Pet Food Recall After Cat and Dog Deaths

It also appears that the cat is reading the nutrition details while eating.

Any cat the respeatedly vomits is in danger of dehydration. Please have your cat checked by a vet. I lost mine this week....maybe due to food.(???) You don't want to go through that. Spend the money on the office visit and have him/her checked by the vet.

Same here. I'm absolutely furious. My cat Mickey is still sitting in the hospital, with the same problems (elevated creatine, etc.), and had been vomiting, lethargic and not eating for 3 days. In our case though, he ate the better part of probably 12 cans of this junk before he showed enough symptoms... I'm waiting for a call back from Iams (I'm told that they're "a little backed up").

The super scary part is that my 15 month old daughter was famous for getting into the cat food and eating it herself up until about a month ago, when we finally figured out a place that the cat could get to it that she couldn't ("oh, gross, but isn't that cute?")

I wonder how many other little kids have had a bite of this poison, or how many broke senior citizens for that matter...

I also love the part on the Iams site that goes on and on about how they safety test every batch of food, blah, blah, blah...

Unbelievable.

This just further illustrates the problem with the industrialized food system. We will continue to see these problems until we go local and natural.

Wow. My dog had exactly the same trouble. Two days on IV's at the vet and then they sent him home with a "very very poor prognosis." Basically, they sent him home to die. He ate nothing for the first two days at home. We said goodbye each night when we went to bed thinking he wouldn't make it to morning. Then, yesterday, he started nibbling on table food. And today - he's eating everything in sight - but in small quantities. The brand of dog food we use is Hill Country Fare from HEB Grocery Stores.

HOW LONG WILL WE ALLOW THESE COMPANIES TO POISON THE FOODS WE EAT (US DEPT OF AGRICULTURE, MEAT AND DAIRY INDUSTRIES ETC) AND NOW KILL OUR PETS?? THIS IS OUT OF CONTROLL AND IT IS TIME FOR ACTION AND THE ONLY ACTION THESE FOOD INDUSTRIES UNDERSTAND UNFORTUNATELY IS LAW SUITS. TIME FOR A HUGE LAW SUIT. HOW MUCH CANCER, ADHT ETC. DO WE NEED TO SEE AND NOW THIS?? THEY ARE POISONING US AND OUR PETS FOR PROFITS AND THEY THINK IT IS THEIR RIGHT TO BASICALLY DO WHATEVER THEY WANT UNDER CAPITALISM AND RELAXED SAFETY LAWS ETC. ARE TO BLAME.

That's why I've always bought Triumph Cat Food.
It's not on the recall list. Lots of store brands are on that list. does that mean, Iams is not all it's cracked up to be?

Has anyone else noticed how Iams canned food dropped in price several months ago by about .20 a can, at which time it started to smell like all the other cheap foods out there? Coincidence?

We have been getting poisioned for years, where in the hell have you been? Believing the government that shots your animals up,sprays our foods, purifies our water with piss and clorax. When are you people going to get an education above your waist and realize what is happening around you,I'm 63 and I doubt if it will be in my life time.

my dog has been sick for 3 weeks and now is on the verge of dying from kidney failure! The vets could not pin point the problem exactly. Then I see this in the news and check his food. Sure enough, it's on the recall list. This "menu foods" better pay for the thousands my family has spent on their mistake! We love our 6 year old lab!

Hi All,
Such a terrible thing. We just went though a similar incident with Diamond Dog Food about 2 years ago. One of our Fox Hounds would not eat, Vet diagnosed Kidney Failure, yellow eyes, $600 in meds, she was very sick. Diamond Dog food had a bad batch of Corn. We did not know about the dog food recall until we went to purchase more. We buy at Tractor Supply and they had signs up about the recall and offered to take back any dog food we had at home. Diamond had a web site where you could enter in your information and Lot Number of dog food you had. This was only useful if you kept all your feed containers with the lot numbers on them. We were eventually contacted by a veterinaian working for Diamond. She just told us that lots of things can cause Kidney failure ant it wasn't the dog food. That was the last we heard from anyone at Diamond. After our Fox Hound finished her med's she was alot better but does not have the running stamina she used to. She had a relapse later and we keep her on the Hep Support vitamins now. She is still able to hunt but not as much. We stopped buying Diamond Dog food and started using Purina.

Add another one to the list, my dog of 17 years, and in fairly good health for that age,with regular vet visits, suddenly became sick on Feb. 20, vomiting and becoming very weak. I took her to vet to find out she was dehydrated had kidney failure, and because of her age had to be euthanized. Painful enough, but in now hearing of the pet food recall just adds insult to injury.
She had been fed the Ol' Roy brand purchased at Wal Mart. I'm very upset and feel like something needs to be done. I read that 10 dogs have died so far, but I fear the number will be far greater in the days to come.

First of all this recall is all over the news, and yet I just got done watching a report on TV that said to go to the Menu Foods website for a complete list. Earlier, the TV was reporting Iams was recalled, yet the "official" list did not mention Iams cat food. Now it does. It seems to change and be growing and no one can say for certain which brands are really affected. I just saw Purina dog food is being recalled as well, not on that list. I am pissed that we try to buy supposed "quality" food from reputable brands, only to find out that they are all branded versions of the same grade D garbage. I hope no one ever trusts those brands like Eukenuba and Iams and Science Diet again after this. They are just liars that prey on consumers who pay more for what they are told is a healthy food, even though its just the same garbage in a different can. We feed our cats Eukanuba dry food and Fancy Feast wet food and are concerned even though they are not on the list (yet) I hope all your pets recover, and my condolences to those affected. Please Boycott all the brands that get recalled since it has exposed the dirty secret in the pet food industry, and I have seen no respose from the manufacturers or the Government.

My dog was eating Iams dry lamb and rice for many years. About a month ago, he was vomiting and seemed lethargic. Then he seemed to start getting better, but a urinalysis indicated he was suffering from early kidney failure.

After researching, I speculating his body was having a hard time handling his processed food. I cut back on it and fed him more of my own organic, Whole Foods food (beef, eggs, cheese, etc.) He seemed much happier when he got quality food.

He still consumes huge amounts of water and urinates a lot more than he did 3 months ago. Since he was otherwise a very healthy old dog (at 13 yrs old), he still seems happy and healthy most of the time despite any kidney damage.

I still wonder whether his illness and kidney damage was caused by his food. It does not seem Iams or Menu Foods has any real control on the situation or knows for sure what caused the poisoning of the food.

I, too, am pissed. Iams used to be a high-end brand. I trusted it. Now I am ready to swear away processed dog food.

Spom in CA

This is terrible. I had initially ignored the news of a recall because I buy Nutro for my cat and assumed it was safe because it's supposed to be better quality and I thought a smaller label. But now I see that it's on the list, as well as so many other brands--including others I would consider of better quality as well, like Eukanuba. Nutro so far lists the pouch kind of food for cats, which I've purchased at one time or another for my cat as a treat, but thankfully haven't lately because I've been feeling cheap. In January though, I remember him throwing up a few times and having diarrhea, but I thought maybe they were just old pouches or a couple of the newfangled flavors didn't agree with him. I actually stopped going to this little neighborhood pet store because I thought they didn't have good turnover. News reports say 10 dogs and a couple cats have died, but I think people are just realizing to make the connection. And I hope there is a huge class action suit. The current NY Times article says that Menu Foods will provide compensation for people whose pets have died upon receipt of documentation. But I don't understand how people are supposed to prove the connection if they've thrown the canned/or pouched food away or thrown their receipts away. I know I never keep my receipts as I tend to buy in small amounts for the week. And what of people whose pets haven't died but have racked up medical bills?

To everyone who posted here about your pets, my heart goes out to you. I hope your dogs and kitties make it through this horror, and for the ones that didn't, I'm very sorry.

For those who are trying to switch foods now, I feed my kitty Natural Balance. There are some great foods out there with more natural ingredients and closer to raw food than Science Diet, Eukanaba, and unfortunately, Nutro. I use to feed my kitty Nutro, which was good at one time, but then she just wouldn't eat it anymore. The Natural Balance is a lot more expensive and sometimes I can barely afford to feed her, but NB, as well as Wellness is much better for their systems in the long run... though of course feeding them raw food (which is a lot of work) is the best. Some foods to consider are Natural Balance, Wellness, Eagle Pack, Merrick's, and Wysong among others. There's also raw formulas like Primal and Prowl, among others.

