We really try very hard to carry products that we trust from companies who have rigorous safety protocols for their manufacturing facilities and who source good ingredients. These pet food companies are pretty big companies though, providing a lot of product nationally to a great number of pets. Problems are fairly uncommon, though they are still possible. Remember, we can’t report problems to the company unless we have the date codes and lot numbers. If your pet’s food seems to have changed, or your pet suddenly doesn’t want to eat something they usually like, or you open a new bag and your pets suddenly start having issues, here are 4 things you should do:
– Bring it back and let us know about it. It really might not be the food causing the problem, but why take a risk? Also, if your pet supply store starts to hear the same problems from multiple customers, it lets them see a pattern they might not be able to notice otherwise. There are of course many reasons pets might not want to eat or have sudden GI problems, but what if others are seeing the same thing? We’d like to alert the company and ask them if they’ve been hearing any reports of issues.
– If your pet is ill, take them to the vet. More importantly, If your vet strongly suspects a problem with the food, ask them to report it!
– Whenever you start a new bag of food, hang on to the bag for a little bit. Many people use storage containers and immediately discard the bag, but there is no way for a company to respond to a problem if they don’t know which batch to test.
– Report it! The internet is overflowing with people saying they’ve had problems/illnesses associated with all sorts of pet foods and medications, but when you ask the companies they often have had no reports, or even when you look up FDA reports of illness there is very little reported. Message boards and comment section complaints are not a good way to make sure problems are addressed. Here’s a new effort to encourage reporting of pet food problems: Please read it and share this link widely! http://truthaboutpetfood.com/report-it-please/
Here’s the quick link to the safety reporting portal of the FDA