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http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6488991,00.html

Pet Owners Worry About Food Recall

Sunday March 18, 2007 1:16 AM


By MATTHEW VERRINDER

Associated Press Writer

UNION, N.J. (AP) - Pet owners were worried Saturday that the pet food in their cupboards could be deadly after millions of containers of dog and cat food sold at major retailers across North America were recalled.

Menu Foods, the Ontario-based company that produced the pet food, said Saturday it was recalling dog food sold under 48 brands and cat food sold under 40 brands including Iams, Nutro and Eukanuba. The food was distributed throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico by major retailers such as Wal-Mart, Kroger and Safeway.

An unknown number of cats and dogs had suffered kidney failure and about 10 died after eating the affected pet food, the company said.

Meanwhile, two other companies - Nestle Purina PetCare Co. and Hill's Pet Nutrition Inc. - announced Saturday night that as a precaution they were voluntarily recalling some products made by Menu Foods.

Many stores that sold the affected brands frantically pulled packages off shelves.

At a Petsmart store in Union, Silviene Grzybowski became worried when the four types of Iams products she buys for her cat, Smokey, had vanished from shelves. The cat was very sick and had not been eating for days, she said.

``The vet told us to buy her her favorite food, but I'm going to call the vet right now,'' Grzybowski said, looking at an announcement Petsmart had taped to shelves announcing the recall.

Ron Finegold of Boynton Beach, Fla., said he noticed about a week or so ago that his family's 3-year-old cat - who was regularly fed a variety of Iams cat food - had stopped eating and did not appear well. He quickly took the animal to the veterinarian, who determined she was in renal failure.

He said he heard about the recall on the radio Friday night. He checked his trash, and found out he had given the cat some of the affected food.

``That's when I realized (the illness) had to be related,'' Finegold said. ``She won't be eating that stuff anymore.''

A complete list of the recalled products along with product codes, descriptions and production dates was available from the Menu Foods Web site, http://www.menufoods.com/recall. The company also designated two phone numbers that pet owners could call for information - (866) 463-6738 and (866) 895-2708 - but callers kept the lines busy for much of Saturday.

Menu Foods' chief executive and president Paul Henderson told the Associated Press on Friday that the company was still trying to figure out what happened.

He said that the company had received an undisclosed number of owner complaints that dogs and cats were vomiting and suffering kidney failure after eating its products. He estimated that the recall would cost the company, which is mostly owned by the Menu Foods Income Fund, an estimated $26 million to $34 million.

Sarah Tuite, a company spokeswoman, has said the recalled products were made using wheat gluten purchased from a new supplier, which has since been dropped for another source. Wheat gluten is a source of protein.

Food and Drug Administration spokeswoman Julie Zawisza said it is still too early to determine what could have affected the food. Zawisza added that even if wheat gluten is the source ``it doesn't necessarily mean the wheat gluten per se. It could be another substance associated with the wheat gluten.''

The recall covers the company's ``cuts and gravy'' style food, which consists of chunks of meat in gravy, sold in cans and small foil pouches from Dec. 3 to March 6.

In Omaha, Neb., Susan Balvanz said she sometimes feeds her five cats packets of sliced meat and gravy sold by Nutro Products, one of the brands affected.

``I've done so much research on pet food. It didn't surprise me but it scared me all the same,'' said Balvanz.

She said her 9-year-old cat, Boots, was especially fond of the food but seemed to have lost its appetite in the last few days.

At the Missouri Valley Veterinary Clinic in Bismarck, N.D., veterinarian Jacob Carlson has been referring worried pet owners to the Menu Foods web site.

``We've had a lot of calls,'' Carlson said, although none of his patients were sick.

The company said it makes pet food for 17 of the top 20 North American retailers. It is also a contract manufacturer for the top branded pet food companies, including Procter & Gamble Co.

---

 

[Mercurial]

Natural Balance for my cat. Whew.

 

[jamesinclair]

So dry food is ok?

 

[X26]

My older cat eats nutrience and my kitten purina, so in other words...

 

[Stuggernaut]

Ya know....this kind of annoys me.

