I would guess that Petsmart probably lost a lot of business on some products, but gained on others.  They carry such a wide variety of products.  That can give them some "cushion" when there are problems with some products.

I know that I very seldom bought my pet food at Petsmart, but now that I have switched to a brand that seems to be untouched by the recalls, Petsmart is the only place near me that I can get it.  So, they are getting business from me that they never got before.

Do you know where information on such assistance can be found?  How to apply?  Thanks.

Itchmo didn't say we couldn't post, only that we should either qualify our statements as being our own opinion ("I believe...") or back it up with hard evidence.  I think that is only reasonable.

http://itchmoforums.com/index.php?topic=454.0

Sad to report that I have received no replies to the emails I sent out to bee-keeping organizations.  I will keep trying to find something out on this subject, though.  Please feel free to post anything you may know or discover.  Thanks!

Good idea, straybaby.

I have had good experiences with Bil-Jac.  I've talked to them several times and so has a friend of mine who was also researching them.  Between the two of us we took up quite a bit of their time.  They acted like they had nothing better to do than to stay on the phone with me until I got all of my questions answered.  When she couldn't answer one of my questions, she said she'd have their vet call me back the next day, and he did call me quite early in the day.

When they couldn't immediately locate a distributor in my area for cat food, they sent me a large box of food free to tide me over, and included the information that they had arranged for a local pet food outlet to stock the cat food.

Yeah, it probably is the litigation.  No one can risk being sued by all the mega-corporations at once.

It's up to us, the little people, to use our voices and to put our purchasing power where it counts.

Hey MD, got another one for 'ya.  This is the World Small Animal Veterinary Association.  It's members are other veterinary associations.  It's mission statement is...

"The Association's primary purpose is to advance the quality and availability of veterinary medicine and surgery relating to small animals.

This broad aim is achieved in a number of different ways.

WSAVA fosters the exchange of scientific information,both between individual veterinarians and between their veterinary orginisations. "

They have a number of committees that work various issues.  I did not see any that dealt with pet food safety, but, hey, why not ask them to form one???

Guess where their president is from?  Yes, the country we wish we could be like...South Africa.

PRESIDENT
Dr. B. Romberg
P.O. Box 46 149
Orange Grove
2119 Johannesburg
South Africa
Tel: +27 11 728 1371
Fax: +27 11 483 2549

E-mail: brianrom@iafrica.com

The Canadian Veterinary Medical Association is their equivalent of our AVMA.  Their contact info is:

Canadian Veterinary Medical Association
339 Booth Street
Ottawa, ON
K1R 7K1
Tel: (613) 236-1162
Fax: (613) 236-9681
Email: admin@cvma-acmv.org
 
AM RHYN, Mr. Jost
Executive Director
114
jamrhyn@cvma-acmv.org
 

Thanks, MD.  I think the Feline Association might be useful.  Their mission statement is...

The American Association of Feline Practitioners supports professional growth and fellowship by providing outstanding continuing education, research and outreach programs intended to improve the health and well-being of cats

Objectives

To endeavor to do all things necessary to promote the interests, to improve the public stature and increase the knowledge of veterinarians in the field of feline medicine and surgery.
To evaluate the standards of feline medicine and surgery.
To encourage and promote feline research.
To promote understanding and good will among its members.
To cooperate with veterinary and cat organizations.

Their president is...
Dr. Margie Scherk
Cats Only Veterinary Clinic
2578 Burrard Street
Vancouver, B.C. Canada V6J 3J7
Phone: (604) 734-2287
Fax: (604) 734-8011
hypurr@aol.com

I'll look at a couple of the other ones on that list too.

OK.  Here's another organization we can contact.  The World Veterinary Association.  I'm excited about this one.  Let's keep pounding on our own government and national organizations, but why stop there?  Our problems are global, so let's go global!  I just subscribed to their newsletters.

The World Veterinary Association's website is www.worldvet.org

Their mission statement:

"The WVA serves the Veterinary Profession, Veterinary Medicine and Science and promotes its rights, standards and competence.

It serves the societies at global international level.  It promotes animal health and well-being and human health through sustainable and humane use and management of animals.  It contributes to the protection and sustainability of the environment."

And their current president is right here in the states...

President
Prof Leon Russell
33 Linda Lane
College Station, TX  77845, USA
Tel (work) 979-845-3517
Fax (work) 979-847-8981
Email: lrdvm@tca.net or lrussell@cvm.tamu.edu

One of the other veterinary organizations to write to is the American Animal Hospital Association.  They inspect and give accreditation to clinics and hospitals that pass the criterion.  Their accreditation is highly prized by clinics and also by pet parents who know about them.

