TruthaboutPetFood.com

Displaying the logo of a sponsor is an old fundraising tactic and I see no reason for faulting Delta Society for doing this.

First of all, did they think that the Pet Partners who are taking dogs to nursing homes and hospitals are taking them there so the dogs can poop all over the residents and patients? It's common sense to be careful when handling any kind of feces. I doubt these dogs would not be taken for bathroom breaks BEFORE entering any patient facilities.

You're right, this is nuts. And it's incredibly obvious that Purina is behind this.

I've been training one of my dogs to pass the requirements, then join the Delta Society. This information has changed my decision to go forward with those plans.

I disagree with any non-profit endorsing a product. Purina dog food is not one I would ever feed our pack! To have joined the Delta Society endorsing a product I don't believe in for my dogs or horses, would have meant quitting; better to quit now.

The most recent development aside, I think it would be interesting to know how many pet partners did drop out of the program due to any one of these developments, and I'm sure DS won't make that information public (or might downplay the numbers), especially if there is a high dropout rate. Is there any way to reach out to these pet partners and find out how many of them are sticking with the program and how many are quitting? They can't do their therapy work without the pet partner teams.

The Whole Dog Journal did a large feature on this topic in their July issue and they had some interesting angles on it as well, including the legal angle. They also mentioned that some Delta-affiliated groups plan to continue on as independent organizations with their own liability insurance. This too, would undoubtedly send a message to DS as they lose affiliations (and the income those relationships must generate as I'm sure it costs something to be under the DS umbrella).

Has everyone seen the great article on this issue in the Whole Dog Journal? They do an excellent job of outlining all of the other ways that dogs can be exposed to bacteria (from the patients themselves, from eating cat poop or those that practice coprophagia, from commercial treats and foods that have salmonella, etc). They also discuss all of the very simple methods that exist to protect dogs and the patients from being exposed to bacteria.

As far as the sponsorship thing goes, there sure is a lot of precedent for this - take Guide Dogs for the blind organization - in my area they have Science Diet logos on all of their vests. I beleive they go a step further and require all of their puppy raisers to feed it too.

I guess my question also is...OK, so they are banning Pet Partners from feeding raw meat diets. Are they going to come to your house and check your fridge/freezer? I doubt it.

What is going to stop people from saying, "Oh sure, I feed my dog kibble," and continue feeding them raw, if that's what they were doing in the first place? How is anyone going to know?

As for the logo on the vest, it doesn't bother me too much because I think it could be used as a great tool to spread some info. Aa in, if someone notices it and says, "Oh, Purina, is that what you feed Buster?" You know have an opportunity to say, "Oh, no, I would never feed Purina because XYZ."

I agree with Duncan to a point; any org. that sponsors any charity should be able to display their logo.  Pizza shops & car dealers, etc. sponsor Little League and provide gear w/their logo to the kids.  BUT these shops don't intimidate the kids and their families with a hidden agenda as PURINA apparently has done.  The logo isn't really the bigger issue, it's that PURINA, an inferior brand of pet food, would strong-arm a formerly well-respected charity, into demanding these screened, well-trained pets be taken off healthy food in order to continue to bring a little joy into the lives of patients and the elderly.  We talk often of "pet food integrity" - how much more proof do we need to know that PURINA has none, nor does Delta Society?

P.S.  I love Betzi's point-that these volunteers will bring their certified dogs into a facility to crap all over the place. These places are apt to have more human "accidents" there than one by a visit from a dog!

And TY to Sarah for the info that there may be breakaway groups of D.S. that will not be intimidated!

Peanuts on the way!  ;^)

As the human part of a DS Pet Partner team -- my animal is a dog -- I'm not sure yet what I think about whether Delta is using the best available research here, or whether Purina has "strong-armed" the organization.  Just fyi, I don't feed raw and would never feed Purina.  Two points: 1) Though the DS pronouncement seems to have come up very suddenly, in fact I and other DS workshop attendees were told back in early 2008 (or late 2007, I can't remember for sure) that anyone feeding raw would not be able to become a Pet Partner.  At least one year and maybe two before that, a friend of mine who was also a Pet Partner -- with her dog -- fed him some raw chicken the day before a scheduled hospital visit.  He became ill.  She called the Pet Partner and Evaluator who managed the visit schedule for that particular hospital to say they wouldn't be able to make their scheduled visit and explained what had transpired.  The organizer said that DS was at that time considering banning raw diets and that going forward my friend shouldn't feed raw (not that she was going to try that again).  Point 2) Here in our area, the Pet Partner evaluators actively discourage the dogs wearing the vest.  Their arguments are that it hides too much of the dog and also in most facilities can make the dog too warm.  We were told those things at the workshop I attended, and it was reiterated to me again when I asked by e-mail whether it would be OK if my dog wore the vest in a dog walk to raise money for dog cancer research.  Hence the ony time my dog has worn her vest is to get her photo taken for her breeder's web site.  So, unless DS is going to mandate the wearing of vests to visits, individual Pet Partners can simply opt out of wearing them.  And as people are pointing out, it would be just as hard for DS to monitor the wearing of vests as it would be to monitor what the animals are being fed.  No DS officers or evaluators know my schedule for visiting nursing homes and the local Boys and Girls Club, for the Reading to Dogs program.

