Amen, 3Cat, Amen.

I haven't looked at the florida lawsuit for misleading consumers lately as far as how it is or is not progressing. 

     I didn't mean to imply that there were only 250 pets who died.  I know that there were thousands and many more sickened.  It just seemed that the article was saying that this lawsuit settlement was for a particular group of 250 plaintiffs.  Perhaps I misunderstood.  I believe that there are other lawsuits pending as well?

You are right, Don. When I think of my three, because all of them are just too hard to contemplate,
my heart just breaks again, as it has largely for the last year and five months, looking at this. None
of the mainstream media even mentions the joke is "testing" for one year; it's not even reported at
Consumer Affairs. How many of us are going to die from the adulterated crap that's in the cans,
bags, and pouches in the grocery stores? Sorry, just really low.

Offly---I talked to Cathy MacIvor months ago (after my apap positive test) and at that time she said no new clients were being accepted but that if class action was approved, all affected would be included---punitive class---(you know more than me about the legal groups)....if anything has changed---please pass it on!

As far as the "testing for a year"---
This is a band aid over a post surgical wound in my eyes.  I am not as concerned about melamine and CA showing up again as what other NPN will show up.the ones off the radar now....such a reactive response---proactive responses are what we need...I still can not believe the terms of this settlement.  It is another slap on the face for those pet owners that had pets die before March 16 as so many had no idea was what happening so fast to their pets...many vets did not do the testing that seems to be required to show renal failure....

I was one of those gullible pet owners who truly believed that this was isolated cases in the US and it happened to include my cats....because of my poor choice in what I fed them..I knew once I got in touch with them they would want my food or even testing on the cats to help figure this poison out!  .my husband and family and friends said that the company didn't care about me or Smudge or Jessica...but I said they did---they said so---now I laugh at myself for being such a fool.  I had not had "contact" with big business prior to this---only health insurances and that is a whole different forum discussion---How could a company that caters to pets and their owners not care I thought???  Well, now I know...and I will never forget. I will never forget the pets who I have met and read about since joining "forces" here at Itchmo, at Pet Connection and the other pet blogs.  Reading story after story of the heartbreak of seeing their beloved pets die "at their hand" simply by feeding them....How many of us forced this poison to our recuperating pets???  There are too many wrongs done by the PFI recently and in the past---we must move forward with the attitude that the future has to be different. This journey toward change is going to be a long ride but somehow someway I have to believe that we did not lose our beloved furkids in vain.....that because of them---our future furkids will have a better chance of a safe and healthy life. 

We can not let this sad settlement news weaken our fight....I know I will never get the vision of Jess and Smudge struggling to stand out of my head---whether it is one penny or 3 thousand dollars---the memory and pain is there for good---this settlement just adds more pain to the memory---it reinforces that my husband, family and friends were right.

So well said, Don, Offly, Carol, everyone.  It is truly horrifying that profit has come to mean more than respect for living creatures.  The amount is a pittance, which will in no way serve as any kind of deterrent to prevent the same thing from happening again.

It makes me feel ill.

Carol, you are so right, and this is also my biggest concern.  As much as I hate to admit it, my company does a lot of business with Chinese factories.  Not in the food or pet food industry, but in manufacturing.  Some of these business partners have been doing business with my company for a long time.  THEY TRY TO CHEAT US IN EVERY SINGLE WAY THEY CAN.  We cannot trust anything they do and we require a "prototype" be built for inspection before the full production run begins.  Even after that, they still try to cheat us by substituting materials, glue, ink, you name it.  When we catch them and complain, they laugh about being caught again!  How do I know that?  They ALL have Americans or Brits working as factory representatives, so it's not a matter of "miscommunication" or not understanding our spec's. 

Quality control means nothing in China.  Honesty amongst trading partners does not exist.  Any US company doing business with China KNOWS DAMN WELL this is happening.

Don, well said, thank you.  You are absolutely right, it was about justice. 

3cat good advice that more should follow as to not buying commercial pet food and home cook if at all possible. Since the settlement is the first one among the others still pending hope the others find the justice they will deserve from their suits.