There is a cat Yahoo Group about chronic renal failure. I have found that the Yahoo Groups are rather good places to get information and help about kitty health and disease. I'm sure there's a group for dogs as well.

Good luck to all of your and your animals.

This is a disgrace. I agree that something must be done. I've been feeding my 2 yr. old Bichon Eukanuba since I brought her home. Weeks before this recall, I noticed she went from frisky to mopey and lethargic. I changed to Wellness, she was off Eukanuba completely the day after the news hit. Just goes to prove that the Premium Commercial Dog Food business is all about money, we must NEVER take anything at face falue and RESEARCH everything. I will be taking my dog to the vet on Wednesday to be tested, she was on Eukanuba dry for the most part, hope there's no damage. My heart goes out to everyone who has been affected by pet illness or loss.

Mary, for the brands I mentioned, these brands do not come from "the same company who makes the same crap." I want to point out that that is not the case for all foods, as you can see from the Menu Foods list that the brands I mentioned DO NOT COME FROM THE SAME place. I would like to clear that up. Also, what's up with the punctuation or lack thereof?

I'm upset because my cat is so sick. Also, I think that the news need to update there list (only 10, yeh right!) of amimals that are sick or have died due to this stupid mistake that Menu Foods has made. They need to owe up to it, and help people with the loss of there beloved pets. Not put up a phone number on a website that stays busy all the time. We need someone to say sorry even though it may be to late for our pets.

Mary, I singled your post out because you claimed that all foods are made at the same place. Yes, many foods are, but then again, the foods I mentioned as alternatives are not manufactured at the same place. I wanted to point that out. As to the other thing, I like periods. It helps me to understand where sentences begin and end. That is all. Cheers.

please someone tell me how long it takes for a pet to eat the food until they start showing any symptoms.

Michelle, I have not read how long it takes for signs to show, but from what I have gathered, dogs and cats either refuse to eat the food after one or two meals, or start throwing up or showing signs of lethargy somewhat soon after consuming the meals. That's a very good question you ask.

For those of you whose poor pets have gotten sick, I'm wondering if you were able to check the specific batch label for the food you were feeding against the recall list? I'm wondering if the batches they have singled out are really the only batches that we need worry about. As I said above, I was feeding my cat the Nutro NC pouches and although the batch I had was not specifically on the list, I certainly don't trust the company to be certain that any earlier batches might also be contaminated.

I am also wondering how quickly pets started showing signs of sickness after eating the food. If anyone has any good info on that, please share.

Thank you to everyone and again, my heart goes out to those of you who have lost your loved ones.

My heart is in my throat, and many prayers go out to all of you. I am so scared right now. I NEVER, EVER, EVER gave Molly wet dog food up until the week of March 9th. It was her 2nd birthday, and as a present we bought her 7 cans of Purina Mighty Dog canned dog food for her to eat each day of her birthday week. I cant believe that our gift to her could put her life in jeopardy. How could I even possibly explain THAT to my kids? We all watched her joyously eat and lick her bowl clean of every morsel of that food. It was a party atmosphere,we thought it was funny and cute the way she gobbled it up so fast. Now Im just scared. I don't want to say anything to the kids. Molly doesn't appear sick, but it doesn't stop me from worrying that she will get sick. It's just so sad what's happening to all of these pets and the grief that the family members are going through.

Michelle, it's not the wet food that is bad on the whole, it's that the company has been lax in either their production values or in some product that they acquired to put into the food (in this case, they claim it's bad wheat gluten, but haven't realeased more information that that). On the whole, wet food isn't bad, so, please, don't beat yourself up for feeding your doggie wet food. Your doggie loves you very much!!! Just keep on an eye out on her for the time being and take a look at the site that Angela mentioned. Marvistavet is good for info.

There is a also a cat-specific site on CRF that is talked about a lot on the Yahoo Groups:
http://www.felinecrf.org/

And Nick... my condolences to you. :(

Michelle, if you go to the Mighty Dog website and click on more information in the Recall area, they state that quote "Importantly, no Mighty Dog canned products, or any other Purina products are affected by the Menu recall." My dog alternates between the canned Beef, Lamb & Rice, and Gourmet. I will keep a special watch on him regardless of company statements. As of this morning, he was flying thru the house with ears flat out and a huge smile.

Julie, this is the site for PetFoodRecall

Also, someone has created a Yahoo group regarding a class action lawsuit.

Please also go to Petconnection and list your girl in the database that they are trying to maintain.

I'm very sorry for your loss. :(

Julie K, I'm so sorry for your loss. Your story is chilling, and my heart goes out to everyone whose pets became sick due to this food.

For those whose pets are sick and in need of more water, I found that my cat drinks a lot more with a Drinkwell water fountain.

For those in need of switching foods, I just want to mention that my cat who really prefers wet food does seem to enjoy Royal Canin's dry food (the persian line, but they have lines for every kind of cat including misc.) I still have a box of canned Nutro and I think it's safe to give him that but I'm going to give him wet food only twice a week, maybe. And start buying Wellness which he really enjoys as well, but it's pricey. It's kind of ironic to see that Fancy Feast is not on the list, and I always eschewed that as junk food. But my cat likes it, and it's safe at least.

To the poster who questioned batch numbers: DON'T TRUST THEM. At least not at this point. Numerous batches have been added to Menu's site since the recall first aired.

The batch that poisoned my cat was NOT implicated in the original recall. (It has since been added to the list.) In my case, it was already too late- he'd consumed the last of the food by Thursday evening.. but I would imagine that some individuals probably continued to use the food because it wasn't on the list.

My cat was in the the hospital for 3 nights, had exploratory surgery and many many blood tests and xrays to see why she stopped eating and drinking completely for a week. She finally had to have a feeding tube in which I had to use to feed her for 1 month. She is finally fine and the vet was never able to find out why she got so sick. Over Christmas my dad bought her some food from Kroger grocery. It was a kind I had never fed her- he thinks maybe Purina. But I am wondering if there have been any confirmed sicknesses from hard food because thats all she has eaten

The batch numbers being released are probably correct, they are just leaving out the larger porblem... My dog eats Iams DRY and is
suffering terribly. I hope she makes it through the night. I was reading on the net that in South Africa they are pulling all dry north American dog foods.

I am sending 2 pound samples of the Iams Dry Dog Food, Green bag, to Cornell University for labratory testing. I suspect that my 3 year old Airedale will probably die from this insideous germ. She is the most beautiful dog I have ever had, our 5 children love her dearly and I'm going to have a hard time with letting them know how and why their friend is no longer here. Got any suggestions IAMS.

Let every one know to get rid of the DRY as well as the WET, your pets life and you and your childrens happiness depends on it.

keen@mac.com

I lost my baby to the special kitty cat food, She was fine one day and gone within hours of showing any signs of sickness.
They are saying they will compensate people who have lost their pets.....They knew about this since december and could have saved several.
I am totally disgusted that it was kept quiet for so long. My baby died on feb 15th and could still be here now.
I am completely interested in further organization with others who have been through this also.

After reading through all of these posts, I am becoming more and more worried about my cat. Does anyone know anything about dry food and if it's contaminated? I feed him Nutro Natural Choice Adult food. I have been exclusively feeding him dry food for most of his life (he is almost 2) since he really doesn't like the wet food whenever I try to give it to him.

Regardless of all of the posts concerning wet food, I would really appreciate it if anyone has anything to share about their pets and if they only consume dry food.

And to everyone who has lost their beloved family members, my heart goes out to you.

