Pet Food = Rat Poison

[Bluetree]

ALBANY, N.Y. (March 23) - Tests turned up rat poison in the pet food suspected of causing kidney failure in dogs and cats across the country and killing at least 16, state officials and scientists announced Friday.

The toxin was identified as aminopterin, which is used to kill rats in some countries, state Agriculture Commissioner Patrick Hooker said. Aminopterin is not registered for killing rodents in the United States, though it is used as a cancer drug, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

State officials did not say how they believe Aminopterin got into the now-recalled pet food, though they said no criminal investigations had been launched.

The Food and Drug Administration has said the investigation was focusing on wheat gluten in the pet food. Wheat gluten itself would not cause kidney failure, but the common ingredient could have been contaminated, the FDA said.

The pet deaths led to a recall of 60 million cans and pouches of pet food produced by Menu Foods and sold throughout North America under 95 brand names. There have been several reports of kidney failure in pets that ate the recalled brands, and the company has confirmed the deaths of 15 cats and one dog.

Signs of Trouble
Experts advise owners to call their veterinarian if a pet has eaten recalled food and shows symptoms of possible kidney failure. An animal could be in trouble if it:

· Stops eating
· Appears tired and lifeless
· Seems excessively thirsty
· Urinates much more than usual
· Vomits
· Has diarrhea
· Seems to have abdominal pain

Source: USA Today

Menu Foods last week recalled "cuts and gravy" style dog and cat food. The recall sparked concern among pet owners across North America. It includes food sold under store brands carried by Wal-Mart, Kroger, Safeway and other large retailers, as well as private labels such as Iams, Nutro and Eukanuba.

Menu Foods is majority owned by Menu Foods Income Fund of Streetsville. The company also makes foods for zoo cats, but those products are unaffected by the recall.

The company's chief executive and president said Menu Foods delayed announcing the recall until it could confirm that the animals had eaten its product before dying. Two earlier complaints from consumers whose cats had died involved animals that lived outside or had access to a garage, which left open the possibility they had been poisoned by something other than contaminated food, he said.

Menu Foods planned a media teleconference for later Friday, a spokesman said.

A spokesman for New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said he was not aware of any criminal investigation involving the tainted food. FBI spokesman Paul Holstein in Albany said Friday he was not aware of any FBI involvement in the case.

"I don't know where we'll go from here," he said.

Aminopterin, also used as a cancer drug, is highly toxic in high doses. It inhibits the growth of malignant cells and suppresses the immune system.

[chickwhorips]

i just happen to read that article also.

goes back to what are people thinking?

[mimitabby]

what a crappy way to have your pets die. TERRIBLE.

[Haudlady]

From the Concord (NH) Monitor:

By Joelle Farrell
March 23. 2007 8:00AM

The Merrimack County SPCA suspects tainted food resulted in the death of seven cats, four of whom had been recently adopted. Nationally, some 60 million cans and pouches of "cuts and gravy" style food have been recalled; the food is blamed for causing kidney failure, resulting in at least 16 pet deaths.

Veterinarians have been swamped with phone calls from worried pet owners since the recall was announced last weekend. The Animal Emergency Clinic in Manchester treated several cats for kidney failure last weekend, and some are still receiving intravenous fluids in the hospital, said Judith Leclerc, a veterinarian.

"I don't think we've seen all the repercussions yet," Leclerc said. "A lot of people in hindsight are saying, 'Wow. I treated three cats from the same house for kidney failure last month.' I think just now we're putting it together. We may never know the extent of it."

Three cats died at the SPCA in Concord after they refused to eat their food and became lethargic and depressed, said Hope Bourdeau, the kennel manager. Shelter workers suspected contaminated food after owners of four recently-adopted cats called to say their cats had died.

"We couldn't understand why young, healthy cats were sick and dying," she said.

The SPCA purged its food stocks Saturday, throwing away almost half its stores. Residents and pet food retailers donated money to help. The organization has asked that anyone wishing to help donate money rather than food since nearly 100 brands of cat and dog food have been recalled.


