of Possible Salmonella Health Risk

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – May 8, 2012 – Solid Gold Health Products for Pets, Inc., El Cajon, California, announced a voluntary recall of one batch of WolfCub Large Breed Puppy Food and one batch of Solid Gold WolfKing Large Breed Adult Dog Food after being notified by Diamond Pet Foods regarding the presence of Salmonella in Diamond’s Gaston, South Carolina facility.

Solid Gold is voluntarily recalling the products below, distributed in the United States and Canada from between January and May 2012. This voluntary recall is being done out of an abundance of caution as these products were produced at the facility that has been linked to recent recalls of Diamond brand pet foods due to potential Salmonella contamination.

Pets with Salmonella infections may have decreased appetite, fever and abdominal pain. If left untreated, pets may be lethargic and have diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, fever and vomiting. Infected but otherwise healthy pets can be carriers and infect other animals or humans. If your pet has consumed the recalled product and has these symptoms, please contact your veterinarian.

Individuals handling dry pet food can become infected with Salmonella, especially if they have not thoroughly washed their hands after having contact with surfaces exposed to this product. People who believe they may have been exposed to Salmonella should monitor themselves for some or all of the following symptoms: nausea, vomiting, diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, abdominal cramping and fever. According to the Centers for Disease Control, people who are more likely to be affected by Salmonella include infants, children younger than 5 years old, organ transplant patients, people with HIV/AIDS and people receiving treatment for cancer.

The products involved in this voluntary recall are:

Solid Gold WolfCub Large Breed Puppy Food, 4 lb, 15 lb, and 33 lb, with a best before date of December 30, 2012 and batch code starting with SGB1201

4 lb identifying UPC 093766750005

15 lb identifying UPC 093766750012

33 lb identifying UPC 093766750029

Solid Gold WolfKing Large Breed Adult Dog Food, 4 lb, 15 lb, and 28.5 lb, with a best before date of December 30, 2012 and batch code starting with SGL1201

4 lb identifying UPC 093766750050

15 lb identifying UPC 093766750067

28.5 lb identifying UPC 093766750081

Best by dates (lot codes) can be found on the back of the bag in the bottom right-hand corner of 33 lb, 28.5 lb and 15 lb bags and the bottom of the 4 lb bags.

Other Solid Gold recipes, sizes or brands of food are not impacted by this voluntary recall.

Pet owners who are unsure if the product they purchased is included in the recall, would like replacement product or have additional questions, may call us at (800) 364-4863 (Monday – Friday, 8:00 AM through 5:00 PM Pacific time).

As a experieced Solid Gold distributor, this is a comman customer question I recieve:

Q. Some of the Solid Gold Pet food bags are hard, rigid and ”vacuum-sealed like” and some bags are softer and loose, what causes the difference?

Here are a couple points I think will be helpful to our customers:

1. WolfKing, Wee Bit, Wolf Cub, and Hund-n-Flocken are currently mechanically palletized. This produces a neater, more consistent look to the finished package and also the end product has less of the “vacuumed look”.  All the other Solid Gold foods, are manually palletized, leaving them more apt to have the odd shaped bags, more loss of air through the one-way value during transportation, resulting in a more rigid bags. 
2. Solid Gold did Oxygen-bomb testing, which is a accelerated shelf-life testing, to find out if there is a difference in shelf life of  rigid versus looser bags of food and there was not a difference.

 Solid Gold Health Products has pioneered the use of foil, flexible-barrier packaging in the pet food industry. Extensive laboratory and consumer tests have shown that this type of packaging has considerable advantages over traditional paper “multi-wall” packaging.

One of the primary advantages is the extended shelf life and freshness that these types of bags afford their contents-without the use of artificial preservatives like ethoxyquin, BHA and BHT. Tests have also shown that foil barrier packing helps to maintain the palatability of food inside, and also helps to sustain the potency of nutrients such as vitamins, minerals and amino acids.

Hermetic Sealing

In 1999 Solid Gold improved our foil packaging further, with the addition of a revolutionary one-way valve system to hermetically seal the bags. This provides even more extensive protection from the external environment and outside contaminants. Hermetic sealing gives the same effect as vacuum packing, in that the bag is air-tight and impervious to external influence.

