VIN page was updated yesterday to include the Natural Balance products. I
also noticed some preliminary survey results from their members. I don't
know when these were put up as I haven't been to this page in a while:

http://www.vin.com/Promo/MenuRecall.htm

Q: Are there any survey results available?
A: The tabulation of data below is preliminary and very limited. We will
update this section as we continue to analyze the incoming data.

Approximately 50% (~850) of respondents stated they have seen at least 1
case of suspected toxicity.
Of these, approximately 95% (~800) are from the US, and 5% (~50) are from
Canada
Geographic distribution is not apparent. Heavily populated states are more
commonly represented (e.g. California, New York, Washington, Ohio, Florida
etc)
Approximately twice as many cats (~1100) appear affected as dogs (~600).

Remember, the numbers represent the responses of survey participants, and
represent reports by participating colleagues, we can only guess at how this
extrapolates to the total numbers affected. In addition, these are reports
of what colleagues believe to be related cases. This is the best we can do
at the moment, and likely ever, as we will never get full reporting and it
will never be possible to be 100% certain that specific cases were truly
related to the affected foods.

...........I almost hesitate to mention this other bit I found on this page:

Q: Are rumors of other products being affected true?
A: Three additional "products" are currently being discussed on the message
boards - Purina Pet Foods, Heartgard Chewables™ and Pill Pockets™.

...........I don't know why they're discussing them or where the "rumors"
came from and VIN isn't accessible to me. I did notice someone on the
PetCnx site mention Pill Pockets. And I sure didn't know Heartgard Chewable
had wheat gluten. There's a paragraph after the above one, mentioning
company responses.

........I guess the message should still be avoid wheat gluten. As VIN
clearly states:

AVOID FEEDING
- Foods containing wheat gluten, especially if the company does not
guaranteed that they have investigated the source of their gluten and found
no relationship to the implicated gluten source. Some might consider this
recommendation "alarmist" but until we know more, it is difficult to avoid
the conclusion that "wheat gluten" containing products represent a potential
risk.

........alarmist huh - wonder if that would be the response of the Veterinary
News Network?

Speaking of which, I rechecked the Michigan Veterinary Med Assn page to see
if they'd updated their numbers. http://www.michvma.org/index.cfm?id=278
They do have a doc file you can look at for their survey and there's some
really young cats in there.

......Oh and there's an internal Food Recall UpdatedTalking Points document
(dated Mar 28) from VNN way down on the above page, in which they say many
times chronic renal failure can be reversed. What? You vets got any
comments on that? Anyway, worth a read for the *flavor* and for the many
times the word *assume* was used.

buglady
take out the dog before replying