------ End of article

By JOELLE FARRELL

Monitor staff


Oh, such nasty stuff. Those poor animals.................

[spazzdog]

Am so glad my dog boy gets dry only... a change I made a few months back.

Such a sad state of things for pets. I've heard the lawsuits are already lining up.

[RoadRaven]

This makes me think of something horrid that happened last week in one of NZ's city parks.

There is no license for the purchase of poisoned grain to control bird pests here, and somebody spread some round one of our parks... it killed a large number of ducks, pukeko, swan, seagulls and other birds such as pigeons, doves, magpies, sparrows and so forth. It is a nerve poison, so I believe the pain involved is minimal, however, there were birds convulsing in the kids playground as well as beside the water-ways where families go to feed bread to ducks etc.

Some people are just plain nasty. So unnecesary (sp?).

[luv2ride94]

We took both my dogs to the vet yesterday b/c they stopped eating and started sleeping all the time I noticed yesterday morning. The brands that they listed had been the ones they ate but we stopped as soon as we saw the articles about it so I don't know.. The vet did some test and blood work, and kept them to put them on IV antibiotics and observe them. Today when I went to see them clyde got up and acted OK but luna just layed there and wagged her tail. I really hope its just a virus or something and the medicine will work and by monday they will be home playing fetch with me and not from the food. The vet wouldn't say much but then asked to talk to my parents which I dont like wh en that happens.

[Wahine]

I'm sure your pets will be OK. I've read in other places that if you catch this early the results are generally good. I'll be thinking about you and your dogs.

[luv2ride94]

Clyde is home and feeling GREAT... They think Luna is going to be alright, b/c shes big and was real healthy.

[snapdragen]

Clyde is home and feeling GREAT... They think Luna is going to be alright, b/c shes big and was real healthy.

That's good news! I was thinking about your dogs this weekend, hoping they would be OK. Give them both big hugs and ear scratches from me!

[luv2ride94]

Just picked luna up too! Shes kinda weak still and will get to be inside and sleep with me for a few days but she's gonna be fine!

[velocilex]

Well, this menagerie just got switched to Innova Evo. I was feeding everyone a combination of Science Diet and Nutro (dry), but after this fiasco I'm sticking with smaller companies and grain-free food. Maybe I'm fooling myself, but I think a smaller company is better able to keep an eye on quality control than some gigantic food factory. So it costs more--I'm willing to pay that price. I have seven cats and a dog. I can't imagine coming home to find them all sick or dying.

[Brandi]

I had to put my 18 year old cat down two years ago because of kidney failure too. But I think it was just cause she was old. Very old according to some.
But the kind of Cat food I have feed them back then was store bought stuff. I stopped giving then that stuff about a year ago and switched to innova. Which is not one that was recalled. They all get 1 tbl. a day and the rest of their food is dry.
When I heard about this I just stopped giving it to them period! I wanted to wait until all this got figured out. Only cause they added more and more cat food names as the story continued. And even though thier food was not made in the same place I wanted to be careful! I can't wait to see what happens with this. You think you are giving them the best you possibly can and then this happens. There is going to be trust issues for a while after all this! I even had stuff made at Trader joes I have to take back. They just pulled their stuff as a precaution. I hopethis gets sorted out. I know how much i care about my animals, I can't imagine those poor people and how they must feel.

I was lisenting to national public radio on Sunday and they said that the company knew a month ago that the food was bad cause 6 of the their test cats died of kidney failure! Nice! They were killing thier own cats! So they knew and didn't issue a warning. A spokes person said they will compensate the people who can prove that their cats died from it. But it sounds like they are just going to compinsate for the medical bills. And how many of those people you think kept the food they fed them or kept the pet after they died. This is going to be a mess I tell you!

[KnottedYet]

Trader Joe's pet foods are made by Menu Foods (like the 100 and so other recalled foods) but are not supposed to contain the contaminated wheat gluten.

Trader Joe's is recalling their pet foods anyway out of concern about the possibility of cross contamination.

http://www.traderjoes.com/action_issues.asp#PetFood