Oh, and I should also say that Pet Partners are not even required (at least at this point) to buy a vest.  That's right, purchasing a vest is a personal decision, and the expense is separate from the registration/re-registration fee.

I'm not troubled by the advertising.  I'll use a vest that does not advertise Purina because they couldn't pay me enough to advertise garbage. 

 I am concerned about not allowing raw fed dogs to participate.  There are commercial foods with just as much salmonella and dogs can get salmonella from other sources.    This is total nonsense and I sent my complaint directly to the Delta Society

I am a hospice volunteer and will NOT participate if this effects my dogs.   My dogs are healthy raw fed dogs and I will not jeopardize their health by altering their diet.  Having volunteers drop out hurts the patients also.

This situation gets stranger every day!  In the updated version of the FAQ on the DS raw food FAQ site, here is the following:

"NEW 7.09: What about other risks such as MRSA, C-Diff, Giardia, and other pathogens?
Pet Partners policies and procedures require that handlers and pets comply with recommended procedures on handwashing, pets being clean before entering facilities, etc. Any pet or person that isn’t feeling up to par or is having any kind of symptoms of illness should not enter a facility. Both volunteers and pets are at risk of picking up pathogens from a healthcare or other public facility. Pet Partners policies are designed to reduce the risk of disease transmission, but the risk to all individuals, humans and pets, can never be zero. Careful attention to hygiene and other Pet Partner protocols is critical to reduce the risk of transmission of pathogens such as MRSA."

If they are willing to accept the above hygienic practices for MRSA, C-Diff, etc why not the same for Salmonella?  Maybe Salmonella is not prevented by hygienic practice and the others are????  Methinks it is because they are not looking at the data and understanding what they are saying.  There is considerable shedding of other than Salmonella from the non-raw fed doggies.  BTW...I LOVE the part of the S. Weese study where there is 1 dog in the raw fed group.  It reminds me of the old scientific statistical joke:  33% were positive, 33% were negative, and the other animal got away!

Regards the Raw feeding ban: I want to know why DELTA is ignoring the FACT the dogs and cats both shed salmonella in their feces REGARDLESS of what they are fed.  Merck veterinary manual CLEARLY states that. Veterinarians all know that!~ 

Regards the Purina situation!  Delta must think we are a bunch of boobs if we believe that the Ban on Raw had nothing to do with Purina's *backing and vests!  The time line alone speaks clearly! The whole thing is appalling!

SALMONELLA LINK in the Merck Veterinary manual

http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=...

The info from the Merck manual would rule out ALL PETS in a medical facility "IF" this was REALLY Delta'concern!  And for the person who mentioned they may not be aware! I doubt that ! Anyone in the Medical field is fully aware of these things and would have done research well in advance of allowing pets into a medical enviorment. One word INSURANCE!  Not to mention that so many have written and told them, and the fact that they refuse to respond to the information of Salmonella being in Commercial Pet Foods all the time as well as shedding in Pets feces!

Contracts are Negotiated way ahead of time, so I am sure that Purina and Delta being in bed together had a reasonably long *courtship, say a year <G> to come to agreements on *preceding events (such as the raw issue)  before the *marriage annoucement!

OMG - I'm done! My shipment of peanuts is on its way to the DS office with my "resignation" from their Pet Partners program. Thanks for keeping us informed, Susan. I've been doing networking and research on my own. I am finding the same clues you have and the whole thing leaves mistrust and disgust. I hear "Love on a Leash" has a nice program...

