This Mad Cow stuff has me scared

Just 10 minutes ago..... My local news had a report on mad cow disease and on the one cow that got into the US that has/had the disease and they showed a list of the animals that could get Mad Cow disease and the Cat was the last on the list . included on the list was Elk and Lamb. My "kid" Patches likes a little bit of ham and chicken which after tonight she is not getting any of either one . Just dry cat food...Not even the wet kind of cat food, either nor Tiger.

Sandra, don't let it freak you out so. Really the chances of it ending up in your cat's food is quite slim. They are recalling the beef that has been infected and all the products made from it are being traced. Feeding ham and chicken is perfectly safe, as it is beef that is affected-

Thank You MA .... I'll try not to let it bother me. I am such a worrywart when it comes to Patches and Tiger too.

Look at it this way, this is impacting a major industry and the ag department will not take this lying down. They will do everything in their power to stop dairy cows from ending up in the food chain as that is what the cow infected was, a dairy cow that was ill. They are tracing the cow and where the meat went and pulling off products from the shelves as soon as they can. They in no way want to lose any money so they know the urgency this situation warrants. It is sort of like the infamous Michael Moore likes to say- certain media people love to keep the fear alive.

They're totally blowing it out of proportion. It's like ONE COW. And the beef from the cow has gone mostly to asian markets. I didnt eat beef for a few days just because I felt it would be better to be safe than sorry, but I really think the media just freaks everyone out for little reason.

And I like to think that if the mad cow's meat had gotten into our cat food, they will issue a recall.

Originally posted by Kiwideus
And I like to think that if the mad cow's meat had gotten into our cat food, they will issue a recall.

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I hope so.... Kellye, I hope so. But im not gonna keep my fingers crossed regarding the media .

Ya, Hissy - Michael Moore is the man! Sensationalism sells.

I agree with what Hissy and most the others have said. Plus, the disease is in certain parts of the cow only. Namely, the brain and spinal cord area. And those parts are discarded and not used.

The other thing is that there wouldn't be any difference in dry food versus can food since dry food has meat products in it also.

Don't worry about it. The others are right. The media loves to make a big stink over things like this and carry it to the nth degree. Sensationalism sells. The rest is boring.

It's media hype.

Often in times like these, scientific information isn't fully explained and at worst misused.

Try visiting the NewScientist website and reading articles there. I read the magazines but they have an online site. The articles are written so that you don't have to know the finer details of the subject matter in order to understand them. I found that with the SARS outbreak, I gained more information from them than what the newspapers were trying to tell me. And the information was useful and not drowned in sensationalism.

New Scientist Home Page

BSE, (Mad Cow) New Scientist Page Though it hasn't been updated with any news or information about the latest outbreak but it does have good background material.

After some more searching I did find a recent article in New Scientist though it doesn't contain any new information from what is already known. It does however, provide a link to an interesting story dated 10 February 2001.

US bans consumption of crippled cows New Scientist 31st Dec 2003

I personally don't eat beef because I don't think it's healthy. I haven't eaten beef in years. So, I don't worry about myself, but my cats do like beef canned cat food. I've stopped purchasing that for them, until they make sure non of the infected stuff was put in the cat food. I don't have any problem feeding them poultry and lamb canned cat food, though.

The news is so sensationalized these days. It's all about $$$$.
If you worry about every little thing out there that's reported, you'll stop living because you'll be afraid to do anything.

Your chances of getting hit by lightning are far greater than getting mad cow disease.

We have (had?) BSE here and the advice we were given was to steer clear of economy cuts of beef and cheap burgers etc. The media are blowing it all out of proportion, please don't worry too much, after all so far it's only one cow and hopefully the authorities have nipped an outbreak in the bud. It took them years to admit anything was wrong over here and in comparison to the number of infected cows the number of humans who have contracted CJD so far, although not acceptable, is tiny. Hopefully that goes for the cats as well.

Originally posted by mzjazz2u
Plus, the disease is in certain parts of the cow only. Namely, the brain and spinal cord area. And those parts are discarded and not used.

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Well...kind of. The brain and spinal cord themselves are not sold to stores. However, if you look at how nerve bundles leave the spinal cord, if the slaughter house isn't careful, pieces of the nerve bundles can end up in meat. This contamination happens most often to the scrap meat that is used in ground beef, so eating only ground round solves this potential problem. Also, because T-Bone steaks include the spine (after the cord is removed, of course) it is a tad more dangerous than other cuts and the marrow should not be eaten.

With this said, even if you eat cheap ground beef and T-Bone steaks, you are very very unlikely to get this disease. Many more people die from the flu and many more die from being stuck by lightening and eaten by alligators than who get and die from mad cow(even in countries which have had huge outbreaks of the disease among its herds). So, the best thing to do is to just stop worrying. But, if you can't stop worrying, start buying only good cuts of beef and ground round.

Originally posted by George'smom
Your chances of getting hit by lightning are far greater than getting mad cow disease.

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So does this mean I have a far greater chance of hitting the lottery than getting mad cow disease?

Finally, some good news!

LOL Deb! You probably won't get eaten by an alligator or crocidile either (unless you happen to be the new son of Steve Irwin) then the odds might increase!

Hissy and Deb

Well my question and worry is, do they put the economy and scraps in cat and dog food? How would we know if beef cat or dog food is safe to feed them?

Originally posted by jeeperscat
We have (had?) BSE here and the advice we were given was to steer clear of economy cuts of beef and cheap burgers etc. The media are blowing it all out of proportion, please don't worry too much, after all so far it's only one cow and hopefully the authorities have nipped an outbreak in the bud.

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I would echo my colleague and countryman's words entirely - the problems that we had over here resulted from what the cattle were being fed, ie parts of other cattle in their feed. We were not allowed to buy beef on the bone - Ie no T bone steaks as it had the T bone in it. I never stopped eating British beef though.
This will get nipped in the bud very quick out there - if not already - it always does, in the meantime, if over concerned, give the cats fish or dry food.
Just dont stop supporting your farmers - they will need your support in the next few weeks / months. Its a bad time for them , however, as usual, the authorities out there moved very fast (something we should have done years ago) and hopefully have contained this.
Best foot forward and keep head up. (sounded very British did it not - stiff upper lip - what old boy!)
K