Pet-food recall: Into our database, please!
By Gina Spadafori
March 20, 2007
Please, please, please … if you’re coming here to post about your pet, take a couple minutes to enter the information into our database. We’re being hammered by e-mails and posts on this blog with information. We can’t use your information if it’s not in the database.
Help us out on this! Yes, you should report your pet’s illness to the FDA. Yes, you should call the manufacturer, company that marketed the brand, retailer or grocer. (Good luck getting through to any of them, by the way.) But call us crazy, we think there needs to be an independent place for this to be reported, which is why we opened our database over the weekend.
So go to the database. Take a few minutes. Help us stay on top of this tragedy. Much of the media is still reporting 10 pet deaths — in essence, only those animals killed by Menu Food’s own tests. We know there are dozens if not hundreds more, but we can’t work with blog comments and e-mails. Anecdotal evidence is not going to cut it. We need names and details.
If you have a sick pet because of a recalled food, go here and enter the information. It’ll just take a minute.
Update: The frustration, sadness and anger of pet-lovers is very much matched by our veterinarians, as Dolittler’s Dr. Patty Khuly reports:
It’s already been said on this blog and now I, too, will join the growing chorus of vets: Where was the heads up? Where was the newsflash warning us of the impending storm?
Where were the emails and faxes from the pet food companies? Why was no information provided to the distributors? Why were so many vets (busy reading their Journals instead of the newspaper all weekend) blasted on Monday morning without so much as a warning? Why could I not get through on the vet-dedicated lines?
Read the rest.
Go to the latest blog post | Go to the PetConnection home page
Go to my cat’s page, I wrote it before I realized that the food killed him but it chronicles what happened to my buddy.
Comment by jared workman — March 20, 2007 @ 1:52 pm
Oh yes, he was the ONLY cat in the house that was eating the savory cuts Iams and salmon flakes wet. One of the others threw up when she ate it and would never go near it again and the other refused to touch it. The two surviving cats were eating Iams dry. Seth was eating the wet recall food. We spent 2800 or so dollars on hospital bills/tests and they said it was acute renal failure but could find no cause. Now I know.
Comment by jared workman — March 20, 2007 @ 1:54 pm
For a jaw-dropper, listen to this bit from NPR’s Day to Day, when an Ohio State vet school professor describes canned pet food as “pretty much what they’d eat in the wild.”
http://www.npr.org/templates/d.....;segNum=10
PS. Jared — they need YOU to put it in the database because they have too many cases to go through to everybody’s blog and pick up the details there. Thanks!
Comment by kabbage — March 20, 2007 @ 3:51 pm
When will the information from the database be shown? My cats ate this food two days ago and we are waiting for their labs. Would be helpful to know if any other pets were sick in our area, Long Island NY.
Comment by rob — March 20, 2007 @ 4:01 pm
Menu Foods is doing a pretty thorough job of hiding - if you look at their website, they have purged all info about their Directors and Management - obviously they are worried about lawsuits and calls from angry petowners whose cats and dogs have been killed. Fortunately, I had looked at it a few days ago, and still had the information in my cache - here it is, if anyone wants to phone or send their lawyers in…
Menu Foods Income Fund
8 Falconer Drive
Streetsville, ON
Canada L5N 1B1
Tel: 905.826.3870
Fax: 905.826.4995
* Robert W. Luba: Chairman and Trustee of the Fund, Chairman of Menu Foods GenPar Limited
* Alexander R. Aird: Trustee of the Fund, Director of Menu Foods GenPar Limited
* Serge K. Darkazanli: Trustee of the Fund, Director of Menu Foods GenPar Limited
* Eric A. Demirian: Trustee of the Fund, Director of Menu Foods GenPar Limited
* Thomas A Di Giacomo: Trustee of the Fund, Director of Menu Foods GenPar Limited
* Stephen A. Bearg: Director of Menu Foods GenPar Limited
* Margaret A. Bras: Director of Menu Foods GenPar Limited
* Robert W. Bras: Director of Menu Foods GenPar Limited
* Douglas F. Haslam: Director of Menu Foods GenPar Limited
* Fraser D. Latta: Director of Menu Foods GenPar Limited
* Douglas N. Lunau: Director of Menu Foods GenPar Limited
* Donald G. Watt: Director of Menu Foods GenPar Limited
* Paul K. Henderson: President, Chief Executive Officer and Director of Menu Foods GenPar Limited
* Mark A. Wiens: Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Menu Foods GenPar Limited
* Dr. Richard G. Shields Jr.: Executive Vice President – Technical Services of Menu Foods GenPar Limited
* Randall C. Copeland: Executive Vice President – Sales and Marketing of Menu Foods GenPar Limited
* William F. Grant: Executive Vice President – Corporate Purchasing and Logistics of Menu Foods GenPar Limited
* Christopher J. Mifflin: Executive Vice President – Operations of Menu Foods GenPar Limited
Comment by Sampson — March 20, 2007 @ 4:36 pm
A question.. if we’ve already placed a report regarding a sick pet, and said pet either recovers or passes away, do you want us to submit an update, or is that unnecessary?