I've posted this before to another article and received no replies.  I'd really like to read others' opinions on this!  "Re: Purina: If the company thinks raw food is such serious competition for their existing products, why don't they introduce a raw food offering?  Sure, product development and marketing isn't cheap, but if they're that concerned why mess around pressuring a little-known (outside therapy dog enthusiasts) group with only 10,000 or so members?  Doesn't make much business sense."

I have been a member of Delta Society for 10 years, with three certified pets and breeds:  canine, rabbit and guinea pig, and soon to be testing again.  Presently, I have 10 dogs, 4 cats, 2 rabbits, and 2 guinea pigs, plus belong to several animal rescue organizations.

I do not feed raw diet, however, neither do I feed any animal Purina products.  When I had a cat get a serious kidney blockage due to the amount of ash in the cat food, in 1979, it was the end of using the cat food.  When my vet told me Purina is not healthy food for any animal, I stopped using it altogether.  There are not enough nutrients in it.  animals must eat three times the amount of Purina, compared to healthy food, and then they get another health problem, that of being overweight.

As far as Delta thinking money buys everything: YOU ARE SO WRONG!!  The people who volunteer for Delta, do so from their hearts, something money does not buy.  When people think they can purchase that, something is very amiss in their thinking.

What Delta has done is prostitute their cause by  selling to the highest bidder.  Giving people no choice is so non-American which is exactly what you have done by this.

Shame on whoever made this decision...and the people from Purina just gave me one more reason to never purchase their products. To do this to an organization such as Delta was created, and which has survived without you for many years, and to do so, for your own means of selling a product, exhibits a lack of moral integrity, both on Pruina's part and on the part of Delta Society. 

Brava for Hudson Valley Visiting Pets of which I am a proud member.

Go to the hot spot, Delta, which is another way of saying 'go to h----'. take your Purina kibble and eat it yourself, it is filled with high ash content that kills male cats who have been neutered, causing a block in their urinary tract, and the dry food is air, filled with non-healthy ingredients...the animals have to eat three times as much to get anything nutrious out of it, and then they have another serious health risk: overweight....thanks to my animal rescuing friends who enlightened me to this..

Purina: read your own labels.  Better yet, eat your own food!  and tell the fat cat on the Board that our group answers to a higher power, and it isn't him/her.  You are just a person with a seemingly lot of power, probably with a big paycheck.  You are nothing to me.

The child in the daycare center, or the old person in an assisted living and all the other people I have visited with my pets are the important people here.  Not some ethically deficient  bigwig who thinks a title is where it is at.

My, my, have you missed the boat on this one!

Three (now former) Pet Partners here.  Please be safe and send boiled peanuts.

Any charity that has a Purina flunkie on the board has ceased to be a charity, Delta is merely a shill for the brand now. Nothing more and there is nothing less than a shill.
Really, who cares what they do anymore?
They are no longer a charity organization bent on doing good, they are just another sell out and only useful for demonstarting the evil that oozes from the orifice of Purina marketing headquarters.

A patent on charity work? Just the fact that some Purina flunkie is trying to get a patent on it negates the entire concept of charity, it may be grounds to revolk the non profit status of any group associated with such stupidity.
Sticking a brand logo on ANYTHING makes it A-D-V-E-R-T-I-S-I-N-G, it certainly is not charity and should not be tax deductable. I hope every dime Delta got from Purina gets eaten up in legal fees.
Maybe then other groups will learn to avoid the Purina taint.
Yes, it is totally nuts.

Susan, an interview with Delta would amount to nothing more than market speak for Purina and haven't we all had more than enough of the lying advertising already? Delta chickened out on an interview BECAUSE they know they have sold out and it shows.

Kudos to those with the decency to shun Delta as it deserves to be shunned.

This new info makes me even more happy that I decided to be a member of a local animal assisted therapy organization.

The local therapy dog organization I volunteered with for 8 years with my dog accepts titers in lieu of vaccinations and their consulting veterinrian is a holistic vet I took my dogs to for years who personally recommended a raw diet for my dogs, so I can rest assured that they will not be adopting a similar policy any time soon!

I e-mailed Delta Society asking them about the Purina logo being on the vest and this was the response:

This is a false rumor. There are no plans to change the look of the Pet 
Partners vest or bandana (which do NOT include any mention of Purina) 
that is optional for animal partners to wear. Thank you for checking 
in, and appreciate it if you pass this on to whoever you heard from. 

Thank you so much for ALL you do to help others in your community. 

JoAnn

I also called and got the same answer. So there is NOT going to be a change to what the pet partners have to wear. Just thought I should clarify.