Posted on 10/22/2013 10:48:04 AM PDT by Slings and Arrows
Nearly 600 pets have died and more than 3,600 have been sickened in an ongoing, mysterious outbreak of illnesses tied to jerky treats made in China, federal animal health officials said Tuesday.
Most of the cases have been in dogs of all breeds, ages and sizes, although 10 cats have been sickened, too. The pace of the reported illnesses appears to have slowed, but federal Food and Drug Administration officials are now seeking extra help from veterinarians and pet owners in solving the ongoing puzzle.
“To date, testing for contaminants in jerky treats has not revealed a cause for the illnesses,” Martine Hartogensis, a deputy director for the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine, said in the new report. “Despite these warnings, we have continued to receive reports of illnesses in both cats and dogs.”
The new numbers are up from some 500 deaths and 3,200 illnesses tallied in January, but the rate of reports has fallen sharply since then, mostly because two of the largest sellers of pet chicken jerky treats announced recalls tied to the presence of unapproved antibiotic residue detected in the products.
FDA officials don’t think that antibiotic residue is the big problem that has stumped the agency since 2007, when pet owners started reporting their animals were suffering gastrointestinal and kidney problems after eating the popular jerky treats.
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...
that’s terrible
Confirming my adage: “Never put anything from China in your mouth.”
Those things are like crack to my dogs. I bought a dehydrator and make my own now. They were a little apprehensive of the homemade ones at first, but now attack them like the Chinese ones. And I know what is going into them, at least after I buy the chicken.
My mother has a nasty little old mutt that pisses on the floor and bites people. Hope there’s still some Chinese jerky on the shelves somewhere.
Made in China. Mystery solved.
Some of the problems might be caused by food more fit for humans. Other problems could be caused by lack of exercise and other deficiencies shared with the owners of such pets.
I’m sure the chicken being imported from China for human consumption will be much safer, it will be labeled “made in America”.
Imagine the meat in china that is deemed unfit for the table and is relegated to pet food. There’s your answer.
The return of Melamine? The Chicoms sold it as a protein supplement (it fooled the chemical analysis) for pet food. It killed our Great Pyrenees in a slow horrible way, The Chicoms have a long history of poison to draw from, kind of makes you wonder what’s in all that other stuff they sell to us.
Nothing mysterious about it It says right there- "made in China."
wth haven’t they recalled these things? They are only junk food.
Beat me to it.
How long before it’s dead people from Chinese imported chicken.
We have been suspicious of any food products coming out of China and took our animals off of these things long ago.
After the zillions of incidents involving these things, why do people even still buy them for their dogs?
When go through the ‘jerky aisle’ at the pet store, I’ve got my arms and hands pressed tightly against me, as though I were walking through a forest of poisonous plants.
I won’t even buy other things for my dogs that have been in contact with the bags of jerky.
No mystery; “made in China” says it all.
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