Update: April 20th 20074:40pm

All Wysong products are unaffected by recent pet food recalls.

The illness and loss of life due to a toxin-tainted ingredient in some commercial pet foods is tragic to say the least. Our sympathies go out to those who have suffered the loss of a loved member of the family or are struggling with disease related to it. We have been inundated with calls and emails by concerned pet owners wanting advice on what to feed, and to be assured of the safety of Wysong products. Hopefully this information will put those concerns to rest and answer questions.

Facts as of this date:

1. No Wysong product is a part of the pet food recalls. Further information on foods that have been recalled can be found at www.Menufoods.com and www.fda.gov.

2. The suspected ingredients are glutens supplied by a Chinese company. Wheat gluten (seitan, wheat-meat) has been fractionated out of wheat for centuries and used in a variety of human and animal products due to its concentrated protein content and its various functional properties as a thickener and binder. Since gluten is a part of wheat, it has been a part of human and animal diets since the advent of agriculture some 10,000 years ago. Wheat gluten is not the problem, the toxin introduced into it by the Chinese is.

3. Symptoms of poisoning would include loss of appetite or vomiting, excessive thirst, excessive urination, and possibly diarrhea.

4. Wysong uses wheat gluten (not sourced from China) in its Vegan™. (Nurture contains wheat, not wheat gluten—there is a misprint on the package) and has done so for almost two decades without incident.

5. Wysong has its own manufacturing facilities for its 98 animal nutritional products but has had the following two foods made at a Menu manufacturing facility: Au Jus™ (chicken, turkey, duck, beef, and venison) with the exception of the Rabbit Au Jus™, and Stews™ (beef and chicken). None of these are a part of the recall, they do not contain the suspect ingredient and they were made prior to the time the ingredient was received by Menu from China. These Wysong products are not renamed generic foods of Menu, but specific formulations in which we dictate the specific ingredients and parameters of production. For example, whereas Menu uses wheat gluten as a binder in its canned foods, Wysong used plasma which not only helped with the binding but imparted important immunological and nutritional benefits. (It is interesting to note that this ingredient has been demonized by the misinformed—see the recent issue of Whole Dog Journal This misinformation actually led people to canned foods using wheat gluten! Logic & good sense, not lore and myth, should dictate decisions.) We have used Menu for these two products as an interim measure until we can complete our own manufacturing capabilities for these particular products. No Wysong foods have been made at Menu since September of 2006.

6. Wysong tries to use ingredients from local farms and domestic sources as much as it is possible to do so, including an increasing amount of organic ingredients, which will become apparent when new labels are created.

7. Menu has performed animal feeding studies on some of its foods. No such testing has been performed on any Wysong foods.

What to do:
  • Discontinue using any recalled food.
  • Keep this principle in mind: Toxicity is dose-dependent, so the lower the dose, the better the prognosis.
  • Keep the food, in case it needs to be tested. There is no blood test for the toxin, though the food itself can be tested. You don't want to risk accidentally using the food, so pass the food along to your veterinarian for safekeeping. The FDA is recommending disposal, but if your pet is showing signs of poisoning, the veterinarian may wish to submit it for testing.
  • Look for symptoms such as those described above. But understand that these symptoms may arise from a wide array of other causes. Kidney disease, particularly in older animals, is common—and is primarily caused by trusting in the “complete and balanced” myth and feeding one processed food at every meal. (See below)
  • If you suspect poisoning go to your veterinarian for diagnostic tests.
  • If lab tests show your pet’s kidney function to be fine, then relax. Most toxins in low dose are relatively slow acting, but if there is no apparent effect and there is no possible further exposure, your pet should be fine. The damage from exposure is relatively quick, within a few hours, and is dose dependent with the most severe effects usually seen on the third or fourth day following exposure. If it has been longer than a week since your pet ate any suspect food, it should be past the point of showing symptoms.
  • Other than specific advice your veterinarian may have, kidney damage is best treated with fresh water and following the Optimal Health Program. In that program you are advised to vary the diet, use appropriate supplements, and incorporate fresh foods. By varying the diet not only is the risk of toxins reduced, but the body is given time to detoxify compounds that are found in every meal regardless of what is eaten. Also, the variety creates the most chance for receiving the spectrum of nutrients that are needed for health and detoxification. For help in feeding fresh foods and varying the diet see the How To Apologize To Your Pet brochure and The Truth About Pet Foods.


Lessons to be learned

This isolated incident is not a reason for panic about all foods humans and animals eat. Yes, any food could potentially be toxic. There are thousands of natural and synthetic toxins. Things like aminopterin and melamine can contaminate food. But tapioca contains hydrogen cyanide, potatoes contain solanine, carrots carototoxin, meats can contain flesh eating bacteria…and on and on the list could go. See: Natural Toxins Chart, Tapioca.

A person’s only protection is to do what Wysong has been advising for over 25 years: stay as close to nature as possible and vary the diet. This—not any special “100% complete” food, or food prescribed by a doctor, or food with a special ingredient, or minus a boogeyman ingredient—is the key to health wisdom.

No company can assure you that their “special,” “pure,” “human grade,” or “tested” food is perfect and guaranteed not to cause health problems if fed relentlessly. It is disingenuous for any company to claim virtue in this matter since no company was testing for melamine. It is only by luck that some have been victimized and others escaped this tragedy. Our best advice is to follow the Optimal Health Program—and you will note that no commercial foods at all (including Wysong) are required to do that if that is your desire.

We hope that this answers your questions. If you have others, please email, fax, or mail to us and we will do our best to respond as soon as possible.
 