It is good to gather information so that action can be taken. That is why I want to post my dog's mysterious illness after eating Nutro Natural Choice canned food. We did not ever get a diagnosis, and I am so happy that he now seems fine, but it was a couple of days of real touch and go. He was just pitifully ill, could barely get off his bed, droopy tail and ears and lots of whimpering. He drank water like crazy--yet seldom peed. He had the shakes for hours at a time, and for 3 nights I feared the worst.
I was suspecting some sort of chemical poisoning from de-icer on the roadways, but this is far too coincidental that it happened on Nutro. We usually buy organic brands, but they are so expensive that we decided to just go natural. I am disgusted! If anyone knows where this could be reported, I would like to do so.
I am so so so sorry for those who have lost loved ones in this needless and tragic manner.

Jan. 6, 2006 (Updated Jan. 17, 2006)
Dogs keep dying: Too many owners remain unaware of toxic dog food
By Susan S. Lang
Even though Diamond, Country Value and Professional brand dog foods have been recalled for containing highly toxic aflatoxins, they have caused an estimated 100 dog deaths in recent weeks, say Cornell University veterinarians, who are growing increasingly alarmed. Some kennels and consumers around the nation remain unaware of the tainted food, which may have been shipped to more than two dozen countries, and as a result, they continue to give dogs food containing a lethal toxin.

To better screen affected dogs so they can be treated as soon as possible, Cornell veterinarians report that they now have a new test, adapted from one used in humans, to accurately assess aflatoxin poisoning in dogs (see companion story). Currently, about two-thirds of dogs that show symptoms after eating the tainted food die.

Provided
This cocker spaniel, Sad Sack, succumbed to aflatoxin poisoning recently at Cornell's Hospital for Animals.
"Entire kennels have been wiped out, and because of the holiday these past few weeks, the dispersal of recall information was disrupted," says Sharon Center, a professor of veterinary medicine who specializes in liver function and disease at the College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell, which is emerging as a central clearinghouse for information about the dog food poisoning.

The Cornell Vet College is continually updating its Web site to keep the public and veterinarians informed as new information on the poisonings emerge. Cornell's Animal Health Diagnostic Center (AHDC) is analyzing blood and liver samples from sick dogs around the country, testing suspected dog food, conducting autopsies and collecting as many livers as possible from dead dogs to confirm cause of death, tracking dogs that have died and following up on the health of dogs that survive the food poisoning. The AHDC has information for veterinarians on its Web site

MikeKeen - I'm glad that you will have access to an IV, I really hope that it can help your poor dog. My prayers to you and your family.

Well, my dog had been eating this food for a long time (even before the supposedly "tainted" batches were made, and quite frankly I would not doubt if it was tainted prior to the recalled batch either, I would not doubt if they just figured that was the most current batch that was out and thats the one that most people would have in their closet waiting to be fed to their beloved pets.)But thats just purely my own speculation and opinions so just disregard that. I mean you can't really recall something that was already eaten... can you? Well regardless, my dog started developing problems with allergies not that long ago but more recently has developed other health problems, which I am sure are linked to this, he has eaten not just one of the tainted brands, but several over the course of the last month or so because of switching foods to try to find one he was not allergic to. I am very pissed and if my dog ends up with a bad prognosis and I lose him to this it will be like losing a child, he is 10 and a half years old, and I can't bear to think this might take him away from us. If there is a lawsuit. I want in. These people and companies should pay. PERIOD. Not just to cover vet bills, but to compensate for everything, the loss of a pet, even if the pet survives how many years, months, weeks, or days did you shave off of their life expectancies??!!... what other health problems will this lead to for pets who don't lose their life's? What are the long term treatments for those who do survive? I want action, comforting, compensation, and more over I want an apology from these companies for their neglect to act quickly on this situation and take care of it and get this information out quickly. It is not right, and YOU should NOT have to just accept it. Boycott these lousy companies, and get some kind of action going. I will support and stand behind any lawsuits that get started. And I am genuinely sorry for anyone who has a pet suffering or has lost a pet. My heart goes out to all of you.

I just read that the Canadian press said that Menu Foods actually got reports in early December and didn't put out any warnings until an American company put their food shipments from MF on hold after receiving complaints.

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Business/565102.html

OK, I'll stop posting links, but in addition to reporting your pet's illness or worse to Petconnections.com, please also call the FDA in your State.

Lastly folks, just a reminder about the Yahoo Group for the class action suit. From what I can see, the Howl911 site is the best for uptodate information.

This has gotten me torn up. I am so sorry for everyone who is going through this nightmare.

Nutro needs to update their website!!! Yes cats who have eaten the Nutro Pouches have become ill. I saw a story on the news about two cats who became ill eating the Nutro Natural Choice pouches. Im worried because our cats eat the Nutro dry natural choice. Im am so sorry to all whos pets have become ill. I have been crying and praying for you all day.

I came across a website a few months ago that contained information about the hidden horrors of petfood. I'm going to try and find the link and post it but I'm wondering if anyone else had ever come across it? It said that major petfood manufacturers get the meat used in their petfood from many sources, including the cattle that is considered unfit for human consumption and the deceased cats and dogs that are euthanized in shelters by the thousands each day throughout the U.S. and Canada. Aside from it being entirely disturbing, the idea of feeding cats and dogs to cats and dogs, the other concern was the level of euthanol in the deceased's systems being consumed by healthy animals. Anyone else heard of this?

This is outrageous, now my dog just died. Less than 24 hours after reading these post and posting a few myself. 4 year old Airedale, piture purfect purbred with no health problems. Opened a new bag of food on thursday, she would not eat saturday but was active enough to not alarm me or my family. Monday am she was in the back yard having trouble walking, called vet, walked her in the garage, she layed down on warm pad and we started fluids. Vet said, bring her in in the morning if she makes it through the night. She did not. THEY STILL ARENT TALKING ABOUT THE DRY FOOD YET. LET ME TELL YOU, THEY WILL AND MY VET SAY THE WILL HAVE TO REAL SOON. THEY ARE TREATING OTHER CASES AND SOME ARE RELATED TO DRY FOOD. I WAS USING ***IAMS DRY, GREEN BAG, RICE AND LAMB AND SOME FREE OF CHARGE, POISON WITCH WAS ADDED BY ACCIDENT AND HIDDEN FROM THE ONLY PEOPLE THAT COULD HAVE SAVED OUR ANIMALS, US. AND YES WE HAVE BEEN MISLED, DUPPED, LIED TO AND WORST OF ALL THEY MURDERED OUR PETS. JUST AS BEFORE IN JANUARY OF 2006. READ ALL ABOUT IT AT THE CORNELL UNIVERSITY... www.news.cornell.edu/stories/Jan06/dogs.dying.ssl.html

My heart goes to everyone who has pets who are suffering and died. As a matter of fact, my cats are also sick, and I am so upset. I have them both for five years. They have been so healthy. Only time we take them to seea vet was to get annual vaccination. But last week, one cat started vomitting constanly, and had a diarrhea. I had to take her to vet to get blood works and x-rays done. They found that her white blood cell count was way too high. They also found some blood was in her bladder as well as something piled up in her kidney. Although she stopped vomitting because of the medication she is now taking, she has not pooped. The vet told us that she has to take medication to keep her white blood cell count low for the rest of her life. But what upset us most was that the vet could not find out why this was happening. And yesterday, the other cat started vomitting. At first, we thought he has some hairball in his stomach, but yesterday and today, he vomitted 8 times. Yes, he is sick, too. I am so upset but now I know what is causing these condition. We have been feeding them only Iams dry food and canned food. I am going to take the other cat to vet first thing in the morning tomorrow. I am hoping that my cats are going to get better soon, and I am praying for all the pets and their owners.

My hearts go out to all of you whose pets are suffering, dying. :*-( I worry do much about my little Stripes (tabby kitty). I feed him non-gluten food anyhow (except for the occasional Fancy Feast)since I suspect he suffers from inflammatory bowel disease and I try to give him people food like cooked chicken breast & hamburger. :-O

South Africa has been experiencing something similar to us, with many pets being sickened and dying of kidney failure. Dry foods are implicated in that disaster and ethylene glycol (anti-freeze) has been the culprit. Yet, in our American press we hear NOTHING about this!!! This is one article I found (I hope it all posts...it is long!)

