Sunday, February 19, 2006
Last week we did a column on Greenies since the college received some questions about their safety--I guess a few dozen cases of them getting stuck in GI tract have been big news lately. Then this week CNN made Greenie HUGE news with this bit:
Click here to view article and video(As much as I love animals and understand the strong bond owners have with them, a $5 million dollar lawsuit for losing a dog is ludicrous, I wouldn’t be surprised if the judge in that case said “get the hell out of my court!” before the trial even started.)
After that, a local television station interviewed the director of a local animal shelter, and a local paper contacted the college to get an interview with a university veterinarian on the topic. Poor Dr. Ridgeway did five media interviews in one week last month for her expertise on pet obesity, and now she’s getting called about this whole Greenies debacle.
Something that kind of gets my goat is that a representative from the company that makes Greenies (or at least someone who claims to represent them) has contacted the university asking that one of veterinarians tell the company’s side of the story, and tell the public that the product is safe.
The company already has their own highly paid spokesveterinarian saying that the product is absolutely safe, and the fact of the matter is, nobody knows for sure if they are safe. Sure, they may be no more dangerous that rawhide chews, but nobody knows for sure, because the research hasn’t been done.
The company is working with the FDA to figure out if there is a problem with the product or the way its processed that makes it more hazardous, but until that investigation is complete, the company’s veterinarian shouldn’t claim that the product is as safe as any other. They should emphasize that they are looking into it, and for now have no evidence that they are dangerous.
I’m also very disturbed by that fact that the product website addressed the product’s safety with links and FAQ link "Are Greenies digestible?" when I was doing research for the column a few weeks ago, and now that link is no longer. When the link existed, they answered that yes, the product is digestible. If their answer has changed since, they should address that on the site instead of removing the link altogether.
Bah, what do I know about PR? All I know is that we veterinarians-to-be need to bone up on our media skills. People really get worked up when their pets get sick or die, the media loves to dramatize these emotions, and we will be looked to as the experts with all the answers, even when we don’t have them.
