Salmonella in Pet Food can Sicken Children

There are many opinions about the presence of salmonella in pet foods, but one thing we can all agree on is that, whereas it may or may not sicken our pets, it does sicken humans.  Now researchers from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, along with researchers from several state health departments, have found a link between contaminated pet foods and illness in children.

You can read more about it here .

Banfield Under Fire

From VIN News comes this underreported story about legal actions taken by veterinarians working at a Banfield pet hospital in Oregon:

"A lawsuit by an ex-Banfield veterinarian in Oregon alleging unethical medical and business practices by the corporation has been dismissed, but a second veterinarian who once worked at the same clinic has a similar complaint pending before the state Bureau of Labor and Industries....

Like Nix, Esquivel alleges that veterinarians and staff at Nyberg Woods were pressed by their superiors to maximize the clinic’s profits at the expense of patient care and welfare, such as by ordering frequent costly ultrasound images and by presenting the clinic as a night-time emergency-care center when it was not properly staffed and equipped to provide true emergency service. 

Esquivel also alleges that she was under pressure to generate a specific amount of revenue for the clinic — $2,200 a day — but was assigned to handle a large share of free wellness exams for which clients were billed “only for vaccines and other small procedures,” and therefore was unable to meet her quota, according to the complaint.

The complaint states that Nyberg Woods struggled to retain clients and that Esquivel had to skip meal and rest breaks to cover the workload. This paradoxical situation arose because management scheduled fewer people per shift to save money, Shahri said in an interview.

By the end of 2008, according to the complaint, Esquivel had become ill from the working conditions and chronic stress. Following 60 days of medical leave, she gave Banfield notice that she would quit “unless she could be assured that their practices would change,” the complaint states. She did not receive a response, but a termination notice was placed in her employee file, according to the complaint."

Companion Animal Protection Legislation

This July, the state of Delaware passed comprehensive legislation which mandates that animal shelters must work with rescue groups who wish to help them find homes for shelter animals.

According to the No Kill Advocacy Center:

This law:

• mandates the programs and services which have proven so successful at lifesaving in shelters which have implemented them;
• follows the only model that has actually created a No Kill community; and,
• focuses its effort on the very shelters that are doing the killing.

What do you think?  Could a law like this work in a cash-strapped state like California?  

Welcome to PHAN

This is a page exclusively devoted to issues which affect the health of our pets.  I hope to bring together here all who are concerned about problems with pet foods, pet vaccination, or similar conditions.

The back story for us is fairly simple; our dog, Louie, has been critically ill from a reaction to his rabies vaccine.  Since then, we have been working hard to advocate for laws in California that are favorable to sick dogs, like Louie.  It's been interesting so far, but we need a stronger network of people who are willing to raise their voices and pick up their phones when powerful legislators or corporations made bad decisions that endanger our pets, and not just in California, but everywhere.

For this reason I am creating the Pet Health Action Network.  Let this be the one place that you can visit for news that affects your pet's health, and network with other concerned pet lovers.