Killer food & the politics of pets

I found this great article in Maclean's about the pet food recalls. It discusses how it is the cumulative effect of market practices and the deregulation of food production in Canada and the U.S. led to this particular crisis. There's some interesting stuff about the growth of Menu Foods as a conglomerate and how it came to produce most of the wet food in North America. And they suggest one solution is to guarantee a financial loss when the health and safety of pets is compromised by consider animals, legally, to be more than just property. Yes, please.

More damned recalls

The Brat Pack posted this link about expanded dog food recalls, including some in which the tainted ingredients may have been used but are not listed on the labels. The manufacturer is American Nutrition. It includes Blue Buffalo, Natural Balance (expanded to cans), Diamond, and that Chicken Soup stuff. Most of these are canned.

I also read that Drs. Foster and Smith brand has been recalled.

Frankly, I'm sick of blogging about this. Why is the FDA so reactive? Why is this problem stretching out for months? I'll take a steak burger, extra-rare, please.

Dr. Feelgood

They've approved Prozac for use in dogs with separation anxiety which, now, makes it officially Pupzac. I was on a different pupzac when I had my little bout of separation anxiety. It did jack all for me but make me pee a lot which really helped with the anxiety, let me tell you. Ahem. The only cure for my fears of abandonment? Having another dog around. Interestingly, my ma ape says that having ME around is a cure for her blues. So maybe we don't always need the pupzac as much as the pup?

Ready for wine AND cheese

Yup, it's time to celebrate the first anniversary of Dogs With Blogs, the greatest site on the Internets and the Tubes! Tomorrow is our Wine and Cheese Pawty and for more info click on the link on your left. Yup, definitely cause to celebrate! DWB took my blog from being a very small blog read by me, my sissy, and a few of my ma ape's family members to a worldwide sensation! (My sissy tells me not to exaggerate but I say--keep your skinny nose outta my business!). I have to give a shout-out to my pal Sid who suggested I add my blog to their list. And what a year it has been since then!


So I'm trying to get my apes to stock up on some dog appropriate wine. (On another note--there is a whole webpage dedicated to dogs + wine. They even have a corgador like dog in their title images. Hmm).


And, like my namesake in my one of my favorite movies, Wally and Gromit, I LOVE cheese (my favorites: yellow cheddar, white cheddar, blue, cream, emmental, stinky bishop, swiss, provelone, parmesan, colby, monterey jack, gruyere, romano, brie, goat, pimento, limburger, whiz, munster, gorgonzola, asiago, stilton, edam, gouda, you get the picture).

See you all at the celebration! Paw-ty! Paw-ty! Paw-ty! Paw-ty! (I might already be drunk).

New Sibs

Look! My pal Nanook has a new baby brother named Pooka! (or Poo as I call him for short). Since that face is infinitely smoochable I was a bit worried for my pal since new babies are always popular and I was afraid he might not get his share of belly scritches. But then I remembered what Nanook looks like and I'm not worried for him.

Here's Pooka!


He reminds me of someone I know (I might be thinking about eating the puppy here, I won't say):


Here I am hiding under a chair (because it is raining) and thinking about maybe having a new sibling. On the one hand I like being the center of attention (especially of the ma ape) but on the other hand I need a sibling on which I can pin my doggy indiscretions (counter surfing? must be the new guy) and who could help me run the household efficiently (dude--get me some snacks!)


So I'm trying to be on my best behavior so I can get a little servant pup (or monkey butler, I'm still not certain which I'd prefer) and I'm trying to show I can be responsible. here I am taking care of my favorite stuffy, pastel hedgie (from Joe Stains!)


I have a funny habit--whenever it rains I try to take pastel hedgie outside. I'm a good brother who recognizes when his pals need a shower because they stink. Not that anything that spends a long time in my mouth could possibly smell bad.


And here I am giving sissy kisses. You may notice that my teeth are out in my kisses but it's pure sweetness, I swear (fortunately there is no audio of the growlin' or video of us chasing each other around the living room like tasmanian devils). They're kisses. That happen to involve teeth and chasing.

Robbed!

There was a Beautiful Boo-Dog Contest and the king of the boo-dogs, Studly Dudley didn't win! That's the winner, Wrinkly Riggs up above (go to the link to watch hilarious boo-dog video!).

Here is MY king, the Stud:

Gettin' Tail

The most e-mailed story in the Grey Lady is about DOGS! It's about how scientists have begun decoding our feelings via our tails. According to their study you can tell a lot about a doggy mood by the angle of our tail in addition to things like whether it's wagging, how vigorously, etc. They say--wag to the right is happy and wag to the left is anxious.

My ma ape is intrigued. I have a very expressive tail that sometimes curls over my back, sometimes trails behind me, and usually hovers somewhere in between. I'm ADORABLE when my tail is down but that often means I'm nervous. Tail up means excitement. We may have to document this photographically which is a wonderful opportunity to post more pictures of my bum, eh?

My sissy's tail is not quite as exciting or versatile as mine but we'll have to keep an eye on her. She is a very anxious girl so she should be a left-sided wagger, eh? Interestingly, my ma ape's FIRST dog had NO TAIL. He was a Pembroke corgi and my ma ape said he would wag his BUTT (which was fluffy like mine, no word on the pertness).

What's for dinner?

