Local pet food stores busy tending to customers’ concerns regarding safety
DOWNTOWN SM It’s 12:30 p.m. on Monday and though the Centinela Feed & Pet Supplies store has only been open for three and a half hours, six customers have already come entered the Lincoln Boulevard shop armed with a barrage of questions.
The question of the day, and really for the past two weeks, has been whether or not the store’s supply of pet food could kill — or otherwise harm — their beloved Fido or Fluffy.
“In a word, ‘crazy,’” said General Manager Gina Smith about the scene in the store since news broke in mid-March that several dogs and cats had fallen ill and even died from kidney failure after eating contaminated pet food.
At least 16 dogs and cats across the country have died after eating wet pet food produced by Canada-based Menu Foods Inc. Last week, scientists at the Animal Health Diagnostic Center at Cornell University detected aminopterin — a chemical used to poison rats in China and was once prescribed in America for cancer treatment in the late 1940s — in the pet food.
The pet food maker recalled 60 million cans and pouches of dog and cat food on March 17.
Hill’s Pet Nutrition Inc., P&G Pet Care, and Nestle Purina Pet Care company have since recalled several of their products as a precautionary measure.
Dogs and cats affected by the rat poison have all exhibited similar symptoms, including lethargy, irregular urination and water consumption.
Several pet food stores in Santa Monica — even the ones that do not carry the affected labels — have been busy, handling phone calls and visits from pet owners who are concerned that their dog or cat food is contaminated with rat poison.
“Oh my god,” Smith said on Monday. “It’s just been constant.”
Customers have brought in bags of pet food, asking store employees if the brand is on the list of affected pet food. Other pet owners have commented that they don’t want to feed their pets can food anymore, Smith said.
“Kibble is OK,” she tells her customers. “Raw food is totally OK.”
Stores like Centinela Feed & Pet Supplies sell mostly holistic pet food with human grade ingredients — known to be pet friendly — with brands names such as Organix, Wellness, and Natural Balance.
Once pet food companies added the Iams and Nutro pet food brands to the list of affected pet food labels, gotpet-food.com owner Brian Brahms pulled the items from his store’s shelves.
“I didn’t want any concern about possibly selling those out,”the owner of the 14th Street store said.
The store mostly specializes in holistic brands like Natural Balance and Merrick Pet Food.
“We have had a lot of people who come in, including people who have not been in on a regular basis,” Brahms said. “Everyone is running around asking questions and I’m glad I’ve got enough knowledge where I’m able to give answers.”
At Pacific Street Park on Monday afternoon, Erica Callahan brought her faithful companion, 4-month-old Joey, a Spinone Italiano breed, out to the dog park to let her puppy run free. It was her lunch break and Callahan, who lives in Sherman Oaks but works in Santa Monica, wanted to give Joey some time to interact with the other dogs.
A self-proclaimed “dog food snob,” Callahan said she never had any worries that Joey was in danger from the pet food recall because of how careful she is in selecting what her pet eats — only the top quality specialty labels.
“I don’t buy people food that’s mass produced, why would I buy dog food that’s mass produced,” she said.
She suspects that the people who have been most affected by the recalled pet food are the first-time pet owners who might not be aware of their pet’s specific needs and buys the mass produced labels available at the local grocery store. The dog food available at these stores are usually made from byproducts that Callahan wouldn’t want anywhere near her beloved Joey.
But that’s not to say that the dog food fed to Joey is foolproof.
“It doesn’t mean it won’t happen to the food I buy,” Callahan said.
After Callahan and Joey left, Kirsten Moore brought her beloved dog, Darcy, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, out to play with Marcia, a Pomeranian that the Westwood resident pet-sits on a regular basis.
The dogs were running after each other, playfully biting each other’s snouts. It’s a relief for Moore to see Darcy nice and healthy after a scare just a few weeks ago.
She had found out that the brand she was feeding Darcy — Nutro — was recalled.
It was the brand that the breeder had recommended for Moore when she took Darcy home for the first time.
Moore continued to feed Darcy the Nutro brand until she found a better product. But about two weeks ago during a trip to San Francisco, Moore forgot to stock up on Darcy’s pet food. She saw some Nutro lying around the house and packed it for her trip.
Luckily, Darcy never fell ill. Moore tries to stay away from the dog food brand that’s sold in the grocery stores. It’s better to be on the safe side, she said.
“I’d rather be sure I’m feeding him something better,” she said.“Obviously, people think I’m silly to buy expensive dog food.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 27, 2007. Read the original PDF.