I have seen hundreds of reports of pets who got sick or died - from eating (mostly dry) food that has not been recalled - posted on various sites online. Many of us have been told by FDA officials that they have also received numerous reports of other unrecalled foods causing illness. However, the foods which people keep complaining about have not been recalled. So I'll be doing what I can to 'shine a light' on these reports and complaints, in the fervent hope that as more people become aware of the problem it will be addressed.
None of these foods have been recalled, and the problems reported may very well have been temporary, and/or may have nothing to do with the current round of recalls.
And, I do think these foods need to be thoroughly tested for all possible contaminants (Melamine and the Melamine Compounds including Cyanuric Acid, as well as excess Vitamin D, Aflatoxin, Aminopterin and Acetominophen) - and the results must be made public.
Recently, there was an article about Nutro dry foods (see here), and an entry about Iams (see here). Reports/comments for those brands are listed in those posts.
This post is for the other foods that people have been reporting. I've been reading these online for many weeks now, and since it seems like many people only look on one or two sites for their information, I'm posting them here to increase awareness, and so that the full scope of the issue is understood better. There are foods out there that still need to be recalled!
These are just a few of the comments that other people have posted online, on other websites, forums and blogs. I am providing links to them so you can check them out for yourself. In most cases I have posted a portion of the comment and you can click the link to read the rest. I've tried to include links from different sites - in most cases there are multiple stories on the same site.
Note that I've left the Quote Marks off to make it easier to read. Everything under a link is from the original poster. Where there is a '...' it means I've edited some of the post. Again, click the links to see the full post.
Disclaimer: These are reports by people like yourself who posted online (or emailed me) that they believe a certain food made their pets sick. This information is simply for you to use as part of making an educated difference about what products you purchase - both for yourself and your pet. None of these foods have been recalled, and the problems reported may have nothing to do with the current round of recalls! If your pet has eaten any of these foods and got sick, please report it to the company and FDA! Some people have been told that the FDA will only test additional foods when they receive enough complaints about it. So if you have a complaint, please contact your local FDA office. http://www.fda.gov/opacom/backgrounders/complain.html
And please, feel free to add your own story in the comment section, or email me with it. (I still have a bunch of emails to work my way through, so it might take me a while to respond but I will get back to you.)
In no particular order... (more coming soon)************************************************************************************
http://boards.msn.com/MSNBCboards/thread.aspx?threadid=232979>1=9145&boardsparam=Page%3D24
Last month my one-year-old Yorkie became violently ill with bloody diarrhea after eating from a new bag of Purina Pro-Plan dry dog food. The vet put him on antibiotics and a diet of hamburger and rice. The diarrhea immediately stopped. After 7 days, I reintroduced the dog food by mixing in a small amount with the hamburger/rice. The bloody diarrhea started again. I discontinued the dog food and continued the antibiotics and hamburger/rice for 3 more days. I purchased a NEW bag of Purina Pro Plan and this time my Yorkie was fine. I was convinced that the original bag of dog food was contaminated, so I contacted Purina. Their insurance carrier contacted me 2 days later and sent me a check for my vet bill and medicine.
Purina One Dry Dog Food
http://hubpages.com/hub/Pet_Food_Recall_What_About_Our_Dead_Pets_And_Vet_BillS
I lost my dog on saturday of kidney failure. SHe was a healthy 8 yr old papillion. She ate Purina one dry dog food. ... IT was horrible and came on so sudden. My other dog ate the same food and seems to be okay, however she is much larger. I have spent almost 3 thousand dollars in 3 days and I have no answers. ...
http://www.itchmo.com/read/voluntary-dry-food-reports_20070328#comment-8629
I fed my dogs Purina One dry dog food and in November, within a few days of each other, my 2 beautiful babies were both being treated for kidney failure. Our vet could not explain it, as they had both been healthy. After multiple hospital visits and treatments, November 27th I lost my beautiful .... Early Christmas morning, my once strong ...made his last visit to the emergency hospital. ...
More Purina reports here (the post is originally from the 2005 Purina recall, but the comments are from the past few months) http://www.doggienews.com/2005/02/purina-recalls-pet-food.htm
Beneful Dry Dog Food
Numerous reports at this site: http://quikonnex.com/channel/item/26035
And even more reports here: http://quikonnex.com/channel/item/26568
Attempts to get Beneful recalled here: http://www.doggybling.com/newsarticle.php?id=1110
More info here: http://www.doggybling.com/newsarticle.php?id=1099
California Natural (Natura Pet) (Added 6-9 1pm Email to PetFoodTracker)
I contacted them on March 22 to ask them if they had changed their formula for California Natural (Chicken and Rice) Dry Dog food. I have 3 golden retrievers and after opening a new bag one by one, all of them had diarrhea and 2 had vomiting. The 2 with the vomiting required vet care and the vet said it was something that they ate. I switched them all over to real chicken and rice and they were ok. I bought another bag of California Natural and when they all started to have diarrhea again, I pulled them off the California Natural and they are getting real chicken and rice.
