Posted on 01/06/2006 9:58:51 PM PST by crushelits
At least 100 dogs in the United States have been killed in recent weeks by toxic pet food despite a recall of the products, scientists said today.
Some 19 brands of Diamond, Country Value and Professional dog foods have been recalled. But many pet owners are not aware of the recall, researchers at Cornell University said Friday.
Dogs have refused to eat the food and, in some cases, their owners have enticed them with gravy and other lures without knowing they were killing the animals.
"Entire kennels have been wiped out, and because of the holiday these past few weeks, the dispersal of recall information was disrupted," said Sharon Center, a professor of veterinary medicine who specializes in liver function and disease at the College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell.
The dog food is tainted with deadly aflatoxins that waste the liver away. The bad food could be present in a dozen other countries, too, the researchers say. About two-thirds of dogs that show symptoms from the toxin have died.
The dogs seemed to know their food was deadly.
"Some dogs were stealing food from the kitchen counter," Center said. "Others just stopped eating the food and begged for treats. Unfortunately, some owners used gravy and other mixers to entice their dogs to consume what they thought was safe, quality dog food."
Only about two dozen deaths have been firmly linked to the tainted pet food. But Center and her colleagues know the toll is far higher.
"Every day, we're hearing reports from veterinarians in the East and Southeast who have treated dogs that have died from liver damage this past month or so," Center said. "We're also concerned about the long-term health of dogs that survive as well as dogs that have eaten the tainted food but show no clinical signs."
Surviving dogs may develop chronic liver disease or liver cancer, she said.
"Despite our understanding of this complex toxin, we have no direct antidote," Center said.
Symptoms arise over days or weeks. Early signs include lethargy, loss of appetite and vomiting. Later, look for orange-colored urine and jaundice, which is a yellowing of the eyes and gums. Severely affected dogs produce a blood-tinged vomit and bloody or blackened stools.
More information is available at a Cornell web site. The details of the FDA recall are here.
Also here: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1549635/posts
I once opened a package of sliced salami to make a sandwich. I handed the dog a piece, when she refused to eat it I threw it all into the garbage.
Heh... if they won't eat lunch meat, it's baaaad.
You are more generous than I. How can anyone be a pet owner and not notice the extraordinary talents of their animal? If the animal doesn't eat-- its because there is a very good reason. Bad food is one of them.
I did the same thing with tuna and my cat. On a normal day, she would NEVER refuse tuna. Why take the risk?
That's one good lookin' pup. What breed is he?
Glad to hear it. Oh - and he wants IN!
In all fairness, cats are well known for their fickleness about food. One day they love a brand or flavor, the next they refuse to touch it.
My current Korat fellow likes his food a bit too well for that nonsense, but the 2 tabbies I had before him would do things like that every so often and I wouldn't have thought anything of it...just them doing their thing again.
Doesn't excuse the dogs, but I can understand with the cats.
There is such a thing as a finicky dog as well...
I've never owned one, mind you, but I have friends swear to me they've had dogs who won't eat. :~D
Hair I Don't have a link but...
My local paper here on the Oregon Coast reminds us that after a storm do not mix with the beach/stream water for at least two days due to bacteria that can lead to GI and other bugs.
Does this effect our pets too?
One would think.
I just want to say how terrible for the pets and their owners that this happened, but it is something we humans should watch out for too, as they say this is likely what affected those who were subsequently persecuted and put to death as witches in Salem, Massachusettes during the witch trials. I have read that there was probably a bad batch of aspergillis fungus that made the people act nutso, and they paid with their lives too.
As for whether or not there are non-corn based foods for our pets,we use Nutro Nuggets that we get either at Petsmart or at our local feed store, it has meat(lamb, beef or chicken) as the #1 ingredient, and they have both cat and dog dry food. We have three couch critters that love the Natural Choice variety. Our one cat, the supreme ruler of all animals within our home, will not eat anything other than Whiskas, so I let her have her way. Nutro is a little more expensive, but more than makes up for that in that the dogs have firmer waste products that are less frequent than with other foods(to put it in the most acceptable words), and really seem to get more nutritional value from it, as we have them(A red heeler, a pomchihuahua, and a terripoo) on free choice and they eat approximately a cup and a half between them daily. I would say they are really happy with it as they get no otherfood from the table scraps or anything.
Yeah, they are worse than terrorists who cut off peoples' heads.
If you have access to any fish, try it. They eat everything, bones and all.
Oh wow. I would feel like dying myself if this happened to my pooch. We always put goodies in his food. Iams dry with half a can of alpo with gravy. We even put in a little spaghetti sauce because he loves it. Whenever he doesn't eat his dinner (very very rarely), it gets thrown out. This is usually because of some upset, so we go to boiled and rinsed hamburger. Most dog owners love their dogs. These people must be very very sad. Not to mention the guilt they must feel.
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
Not that I'm familiar with... and the stuff produced by the manufacturers will make your head swim, with all the praise of their product.
Allergies and your own preferences aside, your cats would do pretty well on any of the foods. Reading the labels just makes you a little more able to choose one with less crap in it than others.
Yeah, any animal can be finicky...just seems much less common in dogs and a lot more so in cats, from what I've seen.
That said, I've had cats who'd lick the flowers off the plate if it had spaghetti sauce on it, and my calico is inordinately fond of strawberry jello. Her "brother" the big dumb Korat mix will steal ham or bacon out of a sandwich with glee, but ignore goodies like grilled steak, hamburgers, or any kind of fish other than cheap canned tuna.
I won't get into the rats I used to have. They were thieves on a scale that Catastrophe could only dream of.
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.