This is one of my best handsome begging faces. It works every time. And what's for dinner tonight???


Mmmmm...sushi. My ma ape doesn't make it with fish but I'm a big fan of the vegetables (I'm practically vegetarian I eat so many). As you can see--my ma ape would score a 0 for presentation on Iron Chef but it tastes pretty good (though I also think the week-old crumbs I find the carpet taste good so you can take that with a grain of salt. Or rice).


And here's my favorite part.....wasabi!


Here is my food review. Notice the impressive quantity and quality of drool. I can keep up with any Newfie or mastiff. Pardon the heavenly halo that surrounds me. It's my ma ape's fault though I know it is hard to photograph a divine being.

Dogs With Blogs Anniversary!

Pappy Productions

Shhhh...my sissy's burpday

My sissy has a burpday coming up and my ma ape has so far nixed all the things that I've put on the shopping list for her: bananas, stuffies, Samantha, apples, sweet potatoes, Studly Dudley, and wasabi peas. She says all these things are for ME and not for my sissy. So i've settled on Isadora. She's a mastiff who lives really close to me and I think would love to live at my house. We share big wrinkly heads, drooly jowls, and general adorability. Her description says she loves cuddling and Scooby Snacks (I'm not sure if they mean that in the food snack sense or the slang sense. Either way.) So now I'm trying to convince my apes that my sissy would love a new big sissy and that we swear we would be nice even though we can kind of be bastards to other dogs sometimes.

More recalls likely

This MSNBC story says that more pet food recalls are likely because they have located a second supplier of rice protein with melamine in their product. It may be in the human food supply, too, via animal feed:

Rice protein tainted with the chemical melamine was used in pet foods from at least five manufacturers who obtained the protein from one supplier, U.S. officials have said. It also made its way into feed used at a California hog farm.

and

Last week, privately held Wilbur-Ellis said contaminated rice protein was distributed to several pet food makers. Three of them — Natural Balance Pet Foods, the Blue Buffalo Co. and Diamond Pet Foods — have pulled some of their products.

Pert or Fluffy?

My terrierist friend Buster commented on my previously posted photo of my bum that it looks more fluffy than pert. I need a second opinion. Here it is from another angle:


And a little closer (and look at the heavenly glow that surrounds it):


So? Pert, fluffy, or both?

(This post may be a blatant attempt to get more flattering comments from Miss Sunshade.)

My new pal Ruby!

Meet my new friend Ruby Bleu! I've been lax about meeting new friends and I'm so lazy that Ruby came to me! She's totally awesome. Doesn't she look tuff in this picture? She's going to rock the terrierist world.

Google Bomb!

Do a google search for "greatest living American." The first webpage--Colbert Nation! If you don't know who he is you should check out his website. He's almost as funny and modest as me! And he has an ice cream named after him! (I will confess I do prefer Willie Nelson's ice cream, though).

I want to do a Google Bomb for "World's Greatest Dog" but I've been unsuccessful so far.

Wallypalooza

My sissy got a whole post dedicated to her (um, except for the pictures that I'm in. Did you see the one where I'm peeing and totally stealing her thunder? Perfect!)

Here I am in my backyard. I like sitting in the sun until I get all warm and then going to the shade to cool off. Lather Rinse Repeat.


Here I am in the backyard. It looks like my pretty pear tree is coming out of my head but it's not. I also look very noble and intellectual. Which I am.

Then we went to the field and I shared my water bowl with my sissy which was only fair since she was running around and I was mostly sauntering. Hey, it's hot out here for a pimp.


I even posed for a picture with my sissy. Two happy dogs.


And, for no reason, I decided to get up in the bleachers. I thought maybe a baseball game would break out and the hot dog vendor would come by.


I looked all over for the hot dog man. No such luck.


Here I am in a field of clover.


And, my parting shot, my lovely pert bum as it hops away.

Ethelpalooza

Spring weather is here FINALLY so we had to spend the day in the out-side with our peeps! For Max's sake, here's an Ethelpalooza of Ethel in the outside.

Here she is sitting funny.


She's being coy and playing hard to get.


Aaaaand here she is doing what she loves to do--catchin'!


And fetchin'.

And catching while I watch.


And here she is catchin' some more. Hey--what's that dog in the corner doing? Haha!

Wally's Back!

DID YOU MISS ME???

I'm guarding the suitcase so that 1) to guard the bag of presents FOR ME that I'm sure is in there 2) so it cannot be repacked and taken on a new trip without me.

Last time there were NO PRESENTS for Wally because US Airways lost the ma ape's luggage! This time they were nice enough to lose it on the trip TO San Fran so that I wouldn't lose my presents on the way back. Good job! I got some bacon bits snacks that are long since in my belly.

And the ma ape got me these lions in Chinatown because she thinks they look like me. Except I am not green, though maybe if they fed me more wasabi peas.


And here is my new hippo! It is a Chewish Toy and says "Zaftig" on the side which the card tells me is "Pleasingly Plump." What is THAT supposed to mean, ma ape?


The hippo works well on my back. He is pleasing and he is plump.


And, of course, we got GUILTY MA APE snacks! Here I am eating my FROSTY PAW! Mmmmm.


This morning for breakfast we got some raw beef and eggs and cottage cheese. The ma ape said that was too gross to post a picture of. I don't know what she's talking about.