Jerhigh pet food - chicken sticks.
My dogs loved this however I read some worrying information on those made in Thailand and China that they had melamine and lead in them which can affect dogs kidneys and cause diarrhoea and other problems.
Have you had problems?
I am never buying these again as one of my beautiful poodles died and vets could not determine cause and when my other poodle showed signs of illness I looked at what I was feeding,I really feel it is these treats.Post your experience and get your dog checked if you are worried.
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Hi @gurang. Congratulations on making your first post on the forum.
Do you have any reliable information or links about melamine and lead in Jerhigh products?
Just doing a quick search, there is information on some of their competitor websites such as this one and this one which market their own ‘safe’ pet treats…or this one on Faceless which sounds convincing and has links which point nowhere (but the same page promotes homemade ‘chemical free dog treats’).
Neither are unbiased.
The US FDA has some information about pet Jerky treats (not this relates to US products and not necessarily those available in Australia)…
The FDA has indicated that:
To date, testing for contaminants in jerky pet treats has not revealed a root cause for the reported symptoms in pets.
and
After FDA issued CVM Updates about its Jerky Pet Treats investigation (indicated by the arrows in the graph above), the agency received an increase in reports from the public. The most pronounced increase was in late 2013, when FDA issued our most comprehensive update, which included a “Dear Veterinarian” letter requesting specific clinical data and providing a fact sheet for pet owners. Reported cases appear to be tapering off and have not exceeded 100 per quarter for the past 1.5 years.
I wonder if the complaints arose from vested interest/potentially biased internet blogs about imported pet treats to the US. It also appears that the number of complaints also increased as a result of the FDA going public about their own investigation.
It appears from the US FDA information that the is no collaborated evidence of risks of the pet treats imported to the US. I wonder if the claims or lead and melamine in these treats are internet myths?
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If you’re worried and would like an alternative, Savourlife is an Australian brand that offers a dried fillet range of treats. They’re quite a bit more expensive but they’re Australian made from pure meat, no additives. From trying them with my dogs I’d say they’re the closest product that are Australian made I’ve tried, and they do 3 flavours (Chicken, Kangaroo and Tuna)
Full disclosure: I work in a business that handles Savourlife products, but these views are strictly my own.
Edit: Some of the information I mentioned in the pet food thread applies here too. Notably anything that has the terms ‘and/or’ or ‘byproducts’ contains mixed byproducts which are one way contamination can potentially occur. That’s one thing to avoid if you’re worried.
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Has the other Poodle’s health improved since you stopped feeding it the Jerhigh pet food - chicken sticks?
Yes he is better now I have taken these treats away - although now I can;t give him much that doesn’t upset his stomach - stick to plan food and dentine sticks. they liked them and I feel bad because I am a volunteer dog trainer and was using them with puppies.
I liked these sticks as they were soft for training and I could break off small pieces during training adn they weren’t messy.
We want soft small treats for dogs in training - hard stuff gets stuck when there is alot coming to the dog - I now buy a chicken rip the skin off and use small pieces of chicken -not as convenient.
I know these were a problem because their faeces would be the same colour as the treat - reddish.
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There are lots of Australian made options available if you have a look around. For sensitive dogs look for something that is all meat with no cereal or byproducts.
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