March 09 2007 at 09:18AM

By Bronwyn Gerretsen

Far from being over, the contaminated pet food saga is still claiming
the lives of animals in KwaZulu-Natal - with cats now also dying from
what is believed to be ethylene-glycol poisoning.

Specialists have warned that the concerned pet food is still not
guaranteed to be safe.

Pet owners and specialists are also questioning whether the lives of
the many pets that have died from the contaminated pet food could
have been spared, had swifter action been taken to remove the food
from retail shelves.

'Had only recalled the products almost a month after it had first
heard the claims'
Juanita Visser, of Port Shepstone, has buried six of her 12 cats in
the past six weeks, all of which died of kidney failure. Her
remaining six kittens are also suffering from kidney problems.

All the cats had been feeding on the Woolworths-branded Nutrition
First cat food.

The devastated cat lover said she had bought two bags of the 2kg cat
food on January 18. Her Burmese cat, Shady, the mother of four
kittens, died of kidney failure on January 22. She had returned both
bags for a full refund the next day.

"At that point, I hadn't even heard about the contaminated pet food
issue. I had told Woolworths that as far as I was concerned, my cat
had died of food poisoning because it was the only thing that made
sense to me," she said.

Her other Burmese cat, Baby, which had had two kittens, died the
following day. Then her Siamese cat, Choco, died a week later on
January 29. Three of the kittens died a few days after Choco's death.

"The vet told me that kidney failure was hereditary in pedigreed
cats, but I was not satisfied with that response. My cats had been
completely healthy until then."

Carey Wylde-Hughes, of Hilton, has lost two cats from what is
believed to be ethylene-glycol poisoning. She has three other cats
that are very sick.

The pathology report states that the cause of her cat Princess's
death was "very likely" to have been ethylene-glycol poisoning. Her
other cat, Tiny, died of "chronic renal failure or acute renal
failure". The cats died in late February.

A veterinary surgeon said it was highly probable that Wylde-Hughes's
cats had died after eating the Woolworths cat food.

Dr Rick Lake, a pathologist at Veterinary Diagnostix in
Pietermaritzburg, agreed because all the animals he had treated had
been eating the Woolworths-branded pet food. He added that it seemed
everyone had been tight-lipped about the problem until February.

AquaNutro, the company that manufactures the pet food, said yesterday
that it had received claims from people and a veterinary surgeon
in "late 2006 and early 2007" that some of its products had allegedly
caused renal/kidney failure in dogs.

AquaNutro Managing Director Dirk van der Linde said that extensive
tests had been conducted and some products had tested positive for
ethylene-glycol. He said AquaNutro had informed its distributors and
other interested parties that tests were being conducted even before
the substance was discovered.

On why its distributors had not been informed when the claims
initially had been made, Van der Linde said he had no further comment.

Woolworths had been informed by AquaNutro that some of its pet food
could be contaminated on January 19. After conducting its tests,
which led to traces of the contaminant being found in some batches of
two dry dog food products, Woolworths recalled these as a precaution.
On why it had only recalled the products almost a month after it had
first heard the claims, a Woolworths spokesperson repeated the
company's earlier statement that it had conducted tests into the
products.

bronwyn.gerretsen@inl.co.za

I've been feeding my cats 2 of the foods on the menu foods website. I have to wonder how long this has been going on. I've had to take both my cats to the vet several times in the past for Kidney infection that the vet just can't explain. I was told it might be too much dry food, but now that I this has happenned, I realize it's probably this food. I wonder what the long term effects are.

They killed our Dog! Our Dear Abby Gayle Died last night at 10:05 pm with my wife, sons and daughter at her side. Almost 4 years old, purbred Airedale Terrier, picture perfect health record, She died of kidney failure due to eating tainted, contamiated, IAMS Dry, Green Bag, purchased from Walmart. Please people, listen, do not feed your dog any products from these recalled manufactures, wet or dry. Do you trust them, they have been hiding this for months possibly years. They have had this problem for 2 years and have still not trully fiqured out why. Please don't risk your dogs life for a quick cheap meal. If I was warned before my dear Abby got sick, I would have fed her anything, steak, chicken, rice or anything other than the poisons they are selling us.

I have called the FDA and are shipping the suspected bad food to Cornell University for tests. If anyone has any information that would help, please post. They killed our Dog!

From what I can gather the gluten link is very weak. I have found no studies linking gluten to kidney failure. Aflotoxin is associated with liver damage, not kidney damage. Heavy metals are associated with kidney damage. I am wondering if there could be a link with the use of sewege slug as a crop fertilizer. The same could be true with ethylene-glycol contamination.

Here is another site with useful information about renal failure in pets.

www.thepetcenter.com/gen/kf.html

I have thought of the Genetically Engineered link. Unfortunately there is so little available research as to health effects that I can find no information. I hope some one with more knowledge is looking into the issue.

But I did find the following which is quite disturbing. This information comes from ten years ago, but I suspect little has changed. I think it is time for a complete overhaul of our pet food industry.

www.outoftheearth.com/petfood.htm

Is it just me or is it starting to come together that lamb and rice DRY food seems to be making animals sick??!!

Is anyone still feeding their animals Nutro Dry Food? Has anyone switched? If so what did you switch to? Thanks!

cathy, we are sorry to hear that your pet is ill. Please keep us posted. I am trying to get the word out, DRY FOOD is also tainted. My dog only consumed dry IAM's, green bag, lamb and rice. Now after finding out about this through this site less than 24 hours ago, our pet has died. Please, people, if you are using dry food from any of the listed manufactures please use with extreme caution. Has anyone else experienced a problem with DRY pet foods? My 16 year old son buried our pet in the back yard last night and he is really having a problem dealing with the fact that we couldn't save her and the fact that she probably would be here with us now if the Pet food manufacturers would have notified us in December when the problem was first detected. Our hearts go out to all of you who are suffering from this blatant disregard for our pets health and safety.

There are other dogfoods that are not produce by Menuefoods that are fantastic! Blue Buffalo- AIB, Newmans, Wellness, and more non of these have wheat corn, soy or byproduct. and they are humangrade organic dog and cat food.

Please note that the Howl911 site reports that Wellness and Nature's Variety are made by Menu Foods though not part of the recall. I have no idea what this means, but I guess it's safe?? The link is in the right sidebar on the Howl911 site.

Greetings, all.

Our cat died last Thursday night and my wife and I finally put the pieces together after seeing the news stories.

Our cat was 16, and was completely healthy a couple months ago. We thought she was just getting old and it was her time.

She had all the symptoms that we read about and we did our best to comfort her last days. Little did we know we were poisoning her.

She was our family member and I am PISSED that this happened. I definitely want in on any kind of legal action. Any money I recover will go to the local pound to help animals. We cannot let this stand.

Like I said, our cat was completely healthy and probably had several good years in front of her. My wife checked the package on the pouched IAMS food and our numbers match the recall exactly.

Please e-mail if there's any info on a lawsuit or how to go about a lawsuit. I've never sued anyone before, but this has me motivated (in a bad way!). We have to hold them accountable. We both loved that cat for many years...it makes us sick to our stomachs to know we killed her with the "quality" food we were buying for her.

Learning the truth about what happened while still grieving her death has been an emotional rollercoaster for both my wife and I.

Feel free to e-mail at gkimba@hotmail.com

Thanks.

Gary

IAMS DRY FOOD

Has anyone's pet suffered kidney failure after eating Iams dry food? My dog has been recently diagnosed with early renal failure and he was eating dry Iams Lamb and Rice. I am not confident the dry food was not also contaminated to a lesser extent.

He showed many symptoms described - he would refuse to eat the Iams food, he would throw up, act lethargic, etc. Now he drink tons of water, which is consistent with compromised kidneys.

He should survive, but his quality of life might be diminished.

