When a recall is issued in our industry related to a pet’s death, we face a large wave of panic, especially when the food being fed is known to be healthy food. As leaders in the healthcare industry for pets, we face the difficult role of either hyping or diffusing the panic associated with the recall. If we believe that the recall is a large-scale concern, we will certainly hype it, however, if not, we will attempt to diffuse the concern with as much evidence as possible. Concerning the recall placed on one batch of NorthWest Naturals Raw food, and warning of the H5N1 virus spread to cattle milk and pet deaths related to it, we do have thoughts that we would be very happy to share with you – our committed following of knowledgeable pet owners.
First, the Avian Bird Flu H5N1 has been present in our world for some time now. In Canada, this specific strain has been affecting flocks of commercial birds and wild birds since 2021, and a pet’s death has been recorded from it since then in Ontario. Rest assured this dog was chewing on a dead wild bird, in which the virus runs uncontrolled and untracked, when he contracted the virus that killed him. For birds that are grown to be consumed by humans and be an ingredient in any foods that Tail Blazers has approved; the government tracks and tests them as they pass through federal facilities and in provincial facilities all meats are inspected by a provincially appointed inspector who looks for signs of disease in animals amongst other things, before being sent to suppliers such as grocery stores, butchers, and pet food manufacturers.
About the Recall of NorthWest Naturals Food
At this time, we are unsure of how to accept the news of this recall. NorthWest Naturals willingly took the affected lot codes of product off the shelves when the food tested positive after the death of a cat, only to find out that:
- The company providing the testing only tested the opened product and not the sealed product with the same lot #’s.
- The cat who passed away from the H5N1 virus suspected of being caused by the food was not strictly an indoor cat and could have contracted the disease from catching wild birds outside when allowed to do so – however, that does not explain how the contamination got into the bag unless the pet was eating directly from the bag.
- The food in question had a kill step in place (high pressure-Processing) that is meant to eliminate viruses such as the avian bird flu.
It is a confusing time, and with no other pet deaths relating to this popular food sold across USA and Canada, and no testing done on any unopened bags in the same lot, how can we conclude that this was a batch-wide issue if only 1 opened bag has been tested? It is very early for speculation and as we are not the ones responsible for the testing we really cannot say exactly what is going on here. I think we need to wait for more information to come out and more testing to be done on unopened packaging before we can be 100% sure that NorthWest Naturals Food is solely responsible for this pet’s death, as there seem to be other factors at play. The pet health food industry is well on its way to taking a hit because of this recall, with reporters and some veterinarians delivering the half-truth of this matter to scared pet parents. For a long time, a large number of veterinarians have been using scare tactics to try to convince the public that raw food kills pets, and they found their perfect ammunition. The product in question had been on shelves since May 2024, in my opinion, if the entire lot had been affected, there would have been a death much sooner than December 2024.
About the Warning of Unpasteurized Milk
A large issue coming out of the states currently, is the spreading of H5N1 through cattle herds. Of these herds, dairy cows have been affected, and thus, pets have perished from drinking milk from these animals. The milk has been traced to a dairy farm in California that has issued a recall on all of its dairy cow products, human and pet alike. The state of California has declared a state of emergency since the outbreak of H5N1 in cattle has affected over 720 herds in the state since early December. Currently, there are over 900 herds in the USA affected by the virus, however, the virus has NOT been detected in Canadian cattle and the government is diligently testing cattle and cattle products designated for human consumption for the virus. If and when the virus hits the cattle industry in Canada we will be notified. See below the Government of Canada milk testing. As of now, feeding unpasteurized cow’s milk, goat’s milk, sheep’s milk, and other herd animals’ milk destined for the human food chain to pets from CANADA is considered safe. We would suggest avoiding unpasteurized milk products from the USA until they can rectify a solution to this unfortunate occurrence.
Another important note to make is that all pasteurized milk products are safe for humans and pets alike to consume. Most of the milk products we approve are unpasteurized and are used as health products for digestion, and allergy control, and contain prebiotics, probiotics, and healthy gut-balancing bacteria. This is why it’s so important to choose a company that focuses on sourcing its products from government-inspected, or government-tested facilities. Companies like Happy Days can ensure that their milk products have a low PH so the virus cannot survive, other products such as pet cheese and yogurts are made from pasteurized milk so the virus, again, is not a concern.
Feeding Your Pets!
This virus is not at all a concern for people who feed their pets cooked, kibble, canned, dehydrated, and some freeze-dried pet foods, as once the virus is exposed to a certain temperature or a kill step in the manufacturing process it is rendered inactive. This is also why humans are at little to no risk of contracting the virus because we are not in the habit of eating raw, or highly undercooked poultry. You should be more concerned about this virus if you are feeding your pet a raw food diet, and HIGHLY concerned if you are feeding your pet a raw food diet with ingredients sourced from the FEED chain since feed chain meats are not subject to testing or government regulations that are strictly set in place for human grade meats.
Let’s dive into the grade…
| Feed Grade | Human Grade |
| Feed grade is a term for ingredients or final products that are specifically intended for animals. | Human-grade foods are manufactured following human food regulations, are warehoused per human food regulations and the quality is to be human edible. If your pet food says human grade on the label then you can trust that your pet food is manufactured, warehoused and all ingredients are sourced from the human food chain. If your pet food does not say this it doesn’t mean that they are using feed grade items, it may just mean that the manufacturing facility, or warehouse they are using is not considered human grade and this is a difficult thing to do in the pet food industry, it also comes at a cost to you. |
| Feed grade ingredients could consist of condemned animal materials, recycled waste, or ingredients suitable for human consumption. | At Tail Blazers we ensure that all of the ingredients put into pet foods we carry are sourced from the human food chain. Sometimes ingredients such as duck feet and bull pizzles are not considered to be human-grade ingredients because the farms do not intend those cuts to be ingested by humans however these parts are offcuts of human-grade raised and tested animals. |
| If you are purchasing products that are feed grade sourced ingredients, it’s a huge question mark of what you are getting, and most meat items that fall into this category are not tested and could be sick, and old, at the time of slaughter or even passed prior from other causes. | If you are purchasing products that are human-grade sourced ingredients and therefore purchasing pet products from Tail Blazers stores – you know that you are feeding your pet the same quality ingredients that you would purchase for yourself and your family to eat. |
When you purchase your raw food from our stores – you are purchasing raw food from trusted human quality, government-inspected facilities, and from companies who ensure that testing is done and demand answers for our clients and our pets.
Keeping Your Pets Safe
There are guidelines set out to you by the government of Canada that they say will help you keep your pets safe. See Below.
These are good tips, however currently, if you are ensuring that your pet’s raw food is coming from a company that works with human-grade meats with federal testing and federal and provincial inspection, then point number 3 should not apply to you.
We hope that this blog can help ease your mind slightly with regards to the H5N1 virus spread and the safety of our pets. What I can offer is, to do what is in your power to keep your pet safe, don’t feed backyard-produced raw food, and ALWAYS ask your raw food suppliers questions about where their meat comes from. If you are a customer of Tail Blazers, stop into our locations and you can ask for a statement from any of our carried raw food companies regarding this outbreak. We have established contact with them for you and can assure you that ANY Tail Blazers franchise-approved raw food companies are taking all precautions necessary to ensure that they are delivering safe raw food to our stores and your beloved pets.
