ohmidog!

Merrick Pet Care, Inc. of Amarillo, Texas is recalling a single lot of its Doggie Wishbone pet treat because they have the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella. 

The lot includes 248 cases and were shipped to ten states. They are marked as follows:  ITEM # 29050, UPC # 2280829050, Lot 11031 Best By 30 Jan 2013.

All outlets that received shipments from the affected lot of Doggie Wishbones — made from the achilles tendon of cattle – have been notified, and have activated their recall procedures, according to a press release.

No illnesses have been reported and there have been no consumer complaints for this product, the company says. 

This issue was identified through routine sampling by the Food and Drug Administration.
 
Symptoms of Salmonella poisoning in humans include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, abdominal cramping and fever. Pets with Salmonella infections may be lethargic and have diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, fever, decreased appetites, fever, abdominal pain and vomiting.

Consumers who have purchased the Doggie Wishbone with the lot code 11031 are urged to return the unused portion to the place of purchase for a full refund. Consumers with questions may contact the company at 1-800-664-7387.

Another book has come out that makes the case for eating our dogs.

On the heels of “Time to Eat the Dog,” by New Zealand professors Brenda and Robert Vale, who admit their title is mostly a shock tactic and who don’t actually propose consuming our pets, comes Jonathan Safran Foer with “Eating Animals,” who says eating our dogs would be no more barbaric than our consumption of pigs, cattle, chickens, etc.

For Foer, interviewed on NPR’s All Things Considered yesterday, the idea of consuming dogs makes even more sense, on some levels, than eating animals raised to be food.

“For the ecologically-minded,” he writes, “it’s time to admit that dog is realistic food for realistic environmentalists.” That last part sounds almost like an advertising slogan, doesn’t it?

Foer’s book was also excerpted in the Wall Street Journal last week, so it’s probably OK if we cut off and chew on a little piece of it here:

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The woman trampled to death by a herd of cows as she walked her dogs in a field in England was a veterinarian on vacation.

Liz Crowsley, 49, may have been trying to protect her two pet dogs, who escaped injury and were found running free near her body, according to an article in the Daily Mail.

Cows are highly protective of their newly-born calves at this time of year and farmers warn walkers they may attack, especially if a dog is in their field, the newspaper said.

Crowsley was walking along a public trail in the countryside of North Yorkshire with her spaniel and collie when she was killed.

She was apparently trapped against a wall and couldn’t escape the stampeding cattle. Crowsley, head vet at the Willows Veterinary Hospital in Hartford, Chesire, had been staying in a holiday cottage in the area.

A dog walker in England died after being trampled by a herd of cattle in a field in North Yorkshire.

North Yorkshire Police said the woman — not yet publicly identified – was walking two dogs on leashes Sunday near the hamlet of Gayle when the cattle apparently panicked and stampeded, according to a Press Association report

“She was surrounded by a herd of cattle and calves, and as a result of dogs being present the cattle reacted in an aggressive manner,” a police official said. Early press reports from England gave no indication of what happened to the dogs, a spaniel and a collie.

Last year, another woman, Sandra Pearce, 45, died in a cattle stampede as she crossed a field in  Suffolk, with her pet dogs.