The recent pet food recall reminds me of how much pets have changed over the years. We’ve gone from the days when we got pets for the kids to today, when folks have pets instead of kids.

The pet food recall reportedly resulted from the deaths of 14 cats and dogs across the country. Nine of these were cats that died in taste tests conducted by the pet food company. While it’s always sad to lose a pet, some serious human diseases get less attention than this.

The newspapers say the veterinary school at the University of California-Davis offers hemodialysis or even kidney transplants for affected pets that don’t respond to intravenous fluids and supportive care. Hemodialysis costs up to $4,000, and transplants can go as high as $13,000.

I can’t speak for others, but I would probably need extra fluids and supportive care if I received a vet bill like that.
As this is written, the pet food recall involves cans and pouches of Menu Foods’ “cuts and gravy” meals. Dry foods don’t seem to be involved.

I remember visiting a friend when I was a boy, and helping him feed the family’s Collies. Every meal, we would open two cans of the same dog food and split them between the two dogs. This seemed odd to me – the same food, every meal.

Imagine how a pet feels when he knows every meal is going to be just like the last one. “Cuts and gravy. Cuts and gravy. I’m so sick of cuts and gravy!”

I always felt sorry for my friend’s family. “That’s a shame,” I thought. “These folks don’t even have table scraps for their dogs.” My family’s dogs never saw canned food, or even dry food, as I recall. There were seven kids in our family, and we had lots of table scraps.

Those were the days when families ate meals together. There’s no point in saving a little dab of leftovers when every meal is for nine people. Our dogs didn’t mind, either; they liked the variety.

Even the cats ate a selection of foods in those days. We gave them milk twice a day, and they filled in with mice and rats. Once in awhile they would catch a sparrow or a gopher, and this was a special treat for them. They would have been offended if we offered them something like “cuts and gravy.”

Probably the best “leftover” dog we ever had was old Brownie. Brownie came from one of those litters nobody planned, and being brown was about the only thing he ever did.

There were 10 pups in that litter (as you would expect), and every one of them looked like something different. My brother and I wanted to keep a long-eared bluetick-looking pup, but Dad had other ideas.

He took the whole bunch to the pound, except for Brownie. I think he knew Brownie would never cause any problems and would always be happy with table scraps.

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