerated when it comes right down to it and multitudes of dogs and cats are having regular symptoms from them. So, when the word gets out that there is something specific wrong with the food such as a toxin, suddenly all of the typical symptoms (that vets see every day) have a new explanation.

But do they? How will we narrow this situation down to those cases caused by the tainted foods versus those caused by the typical, unnatural ingredients that sicken so many pets every day. Well, first we have to decide which "toxin" is the culprit. At first, we heard it was aminopterin. Now they are saying it is melamine. Then we have to nail down what symptoms are caused by said toxin and explain why more animals that have consumed these foods have not developed those symptoms.

Personally, I would still like to know more about Chinese wheat and whether this gluten was from wheat raised for human or livestock consumption. Just call me curious. What kind of problems are the Chinese having themselves? I would also like to know more about the histopathology done on those kidneys. Was there any sign of amyloidosis or immune response or was it purely a nephrosis from crystal build up, as seen in antifreeze poisoning?

So, the jury is still out. It's an interesting story to say the least. In the meantime, I am getting lots of Emails asking me what to feed. So, I wrote the following.

I hope it helps,
John

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What to feed, what to feed???


That's a great question...quite involved, but a good question. We should feed the pet as close to a natural diet as possible. "As possible" means 1) As close to what we understand "natural" to be; 2) As close to natural as we can afford; and 3) As close to natural as fits with our own pet philosophy and what we are willing to do.

Tha vast majority of pet owners are not going to do more than feed something out of a can or a bag. Sad but true. (Remember: The vast majority of pet owners are not on a forum like this seeking information about how to best feed their pet). It has been like pulling teeth just to get my hospital clients to go to the pet shop for food rather than the grocery store, the latter having no dry foods that meet my criteria of eliminating all gluten, dairy, soy and corn.

So, you have those owners who will seek out the best commercial food but stop there. Then you have those who will occasionally add some table food while others will do some home-cooking on a regular basis to supplement the base diet of commercial foods. At the other end of the spectrum, you have "the elite" who try to make the diet perfect and natural in every way. That is a very small group.

Where do each of us fit into this spectrum? It has been shown that those pets that get table food in addition to their commercial diet live longer (contrary to what most vets...including me...have said all of their lives). It should not surprise us to find this to be true when we think about the value of fresh meats/eggs, veggies and fruits.

The answer to "What to feed?" then becomes this- Feed a food that is not harmful and as nutritionally complete as possible. My goal for the past 7 years has been to eliminate the harmful ingredients alone and watch what happens. Miracles have happened by elimination all gluten (wheat, barley, rye), dairy, soy and corn. These are very harmful to large numbers of pets and people. Dogs and cats are clearly gluten intolerant just as large numbers of people are.

We are now focusing on making the diet as nutritionally complete as possible by adding fresh sources of protein (meats, eggs) and fresh sources of vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients in the form of veggies and fruits. Lastly, we should be using select supplements that cannot be provided by the above, such as omega three fatty acids, or things that the individual seems to need specifically such as glucosamine for its joints or kelp for its thyroids.

Again, my site has a list of "clean" dog foods that contain none of the "big 4". The bottom line of this recall at this point is that the wheat gluten additive was the source of problems so foods without wheat gluten...which should be avoided anyway...are safe to feed. BUT, stay tuned. This story is not over yet.

I hope this helps,

John