My cat is going in for more bloodwork tomorrow, at which point I’ll know more.. and I certainly don’t want to jinx things.. but it appears to me that he’s made some real improvement following the switch from SQ fluids to IV therapy.
Comment by Gwen — March 20, 2007 @ 6:40 pm
Re: Sampson’s post.. information previously posted on Menu’s site can also be accessed through the Wayback Machine, for those interested. Unfortunately, most of the cached information available there is from 2002-2005 (nothing from late 2006 or 2007), but it does allow you to access quite a bit of company info that appears to still be pertinent.
Comment by Gwen — March 20, 2007 @ 6:44 pm
Petconnection really needs to get a starting tally up on their website listing number of deaths/illnesses as quickly as possible and report to as many news agencies as will listen.
News outlets all over the country are still saying only 10-14 deaths from the tainted food. I think everyone knows that is incorrect.
If you post your results, it will cross the internet like wildfire, please do this as quickly as possible. thanks, John
Comment by John Pierce — March 20, 2007 @ 7:28 pm
The “So go to the database” link in the entry above, which I presume is supposed to lead to the actual database, in actuality just leads back to the petconnection.com/blog page. It’s a loop. Please repair.
Comment by ghostrider — March 20, 2007 @ 7:43 pm
Our wonderful ten year old black labrador dog named “Crayon” died on March 6 from chronic renal disease. She was a perfectly health dog, at her last Spring check up. In December we started feeding her canned Gourmet Beef Science Diet and canned Eukanuba for Seniors, thinking she might like a change from dry food to wet food. Within a few months, we saw signs of lethargy, lack of appetite. In the last few weeks, she was losing to much weight and vomiting. We took her to our veterniarin and he injected her with fluids, to keep her from dehydrating. We finally took her to the animal hospital and tried to save Crayon by injecting fluids and vitamins into her. They took ultra-sounds, and x-rays, but it was to late, her kidneys had completely failed. My children and I were so saddened by this. I could not understand what had caused our pet’s illness. Well, I know now, and am shocked, saddened, disappointed with the Science Diet and Eukanuba pet food companies for not letting everyone know there was a problem with their pet food. I would appreciate any advise from you on what steps I should take, so this never happens again.
Comment by K. Clarke — March 20, 2007 @ 7:47 pm
My cat Charlie died January 2007 from Kidney failure. December 2006 he was a healthy 22 lbs. When he died he weighed 7 lbs. In just a month He went from being a very active cat, to hardly being able to walk down a flight of stars, or the ability to jump on the sofa. I’ve had Charlie for 15 years and I’m very angry that the preminum food I fed him which I thought was better for his health actually killed him.
Comment by Janette Lawrence — March 20, 2007 @ 8:36 pm
i thought i was doing my puppy lucas good by buying him the “good” stuff nutro, but now i see that they use the same stuff as walmart and other cheaper brands. now he is sick and he’s too young to suffer. only 8 months. does anyone know if munu foods is going to do anything about vet expenses?
Comment by kat — March 20, 2007 @ 10:19 pm
My cat, Whiskers, died March 9, 2007 of acute renal failure. When they did the kidney function test he has lost 75% of his kidney function.
The info is on my blog, but I also filled out the database. I think that an independent source collecting the info is a great idea.
My other cat Socks preferred dried cat food to the pouch food, so he is OK. We had a kidney function test preformed just to be sure. And he did throw up after eating the pouch food once.
