North Carolina-based Blue Ridge Beef is recalling thousands of pounds of dog food, citing the presence of Salmonella bacteria.
The recall applies to 5,700 pounds of the company’s “Natural Mix” product for dogs, the company said in a Jan. 31, 2025 announcement after the firm was notified by the FDA that the product tested positive for Salmonella on Jan. 27, 2025.
On Sept. 23, 2024 federal health regulators announced a warning to pet owners after samples of two Answers Pet Food products tested positive for salmonella, a third tested positive for listeria, and a fourth tested positive for both.
On July 19, 2024, a bipartisan group of Senators asked that the CDC to pause or extend the deadline for its new dog importation mandate on the grounds that it is overly broad and unnecessarily restrictive, and it would adversely impact thousands of current dog owners who routinely cross the U.S.-Canadian border.
According to the CDC’s website, there are fewer than 10 human deaths related to rabies in the U.S. each year, and the rabies threat to Americans comes from foxes, skunks, bats, and raccoons, not domesticated animals.
As senators Susan Collins and Andy Klobuchar note in a letter, the CDC’s new mandate unnecessarily focuses restrictions on low-risk areas and could potentially separate healthy dogs and service animals from their owners during routine travel or medical excursions.
In a notice published on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)’s website on Feb. 8, 2023, Nestle’s Purina has recalled select lots of Purina Pro Plan Veterinary Diets EL Elemental (PPVD EL) prescription dry dog food due to potentially elevated levels of vitamin D. The recall was instigated when the company received “two contacts about two separate confirmed cases of a dog exhibiting signs of vitamin D toxicity after consuming the diet, to date.” Both of these dogs recovered after they were taken off the food, it said.
The affected dry dog food was distributed throughout the United States by prescription only through veterinary clinics, Purina Vet Direct, Purina for Professionals, and other select retailers with the ability to validate a prescription. It was packaged in 8-pound and 20-pound bags. Also, in July of 2022, the FDA announced a recall for a range of dog treats might have been contaminated with salmonella bacteria made by Stormberg Foods.
The above are technical terms your typical veterinarian probably doesn’t know. (Dog model: Dusty Bleu)
As of March 2, 2021, at least 1,700 pet deaths (dogs & cats) have been attributed to a popular flea collar under the Seresto brand (developed by Bayer and now sold by Elanco). The variety of collars used for all sizes of dogs and cats works by releasing small amounts of two pesticides (imidacloprid and flumethrinphos) onto the animal for months at a time. The pesticides were developed to kill fleas, ticks and other pests while not harming the cats, dogs and human handlers.
On January 11, 2020 Midwestern Pet Foods announced that it had recalled several brands of dog and cat foods made with corn products that expire on or before July 9, 2022, that were manufactured at their Chickasha, OK facility. The recall was prompted by the report of the appearance of “aflatoxin levels which exceed acceptable limits.” According to the official FDA website: “Pets experiencing aflatoxin poisoning may have symptoms such as sluggishness, loss of appetite, vomiting, jaundice (yellowish tint to the eyes or gums due to liver damage), and/or diarrhea. In severe cases, this toxicity can be fatal. In some cases, pets may suffer liver damage but not show any symptoms.
Of the 24 dog parks and dog-friendly areas in Fairfield County, CT eight of them are dog-friendly areas. This means they are neither fenced-in nor entirely dedicated to dogs. Two of my favorites are dog-friendly beaches… Compo Dog Beach, in
Recently, a Washington, D.C. TV station WJLA partnered with Ellipse Analytics to test several brands of wet dog food for the drug pentobarbital, a common euthanasia drug used to put down pets and zoo animals. Of all the brands tested, the popular brand Gravy Train, repeatedly came back positive for pentobarbital, according to the station. Out of the 15 cans tested, nine tested positive and the FDA currently allows no traces of it in any dog foods or treats. The results of the study have prompted the FDA to announce plans for a full investigation.
Currently Fairfield County, CT has 21 dog parks and dog-friendly areas and 11 of these spots are fenced-in parks. Guess what? They’re all great! They are all cared for lovingly by a combination of local towns or private citizens and I’ve visited every single one and met lovely people and dogs at them all.
Of the 21 dog parks and dog-friendly areas in Fairfield County, CT six of them are dog-friendly areas. This means they are neither fenced-in nor entirely dedicated to dogs.
I don’t usually like to rate dog parks because I really do love them all and I feel like they are all equal. But to paraphrase the book “Animal Farm,” some parks are “more equal than others.” I’ve visited, run, explored, peed-on and inspected each one of these dog parks in Fairfield County, CT, and this was my true, impartial, doggie-reaction to each.
I’ve written about my rating of Top 11 Dog Parks in Fairfield County, my Favorite Dog Friendly Areas, and my Favorite Fenced-in Parks in Fairfield County.
But neither of these blog posts have covered my actual favorite places for me to run my 24-lb. butt off and go crazy sniffing and peeing on as many trees as I can handle at one time. All of them are in Fairfield County, CT and I love all three about the same.
It’s pretty fun to do the fetch game with your dog, and what better thing to throw than a tennis ball, right? Well, just imagine the toxins in a typical tennis ball and it doesn’t take long to speculate on some of the things that can go wrong.
So, my owner wanted me to blog about something that he’s noticed in our travels throughout Fairfield County dog parks… the trend of some humans to nicely pick up after their dog has pooped, but to bag it and leave it on a trail or by a tree for someone else to pick up.
Why would you go to the trouble of bagging the poop with a non-biodegradable bag but then leave it out on the ground where it will not decompose for at least another 50 to 1000 years?! It would actually be better if you let the poop stay out in the open so that it can disintegrate the next time a heavy rains comes.