I had TWO cats die in last 16 months. Both had these types of symptoms. And now a 3rd cat is sick.

The first was sick as a kitten so we thought it just was a relapse.

The second was older had we rescued it from a pretty rough life.

This third sick one is pretty old so we just figured she was getting old.

All three have had kidney failing issues. And now I have to wonder. We used Iams, Eukanuba, and Science Diet over the course of them being sick. We kept changing because they were throwing up and Vets told us to switch food.

Seriously annoyed right now.

 

[emomoonbase]

Poor kitties

 

[goodcow]

So dry food is ok?

I hope so.

My cat gets wet organic foods, but dry Nutro Senior Max.

 

[My Arms Your Hearse]

Someone I know from another forum bought some of this stuff recently and his older cat has developed kidney failure and his young cat has gone totally blind.

 

[Pimpbaa]

All my cat eats is dry whiskas cat food and tuna (and she is old and still really active). But this really sucks. These assholes need to pay, hope their is a massive class action lawsuit against them.

 

[gprime]

This is pretty scary. My friends cat, very young, probably 5 months old, got very sick out of nowhere too and they had to had to give it away. (His exact words, not sure if that means they had it put down or what).

 

[Nikashi]

**** Iams website is down but I think all our wet food is just the pate and not the chunks in gravy.

 

[Pellham]

oh ****, i feed my cats nutro brand catfood...

 

[Stinkles]

**** Iams website is down but I think all our wet food is just the pate and not the chunks in gravy.

Go to www.menufoods.com there's a by species list.

Also, I am betting on a storm in a teacup total nonstory. 10 pets? This is more than 50% of ALL pet food in the US. 10 pets. It's not even a blip.

 

[Rorschach]

I never liked those packet things...

The image of unknowingly giving cats something that's gradually killing them is just so heartbreaking.

Ya know....this kind of annoys me.

I had TWO cats die in last 16 months. Both had these types of symptoms. And now a 3rd cat is sick.

The first was sick as a kitten so we thought it just was a relapse.

The second was older had we rescued it from a pretty rough life.

This third sick one is pretty old so we just figured she was getting old.

All three have had kidney failing issues. And now I have to wonder. We used Iams, Eukanuba, and Science Diet over the course of them being sick. We kept changing because they were throwing up and Vets told us to switch food.

Seriously annoyed right now.

That so sad.

Go to www.menufoods.com there's a by species list.

Also, I am betting on a storm in a teacup total nonstory. 10 pets? This is more than 50% of ALL pet food in the US. 10 pets. It's not even a blip.

Redirects you to the iams website...which has nothing on it that I've seen about recalls...I guess you have to call the number.

 

[Duck of Death]

This is the one time I am glad my cat is fussy and won't eat anything besides Fancy Feast.

Every other time though. . . stupid cat's food is more expensive than my own. :lol

 

[Stinkles]

I never liked those packet things...

The image of unknowingly giving cats something that's gradually killing them is just so heartbreaking.

That so sad.


Redirects you to the iams website...which has nothing on it that I've seen about recalls...I guess you have to call the number.

Weird - works for me:

cats: http://www.menufoods.com/recall/product_cat.html

dogs: http://www.menufoods.com/recall/product_dog.html

 

[goodcow]

This is the one time I am glad my cat is fussy and won't eat anything besides Fancy Feast.

Every other time though. . . stupid cat's food is more expensive than my own. :lol

Um... Fancy Feast is garbage, and has meat by-products.

Give your cat something good.

 

[Rorschach]

Weird - works for me:

cats: http://www.menufoods.com/recall/product_cat.html

dogs: http://www.menufoods.com/recall/product_dog.html

meant when you actually click on the iams link. Other links work...

 

[ManaByte]

Whew. Good thing I feed my cat the dry Iams. Was worried for a second. Looks like it's all wet food right now.

 

[Spastic Colon]

"Now be a good kitty, eat your food and sacrifice yourself for my class action lawsuit. That's a good kitty"

 

[Pellham]

So if your cats or dogs die can you sue them?

 

[Tarazet]

Meow.

Pretty sure my kitties at home are being fed Purina and Friskies, which are both made by the Nestle company..