Comment by Alasandra — March 21, 2007 @ 7:18 am
I just left this information on another blog: CLASS ACTION SUIT: I just talked to the attorney in New York and he is most interested in pursuing a class action lawsuit against Menu Foods. He gave the okay to post his name and e-mail address. I would ask that ONLY those whose animals’ illnesses/deaths REALLY are most likely attributable to the recalled foods (and have some sort of documentation to make that connection — be it veterinarians’ statements, lab work, left-over packages of the food with the correct “identifiers”) contact him. His name is Alan Sash; e-mail ASASH@mclaughlinstern.com. Obviously, he will be inundated with e-mails; I would suggest you include your name, address, and telephone numbers and a SHORT synopsis of what happened to you. Also, he told me that there will be a segment on ABC News tonight regarding the whole issue. Again, PLEASE only contact him if you really believe you have a case against Menu Foods.
Comment by Linda L. Tinker — March 21, 2007 @ 12:00 pm
Can somebody please tell me what to feed my cats?
All were on Science Diet because one has a history of Feline Urologic Syndrome and my vet has always (and still continues to) swear by Science Diet.
She says to just avoid the recalled products- but at this point I am terrified to give them anything that has any connection with Menu Foods.
Is there a good brand- not made by Menu for cats with a history of FUS but still ok for non-FUS kitties to eat (my 2 other cats do not have the problem)
Thanks
Comment by nicole — March 21, 2007 @ 2:08 pm
I reported my dog’s death here, with Menu Foods, and I will contact the FDA in the morning. I was hoping to solicit some feedback from any knowledgeable individual.
Bonnie and Clyde are 9 year old German shorthair pointers with a little English in them. Bonnie developed a bad back a few years ago, but other that that both dogs were very healthy. In December she and her brother, Clyde became hesitant to eat their food. I fed them Natural Choice lamb and rice kibble, but I always mixed in a couple tablespoons of wet food as a treat. It is one of the cuts and gravy brands on the recall list.
On December 19th I took the dogs to the vets to get some booster shots. Bonnie weighed 57.6 lbs, but weighed 47.8 lbs on January 4th when I realized she was sick and even less the day she died.
On December 20th, Bonnie had explosive diarrhea. I wasn’t concerned initially; I just figured she ate a bird or two. That afternoon I came home for lunch to let the dogs outside and Clyde had thrown up all over the floor (Bonnie was crated, so I know it was Clyde.) Again, I just figured they had eaten a bird or something.
I boarded the dogs from December 21st through December 26th for the holidays. The Pooch Palace feeds their guest dry kibble, so the dogs were not exposed to the potentially tainted foods during this time. When I returned home I went back to feeding the dogs dry kibble with a little canned food for flavor.
On January 2nd Bonnie started throwing up. I tried feeding her a bland diet of cottage cheese and rice, but she continued to throw up, so I got her into the vets on Jan. 4th. Her pancreases enzymes were elevated, but she responded to IV therapy quickly. The diagnosis was pankreatitis. She was sent home a new dog the afternoon of the 5th. That lasted for about twenty minutes, and then she put herself to bed.
The evening of the 5th she had know interest in food, but was drinking plenty of water. I hand fed her a 5.5 oz. can of prescription food the vet gave me, but she really did not want the food. The next morning she started projectile vomiting. I started paging the vets. While I waited for no return call, she went outside. She was arching her back like a cat, tip towing around, trying to poop. Only the smallest piece of poop came out. Of course, she had not held much of anything down for 4 days this point.
I gave up on my vet and rushed her to the only animal hospital in town. During the 10 minute drive to the hospital, she started wrenching the mucus, then it looked like her insides were trying to come out. She continued this wrenching for the next hour and twenty minutes while we sat in the middle of the lobby waiting to be seen.
She was admitted around noon. By 4:30 she was dead. She had gone into cardiac arrest. I did not have an autopsy done. The vet was as shocked as I was. I remember her muttering “They normally don’t die from this (pankreatis.)” The other thing that I remember her telling me was that Bonnie’s enzyme count was 5000 and that a high count would be in the 500’s and she couldn’t believe Bonnie’s count.
I stopped using the canned food when Bonnie died. Clyde has lost 5 lbs. Chalk it up to depression and all the long walks we have been taking. But he still is hesitant to eat his food, just like they both were before Bonnie died. He creeps up on it and sniffs, then quickly walks away. Tonight’s dinner has been in the bowl for four hours.
This is what I think. I think I was feeding my dogs about 4 tablespoons of toxic canned food a day for a couple of weeks. I think they got a reprieve from the toxic food when I boarded them. Is it a possibility that a consistent low level of a toxin could cause this sudden acute pankreatitis?
Comment by Eilene Haines — March 22, 2007 @ 9:46 pm