More foods, comments and links will be posted as I have time...
Added: Looking for 'safe' foods? Check out www.thepetfoodlist.com .
12 comments:
I agree with this completely, thanks for the post.
My cat was eating Prescription Diet i/d exclusively and when I opened and started a new bag of it in late March, he became sick. He died on April 02,2007 and I am absolutely positive that the Prescription i/d killed him -- it contains "corn gluten". He was poisioned to death!!!!!
Diane Daigle
Oh Diane, I am SO sorry for your loss. {{{{{HUGS}}}}}
My heart breaks for you and everyone else who is still suffering through this madness.
Do you have the bag and/or any of the food from that bag? If you do, please email me. pft @ playingbig.com
And again, I'm so very sorry about your cat.
I am devastated and in tears reading the comments. We have 2 Golden boys who up until a little over a month ago was fed the Beneful when we decided to switch and have Champion Foods brand Orijen shipped to us.
They were fed the Beneful for approx 3 months because it was not on the recall list and due to our current situation (not being near a pet store) it was convenient. I was completely unaware of its effects until I stumbled upon your blog.
I am sickened with the thoughts of "what if..." Looking back I remember one of our boys vomited bile on more than one occasion and both had started to turn their nose up come feeding time. I am deeply grateful that our boys are alright but my heart goes out to all those who have had to suffer needlessly.
My cats had gained a little weight over the past few months after pre-emptively pulling them off Royal Canin Light for Indoor cats (this product is *not* part of any of the RC recalls). I put them on Evo dry and alternated between Evo canned and Purina ProPlan Select canned, so based on the ingredient labels, they were getting no wheat, corn, or soy gluten or fillers, concentrates, etc. I do control the amount they eat especially since these foods are not light or reduced-calorie formulations, but I guess they were still getting more calories than needed. While I realize that maintaining a good weight is a health issue, frankly, given the current reality of the food supply, I'd rather have slightly overweight pets than sick or dead ones. Both are about 2 years old and have no health issues or problems.
At the latest vet visit (annual check-up), my vet wanted to get the cats back on track with their weight and gave me samples of Royal Canin Vet Rx Calorie Control/High Protein forumla--pouches and dry kibble. The cats liked both, and I gradually added the Calorie Control Dry to the Evo. They seemed to be doing well, and I then purchased some of each.
Well, upon eating the brand-new dry and wet calorie control food, one cat regurgitated both types, and my other cat (who does have somewhat of a sensitive tummy) had somewhat loose stools. The Royal Canin Vet Rx diets contain gluten and while my cats did okay on the samples provided by the vet, they didn't on brand-new food. I reported everything to my vet, had my cats checked (they are okay), and have put them back on a no-gluten diet.
Again, I want to reiterate that the Royal Canin products I have used have NOT been part of any recall.
I have been very very lucky--and that's all it is right now, sheer luck, especially since the FDA has now allowed tainted food to enter the (human) food chain and apparently not all recalled foods have been pulled from stores.
I'm done with the fillers. They're toxic.
M. Katz
I would like more information from the person that talked about California Natural. I, myself, have a dog that we have big money in, that was vomiting 2 times a day since April 2. I was feeding the California Natural Chicken and Rice food. He was diagnosed after an endoscope with severe ulcers and Inflamed Bowel Disease. This was a dog that was perfectly healthy and active showing in obedience, agility and hunt test but went down hill fast after feeding the food. He was only on this food for 3 months. Two days after we took him off the food he was not vomiting anymore. We have a long recovery due to the surgery and intestial problems. I'm very upset as this was the best show dog I have seen in years and now his career is probably done. So any further information we can transfer back and forth would maybe help me help my best friend regain his health. Thank you.
Let me say, I found this site by accident, but I'm very glad that I did.
I want to share my story that has unfolded in the last week, and I am extremely concerned about.
I recently went to a local pet store, and found that they didn't carry my normal brand of pet food. I talked to a girl there, and she recommended "Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover's Soul" dry, adult formula. She told me that it was great for dogs who have sensitive stomachs, which my one dog does.
So I bring the food home, and it's a hit with my pups. However, I noticed that my dog who has a more sensitive stomach started eating a lot more grass, and having diarrhea. Now, at first I chalked this up to her just being sensitive, and that perhaps the food wasn't as mild as it needed to be for her.