Spom in CA

Spom in CA Yes my dog died last nigth, she eats Iams Dry lamb and rice. keen in CA

keen@mac.com

Not quite sure there is any relevance in this. But I find it strangely coincidental. Anyway, I had a beautiful indoor cat named "Kitty" that was 7 years old, very loving, always healthy and a large animal…about 23lbs. Never had any health issues until this past November when he suddenly stopped eating. The only food that I have ever given him his entire life was Iams dry cat food. I thought he might just be tired of the flavor, so I bought another flavor of Iams dry. Still, he wouldn't eat and began loosing weight very rapidly. After trying everything to get him to eat, I brought him into the vet where they ran some blood work and determined that it was off, they said because of dehydration. They mentioned nothing of kidney problems. By January 20th, I had no choice but to euthanize him because there was nothing they could do for him. That was the most heart-wrenching thing I have ever done in my life! It all happened so quickly. When I heard about the recall, it made me think about the food since I already thought of it as being very unusual for an otherwise young, healthy and happy animal to suddenly become terminally ill. Should I question the dry food as well, or is it strictly coincidental?

-Ft. Lauderdale, FL

If you want to follow up on the entire Menu Foods recall, go to www.itchmo.com, www.petconnection.com, or www.howl911.com

B. ROSSER!!!--
Our 7 year old St. Bernard has been throwing up since opening a new bag of Beneful last week. We are not feeding this to him as of today, but I wanted to let everyone know we were using
Beneful and our dog is SICK! Plan on going to the vet tomorrow.

CH, as far as I have read, Menu Foods does not produce Fancy Feast. However, to be sure, you should contact the manufacturer. I hope your baby feels better soon!

How long after your cat has consumed the last bag of bad cat food can you stop worrying if symptoms have not shown up yet? Is it hours, days, months how long should you continue to look at your cat every 10 mins. and wonder if she could still develop symptoms,get real sick or even die? does anyone know or has there been an answer to this question yet? Is there any pattern yet as far as states affected by this? Is it all states all dated bags why aren't any of these company's addressing any of these concerns, somewhere animals lovers can see, go to get real answer to their many question right now don't any of these big company's know or care how scared we are right now for our pets.I find it so disgusting that they aren't helping us find an answer to these questions do they really not get how important this is to so many people who love their pets so much?

"Most of the products on the recall list are inexpensive "store brands," made for grocery store retail outlets under a variety of names. The major exceptions to this are Iams and Eukanuba, products recognized by most pet owners due to their healthy market share, heavy marketing, and pervasive presence in almost every pet supply chain."
-whole dog journal (www.whole-dog-journal.com)

Why do so many people think Iams and Eukanuba are quality pet foods??? Just about every pet food sold at your local supermarket, petco, petsmart, etc. is bad for your pet. just read the ingredient list!!! PLEASE RESEARCH DOG FOODS BEFORE YOU BUY! after i did extensive research shortly after getting my puppy, i stopped feeding him hill's science diet and moved my dog over to SOLID GOLD and have since rotated him on the true premium brands such as FROMMS, NATURE'S VARIETY, MERRICK, and CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE PET LOVER'S SOUL. he has done very well on all of those brands. they are more expensive than those junk brands, but you get what you pay for.

I switched my cat C.C. to Nutro pouches in September after the vet diagnosed her with VERY EARLY STAGES of kidney difficulties. They suggested a wet food with lower protein levels. Since September, she has been eating Nutro pouches everyday and is now full blown into renal failure. She has to have fluid therapy every week now and her urea and creatinine levels have doubled in the last two months. How long has this tainted food been on the market???? I have 3 other cats who pick at her leftovers and now I am going to have to have all of them tested. C.C.'s treatments since September have been well over $2000. I can't bear the thought of losing her or any of my other cats. My heart goes out to everyone that has lost their pets due to this. There is a woman in San Diego (I think) who is suing and trying to make the case a class action suit. Believe me, I WILL BE THERE and I sure I'll see all of you there too. This whole thing makes me sick.

Sorry there's a typo in my email, it's robandkate@sympatico.ca

I have been feeding two of my dogs Eukanuba dry dog food Adult Maintenance and a very small (not even a teaspoon) amount of the Eukanuba wet dog food mixed together twice a day. The third dog eats Hill's Prescription Diet RD. I have noticed the ones eating the Eukanuba, do not want to eat any more and are wasting more than eating. The one eating the Hills' RD eats his but he will eat anything plus the others dogs foods if he can get to it (and probably does not get that much). But ALL are drinking tons of water. I noticed this about two weeks ago and thought it was odd, but thought nothing more about it. Now with all the add ons (as time goes by new foods seem to be added) to the list of bad foods and conflicting stories (1) I read the Menu Foods only manufacturer wet dog food (they have a pitiful website, tells nothing of what they do) (2) there is only 1 manufacturer that makes all dog foods. AND since I can't get anyone from the places (PetsMart and Best Friends Vet Clinic) I bought these products from to tell me where THEY PURCHASE THESE FROM, I am now alarmed and will make appointments to have lab work done on all 3 dogs.

CH, Our cats both eat Fancy Feast on a daily basis (3.5 oz cans) as well as dry food (Eukanuba) and I am worried as I posted earlier. While Fancy Feast wet seems to not be on the list, I don't trust menu foods or any other manufacturer. Purina makes Fancy Feast and as of March 16th states that it is safe, fwiw. "Only Mighty Dog 5.3 ounce pouch products are being withdrawn by Nestlé Purina, including those pouches contained in multi-packs. Importantly, no Mighty Dog canned products, or any other Purina products are affected by Menu’s recall."

Just because Fancy Feast is supposed to be safe today doesnt sit well with me as it's the same type of gravy and cuts wet food and this problem seems to be much larger than they are even letting on to. Right now, they are on dry food only as we find a decent substitute (including switching thier Eukanuba dry food gradually)

Our cats show no ill effects as of today. My heart goes out to all those hurt by these corporate evil bastards that don't even feel it necisarry to go on TV and apologize or explain. I hope a boycott will force new laws and hurt the companies involved.

The only statement I found from Purina (who makes Fancy Feast) can be found here:

www.purina.com/company/press/2007/MightyDog.aspx

The attorney involved in the Chicago lawsuit , I believe is "Blim & Edelson Llc" and can be found here:

www.blimlaw.com/attorneys_edelson.htm

I highly recommend using Solid Gold pet food....it's definitely expensive, but if we all love our pets so much, we should feed them the highest quality food possible. I don't eat at McDonald's; why should my dog eat the equivalent? Cooper's protein comes from Bison and Salmon, with no wheat or corn in the bag at all. This was originally because of food allergies, but now our choice has saved his life (he used to eat Nutro)!

solidgoldhealth.com

Another brand that has no ties to Menu Foods is Merrick. It is pricey and probably not found in big chain stores, unfortunately. But when I went on their website to see if they had any statement about the recall it said that they do ALL of their own manufacturing in their own plant - no outsourcing of any kind. This made me feel a lot better. I wish that all of the other companies would be upfront about whether or not they outsource any of their production to Menu Foods, whether it is for the wet or dry food. But it seems that many companies are just skirting the question by only specifically addressing cuts & gravy style food or wheat gluten. I don't trust that these are the only dangerous foods right now, I just want to know that my cat's food has been nowhere near a Menu Foods facility.

IAMS DRY FOOD

Anyone else notice the slight change in the dry Iams lamb and rice bag? I noticed the color of the red Iams lamb and rice was slightly different. Around the same time, my dog started having his issues. I notice the texture of the kibble was slightly different. It was smoother and less crumbly.

Wonder if there were more changes than just the wheat glutin. Wonder if they picked at the most self-serving theory when this arose, hoping it would blow over if they could contain the recall.

I still believe that there are lower levels of the poison in the dry food but that the manufacturers are hoping to limit the scope of this thing.

My dog was very healthy and now has compromised kidneys - according to vet and testing. He has always been very spirited and seems to be doing OK, but now consumes ungodly amounts of water.

spom

Has anyone else had there dogs sick from High Energy DRY dog food from Nutro Natural Choice? They recommended we put our 11 month old Australian Shepherd puppy on this mixed with large breed puppy food (Nutro) to help him gain weight during his growth spurts. These foods have more protein added in to help the puppies maintain a healthy weight. Monday my sweet beautiful Hemi passed away. My husband and I are devastated and heartbroken. He was fine on Sunday. If anyone else has had this devastating experience, my heart goes out to you. I have been afraid to feed my other girls (2 Aussie's) the Nutro brand dog food and have been giving them "people food". It seems so unjust for a sweet, loving and beautiful puppy who barely has lived to be taken away. I just find it ironic that it occurs during the recall...yet I have not heard anything about dry food. Maybe it was not what killed Hemi, but I have a suspicion it was because he had just been to the vet in Oct and had a clean bill of health and he was a normal active puppy. Regardless of the fact, he was a puppy that was dearly loved and that will be missed terribly. I hope that this terrible thing will end soon with no more "loved ones" lost.

