Here is the content of a January 3, 2024, email I sent to Diamond Pet Corporation after the cancer death of my Australian Shepherd, Chase, my trusted companion of four and a half years:

 

Our dog, Chase, 5 1/2 years old, died three days ago from aggressive T-Cell Lymphoma. That form of cancer is rare in dogs. I fed him only "Taste of the Wild" for his entire life with us, and when I looked for a cause of his cancer, I found out about the lawsuit against you and about the presence of poisons in your food. 

Chase was the most innocent and kind soul, and he suffered greatly because someone in your organization did not have the courage and integrity to stop allowing the presence of heavy metals and pesticides into your products. You may think you have gotten away with such callous disregard for animals' lives, but I will never forgive you. 

Here is a video of Chase taken on his last day alive. Watch it and then try to tell me your product promotes good health: 
https://youtu.be/5zHtm570cto?si=j1AVK8OSw_FAyN5i

Please allow compassion to replace greed, and save animals' lives. It matters. 

Here is what their spokesperson, Dr. Alexia Heldman wrote back to me:

I am so sorry for your loss of Chase. It’s obvious that he was a wonderful and beloved family member.

As you know, anyone can sue for anything.  Cases then have to make their way thru the legal process and there is nothing that can be done to speed up the process. Sadly environmental contaminants are present in the foods we eat because they are in the soil, water, or air where foods are grown, raised, or processed.  The ingredients that we use in pet food manufacturing are exposed to these same contaminants. All 6 of our manufacturing plants are located here in the US.

We routinely test and monitor our manufacturing process — pre-production, production and post-production — and work closely with our supply chains to confirm ingredient safety. Our facilities adhere to stringent quality protocols, have a dedicated quality assurance and safety staff, and follow “Good Manufacturing Processes” protocols. By implementing scientific and technological advancements, we have developed a comprehensive food safety system that ensures our pet food is healthy, safe and nutritious. Some of our safety and quality tests include:  

                  i.      3,458 mycotoxin tests per week

                 ii.      1,538 microbiological tests per week

               iii.      268 oxidative stability tests per week

               iv.      5,520 ingredient nutritional tests per week

                 v.      40,095 finished product nutritional tests per week

               vi.      18+ hours of employee safety training per employee/year

             vii.      600+ safety assessments/year

We also implement our test and hold program, in which product tests are conducted by a certified, independent laboratory. We use scientifically and statistically based referencing standards set by the ICMSF (International Commission on the Microbiological Specification for Foods). Samples are collected and tested for every product produced. Every sample is kept for a time equal to the guaranteed shelf life of the product, typically 12 months. If you’d like to learn more about our safety protocols and facilities, we encourage you to watch our facilities video, which can be found here: https://diamondpetcompany.com/#facilities

Dr. Heldman

After wading through Heldman's barrage of statistics,which ignore or evade the issue of carcinogenic metals and pesticides, I answered on January 4, 2024, with the following email:

Dear “Doctor” Heldman,

You are correct that anybody may sue anyone else (indeed, that is why many lawyers drive expensive cars and live in gated communities); however, your reply, as chock-full of information and multisyllabic words as it is, does not answer my questions or concerns. Perhaps you did not actually read or understand the content of my message. If so, please allow me to clarify.

My dog was killed by cancer. He was not killed by exterior biological organisms such as mycotoxins, nor was he sickened by oxidative instability (both listed impressively in a Roman numeral- adorned table in your email). On the contrary, Chase was killed by a rare and aggressive form of cancer called T-Cell Lymphoma. If you are unfamiliar with that variety of cancer, you may wish to research it.

Our family does not live in a dwelling that rests upon a Superfund site, nor do we have a contaminated water supply. There have been no radiation leaks in Oregon's Willamette Valley that could have introduced radioactive contaminants into our air. In fact, we fed Chase clean water, an occasional slice of carrot or apple, and Taste of the Wild High Prairie kibbles and canned food. At age five, Chase, a healthy Australian Shepherd, weighed 53 pounds and shared daily three-mile walks with me, whom he trusted to protect him. I did everything I could to shield him from harm, everything except suspect that the food I fed him (which was marketed as being exceptionally beneficial) contained deadly metallic and chemical toxins.

As you probably know, given your knowledge of the ubiquitous nature of lawsuits, prior scientific testing of your company's pet foods showed that they contain the following substances:

255 micrograms per kilogram of arsenic

258 micrograms per kilogram of BPA

54.2 micrograms per kilogram of cadmium

30.9 micrograms per kilogram of mercury

399.2 micrograms per kilogram of lead

38.92 micrograms per kilogram of pesticide

172.9 micrograms per kilogram of acrylamide

(Carcinogen levels above taken from Isabella Hernandez's article: https://lifefalcon.com/what-was-the-taste-of-the-wild-lawsuit/

Lead, Pesticides, Acrylamide, and BPA in particular have been scientifically-proven to be carcinogens at the levels in which they appear in Diamond Pet's “healthy” products. These substances also can and do cause other pathologies in people and animals. Yet, you answered my sincere and heartfelt email with evasion and thinly-veiled obfuscation. You prefaced that evasion by insincerely offering condolences. I say they are insincere because no honest, decent person would apologize while continuing to represent a group that knowingly killed that person's dearest companion.

Let me ask you this; why did you become a veterinarian? When did you decide that instead of seeking to save and improve animals' lives, you would shill for a price? I almost feel as bad for you as I do for Chase, whose happy wiggle and boundless enthusiasm have been stilled, and who now lies in a grave in our rainy back yard,

I apologize to you if my words are too personal and if they cause you pain or regret, but it is my (and your) moral responsibility to love and care for our animals and for each other, and what you wrote to me was the antithesis of such caring. No, I am no better than you in any sense, but I know that the combination of willful greed, purposeful denial, and irresponsible manufacturing killed my dog (and many others), and that is something I refuse to accept without objection. Whose pets are being poisoned right now as you and I fence with words? How many other guileless, unsuspecting animals will suffer tumors, the calcification of internal organs, and premature deaths because Diamond Pet refuses to change? Do you have a bulleted list with those figures?

Sincerely yours,

Perry Callas

Salem, Oregon

What I would like you to do now:

Please sign my petition that asks Diamond Pet to either:

• stop manufacturing its "Taste of the Wild" products altogether, or 
• place warning labels on every bag and can of food, notifying consumers of the presence of dangerous carcinogens in those products.

I cannot bring Chase back, but we must all work to protect trusting dogs from cancer they get simply by eating food that has been marketed as being "healthy."

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://youtu.be/5zHtm570cto?si=j1AVK8OSw_FAyN5i