As of this morning, the news on the Menu Pet Recall is getting worse. I just heard that at least 100 brands are now affected and the company knew there were problems as far back as February. The toxic element seems to be a tainted wheat gluten filler. Obviously, this is not a limited incident. At this point, ALL food coming out of the Menu Pet factories should be under heavy scrutiny.

But let’s not let the companies that put their names on this food off the hook. They should bear just as much of the blame. They used their names to gain our trust.

How many of us thought that we could safely feed our furbabies food that had previously trusted names like Iams? Now we know that these companies wasted that trust and betrayed our dogs and cats for a few more pennies. They outsourced their food production and our trust. Moreover, they seem to have done little in the way of oversight or their own testing of the products. For a little more profit they condemned untold dogs and cats to suffering and death. Otherwise, how could this disaster have spread as far as it has?

So where do we go from here?

Start with buying dog and cat foods made by the people who actually brand and sell them. That keeps the company responsible for the food in the immediate mix. Its easier for companies that do not actually produce the food to claim that they are not really responsible for these deaths. Yes, they are but legally they may be able to shift the blame. Let’s reward companies that are responsible enough to make and sell their own pet food.

Next, if your pet has been affected, let the companies involved know you will not forget their transgressions. Obviously, if you bought a name brand in a grocery or chain store that only handled the final product and had nothing to do with production or branding, then they cannot be held to task. But if it is a company such as Schnucks or other grocery store that put their brand on it, go hard. They are responsible for EVERYTHING that bears their name. Only by leaning on THEM (the companies and people who enabled the poisoners) can we affect the people directly responsible for buying bad fillers and continuing to selll these products long after there was significant suggestion of definite danger to pets ingesting this poisoned food.

Lastly, forgive yourself. I can read in many of your barks and meows to the blog that you feel guilty for having bought this food and fed it to your furbabies. You didn’t know and had no way to even guess that the very companies who have spent decades gaining our trust would so callously allow our loved ones to eat tainted food that they provided. Your furbabies know you would never have hurt them. Blame the people responsible –the corporate executives who put money before your furbabies’ health. Aim your anger at them; not yourself.