Bark Blog

Feds Seize Food From PETCO Warehouse

Will the pet food industry ever get its act together? Yesterday, federal marshals seized allegedly contaminated pet food from a PETCO distribution center in suburban Chicago. The Food and Drug Administration inspected the warehouse in April and May and at both visits, found "live and dead rodents and birds on or around the pet food containers."

You'd think the third time would be the charm, but the food was again found to be stored in supposedly unsanitary conditions. PETCO vice president of corporate communications Kevin Whalen told the Associated Press the company has "acted aggressively to address each and every concern that was raised" at the government's last visit. Apparently, they need to do more.

This warehouse distributes food to Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin. No one has reported any adverse effects in their pets after eating food from PETCO. However, if you live in one of these states, the FDA recommends you take precautions when handling the food. If your pet becomes ill, contact your vet immediately and alert an FDA Consumer Complaint Coordinator.

Julia Kamysz Lane

Dog Power!

Bored with the same old walks? Then you and your pup might like to try the Dog Powered Scooter and the Dog Powered Trike. They're similar to mushing, except the dogs are harnessed from behind the human driver so he can steer without worry. Architect Mark Schuette of Bend, Oregon, invented the dog scooter and trike as a way to spend more time with his dog and give him enough exercise. For a cool video demo with a Husky and a Rottie, click here.

Julia Kamysz Lane

Littlest Pet Shop Glosses Over Harsh Reality

My three-year-old niece is enamored with the Littlest Pet Shop line of toys. As I struggled to open her latest collection of admittedly adorable creatures, it was all I could do not to throw them in the trash and lecture on the horrors of puppy mills and corporate greed. On its Web site, toy maker Hasbro infers that the Littlest Pet Shop promotes responsibility by allowing children to collect a variety of animals without the um ... responsibility of caring for live pets. Nice marketing spin but I'm literally not buying it. And it pains me to see kids play with a product that only shows one side of the commercial pet industry.

Perhaps Hasbro could add some new locales to its collection for a more well-rounded perspective. How about the Littlest Pet Shelter, where many pet shop puppies eventually end up due to the health and behavior problems that result from poor breeding, malnutrition and lack of socialization? Or the Littlest Commercial Breeder, where purebred dogs are kept in cages and forced to reproduce as often and as long as they are able. Once the breeding pairs no longer prove useful, they can go to the Littlest Pet Auction, available to the highest bidder.

It's possible to teach children how to take proper care of animals without promoting or glorifying pet shops. Many therapy dog groups, such as Therapy Dogs International (of which I'm a member) and Delta Society offer children an opportunity to interact with a healthy, friendly dog and learn about his needs. Some libraries and schools smartly encourage kids to read aloud to therapy dogs, as a way to improve their reading skills without fear of judgment. Or you could always give them an old-fashioned stuffed animal to hug, pet and feed.

Julia Kamysz Lane

Most gag-inducing toy of the year

Recently, I was hitting a few of the post-Christmas sales when I discovered a certifiably gross squeaky toy, Mr. Poops (see my iPhone picture), probably the most disgusting dog toy I'll see all year. Although the toy’s “story” is that Mr. Poops was left on a lawn and washed into a drain, the 10-inch poop critter with eyes and a frown peers out from packaging—here’s the kicker—illustrated to look like a toilet seat. No, Mr. Poops and the five-inch Mini Poo aren’t just unclaimed land mines; these squeakers conjure floaters of human origin that your dog is supposed to chomp, chew, lick, and retrieve. Ugh.

Lisa Wogan

Auto Wash Is All Wet

Have you read about these automated dog washers? Like something out of the brain of Dr. Seuss de Sade, they are essentially side-loading washing machines for dogs and cats (yeah, like a cat’s going to tolerate this). Insert your pet into a glass cabin for a five-minute wash, 30-second rinse and a 20-minute blow dry. According to the recent story in The Vancouver Sun, an owner of a public dog wash sees it as a way to reduce the stress of keeping a reluctant groomee in a tub. Whose stress? Certainly not the dog’s! The Sun followed up its own report with a guest editorial decrying the invention, which got me wondering: Do we have these in the states? Wired wrote about the Spanish-designed Lavakan machines back in 2001 (Pet Wash: A Sadistic Sudser?), and reported that 90 machines had sold in the U.S. and that plans were underway to launch a chain of pet stores using them. They haven’t come to my neighborhood, but I wash my dog at home. I’m hoping these aren’t catching on, but I may just be in my own bubble.