This would be a good organization to contact if you would like to see them help their member clinics and hospitals be better prepared for a crisis like this.  I think they would welcome suggestions.  And as Spocko suggested in a previous post, it would be good to ask them what they may already be working on and how you can help.  I'd be surprised if this weren't a big topic for internal discussion.  They are also all about education and ethics, so those are areas that could be addressed also.

These would be good people to tell that you should not need to brief your vet.

They did send us a letter on March 19 about the first recall with a protocol for treatment, but it was very sketchy and that is all they have sent us since.  They do have some information for the general public on their home page, but it is very general.  So I definitely think they could be a lot more proactive if something like this ever hits us again.

After scouring their website directories, I could not find any one person that would be the best target for communications.  So, I think it would be best to send letters to the Board of Directors.  Some of them have backgrounds in animal welfare, ethics, etc.  One of them graduated from the University of Guelph where so much of the news about melamine/cyanuric acid has been coming from, another one graduated from Cornell which has also been working on this, and so on.  You can access their bios at http://tinyurl.com/3chlkj  I would send letters to the   President at
   Dr Thomas A Carpenter
   American Animal Hospital Association
   Board of Directors
   P.O. Box 150899
   Denver, Colorado, USA 80215-0899
   Phone: 303/986-2800
   Toll Free: 800/252-2242
   FAX: 303/986-1700
   Email: info@aahanet.org

Concerning the AVMA councils:  They only meet twice a year and there was nothing on the website to indicate when that might be.  Of course, they may be in touch with each other and be working their issues throughout the year.

While rifling through various AVMA documents I found this...

"The University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine has formed The Center for Agriculture and Food Security and Preparedness (CAFSP). This new Center is led by Dr. Sharon Thompson, Director of Partnership Programs at the UTCVM. Dr. Thompson is also the project director for the DHS training grant and other homeland security related grants and contracts. Other UTCVM faculty and other partnering institutions will be involved in the Center activities. CAFSP will provide a readily accessible web portal to facilitate registration for the DHS training program as well as showcase other College homeland security related activities. The College is committed to assisting the nation to protect its critical infrastructure, including agriculture and the food supply."

http://tinyurl.com/2euu2e

I just sent an email to Dr. Thompson to ask for her comments and insights. I'll let you know if I get anything back.

The url for the pictures of the crystals is http://www.labservices.uoguelph.ca/urgent.cfm#crystals
and it is on the AVMA site now.

Within AVMA I found some possibilities.
   1.  They have some permanent councils set up for different purposes.  I did not find any names there.  Since I'm not a vet I can't get to the directories.  But a couple of the councils might be appropriate to send letters to.
        -  "The AVMA Constitution and Bylaws call for 7 standing councils. The councils serve as advisory bodies to the Executive Board. The councils anticipate the needs of the profession, address issues in their assigned areas, and recommend appropriate actions to the Executive Board. Council members are elected to 6-year terms by the House of Delegates at an annual session to represent specific areas of the profession. The Councils meet twice a year. 
                  Judicial                               Education
                  Research                            Biologic and Therapeutic Agents
                  Public Health and Regulatory  Veterinary Service
                     Veterinary Medicine           Communications
                 
   2.  AVMA is active in Washington, DC on many issues.  There is a Dr. Doug Meckes that is the contact for food safety issues that might be related to our issues.
        - Contact: Dr. Doug Meckes, 800-321-1473 ext. 3210

I think I'd start with Dr. Meckes.
       

OK, MD...  

Are you trying to construct a general letter that will be sent on everyone's behalf?  Or, a suggested letter that people can adapt and send out themselves?

If it is the latter, I would suggest that it start with one paragraph telling that person's story ... their experience and what the outcome was.

Then list the problems with the system:
    1.  Various associations slow to respond.  Veterinarians and staff had to do their own digging for information and often found it faster than the organizations did.
    2.  No central organization to get information from or to report to (no CDC for pets).
    3.  Most state organizations more focused on large animal issues, did not step up to help with small animal issues in this crisis.

There's more along those lines... but that's all I can think of now.  Will post again when it comes to me.

Moving on to what can be done...
    1.  Again.  We need a CDC for pets (small animals).
    2.  Organizations need to be more proactive.  Need to be on the look-out for problems with small animals (like they are for avian flu, for example), not wait until something like this happens again.
    3.  When something does happen they need to respond faster to vets and the general public with projections of numbers that could be involved, with information, with advice for treatment protocols,  labs ready to do testing, etc.
     ---- good point to be made here:  Clients should not have to brief their vet!
    3.  Utilize the internet.  This crisis has shown the power of the net to inform and effect change.  If individual bloggers can dig out the information on their own, there is no reason why the organizations should be lagging 24-48 hours (or even more) behind.

That's all I can think of now.  It's getting late and my eyelids are drooping, and my fingers are stuttering...  I'll check back tomorrow.