All Solid Gold Food is stamped with a best used by date. The food should be stored in a cool, dry place with the top of the bag folded down after opening.

You may notice that some bags are very rigid, where the air has been completely expelled through the one-way valve. The “vacuumed” effect occurs in bags that were stored in the lower part of a pallet or passed through high altitude (such as the Rocky Mountains) on the way to their final destination. Other bags, which are not rigid, still have the airtight seal and protection from the outside environment and are preferred by some customers and stores, as they are easier to stack and lift.

We are alway happy to offer our assistance, please contact us if you have any additional questions.

To the health & Happiness of you & your pet,

Dawn Peterson Cobb

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At the Expo you get the opportunity to meet local pet businesses, watch Ultimate Air Dogs and fly ball demos, meet local pet rescue groups, and much more. This event is great for the whole family.

The Solid Gold Northland booth number is 632. Stop and see us, we love to talk all things healthy pets and we are happy to discuss  pet nutrition and health needs with you. We will even have FREE – Free Range Dog Chew Tail Wraps with any purchase at our both Saturday & Sunday (while supplies last).

See you at the Expo,

Dawn Peterson Cobb

With the addition of Solid Gold’s newest dog food Sun Dancer, Solid Gold now offers a complete line of 11 holistic dog and cat food formulas. The chart below will help to guide you to the best choice for your dogs and cats.

All of Solid Gold’s formulas are developed to be “non-allergenic”,  enhance total health, boost up the immune system and protect against disease.

To learn more click on a food name to get full ingredient list and nutritional analysis.

Food	Life Stage	Best Suited For	Primary Protein	Calories kcal/cup
Wolf King Gluten Free	Adult Maintenance	Large Breed Adult Normal Activity Level	Bison, Ocean Fish	364
Hund-N-Flocken	Adult Maintenance	Adult Dogs Normal Activity Level	Lamb, Ocean Fish	367
Mmillenia	Adult Maintenance	Adult Dog High Activity	Beef, Ocean Fish	387
Holistique Blendz	Adult Maintenance	Senior/ Overweight Dogs	Ocean Fish	336
Just A Wee Bit	All Life Stages	Small Breed Adults & Puppies	Bison, Ocean Fish	380
Wolf Cub	Growth	Large Breed Puppies	Bison, Ocean Fish	375
Hundchen Flocken	Growth	Small/Medium Breed Puppies	Lamb, Ocean Fish	410
Barking At The Moon Grain & Gluten Free	Adult Maintenance	Highly Active Dogs Performance/Sporting	Beef, Ocean Fish	465
Sun Dancer Grain & Gluten Free	Adult Maintenance	Adult Dogs Normal Activity Level	Chicken, Ocean Fish	350
Katz-N-Flocken	All Life Stages	Cats & Kittens Normal Activity Level	Lamb, Chicken, Ocean Fish	323
Indigo Moon Grain & Gluten Free	All Life Stages	Cats & Kittens Higher Activity Level	Chicken, Ocean Fish	450

To find a Solid Gold Retailer in Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota or South Dakota use our store locator.

To find a Solid Gold Retailer in all other areas please use the manufacture’s store locator.

We are alway happy to offer our assistance, please contact us if you have any additional questions.

To the health & Happiness of you & your pet,

Dawn Peterson Cobb

Return to the Solid Gold Northland Blog

Fresh Meats

To enhance the palatability and digestibility of their foods, Solid Gold adds fresh meat to most of their dry foods. Fresh lamb, bison, and beef arrive at the plant within 24 hours of slaughter and are used within 12 hours of arrival.

Fresh meats are much more palatable than meals. Meal are cooked twice- by the meal supplier and again by the manufacturer. Fresh meat is only cooked once. Heat destroys many of the nutrients, flavor, and virtually all of the enzymes present. Since nutritional availability is higher in fresh meats, digestibility is also increased.

Another major advantage of meat versus meal, is the reduced ash content. The fresh meats are mechanically deboned in a press, which separates the residual meat from the frame. The finished products therefore have a very low bone content and extremely low ash, compared with meals.