Lisa Wogan

Get the Lead Out

I’m having a case of déjà vu. Months after Iams, Eukanuba, Ol’ Roy, and dozens of dog and cat food products were swept off shelves due to melamine poisoning, and after Thomas the Tank, Barbie, Polly Pocket and other China-produced toys were recalled due to the dangers of high-energy magnets and lead in toys, members of our families are once again chomping on products that could endanger their health.

Thanks to some enterprising reporters and consumer advocates toxic metals have been detected in pet toys, food bowls and other items produced overseas. The amounts exceed the safety standard set for children by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). Of course, CPSC has no safety standards for pets.

While the veterinarians consulted by ConsumerAffairs.com (which found lead and chromium in dog and cat toys) downplayed the dangers, others aren’t so sure. Haven’t we learned anything from the pet food recall?

Consumers need to be smart, and take matters into their own hands. Some experts say tracking down American-made products is a good start (though not foolproof). Others suggest, avoiding latex toys, which are not only frequently implicated in lead testing but also tend to shred. The most important thing will be gathering and sharing the latest information.

Lisa Wogan

The Canine Lifestyle

I just returned from spending a few days at a convention called "SuperZoo", purportedly the world's largest tradeshow for pet retailers. Over one-thousand vendors were on hand to display products for a variety of companion animals, but the most-popular pet, by far, was the dog. While snake enthusiasts may have had one or two booths of related products to visit, dog aficionados had to rush to hit the hundreds and hundreds of displays solely devoted to canine happiness. Despite the crowds and the noise, one statement from the pet industry came through clearly: Your dog needs clothes, jewelry, and enough furniture to fill a studio apartment.

This was the third year in a row that I've attended SuperZoo, and this was the first year that a large section of the floor was set aside just for canine fashion. A sign hanging above the area read, "Rodeo Drive". All the vendors here were selling clothing for dogs, shoes for dogs, and jewelry. Not just fancy collars adorned with rhinestones, either; retailers feel your dog would look good in a gemstone tiara and sterling silver hairclip. Some of the clothing was just the usual "cute t-shirt with funny saying", but you could also find leather jackets, tulle skirts, and just about every other frou-frou accoutrement the brain could imagine. Matching outfits were common, so you and your dog can wear the same shirt and look just like parent and furry child. Not surprisingly, the clothing and jewelry retailers feel small dogs are their market, so if your dog weighs more than fifteen pounds, it may have to go naked.

The other newly-emerging trend in dog products is furniture. Gone are the days of the plywood doghouse or the old pillow as a dog bed. I saw displays of dog beds built into nightstands, dog beds styled like the cylindrical cone chair from the 1960s, and beds which heat up and give your pet a vibrating treatment of "magic fingers" (no quarter needed). Some dog beds had been designed by chiropractors to ensure support for older dogs or dogs with back problems. The styles and colors seem practically endless, and the prices of some beds approach the price of a cheap used car. Keeping your dog in “the lifestyle” is going to set you back thousands of dollars.

Sociologists have been quoted as saying that dogs have become pseudo-children for many families, and it's hard to deny that when you see a large floor display with two dozen strollers and half a dozen dog "playpens". These sorts of products didn't exist even a year ago, yet now you can not only buy a playpen for your puppy, you have choices about which one to purchase.  A person walking into SuperZoo could have been easily convinced that they'd stumbled across a baby retailers' convention and not a display of pet products.

While I found the jewelry and dog clothing a bit disconcerting, I was happy to see signs of other, very positive trends.  There were more and more vendors of raw food, and more and more treats made from a single ingredient, like salmon or beef.  Wheat and flour had left the building.  Signs of high-quality were everywhere, not just in the strollers and playpens.  There's also increased attention being paid to dog healthcare and safety, with a number of products available to help your elderly or disabled pet remain comfortable.  Maybe the pet industry as a whole had a bit of a fright earlier this year with the pet food recall, and decided to start taking pet care more seriously.  They certainly seem willing to treat dogs like little people, and it will be interesting to see if this trend continues twelve months from now.

