Dog and Cat Food Recall

Owners fear for their pets after huge food recall

Updated Tue. Mar. 20 2007 11:20 PM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

Concern among pet owners is growing as officials look for the source of contamination that prompted the recall of more than 90 dog and cat foods across North America.

The recall by Menu Foods, based in Streetsville, Ont., involves 51 brands of dog food and 40 brands of cat food, including Iams, Nutro and Eukanuba.

The products, totalling more than 60 million cans and pouches, have been responsible for at least seven animal deaths in the U.S., says the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

A Chicago woman sued Menu Foods on Tuesday. Dawn Majerczyk, 43, said her orange tabby fell sick last week just two days after he ate a single package of Special Kitty -- one of the impacted brands. The company said it had not seen the suit and had no comment.

Numerous unconfirmed reports have popped up across Canada as well.

Toronto resident Jovana Kovacevic fed both of her cats -- Tosa and Djole -- food from the recall list.

Kovacevic was unaware of the recall two week ago when Djole was diagnosed with kidney failure and had to be put down.

"We came here and our vet suggested that we put him to sleep," Jovana Kovacevic told CTV Toronto.

Her other cat, Tosa, is now suffering from kidney failure and has to be fed intravenously.

"It was very devastating," she said.


Recall information



Menu Foods recall information 1-866-895-2708 or 1-866-463-6738

Here are the lists of:

# Recalled cat foods, and
# Recalled dog foods

Menu Foods is experiencing a high volume of calls. They ask people to keep trying if the line is busy.

The affected foods are canned or foil-pouch foods.

Veterinarians recommend that concerned pet owners stop feeding their pets any of the foods on the product lists and switch to either a dry pet food or another brand.

CTV.ca has also been flooded with letters from readers telling of similar stories, including one from a Saskatchewan woman who says her cat died a few days ago and had been eating the food on the recall list.

Another woman wrote in about her 11-year-old dog Sadie who had to be put down on March 11. The woman had been feeding her dog food from the recall list.

Gillian Alexander, 18, from Waterdown, Ont. has even started an online petition asking for reimbursement after her family cat, Nigel, died of kidney failure.

"Vet bills are too expensive. For my cat to simply undergo tests it would cost approximately $1575," wrote Alexander. "This cost is not including treatments, which are limited."

Alexander said she called Menu Foods and asked if she would be reimbursed but the representative said they "didn't know."

Menu Foods told CTV on Tuesday that is has not made a decision as to whether it will reimburse people for any veterinary treatment needed for their pets.

Help line

Meanwhile, many worried pet owners are expressing frustration with the constant busy signals they get when calling help numbers (see table above) provided by the company.

A Menu Foods spokesperson told CTV Toronto that the company is able to handle up to 180 calls at a time -- with the capacity to have 9,000 calls on hold.

"The difficulty happens when more than 9,000 people are on hold," spokesperson Sam Bornstein said in a phone interview, "and that's when people are getting that error message. We are using one of the largest call centres in the United States and they are reporting that they are receiving record call volumes -- really unlike anything they've seen before."

Contamination source

The FDA is focusing on wheat gluten as a possible source of the contamination that sparked the recall last week.

Because wheat gluten itself wouldn't cause kidney failure, FDA investigators are examining other ingredients as possible sources of contamination.

Those include heavy metals like cadmium and lead or fungal toxins. Aflatoxin, a corn fungus, sparked a 2005 dog food recall.

Veterinarians say the signs of kidney failure are:

* a change in water consumption,
* a change in the amount of urination
* a decreased appetite
* possible vomiting
* generalized weakness or malaise

Vet advice

Meanwhile, many vet clinics across Canada are being flooded with calls from concerned dog and cat owners. Veterinarian Dr. Larry Tung says pet owners have reason to be worried, and should act quickly if they suspect their dogs or cats are affected by the tainted food.

"You should be pretty quick about making any decisions. If you see something abnormal, I would call a vet right away," Tung told CTV Toronto from his Toronto clinic.

Tung said to stop feeding the pet the food, obviously, and to keep them hydrated.

"This type of problem is very serious. It can be fatal, and it can happen within hours to days -- so it's not something you should wait on."

There are treatments available if your pet has been affected by the food contamination, said Tung, but they can run hundreds if not thousands of dollars.

The food is sold throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico by major retailers such as Wal-Mart and Safeway.

The recall applies to dog and cat food made between Dec. 3 and March 6, and is limited to "cuts and gravy''-style pet food in cans and pouches.

The timing of the complaints coincided with the use of an ingredient from a new supplier, Menu Foods said. The company said it remains unclear whether the wheat gluten ingredient was responsible for the illnesses, but it has discontinued its use.

In the U.S., Nestle Purina PetCare announced, as a precaution, a voluntary withdrawal of its Mighty Dog brand pouch products. But the recall does not impact Canadian Purina wet dog or wet cat products.

oh great, i had dog food for dinner last night.