Chicken jerky treats linked to mystery illnesses, deaths in dogs

MSNBC ^ | November 21, 2011 | JoNel Aleccia

[khnyny]

Chicken jerky treats may be to blame for dozens of new reports of mysterious illnesses and some deaths in dogs, prompting a renewed warning for pet owners by the Food and Drug Administration.

At least 70 dogs have been sickened so far this year after reportedly eating chicken jerky products imported from China, FDA officials said. That’s up from 54 reports of illness in 2010. Some of the dogs have died, according to the anecdotal reports from pet owners and veterinarians.

FDA officials say they have not been able to find a cause for the illnesses. Extensive chemical and microbiological testing has failed to turn up a specific contaminant and officials did not identify a specific brand of treats. They note that the reports of illness have not conclusively been tied to chicken jerky products, also sold as chicken tenders, chicken strips or chicken treats.

The new warning follows previous FDA cautions about chicken jerky treats in 2007 and 2008. But after a high of 156 reports of illness in 2007, the number of complaints dropped. Now, it's rising again.

Dog owners and vets are reporting that animals may be stricken with a range of illnesses within days or hours of eating chicken jerky, including kidney failure and Fanconi syndrome, a condition characterized by low glucose.

[Silentgypsy]

Please, what is a sulfa blouse?

[Salamander]

Aw, crap.
Stupid fingers never listen to my brain.

Sulfa BOLUS.

/red face

[Silentgypsy]

I didn’t mean to try to embarrass you. I try to identify medicinal wild plants but could find nothing when I looked it up so figured it was a folk medicine term. D’oh. Please excuse. (I could screw up a one-car funeral.)

[Salamander]

But I’d be driving the one car....LOL

This is them:

http://domvet.com/triple.html

It’s basically sulfur.

She’d pound them up, mix with whiskey and a raw egg and cure calf scours [runs] in one day.
You can use as it skin powder or mix it with an oil and make ointment or water for a “drench”.

She’d give it to us kids if we got sick.
[yes, the veterinary form and we’re all alive to tell the tale]

In your medicinal plants world, you could just make a heavy duty poultice of onion or garlic and get a weaker version of it.

If she couldn’t cure something with Sulfa, whiskey, honey, turpentine, kerosene or lard, it didn’t need curin’.

[VaRepublican]

I sought out made in USA chicken jerky and found colorado naturals, I e mailed them and specifically asked if made and packaged in usa. I got a response back inside of 20 minutes saying yes. FWIW.

[stylecouncilor]

Thank you!

[combat_boots]

np, FRiend.

[Pigsley]

I also turned to very good dog food to help my pup. I ended up with Taste of the Wild. Not cheap. And, likely not the solution to my poor boy’s allergies...since I see that the trend is his skin goes haywire at the end of summer, which is a high pollen/grass seed, etc. time in the Phx metro area. When the cold weather comes and the pollen is down, he goes back to normal. Still, I want a good food that I can trust...so Taste of the Wild is very good. I use whatever looks good/no byproducts/on sale at Petco for a topper. I’ve also been told by many that rawhide is pretty bad for dogs. It made my old bull terrier crazy with the paw licking until I removed ANY rawhide.

It’s all very frustrating. Hope your dog is doing better now...mine is...finally turning cool here.

[goat granny]

I would check with my vet if I were you, but mine put my dog on benedry for allergies...I take the same stuff for my allergies. She also gets the same glucosamine I do for her arthritis. She cannot eat chicken and use to love her chicken nuggets when we went to the drive through, now she gets french fries. Some of the Blue Buffalo has chicken so I buy the kind with no chicken but lamb... Spent a lot of time at first reading ingredients on bags to make sure no chicken...But her passing gas is stinky. Another freeper told me a long time ago to give yogurt for smelly gas and it works...some of the live bacteria in yogurt balances the stomach bacteria. I big glob on top of the dog food. She does like her yogurt...

[goat granny]

I sometimes use can food as a topper, vet told me to stop unless I buy blue buffalo canned...according to him, most of the canned stuff has a lot of junk in it. Blue Buffalo canned is 2 dollars a can but I only top her morning feed and with a quarter of a can for it lasts for 4 days. I still have 4 cans of the other stuff and its going in my good will bag for some other dog owner to use...(I am a bad girl but some don’t care what they feed their dogs) probably due to ignorance and not stupidy...they don’t know any better. I didn’t for a long time either.. GG

[Pigsley]

Well, I think it’s fine to donate your other food. Times are tough and it’s nice to include dog food in donations. Most dogs can take Pedigree, etc., and the donation is much appreciated, I’d bet.

I hear you about only using the food you are confident with. After trial and error (and the help of a nice worker at Pet Smart who showed me what to look for in the labels)...I know my dog can eat Taste of the Wild dry foods (which are very good, nutrionally) and weekly I go look for “toppers” that have whole, pure ingredients: no by products, etc. It took me a while to know what to look for, but very often, VERY good food is on sale for $1.25-.50, about $1 off. Low fat yogurt is also a good, inexpensive topper, if your dog can handle milk products.

[orlandos mom]

After reading your question I became concerned about the chicken jerky from Trader Joe’s, so I emailed them from their website. They sent an automated acknowledgement of the question, but no answer. Will post if I get one, or if I never get one.

[EYW8888]

I wondered the samething about Trader Joe’s chicken rawhide wrap which i give my pekingese on a daily basis. I am kicking myself to getting him into that habit. Anyway, I also emailed Trader Joe’s back in Nov. 2011. Never got any response other than the usual automated acknowledgement. Just this week, i got mad and sent them a 2nd request. today, i got the below reply from Trader Joe’s. What does it mean, “U.S. sourced ingredients” ?!?! This could mean they are buying from a USA supplier but the supplier could be importing it from China! Anyway, I need to dig deeper but just thought i’d share their response with all.... I hate to be skeptical and suspcious all the time but you just simply never know!!

//quote//
Thank you for your email. Unfortunately, we could not respond to any previous emails as we were unable to locate any from this email address.

However, this treat is made in the US with US sourced ingredients. Please know that if we had any reason for concern, we would not continue to supply that product and/or use that supplier. Nothing is more important to us than the safety of our customers and crew, and the quality of our products.

Sincerely,
Amy
Trader Joe’s
Customer Relations

//unquote//