We have a lot of cats around the farm that are fed with Purina products: Purina Cat Chow and Friskies wet cans. We also feed Fancy Feast pate and minced to several older 'special' cats. In the past, I've fed my 4 on Iams canned or dry products. I lost my number one cat last summer to kidney failure, but counted it as his age and health record of repeated infections, thyroid problems, etc. He just stopped eating and started drinking a lot of water.
I can't help but wonder if this is a recurrent problem. I know we all have cats that occasionally stop eating certain foods, throw up, etc...
As alert cat owners, we need to pay more attention to their reactions to food. If they don't want to eat, maybe they are trying to tell us there is something wrong with the food.
As for IAMS, I used to feed it all the time, but the company in Dayton, Ohio was bought out in the late 1990's and the quality of the food dropped drastically. I stopped buying it on a routine basis. I suspect a lot of other 'high-end' pet food companies were also bought out by Menu Food INCOME FUND. The full name of the company certainly suggests that our pets' health is not their number one concern!

Thanks Elderta! I called them and they were very nice. They said they do share two private plants,( one for dry, one for wet) but only with Holistic and Organic pet foods. They do not have any connection to Menu foods and do not have the same suppliers as Nutro, Iams, Purina, etc. for their food.

What Pounce treats were you feeding your precious kitty? We feed ours a few of the moist ones and the cheese flavored hard ones...

I think it's been in the DRY DOG food for some time now. My mom fed her dog OLE ROY Weight Maintenance High Fiber DRY DOG food (green bag) from Walmart and IAM's DRY food as a snack. My mother lost her precious dog Angel recently and suspected she died of some type of poisioning. She had her to the vet last year and she had vomitting, diarreha and pus in her urine. The vet wanted to know what she was feeding her. Her condition rapidly deteriorated and she died within 5 days.

I just wanted to reiteriate a question - is there anywhere that says if this is acute or slow to happen? My cats split a pouch every day for, oh the last 2 years and we stopped giving them the food last saturday. I dont think they are exhibiting any symptoms right now, but when do you stop worrying? do you ever?

We cook food for them now, and feed them local raw food - Im hoping that they just hate it and thats why they dont eat it, and not because they are sick. (they seem to be using the litterbox normally.)

I hate doing this, because it isn't fair to the original site, but because I think this is a serious enough issue and we need information, and because of the link problem, I stole this from a site: Tanya's Feline CRF Information Centre (Google it to read from the source):

Acute Renal Failure (ARF) is a serious condition which usually comes on suddenly and which is often triggered by a particular event, such as your cat eating something poisonous. For example, lilies and antifreeze are both extremely toxic to cats and may cause ARF. ARF is usually treated with IV fluids and other medications at the vet's and, although it is hard to treat, if the cat survives the initial crisis, he/she can often regain much or sometimes all of his/her normal kidney function. Cats who do not regain all their kidney function may be left with some permanent damage, causing chronic renal failure.

Many of the cats affected by the Menu Foods problem do appear to be suffering from acute renal failure. In some cases, cats are falling ill very quickly after eating only one small tin of the affected food. If treated immediately, some of these cats are pulling through, but not all of them are.

If your cat is suffering from acute renal failure, whilst you may still see increased drinking, lethargy, vomiting and inappetance and other symptoms mentioned in the Index of Symptoms and Treatments, you may actually see reduced urination rather than the increased urination which is common in CRF.

Lori, I am very sorry for your loss. I'm so sorry. :(

If you still have unused food and can verify the lot numbers, that would help. Please report your loss to the FDA as well as Petconnection.com. You can find the links from the howl911.com site.

Again, I'm really sorry for your loss.

our 3 dogs eat proplan dog foods, wet and dry, senior, weight management, and adult. They are not yet on the recall list...however, my little 17 pound dog and his mother, who weighs 15 lbs., both had upper gastrointestinal infections within 3 weeks of each other....don't think it was associated with the dog food...at least I hope not, stopped eating, and drinking, throwing up foamy bile and watery, mucasy, bowels, the mother started to have only blood coming from her rectum. The symptoms came on quite suddenly within a day. Please let me know if anyone else has had this complaint...they had to be put on iv fluids and antibiotics...mommy made it through and hopefully so will the little guy..He has never been sick in the 5 years that we've had him...mommy is 9 and quite healthy also.

thanks

Consumed Consumer, it kinda sounds like you work for the company. Have you ever thought that people are jumping to conclusions because the PR for this was handled by 5 year olds? No, I didn't think so. The lack of comprehensive information, the seeming lack of disregard for the animals, the fact that the CEO only TODAY had been interviewed by the press, make people like this.

Stop shouting at people who are in pain. If you want to ease their pain and teach them a consumerist lesson at the same time, maybe your pr shouldn't be handled by a 5 year old, too.

That there are varying stories about how and when the animals were first showing signs of poisoning. What you say may have merit, but how you say it... egads.

If you are so afraid of all pet food including dry than you can cook for your pet. Feed them bland foods like chicken, boiled ground beef or rice. Although many brands are made at menu foods plants they ARE NOT THE SAME. Although I am not employeed by Iams or Eukanuba, I do know that they do manufacture food at these plants. HOWEVER, they use their own seperate equipment, their specific guidlines must be folowed etc. I feed my 11yr old cat Science Diet Senior canned. After putting her on this diet 2 years ago (she was on dry R/D)she lost 3pounds which I've been trying to do forever and her kidney levels are in a safer range. The top quality food do a lot of research and prolong many lives. This situation that they unintentionally created is heartbreaking and frustrating but these terrible things happen even when dealing with human foods.

hello my name is terrilynn im 13 and im from newfoundland .. about 3 years ago after bugging my parents they finally said yes that i could have a puppy..i was so happy the day we got him .. he was very playful cute etc etc .. i really grew attached to my dog who's name was dj... he became one of my best friends and i loved him veryy much so .. but then in his 3 year i began to notice a change in him.. he wasnt as playful and he drank a lot more than normal... he died on feb 27. my cat knew something was wrong because she was lying beside him for a nice while .. we always blamed something else for his death .. but recelnty we heard about this recall in dog food .. he had they sympthoms , he wouldnt eat , wouldnt use the bathroom, and he drank a lot more.. and just the other nite i found out it was the food he ate.. ths hurt alot .. it hurt even more than when i first found out he passed ..
my heart and soul and prayers go out to all you others in this same situion ..im crying as i write this.. here is a poem my mom made up for him followed by four feet in heaven and rainbow bridge

DJ
There is an empty place in my heart that cant be filled i cried that day you died and i guess i always will god knew you were sick so he took you away to be with the other good dogs until i see you some day.

you were my little angel who could do no wrong if somebody yelled at you id cut them down you will always hold a place in my heart but we all knew that from the start

You Are Gone Now but in my heart you will forever stay you were always the little dog that could melt my heart away there are only good memories of you my little friend so goodbye until we meet again

Four Feet in Heaven

Your favorite chair is vacant now...
No eager purrs to greet me.
No softly padded paws to run
Ecstatically to meet me.

No coaxing rubs, no plaintive cry
Will say it's time for feeding.
I've put away your bowl, and all
The things you won't be needing;

But I will miss you little friend,
For I could never measure
The happiness you brought me,
The comfort and the pleasure.

And since God put you here to share
In earthly joy and sorrow;
I'm sure there'll be a place for you
In Heaven's bright tomorrow...

- Alice E. Chase

Rainbow Bridge

Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge.

When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge. There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together. There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.

All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor; those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by. The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.

They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent; His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.

You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.

Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together....

- Author Unknown

IMPORTANT NOTICE TO ALL.

