I’m not saying anyone here is assuming guilt, just speaking from experience that some will tout the existence of an investigation as proof that they were right, so we’ll need to take any rumours that may now circulate with a grain of salt.
Well now, I learned 2 new things:
1 - CFIA responds very quickly.
2 - Pet food/supplements are not a regulated commodity in Canada so the CFIA does not conduct recalls
That was a dead end
I think we should always pay attention when the horse does, or stops doing, something he’s never/always done before
But they aren’t machines, they have tastes that change, they can change behavior for no reason of any concern. You do have to look at the details. Paying attention is always a good idea, it just doesn’t always mean something nefarious
Why not? Suppliers aren’t infallible. They have equipment issues, they have suppliers of their own ingredients, there are shipping issues that sometimes come up. Should Company X suddenly stop production of a product because their supplier lives in Western NC and was wiped out by Helene, just because they shouldn’t change who provides the ingredients?
Looks like equine-related recalls are covered under the Health of Animals Regulations, which fall under the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, so likely Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.
So that means the post by Valarie Findlay is not being honest that CFIA is investigating?
Did I say ANYTHING was nefarious? No.
Ok, so three completely separate people, having bought separate supplies at roughly the same time, situated in slightly different parts of the province all had the same problem with multiple horses at the beginning of a new package. Ok, yup, that’s definitely “the owner Isn’t putting two and two together.” Silly me. From now on, I shall remember the dismissive look my doctor gave me when I told her that my perimenopause periods were making me nauseous enough to have to take time off work because I feared driving more than 5 minutes away from a bathroom, “That’s not a symptom” and I shall apply it to all things that don’t match up with things I know or would like to believe
oh, thank you. Not that I really have time for that rabbit hole today, lol.
If Night_flight is right, the CFIA has nothing to do with it?? I don’t know. When I google it says they inspect their facilities and that it is an approved facility…
lol, I said it was my opinion, not gospel.
The opposite of “he’s just being an ass” and maybe we should pay attention (more, differently, better) IS that something’s actually wrong. “Doesn’t always mean something bad” - is that better? “Bad” is one definition of nefarious, it’s not always wicked or vicious.
I’m not sure there’s a link between ionophore contagion and horses finding a supplement unpalatable. If horses found ionophores unpalatable we wouldn’t have poisoning cases.
Some horses like bananas and watermelon. Other horses will tolerate them. Still others will completely turn their noses up at them.
My horse will eat her Sucralfate pills from my hand. Others need them syringes down their throats.
To me, cilantro tastes like soapy dirt. Others think it tastes like soap or dirt. Still others think it’s delicious.
I can smell asparagus pee. Other people can’t. I can also smell ketosis I. The very initial stages before it even tests. Other people smell a very mild unpleasant odour when the smell is about to make me vomit.
Your opinion is, er, based on faulty assumptions instead of the information actually given, but I guess that’s ok given that seems to be the way the world operates these days.
Ooh, more words being inserted in my fingertips! Please go back and read for comprehension, not for what you want to see.
sheesh, I thought it was clear I was agreeing with you that it’s not always “he’s just being a dweeb”
Reminds me of the line someone in the dressage forum got when they contacted the vet college to find out how how to report people practising veterinary medicine without a license. Whoever was on the end of that email straight up gave a lie for an answer. Not us were not responsible, no idea, try 1-800-we’re too busy to worry about it
You are harping on one of the nicest, most knowledge horse persons on this board, who shares her’s years and wealth of knowledge for free-to the benefit of i am sure, hundreds, over the space of 25 years I’ve known her.
I get that you support Valarie on this, which is totally fine, or don’t support madbarn- but doubling down on valued members of the forum is not the way to go.
Fwiw, I have fed omneity for years and not once this year did my especially picky TB turn his nose up at it, and he notices if I change a single molecule of his food. Valarie also mentioned to me, since she knows I feed omneity, that one person had it look like chicken feed one time- but honestly, my powdered omneity always looks like that?
Based on the sheer number of horses who eat the omneity, 2 to 3 deciding they don’t love it, wouldn’t be a large enough variable for me to see any causation there. As always, I am following Valarie’s posts closely, and watching any of the results to see if there is a recall or further information provided. But I’ve said it to her, and I will say it again- we are all able to use our own critical thinking and risk analysis on this, without being “insane madbarn supporters”.
That was me lol.
Also, it’s possible MB changed suppliers for an ingredient but not the actual ingredient, so the label wouldn’t need to be changed but the product has a different taste or smell. Our barn staff told me once that the camellia oil she fed changed smell based on when it was harvested and a few of the horses would turn up their noses and refuse to eat it. Same product, same ingredient, no label change.
Also FYI, the CVO never did respond to my follow up email saying huh?? Then who does?
I thought that was an odd statement, too. I think the person who claimed it looked like chicken feed normally ordered pellets, and was upset when she got the chicken feed-looking bag…but I just assumed she got a container of the powder on accident. Concerning in terms of QC if it was packaged in a pellets container, but there was no indication whether she checked if the container said pellets or powder. I agree that powdered Omneity looks chicken-feed-ish.
@JB, re: the two new tests…obviously any amount of ionophores is concerning, but do you know if the amounts claimed in the tests, when fed in the relatively small amount of AT+, would be enough to cause symptoms?
Again since I know someone will object to the line of questioning, I agree that any presence of ionophores, however small, is concerning. But I don’t know off the top of my head how much is needed to present symptoms or death.
That was exactly the point of my comment. But also, sometimes a company DOES change actual ingredient, not simply the supplier of an existing ingredient. They’re under no requirement to announce that ingredient change (though some do), though they ARE required to list all current ingredients, at least in the US (and some break the rules by not doing that). I think it was Renew Gold who relatively recently made some actual ingredient changes, and people I know only realized it because their horse went “what is this??” so they checked new bag ingredients over an older bag.
I know of horses who don’t like textured feed with bigger pieces of beet pulp in it, which can be common of batches of feed that are using early batches of the previous year’s harvest (which is right in this timeframe now), and by the time the harvest is old enough, more and more shreds break down so are smaller. Same ingredient, different supply, even if it’s the same supplier.
I don’t know anything about the “two new positive test results” from the screen shots above.
I DO want to know what “media” she’s referring to.