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| Me, at an Italian winery between Christmas and New Year's, 2016 |
I had stocked up on dog and cat food before I left, so that my pet sitter would have enough, and I'd have enough for my return, to avoid having to go the store as soon as I got back.
Yesterday, I opened a new bag of dog food, and when I tore off the strip at the top of the re-closable bag, I noticed something was stuck to it, and it looked like a dead bug. When I tore open the rest of the top of the bag, inside were hundreds of bugs crawling around! Gross! I whipped open the back door and threw the bag outside. Charlie went after it, and I had to grab him and drag him back inside. I do not know what kind of insects they were, but it was disgusting. This was a small "extra" bag of food I had grabbed at the grocery store -- the same brand I have been feeding them (FreshPet Dry Grain-Free). I also had a large, un-opened bag left over as well. When I looked at the dates on the bags, they were a year old. I do not know why I didn't notice that before. It said "Freshly packed on 1/26/2016" !!!
Not thinking, I threw everything in the trash, and of course my maintenance guy picked up my trash yesterday, so I have no lot numbers or bar codes or anything like that. I also threw out the receipts when I made the purchase. I never keep those kind of receipts. It will be difficult to report the problem to the store, or FreshPet, but I will think of a way to inform them of the problem.
So, there I was, with no dog food!
I checked all the bags of cat food, and they seem fine. The insects did not get inside of anything else, thank goodness.
I do not think it was FreshPet's fault.... I think it was the fault of my local store for not clearing or rotating its shelves and stock. I will probably report this incident to them, but the problem is, I don't remember WHICH store I went to. There are two grocery stores near me, both carry the brand, and I did visit both of them before my trip. So, I have a pretty good idea which store it was, but I can't be 100% certain. Since they are both the same franchise, I will probably speak to the managers at both locations. One thing is for sure, I will not be shopping at either one of those stores until further notice!
I went to my local pet food store -- a family-owned business -- and bought dog food yesterday afternoon. This store doesn't sell FreshPet, which is fine with me because I am a little turned off by them at the moment! So, I had to switch my dogs' food, something that should always be done with care and caution. I decided to switch back to "Taste of the Wild", a product I had once fed to my dogs for quite a few years, based on the recommendation of my former veterinarian. I stopped feeding TOTW because of a recall a few years ago. Honestly, you can't win with manufactured dog food! If I had more time in life, I probably would feed raw. Maybe. I don't know. Maybe not. I'm lazy. I'll probably keep going to PetSmart or one of the other pet stores.
New! Pendleton Dog Coats Available at PetSmart.com!
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Switching your dog's food is easy, but you have to be careful. Normally, I mix together some of the old food with the new, for three or four days. Up to a week, if possible. But this time, I had to toss the old food. I was not taking any chances with bugs! So, I took chances with the new food, Taste of the Wild. It seemed the dogs really liked it, and they did not get "gassy" or anything like that. But I noticed Charlie burped a few times last night!
I will go outside and inspect their poop (yes, we dog people do that!) and see if there are any problems from that end!
Until next time.... thanks for reading! If you haven't joined my email list, what're you waiting for? Do it now! Newsletters and special things are coming soon!
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