Adrienne Sanders, of Lawrence, wasn't worried about her cats falling victim to the tainted pet food Menu Foods recalled in mid-March. Sanders had switched from food sold in grocery stores years ago when she found out one of her cats was diabetic and one of the main ingredients in the food she was feeding him was corn.
"Cats don't go out in a corn field and eat an ear of corn," Sanders said. "They are naturally on the Atkins diet."
The Menu Foods recall has prompted Lawrence pet owners to find healthier food choices for their critters. Erin Runnels, manager at Natural Pet Food & Supply, 3025 W. Sixth St., has helped around five new customers a day find alternative foods for their pets since the recall made headlines.
"It's making people look at the label," Runnels said.
In addition to new customers, she's received phone calls from customers asking whether the store carries any of the foods on the recall list - it doesn't.
In early March, Menu Foods recalled 60 million containers of its "cuts and gravy" style wet pet foods, which were sold under the names of 100 store labels and major brands across North America, according to the Associated Press. In early April, it added a line of dog biscuits made by an Alabama company and sold by Wal-Mart under the Ol'Roy brand.
It is not clear how many pets may have been poisoned by contaminated food, although anecdotal reports suggest hundreds, if not thousands, have died. The FDA has received more than 8,000 complaints, while the company has fielded 300,000 calls from consumers.
At the Pawsh Wash, 1520 Wakarusa Drive, Amber Nickel, co-owner, has also helped a handful of new customers decide on natural foods.
"There's nothing in here that we don't confidently feed our own pets. My dogs have been on pretty much every food in here at some point," Nickel said.
Nickel has devoted her profession to helping pet owners keep their animals happy and healthy. "Using a specialty store, you've got somebody that you can ask questions directly to with a better knowledge of products," she said.
Besides what happened at Menu Foods, some mass-produced pet foods are made of leftovers from processing other foods and only parts of vegetables and byproducts are turned into pet food.
"Sometimes you don't even know what animal they came from," Runnels said.
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