Excess phosphorus and ash are primary contributors to kidney disease, the #2 non-accidental killer of dogs. Many companies recognize the importance of a low ash phosphorus content in their senior diets but ignore the issue in their adult maintenance formulas.

At Solid Gold they believe management and prevention of disease such as kidney failure are important throughout a pet’s life and they work hard to maintain healthful levels of several critical nutrients, including phosphorus and ash, to maintain the long term health of pets.

In addition to incorporating fresh meats in their dry foods, Solid Gold also uses meat meal in each of their recipes. The reason for this is to achieve sufficiently high levels of protein in the finished products. Fresh meat contain up to 70% water and only about 15% protein by weight. Meals are only 10% moisture an 65% protein.

By incorporating both fresh meats and meals in to the foods, Solid Gold is able to take advantage of the benefits of both.

Solid Gold is committed to providing the best all-natural food, treats, supplement, and skin care products for your pets. To find a Solid Gold retailer in Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, North or South Dakota use our store locator. For all other areas click here.

To the health & happiness of you and your pet,

Dawn Peterson Cobb

Back to the Solid Gold Northland Blog

Yesterday while visiting with the buyer at one of our retailer’s stores, he happily shared with me his satisfaction with feeding Solid Gold to his own black lab and what happened when he ran out of Solid Gold recently.

Here is his experience he shared with me.

Chuck has been feeding his black lab Solid Gold for many years. He trusts the ingredients and the brand, carries it in his stores and chooses it for his own dog. Not long ago he ran out of food for his dog and a sales rep from a different food manufacturer offered Chuck a free bag of food to try with his dog. Chuck took the bag and feed it to the dog. While feeding the 40 pounds of dog food his dog experienced bouts of vomiting; things were not going very smooth. By week 3 his once shiny coat was dull with dander. Needless to say, the lab is back on his Solid Gold food and in great health. His coat is shiny again and he is back to getting compliments on his good looks when at the dog park.

A sincere thank you to the Solid Gold Brand of pet food, our loyal customers and all of you who so kindly take the time to share your comments with us.

To the health & happiness of you & your  pet,

Dawn Peterson Cobb

January 6-8, 2012, first weekend of the New Year. What are you going to be doing?

If you are in Minnesota, you will want to make sure you attend the 2012 Land O’Lakes Kennel Club Dog Show held at the Saint Paul River Centre.  This is one of the largest all-breed dog shows in Minnesota.

Events range from obedience and rally competitions, and there are over 155 breeds competing for “Best in Show”….that’s over 2,000 purebred dogs! AKC Canine Good Citizenship test will be offered, as well as Therapy Dog Testing. This is just to name a few of the events! You’ll also get the opportunity to visit over 70 vendors, who are offering all things canine.

Be sure to stop by our booth, we are excited to offer a “Healthy Dog Show Special….Super, Super products at Super, Super prices”! These products are so wonderfully impactful to pets’ health we want to give everyone a low cost reason to try them for yourselves… you will see a difference in their pet!

See you at the 2012 Land O’Lakes Kennel Club Dog Show!

To the happiness and health of you & your pet,

Dawn Peterson Cobb

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That’s not the case at all. You can use some of the same guidelines as you would in choosing your dogs food. Consider the following:

• Avoid soy, wheat, and corn; they are considered comman allergens.
• Avoid chemical preservatives, seek out natural preservatives.
• Look for healthy oils that provide a balance of Omega 3 & 6; like flaxseed, canola and fish oils.
• Protien on the ingredient list should be specific; chicken, beef, lamb, etc. - not “meat”, “animal”, or “poultry”.
• Select premium treats instead of economy treats.
• Select treats from Pet food companies known for their high quailty ingredients.
• Read the label and use your good judgement.
• Dogs, like humans, can eat too many treats and gain weight.  If you like to give a lot of treats, try soft treats and break them up into small peices.  You can then treat often, but is small amounts.

Make sure the treats you are feeding your dog are not ‘insidious invaders’ which are playing havoc with your dogs health and sabotaging the healthy regime you have established by feeding healthy meals.