I thought I would mention this today I have been to 3 stores which still have recalled foods on the shelves, apparently they pulled the IAMS but nothing else. I told my local grocery store they had PAWS on the shelf that had UPC's that we on the Menu Foods site as being recalled and they were very nice and pulled them immediately and said "Oh that brand too? I thought it was only IAMS." So apparently they are only pulling IAMS I went to another store and found that FoodTown canned cat food was also still on shelf, but again they had pulled the IAMS. A local drugstore that has a small selection of pet food said they were not notified to pull anything off the shelves. So I urge you if you look at the recall list and remember seeing any of those brands check your local stores ASAP and get them off the shelves, enough animals have died and become ill let's save the ones we still can. I find it appalling and disgusting. They haven't mentioned specifically what brands are recalled on the TV and I think they just keep mentioning Ekanuba and IAMS when there are more. I told the store today when I pointed out the PAWS, that there were 53 brands of dog food and 42 brands of cat food..It is a big problem at least to me. I have been working and am working on making a printer friendly version of menu foods list including the UPC's and date codes/expiration dates or whatever so that it can be downloaded by anyone who wants, printed and distributed to your local grocery stores.. PLEASE help save as many furbaby's as we can.. it's heart wrenching to think this crap is still on the shelves.. Thanks to all. Will post link as soon as the file is available.

I have two very very healthy cats. I have them on a grain free diet (all of you cat lovers must know that their digestive systems do NOT process grains) and I cook fresh ground foul every evening. The dry food I have them on has never been cruelty tested on animals (as IAMS has - check the PETA site)and it is made by Prarie. There are many true non-cruelty-animal tested natural pet foods out there and other very healthy alternatives to feed your animals.
I am very saddened that a food industry has been poisening us and our animals for years and years. There is nothing worse than loosing a loved one (pet or human)due to stupidity of the government. My heart goes out to all pets and owners who are experiencing hardships and I truly hope there is a lawsuit against Menu Foods regarding this. It's the only way companies will learn and possibly take more care about what they put out there for people and animals to put in their bodies.

Info on recall

The Iowa State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory reports that autopsy and microscopic examination of tissues from affected animals indicate acute renal toxicosis including the presence of birefringent crystals, as well as other crystal formations. The effects are consistent with exposure to ethylene glycol and derivatives, mycotoxins, ochratoxin and citrinin, some heavy metals or vitamin D toxicity. At the present time the exact cause of this problem is not yet known. Investigations are continuing.

If you suspect that an animal has been poisoned veterinary toxicologists at Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine can confirm the presence of toxins in the food or samples from the pet. The Iowa State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory has the capability to analyze pet food for the suspected toxic agents described above and examine tissues from animals that have died. At least 2 cups of suspect food are needed for testing.

More information is available at the following Web Site:

www.vdpam.iastate.edu

The basic cause of the problem is not mold (thats a cop-out) but the GLUTEN additive in many of the offending pet foods. It is accepted by modern medicine that gluten can cause aserious and frequently fatal auto-immune reaction in mammalls such as cats and dogs AND humans. Cats seem to be most sensitive with dogs a close second. In humans there is a specific disease, SPRUE , also known as "Gluten Enteropathy" or Celiac Disease . Part of the sequale of this gluten induced auto-immunity can lead to kidney failure. Gluten is a cheap additive that increase the pet acceptance of the food ( eg. creates a "gravy like " appearence in the "cuts" in a pouch variety. Its my opinion that the new supplier delivered a more powerful (concentrated)toxic variety of gluten to Menu Foods - thus the epidemic like outbreak. Also it may be a cautionary note that even many of the dry varieties contain a corn gluten . Whether that is as toxic as wheat gluten remains to be proven. One thing for sure NO GLUTEN should be allowed in any animal food that should be acceptable as being safe.

My 6 year old Shar-Pei started getting ill in late November and I took him to the Vet and he was diagnosed with Kidney Failure. He died two weeks ago. He has always eaten Ol'Roy Complete Nutrition Dry dog food.

IMPORTANT MESSAGE UPDATE!!!
Printer Friendly List Available. I am looking for a free file host to make it available for DL to all but until then I will gladly E-mail it as a .doc or .rtf file to anyone interested just e-mail me @ Shandornm@wmconnect.com and put "List" in the subject line. Thank you.

This is a horrible devasating ordeal for pet owners and Menu needs to be held accountable for the losses. I would be happy to be part of any class action suit against them. My cat got ill in Januray and was diagnosed with first stage renal failure..... he had been eating Nutro Max Gourmet for an occassional treat. Thank God it was only occasionally.. he has survived but his kidneys aren't up to par. Maybe Menu would like to pay the $3000 vet bill as their method of apologizing to me.

My heart goes out to all of you who have lost your pets. Please don't hold yourself responsible or feel guilty . You were taking care of your pet providing them with food you felt was good for them. It's Menu and all of the pet food companies who don't test what they sell who killed your animal. Get angry with them. Turn you anger into constructive ways to make sure this never happens again.

This entire story is a nightmare and makes me ill.

Sherri, it makes me ill reading your ignorant post. Get educated, please.

Concerned Consumer, if Sherri's post makes you sick, you should read your own stuff. Then you would know exactly how I feel about your arrogant, self-serving and over-weaning comments. I've read your stuff on two threads here, and believe me, of all the commenters who I've encountered on Gothamist, you take the cake as the insensitive I've ever come across. And believe, I've read a lot of insensitive comments on Gothamist, far and wide. I hope your need to educate people makes you feel better, because I can tell you, you're doing one hell of a crappy job at it. Good luck with that.

Hi please see my story post #137. Please do us all a favor and CALL THE FDA with your story regardless of whether your food is on the list or not. They called me back and it seems are investigating DRY food=but you must call so they know the extent of the problem. ok, i can't post the link here but it is fda.gov, just follow the links for Complaint Coordinators.
Please do it for all of us and our babies!!!

Dearest Concerned Consumer.
You were so kind enough to respond to my post #168. I would like to bring to light that the majority of these people with sick animals are ones that are not able to afford the high cost of the vet bills for treatment. This is not the consumers fault the loved ones have got sick and are dying. It is the suppliers fault. The very least the suppliers can do is say "hey, we screwed up and did not test our ingredients before putting them in the foods we process, we should do something more than just have the food pulled." In my opinion, they should step up and assist those families affected and pay the vet bills (at the very least). Unfortunately, before any of that will happen, there DOES need to be a suit brought against them, it is the way the world works (unfortunately).

Perhaps a bit more empathy for others on this site would be appropriate from you.

And in regards to you saying I should get educated before creating a "mass hysteria", take a look around sweetie. This was already in the works before I said what I said.

Again, my heart goes out to all who are experiencing this hardship. I send you and your pet all warm loving energy.

Menu Foods should pony up and start a fund for vet bills; I read an interview with one woman who is facing the decision to have to eunthanize her beloved cat since she cannot afford the $8000 bill for the dialysis the cat will need in order to survive this ordeal.
It's so easy to obtain nutritious, healthful food for your pets, folks; the small extra cost upfront will avert possibly large vet bills in the future by preventing diabetes, allergies, kidney and dental diseases, not to mention needless suffering.

I own a pet specialty shop in east coast USA and have a background in food safety and food science. Previous to that I used to work as a buyer for a large pet food brand. I have sold Menu Foods' products in my store for many years and am in full support of their company. They manufacture for so many brands - from big to small companies and they are chosen as the top pet food manufacturer for a reason. They are ethical, quality conscience manufacturers with the best expertise in the US. It is well known in the industry that Menu Foods is one of the "good guys" in the pet food world. I will not mention who the shameful bad guys are but don't be fools people! I have returned container upon container of poor quality product and cannot tell you how many complaints I have received regarding these other manufacturers. Menu Foods has the best reputation and has the customers to prove it. Menu Foods did the right thing and the media is making them out to be killers and I can't believe how viscous people are. What on earth does the media and public know about Menu Foods before they voluntarily recalled suspect product? It is ridiculous how fast the public will slam the company because of the media.

Remember that the media are bloodhounds for bad news and a gruesome story sells better. They have taken the truth and turned it into lies.