Misinformation

The Internet is now humming with misinformation from people who seem to prefer to create demons and promote savior products rather than help concerned pet owners with responsible information. Some of these claims along with rebuttals follow:

1. “Since it was discovered that a variety of brands have been manufactured at Menu, including so-called ‘generics,’ that means all foods made at Menu are of ‘generic’ quality.”
wysong That is not true since any given manufacturing plant can make either high quality of low quality products. The value of products has to do with the knowledge and engineering that goes into them, not necessarily the location where they are made. The real problem in the pet food industry is not so much the manufacturing, per se, but that the brand companies themselves are generic in that virtually all of them are headed by business people, not experts in health, nutrition, and food technology.

2. “It is an industry secret that a variety of brands of pet foods can be made at one manufacturer, like Menu.”
wysong The fact that anyone can go to any number of contract manufacturers and have a product made is not a secret. What is most important for consumers is that the expertise of the heads of brand companies who dictate to these manufacturers how their products are to be made must be evaluated.

3. “Finding a brand that manufactures only at their own plant will solve the recall problem.”
wysong The problem with this is that even companies that have their own manufacturing facilities may have to go to outside manufacturers if demand exceeds production capacity or products are desired for which the company does not have the appropriate facilities. Again, the issue is not so much where the product is made, but whether those who dictate to the private label manufacturer the formulation and processing have true competence and principle—and whether the manufacturer can be monitored and trusted.

4. “Menu Foods is said to support inhumane animal testing because animals died from being test fed the suspect food.”
wysong The details of this are not clear. If they fed a known toxin to animals, that is not excusable. If the deaths were inadvertent that is another matter.

5. “No company that deals with Menu should be supported since that would mean supporting inhumane animal testing.”
wysong We agree if it is proven that they purposely killed animals or treat them inhumanely. On the other hand it is very difficult to judge others based upon who they do business with. For example, PETA is most certainly a worthy cause that works for animal welfare worldwide. But the fact that they have used Pamela Anderson as a spokesperson, and she may use cosmetics or cigarettes from industries that test on animals, is not a reason to nullify PETA’s good works.

6. “Reports as of this writing attribute the deaths to a poison in gluten. Companies who used it should be condemned.”
wysong Companies who were victimized by the Chinese fraud are not necessarily villains. Before condemning faceless “companies,” one must keep in mind the hundreds of people and their families who comprise the company. If there was gross negligence or intent to harm that is one thing. But that has not been shown to be the case other than with the Chinese supplier.

7. “Pet food companies should not obtain ingredients from abroad.”
wysong Ideally that is true. Unfortunately we are now in a world market and some ingredients can only be found abroad.

8. “All ingredients should have been tested for this toxin.”
wysong There are thousands of potential toxins in foods. It is impossible to test for them all. Melamine has not been routinely tested for in either human or animal foods. Nobody would have dreamed it would have been purposely added to an ingredient..

9. “The problem could have been avoided if companies weren’t greedy and trying to buy cheap ingredients.”
wysong Certainly “least cost” formulation is a bad idea if that is the only objective. Health and nutrition should come first. But that does not mean companies should not shop for the best price on quality ingredients just like every company and individual shops.

10. “There is now no reason to trust or believe that pet foods can be safe.”.
wysong There is no food anywhere that can be totally trusted. The most sure bet is to grow all your own food in your own yard. Since that is not possible for most people, there is no choice but to trust. Every person and animal is at risk every time they consume a food from a package. Such risk is the price of modern food dependence. The risk is minimized by following the Optimal Health Program and varying the diet.

10. Pet foods should not contain gluten, corn, or any other grain for that matter because that is not what they would eat in the wild.
wysong We agree and have said this for 25 years. However, if people want the convenience of packaged foods, starches are necessary in dry food extrusion and as binders and thickeners in wet foods. They also provide some nutritional value.

11. “The pet food industry is an outlet for by-products that are left over from a carcass that has been stripped for human consumption. They grind up almost anything and then use fillers like corn and cheap sources of protein like wheat gluten.”
wysong This reflects a lack of understanding of food processing. Wheat gluten is not a cheap source of protein. Neither it nor corn are used as fillers. (Corn is a mythological boogeyman of epic proportions, without one bit of scientific evidence proving it is any worse than any other starch source.) With regard to “stripped” meats, that is what carnivores eat in the wild, not just prime chicken breast and filet mignon. They eat the entire carcass, and especially relish all the “by-products” that are now popularly demonized. We are not defending things like chicken feathers and beaks, but rather pointing out that many by-products are very nutritious. (To get food as close to the wild prototype as possible, follow the Wysong Optimal Health Program, read the How To Apologize To Your Pet brochure. Also See:The Myth of 100% Complete Processed Pet Foods and By-Products.)

12. “Excessive carbohydrates like wheat gluten are giving pets the same degenerative diseases humans have.”
wysong Agreed, except that wheat gluten is not a carbohydrate.

13. “People should switch to a raw diet and avoid companies like Iams, Nutro, Menu and all others recalling foods.”
wysong But that does not eliminate dangers. Anybody can produce a raw food in their kitchen, freeze it and sell it. See: The Case Against Raw Frozen Pet Foods.

14. “Use freeze-dried food instead of regular pet foods.”
wysong Do not fall into the trap of thinking “freeze-dried” means raw. See: Raw Deceptions

15. “An alternative to commercial pet foods is to mix supplements up with some quality canned foods, raw meat, plain yogurt, eggs, cottage cheese and the like.”
wysong Those are good basic ideas. See the How to Apologize To Your Pet for menus.

17. “The best source of information on pet health and feeding is on Internet chat rooms and blogs.”
wysong Only if the writers are competent, are not simply parroting myths, and are backing up what they say with science, facts, and reason. Of course we believe the best source of information on pet feeding is the extensive Wysong website and the numerous books and educational materials by Dr. Wysong.