Leigh-Ann Gerow

Trash = Toys?

If you obsess over the environment as much as your pup obsesses over balls, combine both of your passions with the Orbee-Tuff RecycleBALL from Planet Dog. The toy company uses leftover quality materials to create this non-toxic, 100% recycled ball. It's durable enough to outlast tough or persistent chewers. And you can bet it'll be an excellent conversation starter at the dog park!    - Julia Kamysz Lane

Am I Nuts?

How did I miss this May 8 story about testicular implants for dogs? Well, better late than never. I first bumped into Neuticles, if you'll excuse the visual, last March--though they've been around for more than a decade--and I've been racking (no pun intended) my brain for an excuse to write about them in the blog. Thank you, Robert Dominguez at the New York Daily News for providing the opportunity to ask: Are you kidding me? I suppose if the "Neuticles option" convinces otherwise-unwilling guardians to go ahead and neuter their dogs, they can't be all bad. But still. It does boggle the brain.

Lisa Wogan

Sweet Digs?

It’s hard to know what to think about the elaborate dog crate system recently launched by SuiteDigs founder Thom Jackson. With a red-and-black, groovy-’70s look, these stackable modules allow people to create “rooms”—connected by stairs—where their dog can eat, sleep, and even take a bathroom break. But that’s not all. SuiteDigs can be rigged with an Internet-controlled video camera and treat dispenser. This way, not only can you check in on your dog online, you can surprise her with a toy or a treat. Jackson says he’s planning to add two-way voice and video down the line. These bennies may add a bright spot to a canine’s otherwise lonely day, but you have to hope they don’t become an excuse for leaving dogs alone longer than absolutely necessary.

Lisa Wogan

Pee wars

Living with a leaky dog, whether geriatric or ill, takes some creative planning. The marketplace doesn’t disappoint.

Absorbable “pee pads” are often necessary. There’s a choice of resusable or disposable. Pooch Pads are reusable and washable fabric.

Pooch Pads are treated with an antimicrobial agent that is supposed to provide odor control throughout 300 washings. The pads absorb up to four times their weight in liquid. The vinyl backing prevents the urine from leaking through. Pooch Pads are just terrific!

Many companies offer a disposable pad: use it once, throw it away. Typically these are scented to attract the dog with a chemical “pee here” sign. These can be placed on newspaper, a tarp, or a frame you can buy to hold pads so that it doesn’t slip while in use (or get chewed up or dragged around; dogs are quite creative in their play). The Simple Solutions Jump Start pads have self stick tape on the bottom so that they adhere to the floor, both before and after the dog has used the pads. These perform as advertised. Arm & Hammer’s Home Alone Pads do not have an adhesive strip, but work just as well as the Simple Solutions Jump Start.

There are pros and cons to everything under the sun. The reusable pads are less expensive in the long run and better for the environment, but still require daily washing. The trick here to keep energy usage down is to hand wash the pads, and then spin them dry in the washer. Then the pad can be line-dried. As they are designed to be absorbent, if they’re just hung out to dry after hand washing they aren’t necessarily dry by bedtime. The disposable ones are best for travel and interim use, such as after surgery, or for those who are not in a position to do daily laundry.

Simple Solutions also offers an Oxy Solution Pet Laundry Additive that works effectively to reduce the nastiest of urine and fecal odors combined while not harming colors. For laundry loads that aren’t all that bad, Arm & Hammer’s Super Wash Soda works well to neutralize odors in laundry (as does plain baking soda, but the Super Wash Soda can be used on tougher jobs) and is inexpensive.

Both Nature’s Miracle and Odormute are good for eliminating pet odors, both as a spray on and in the laundry. Tide has now come out with an effective odor eliminator for laundry in the new Tide with Febreze. Tide has wisely been supplying samples to some vet clinics, advertising the product with the tag line “Cherish your pets, not their odors.” -- Phyllis DeGioia, editor, VeterinaryPartner.com