My other dog I often joke has a stomach of steel. She can eat almost anything, and almost never gets sick. Well, starting on Wednesday, two days after the new food was introduced, I started coming home to accidents on the floor (Which is completely unusual for my dogs), and little spots of throw up. Again, unusual. I thought it was my dog with the sensitive tummy, so we stopped feeding the wet food (Alpo). But by Thursday, we figured out that something was wrong. The only thing that we could come up with is that we changed food. We immediately stopped feeding them this food on Thursday.
Thursday night was horrific. My dog, with the stomach of steel, fell ill. She started throwing up, shaking, and was lethargic. This happened in the middle of the night. We sat up with her all night, and gave her some holistic digestive upset medicine, which calmed her tummy and made her able to sleep. On Friday morning, she started bouncing back to her normal self. One day after stopping this food. I have a vet appointment scheduled for Monday.
I called the pet store, only to find out that I am not the only one who as encountered this problem with this food. One of the workers had the same thing happen to her puppies. The same thing- As soon as she stopped feeing them this food, they returned to their normal selves.
I have a call in with Diamond Foods, the makers of Chicken Soup, but no one has returned my call as of Saturday. I've read on the internet that other pet owners have run into problems with Diamond foods, that they have been downplaying the severity of the intestinal upsets. They're denying that there is any problem at all. They are putting blame on the pet owners. But how can it be just coincidence that both my dogs fell ill after eating this food, and that other pet owners are experiencing similar problems?? Now, I'm not saying that all diamond foods are bad, but I am concerned that perhaps not all affected foods have been successfully recalled. I feel that I'm extremely lucky that my dogs have bounced back, but I'm concerned that on Monday at the vet, we might find that there are some serious problems still lingering. I am glad that my fiance and I had enough sense to stop feeding my dogs this food, because otherwise, I don't know what would have happened.
I recently purchased Alpo Prime Cuts DRY food for my two dogs (one large old dog and one small young dog). They are both having diarrhea now. The smaller dog has had it uncontrollably, even going in his crate when left in there for only an hour. We are switching them back to Beneful, and hopefully things will improve. We have had to bathe our little dog 3 times in 2 days because of the mess. :( Poor little guy.
I understand that switching food can cause stomach upset. This is pretty severe, though, so I'm worried!
I switched my cats to Purina One regular and urinary tract care. One jUst died oF kidney failure and the other is dieing. They were both healthy cats few short months ago. I would like to send this food off for testing. Can anyone tell me who to send it to?
Please contact me at lmorris@indy.rr.com
I believe that Purina One Special Care Advanced Nutrition Hairball Formula was responsible for making my 100% indoor cats vomit excessively.
Sometime in Feb. 2008, I purchased a bag of that dry cat food from my local grocery store. Every day found me cleaning up 8 - 10 vomit spots from the floors. I observed each of the cats vomiting off and on at 1 time or the other but one in particular seemed to be doing it the most. I took him to the vet but I couldn't afford the tests she wanted to have done (blood tests and Xrays).
I took him home and gave some thought to the pet food recalls of last year, even though Purina wasn't on the recall list. I did a lot of Internet searching and discovered that some ingredients listed in this bag of cat food are considered bad for cats even under normal circumstances when poison(s)of some sort isn't mixed in with it.
I decided to take them totally off of the Purina to see what would happen.
Within 24 hours of taking my cats off of this Purina food, the vomiting stopped!
I contacted Purina via an email form on their website and informed them what happened. They basically apologized, said that my experience with their product wasn't typical, without having a sample to examine they wouldn't be able to explain with certainty why my cats vomited and offered to send me coupons.
I responded and thanked them for their reply, let them know I still have the left over food (in case they were serious about examining it), informed them of the exact name, size of the bag, Best By date and UPC number and sent them a link to one website where people have posted about their experiences with Purina pet foods.(Oh - and I also turned down the offer for the coupons !)
My reply to Purina was March 17, 2008.
I have not heard back from them. I guess they weren't very serious about examining a sample after all ?
I contacted the FDA - something that I have never done before in my life.
I am uncertain as to how to proceed from here. I have absolutely no idea how or where to get this feed tested or anything.
It's been approx. 5 weeks now since I have taken them off of that cat food and no vomiting since then.
I hope that no permanent damage has been done.
I feel much sadness for those that have experienced the needless loss of their beloved pets. :(
Royal Canin was recommended to me for my cat but upon looking at the ingredients i found the words "meal" which is code for "by product" which is code for non meat parts of animals and euthanized cats and dogs sold to pet food co's to create meat-by-product. STAY AWAY from any animal food that lists "meal" or "by product" as an ingredient.
oh forgot to add that I emailed Royal Canin and asked what Chicken meal meant exactly and never heard back from them and it's been 6 months.
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