Sisters Pet Pics’ Blog

Chloe & Dreamer The Greyhounds (Click to enlarge)

When we bought tainted pet food, and subsequently found that some distributors and manufacturers attempted to hide or suppress all the details until many pets were lost, we were livid.  When it became obvious that this wasn’t going away they paid…and are still paying.  You can read the fight Menu Foods is putting up now at ITCHMO.

The Associated Press reports “Four of the six joint supplements for animals tested by ConsumerLab.com lacked the amounts of glucosamine or chondroitin promised on their labels or had other flaws, such as lead. Wider testing by a trade group of 87 brands found that one-quarter fell short.”  What?!  They go on to say, they will not release the names of the companies or the supplements.

This is abominable.  Some of us have dealt with one of the symptoms of age in our companions, arthritis.  Other than involving veterinarian medicine, and the pharmaceutical industry for pain, supplements are all we can do to help our pets slow or stop bone degeneration.  Was this front page newsworthy?  How about any page?  I could’t find much out about it after reading it on Unleashed, a blog published by the Baltimore Sun, and written by Jill Rosen.  Read the article in its entirety to get righteously angry:  Arthritis supplements short change pets, test finds.

The fact that these companies have lied about ingredients in their supplements is bad enough, but why are Consumer Lab and the “trade group” allowed to suppress this information?  Now I know that a supplement I’m dispensing to our dogs could contain lead, and not contain all the glucosamine that it says it has…but Consumer Lab doesn’t want to interfere with the manufacturers ability to sell this product, so we don’t want to tell you what four products are deficient.  Huh?!  What about the 22 other brands that “fell short”?  We can’t know those either?

If anyone has ideas about how we can better protect our scaly, feathered and furry companions, please let us know.  Until then, how the heck can we see the full report?

While we’re doing this, Chole and Dreamer will put their heads together and serve as their own supplements.