There are a few facts that people need to bet through their heads and understand because the media is clouding it all over:
1. Menu Foods only manufactures wet pet food, so all the complaints about dry foods is the public's panic-stricken reaction to the media.
2. As per the Menu Foods Press release and the FDA, this issue is linked to a suspect ingredient used in production from a new supplier.
3. Menu Foods issued a precautionary recall once they linked this ingredient to animal health concerns, so it is possible that not all of this product recalled is unsafe, rather it is a precaution just incase the ingredient was used in this timeframe.
4. A company cannot recall products based on one complaint, they need to validate the complaint.
5. According to the pet food brands, Menu Foods has achieved some of the highest standing ratings for health and safety inspection audits in the in US. My suppliers have always stood by them and speak very highly of this company. For this reason, I believe that:

Menu Foods' customers should come forward and voice their support for this company that has manufactured their products for decades without any quality issues.

This company will only heighten their quality standards and incoming ingredient testing now that this issue has come to light. If anything, I believe that Menu Foods will most likely become the best pet food manufacturer in the future. They have my support and many others should be publicly standing behind them.

Suzan who posted #188 makes an extremly valid point. There are many foods out there that are not in pushed on us commercials or in vet offices that are excellent and healthy without the additives that you get in the pet&food store brands.

As a whole, we all need to do indepth research on what we put in our pets bodies (as well as our own bodies). Research our pets digestive systems and what they actually process and check out the ingredients in grocery store pet foods (there are alot of unpronouncable ingredients!).

Don't let the vets push you around into buying the food they supply in their offies, they get kick backs from the company they are pushing. It is all our responsibility to educate ourselves. And in doing so, we all can live longer and healthy lives.

I just wanted to put this word out there......the pet food industry is a scary dangerous place.

While that may be true, Lexie, Menu Foods' public relations on this has cost them with the public. I'm sure they worked their butts off, but the way the non-information is coming out and how they issued the recall (on a Friday) makes it seem like they are hiding something. There have been varying stories reported on how and when they first knew of this. I wish it were otherwise, but you only get one chance at it, and they kinda blew it. It's quite unfortunate for all concerned.

I am so very sorry for all those that have lost/or will love their loved pets. This is all such a nightmare for all.
So far, none of the products I've been feeding my cats is on the list, but this has raised some questions for me.
Wheat gluten....from what I've been reading, animals do not process it well anyway. It is used just to thicken gravy. Why is it there; can't they use something else, less harmful? It shows up in Friskies canned cuts. Today I've emailed Purina asking them if they plan on removing it as well as any other unneccesary, potentially harmful ingredients.
Another question, regarding any lawsuits....how many animals in feral colonies have perished that may never be counted be compensated for?
How can anyone be sure of what is in the foods when ingredients are listed as "by-products" or "artificial and natural flavorings"?
It may take some time, but I do plan on haunting as many pet food companies I can as to what goes into their foods. My heart goes out to all that has suffered losses and hope going forward any more will be as minimal as possible.
(just needed to vent a bit; thanks for listening)

Another good site for updated information is www.petconnection.com/blog. You can click on the comments section and see a very lively discussion from all over the country.

I took my two kitties to the vet to get them checked, and the vet's advice was:

DO NOT FEED YOUR PET ANY WET FOOD AT ALL, EVEN IF IT IS NOT (YET) ON THE RECALL LIST.

Additional brands are still being added to the recall list, and a poster on petconnection.com says she was told by a rep at Wellness that even their food is made by Menu Foods. We cannot be sure that any wet food is safe right now. However, my vet said I can replace the cats' wet food with meat-flavored baby food to supplement dry food. Consensus so far seems to be that Beech Nut is a popular choice.

I too find it very suspicious that dry dog food is not talked about. We had a perfectly healthy yellow lab you died suddenly on March 2nd with the exact symptoms. He ate mostly die Purina dry dog food. We have no reciepts or vet bills to prove what he ate. All we have is a fresh hole in the back yard where he is buried. I believe this is all related to the same problem. What is the best way to report this? When they decide to expand the recall list, I would like to be on record.

Keen (post 195), its people like you that irritate me.

Do you even know that by owning a pet, you assume all responsibilites that may come your way? Good or bad. So by saying that you don't have money for vet bills, what did you expect? That your pet will never, ever get sick? I can sympathize with everyone that has lost or has an ill pet, but DO NOT start a vindictive rampage against a company who has the BEST reputation for manufacturing pet food. There is a reason why Menu has a HUGE share in the wet pet food manufacturing sector. Their reputation is beyond repute.

Consider this before your next tirade:

Your cat can get sick, you dog can get sick, your fish can get sick, your ferret can get sick, your mouse can get sick, your lizard can get sick, your poney can get sick... these are unfortunate circumstances of owning a pet.

In response to Lexie's post #191:

Although it is speculated that the cause of the problem is an ingredient from a new supplier, that has not yet been proved. No one is certain yet what the cause really is. The symptoms reported in pets are similar to those caused by chemicals such as those found in anti-freeze, and the food could have been contaminated at any point in the process.

Menu Foods received the first complaints about its products in December (there is a link to an article about this in today's business section of the Canadian paper The Chronicle Herald at the Pet Connection website; I am unable to paste web links here), not in February, as they claimed to the FDA. They claim to have received complaints starting Feb. 20, began testing Feb. 27, and finally issued the recall on March 16.

You say a company cannot recall products based on one complaint. They got a lot more than one complaint. A long time ago. See previous paragraph.

As for Menu Foods' receiving such a high health and safety rating, consider this from CBS News (you can find this on the CBS News website):
"FDA has sent inspectors to company plants in New Jersey and Kansas...FDA inspectors had never before visited the Kansas plant. The FDA warned the company following a 2004 inspection of its New Jersey factory after it failed to flag food made for zoo cats of the risk of mad cow disease if the product were fed to cattle."

I'm sure you mean well, Lexie, but you seem to be misinformed.

Elderta, I am sorry if I am coming off as stern and unsympathetic. My goal was to shed some rational light without being harsh. Unfortunately because there were too many posters who simply had an unjustified vandetta against Menu Foods, my tone quickly changed.

I just hope people stop their rampage against Menu Foods as they are not the 'bad guys' in this mess. I support Menu fully, and I think it shows in their PRECAUTIONARY recall. Like I said before, I too have pets, and too have those which died. So I know exactly where you guys are coming from. So please, please excersize some rational thought before jumping to conclusions (such as suing Menu, or spreading hysteria).

CC, maybe you ought to consider this before your next tirade:

Yes, pets can and do get sick, and yes, one of the unfortunate circumstances that goes along with pet ownership is the fact that, eventually, just like the rest of us, they're going to die. Death is a fact of life. However, I fail to see how that even remotely translates into 'therefore rationality demands that you shut up and pretend this never happened'.

Maybe this isn't Menu's fault. Maybe it is. Before this can be definitively determined one way or the other, we need FACTS. Facts we don't have right now. One thing we do know, however, is that there was some sort of quality-control breakdown somewhere in the chain at some point.. and hundreds if not thousands of our pets are paying the price. That is not acceptable. If we want to prevent this from happening again, we must determine where the breakdown occurred. We need to know how, we need to know why- and we need to know how we can prevent it from happening again. If there are contaminated ingredients still in circulation, more pets- and, potentially even people, were this an ingredient that could make its way into human foodstuffs- could be at risk.

Also, because we don't know the nature of the contamination, it is ENTIRELY possible that Menu's products may not be the only ones that have been tainted. If the gluten was indeed at fault, is it still in circulation? Who else bought it? Are unrecalled items making animals sick, too? Where is the harm in discussing these things?

I don't understand your ire, and, frankly, I don't appreciate the venom. These are people who have just lost cherished members of their families. They're hurting. They're angry. They're confused. They want to know what happened to their pets. And, IMO, that couldn't possibly be more understandable.. or rational.

If you expect people to take the time to listen to what you have to say, maybe you ought to take the time to start showing them a little respect.

Insulting and belittling those who are here expressing their grief is an incredibly tactless, callous, and just plain na