 

[mollipen]

According to MSNBC's homepage, the FDA has just announced this morning that it sounds like wheat imported from China that was tainted with rat poison (a kind illegal in the U.S.) is the cause of all of this. (The wheat is used to thicken the wet dog/cat food.) Supposedly some sort of official statement coming from the FDA in about an hour.

 

[Baker]

Science Diet + Farm King = my dog is still alive.

 

[goodcow]

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=2975912&page=1&US=true

March 23, 2007 — ABC News has learned that investigators have determined that a rodent-killing chemical is the toxin in the tainted pet food that has killed several animals.

A source close to the investigation tells ABC News that the rodenticide, which the source says is illegal to use in the United States, was on wheat that was imported from China and used by Menu Foods in nearly 100 brands of dog and cat food.

Watch "World News" for full details on the extent of the poisoning.

A news conference is scheduled for this afternoon by experts in Albany, N.Y., where scientists at the state's food laboratory made the discovery a week after a massive recall of 60 million cans and pouches was issued.

The chemical is called aminopterin.

What investigators can't say so far is whether this is the only contaminant, if it is in all of the recalled food, or if it's in enough quantity in to sicken more animals.

There is some good news according to the source. Knowing the chemical should aid veterinarians who are treating animals that have been sickened by the pet food.

Aminopterin is used in the United States in, of all things, a cancer drug, according to the source.

For a week, investigators have been looking for a cause behind the 15 confirmed pet food deaths tied to contaminated pet food. Many animal doctors, including those at New York's Animal Medical Center, suspect there will be a much larger rash of cases after they learned about an additional 200 reported cases of kidney failure in animals.

Doctors at the hospital, which is considered the Mayo Clinic of veterinary medicine, say they noticed the kidney failure while studying sick animals from last Friday to Monday, and traced the cases back to the 60 million cans and pouches of recalled food from Menu Food.

"I was shocked and surprised — acute kidney failure is not a common problem," veterinarian Cathy Langston told ABC News. "I've already heard about 200 cases, and so I bet that there are probably going to be thousands."

So far, the government and the pet food maker, which sells food under 91 brand names, have confirmed 15 deaths. But the investigation to locate the toxic contaminant that caused the kidney failure in animals had not pointed to a cause until today.

"This is very much like finding a needle in a haystack," Don Smith of the Cornell Veterinary School said earlier this week. "We're going to keep working at this until we find the cause."

Investigators had already begun looking at the possibility that a pesticide or chemical may have been on the wheat used to produce the Menu Foods dog and cat food.

The Food and Drug Administration, which was notified of the tainted food one day before the recall, said it's frustrated and realizes the growing crisis is an emotional one.

"This is tragic," said Stephen Sundolf of the FDA's Veterinary Medicine group. "It is certainly uncommon. We expect pet food to be safe."

And it's a crisis, if the New York hospital is right, that may not end for weeks.

"I'm worried that there are more deaths to come from chronic renal failure over the next several months," Langston said. "It's not over."

 

[borghe]

I feel horrible for anyone who has gone through this. Luckily we use dry food for all three of our pups which AFAIK is safe from this. They had some poor old guy on TV earlier in the week and he couldn't even do the interview. He just kept crying. I don't get why they would even put him on like that. This really sucks.

I am usually pretty devastated when we lose a pet. Luckily we have only lost one over th past 11 years. Though we now have two cats that are seniors. Our dogs are all under 3 years so they should have some time left to go. Just heartbreaking.

 

[DarienA]

My daycare provider had a young pup die earlier this year.

The doctors couldn't figure out what happened. He got really sick one day just out of the blue right after eating...I remember her telling me. They took him to the vet, paid all of this money to get tests done and stuff. The vet said they couldn't tell exactly what was wrong; they thought there was some sort of infection in his colon or something. He died two days later. It was sad.

Time for a class action lawsuit.

 

[RumFore]

I wonder how many are now going to try and kill there pets to get in on this lawsuit.

 

[Mute]

Um... Fancy Feast is garbage, and has meat by-products.

Give your cat something good.

Well, at least it's not killing his cat, right?