BIOPHILE 16 — JUNE/JULY 2007 R25 - Biophile Magazine

Vegetarian pets?Thank you for your informativearticle on dog food (Food Pets DieFor, Issue 14). Dogs are really meateaters, so should I be includingmeat (one third of the meal) dailyor perhaps alternate it with lentils?Then, where does one find organicallygrown meat/chicken?Lastly, where does one find bonesfrom organically farmed animals?I’ve asked everywhere and I amloathe to deprive my animals ofthis nightly treat!Also: what is recommended for ourfeline friends?Thank you for an awesome andrefreshing magazine!Michele HigginsonI do feed my dogs completelyvegetarian as I don’t like to think ofother animals suffering and dyingat their expense. Whenever I cansource happy organic bones ((notoften, I must admit, but usuallyfrom Camphill here in the Cape) Iget them some. I do give them largeraw carrots and they munch awayat them quite happily! My preciouscat gets the same. He also likesnatural organic yoghurt (from anunpasturised source—you may beable to get from Fruits & Roots?)with wheat germ, flax oil, a littlekelp, and the essential amino acidsupplement, taurine. AntheaINBox: our readers writePoisoned petsMy cat ate Hills Science Diet dry food forabout five years and became extremelyill throughout last year. I am still convinced itis because HSD was made, using geneticallymodified ingredients.(It has recently been replaced by HillsScience Plan which is made in Europe, notU.S., therefore conforms to GM-free requirements).My cat would vomit out all of his foodseveral times a week. I was under the impressionthat ‘because it came from the vet, itmust be very healthy’, and it took a while forme to go in and challenge my vet, who felt Icould not blame the GM product.I telephoned several pet food agents whosupply the well-known imported brands tovets and discovered, to my disappointment,that all were reluctant to come out and makea definite statement as to whether theirbrands contained GM, and how much. Eventually,my cat was so ill, I knew I was rightand stopped it immediately.It was difficult, then, to know what foodto buy. Woolworths is always a good bet, soI hit the jackpot and (first time) bought oneof contaminated bags of cat food containingethylene glycol (anti-freeze).How did I realise it? Intuition. The foodhad a strong chemical smell and was a darkcolour. I exclaimed on opening it that if thiswas all Woolworths were capable of producing,then we are in trouble! A family memberwas unable to pick up an untoward, chemicalsmell, so I doubted myself early on and fed itto the cat. He was really rejecting it. It’s hardwith cats; they are so fussy. But if you starvean animal long enough, he will eat poisonfood when he is really desperate. This I haveproven. I hope others take heed of this. I havehad to ask the cat’s forgiveness.Fortunately, I soon obeyed my ‘inner voice’and stashed the bag in the garage from Novemberuntil February, meaning to return itto Woolworths.In February I noticed a small press articleabout Woolworths contaminated pet foodwhich was being pulled off the shelves, andwas off to prove that my bag was one of them.There were frustrating moments. My vethad received a special bulletin (to vets only)from Aquanutro, the supplier in Malmesbury,which said the incident affected dog foodonly and it took some persuasion to obtaina lab report on my cat, but Woolworths requiredthis.The upside is that Woolworths made it apriority to handle all (grieving) customerswith as much tact and kindness as they couldmuster. They explained the process to usand were helpful. Not long after, I received acheque in the mail from Woolworths’ InsuranceCompany, not admitting liability - insettlement of most of my vet’s bill (excludingthings like teeth scaling).I felt the need to know the result of the teston my specific bag and whether my instinctswere right. (Apparently the chemical sank tothe bottom and sporadic bags were affected).On request, I was informed that I was correctand that my bag had tested positive for thesubstance. Woolworths will continue investigatingthis matter and get specialist helpuntil they locate the source of the incident.Woolworths are also re-drafting the terms oftrade with all their suppliers.I congratulate Woolworths on their handlingof this unhappy situation. It was donein the best possible way. I would like moreSouth African companies to handle unfortunatesituations in a manner which does notsmack of denial, defensiveness or “fobbingpeople off”. This is common and, had Woolworthstaken this attitude, it would have hadserious consequences for them later on. It isalso encouraging that they are not leaving thematter to rest.To those who endured the unexpecteddeaths of their animals — my heart goesout to all of you. Let us build a better worldwhere things like this don’t happen anymore.Wendy Damerell4 Biophile Issue 16