Here’s a true story I’d like to share with you. Recently I ran into a customer who is a long time feeder of Solid Gold Hund-n-flocken and Solid Gold Seameal. She was concerned because her dog continued to exhibiting itching and ear infections, even after being on our quality food. Knowing from 15 years of experience that she was feeding her dog correctly, I asked her a series a questions. I then asked the correct question…”What about treats?”.  Her dog was eating 6 large biscuits from an economy-brand dog treat manufacturer daily! I explained she needed to eliminate the low quality, economy treats and make a healthy replacement. I received feed back from her: once she stopped giving the name brand treats, her dog was no longer experiencing the itching or ear infections! The change was almost overnight! She is a very satisfied customer : )

An excellent option for a healthy treat for your dog is Solid Gold’s Jerky Treats. They come in beef, lamb and turkey. These jerky treats are bite sized and are made with all natural ingredients, and are packaged in convenient, resealable 10 oz. pouches.

If your dog prefers biscuits, try our Cinna-Bone Dog Biscuits. Being a Solid Gold product, they are made with all natural ingredients. They smell so good you may be tempted to try one yourself. Like a single ingredients treat?  Our LA Treats (Lamb Appeal), are a superb choice. They are made of pure diced dehydrated lamb lung, and an extra bonus….if you have a cat the LA Treats are good for cats also.

Please contact me if you have any questions about treats that complement your pet’s diet.

To the happiness and health of you & your pet,

Dawn Peterson Cobb

Back to the Solid Gold Northland Blog

Vital Essentials and Steve’s Real Food are experienced, established raw pet food manufacturers who work with the highest quality and locally sourced ingredients. Both companies adhere to Food Safety and Quality Assurance procedures which are reflected by their perfect track records for safe products.

Here are some key points that make these companies stand strong for the health of our pets.

Vital Essentials

• Raw nutrition since 1968

• “Alpha” Prey-model diet – meat, bone, whole vital organs

• Owns their processing facility

• USDA Certified Pet Food Facility (only one of two in the U.S.)

• Free-ranging cattle and poultry

• Harvest facilities designed by Temple Grandin

Steve’s Real Food

• First commercial raw pet food to be AAFCO certified

• Free-Range meats & pesticide free produce

• Commitment to locally sourcing ingredients

• Fully discloses ingredient sources on website

• Environmental –friendly manufacturing practices

• Easy to feed nuggets or patties

At Solid Gold Northland we are proud to work with these manufacturers, for both their ingredient choices and their high standards of business practices.

Please contact me if you have any questions about using raw food in your pet’s diet.

To the happiness and health of you & your pet,

Dawn Peterson Cobb

Back to the Solid Gold Northland Blog

Have you been noticing freezers at your pet’s specialty food store? These freezers are for raw pet food, which is a great addition to your pet’s diet. Raw pet food is healthy, it’s living food, fresh,  and it has a high moisture content.  Pet owners like the idea of fresh food but are often concerned that feeding fresh raw food will be complicated and will break the budget.

Here is what I have found makes commercially prepared raw pet food feeding easy and simple.

• Conveniently available at  many local pet supply stores. (You are likely to find it where you purchase your dry pet food)
• Complete and balanced , taking the guess work out of making fresh food  yourself at home.
• Readymade, simply take from the freezer.
• Easy portion control. There are a variety of forms, from small nuggets to larger patties
• Small nuggets or mini patties make for quick thawing. (It takes about a ½ hour to thaw nuggets in my dogs bowl on the kitchen counter.)

Now, how to keep affordable?

• Make raw food a portion or your pets diet.  So when you give raw you will reduce the amount of dry.

Look at feeding your pet in a similar manner you feed yourself. You likely eat some processed foods and some fresh foods, the same can work for feeding your pet.

Start by adding five nuggets to your pet’s kibble, reducing the kibble proportionately to compensate for the added raw food. This adds variety to your pet’s diet and makes feeding a raw diet very cost effective.

Give it a try, you and your pet will be happy that you did!

To the happiness and health of you & your pet,

Dawn Peterson Cobb

Back to the Solid Gold Northland Blog