Pet food recall: A veterinarian speaks

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Dr. Louise Murray, DVM, Diplomate ACVIM, the Director of Medicine at the ASPCA's Bergh Memorial Animal Hospital in New York City, wrote recently to our own Dr. Marty Becker, and gave us permission to share her thoughts and experiences with treating animals affected by the pet food recall.

"We have seen a number of cases, varying from unaffected or mildly affected to severely ill and death," she wrote. "In terms of the latter 2 categories, we have treated one very ill Cocker who died, euthanized one Husky who was deathly ill with a creatinine of 15, and treated about 6 cats who were severely affected, 2 of whom died (euthanized when treatment failed), one of whom went home with normal kidney values and is doing great, and 3 of whom are alive with severe chronic renal failure."

She added, "Of course, I'm sure we saw more cases Dec.-March before the food was recalled, that we didn't realize."

Dr. Murray took the loss of one cat particularly hard:

"He was 6 months old, a beautiful big purry healthy guy. When the recall began, his mom went over the lists with a fine-toothed comb and continued to do so throughout the recall. He became acutely ill April 10, well into the recall. She was positive she was not feeding recalled food. He was so acutely ill that when he first presented his creatinine was just above normal but it skyrocketed over the next few days, on aggressive fluid therapy. On ultrasound a few days into it, he had moderate-severe hydronephrosis with bilateral ureteral obstruction...but I couldn't see stones which seemed odd. As he was worsening rapidly, we took him to surgery to see if the obstructions could be relieved. The surgeons were mystified because his proximal ureters were dilated but they couldn't see why.

What happened to him?

"On necropsy, the pathologist found that his ureters were stuffed with the melamine-type crystals. We were horrified because he wasn't eating recalled food. I went through all the foods he was eating with his mom over and over, and narrowed it down to 2 foods I felt were the most likely culprits (other flavors of the same line of foods had been recalled, etc.). I notified the 2 companies, one of whom took 2 days to call me back despite repeated attempts. I also notified the FDA. That was April 23. One of those 2 foods was just recalled; it was one of the ones recalled due to "cross-contamination at the Menu plant. It did not contain wheat gluten. Supposedly. What a tragic little story.

"I hope people realize that this 'cross-contamination' isn't just some hypothetical possibility."

One of the most heartbreaking consequences of the poisoned pet food is something rarely mentioned in the media, or even on the blogs: the longterm health damage done to pets who recovered from their initial acute kidney failure. "I am watching young cats die or end up with 17-year-old kidneys in a 3-year-old body," she said.
Update: From Elizabeth Weise at USA Today, an article quoting both Dr. Murray AND Gina, here.

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Comments

[Steve]

There needs to be a criminal investigation into this cover up and these PF Industry people put on the stand under oath and facing perjury charges.

[Rose L]

So sad... for everyone. How to not be completely bitter? Anyone know? Survival skills to share would be welcome. I have one kitty friend with toxic food related crf. I know I'm not alone in this and in being alarmed at what's going on. The crf support groups are a blessing... but the bitterness and anger I have are hard to manage.

Thanks.

[Ally]

"Scooby was 6 months old, a beautiful big purry healthy guy."



I think it's time for me to take a real long walk with my dogs.

Only 6 months? He was only beginning to live....

[Elaine]

Deanna,



I just posted the info on the morning blog so you can go back to some letters for ideas.



Wish I would have just jotted down comments from folks that were good and to the point, there has been so much good info on here

[Jenny]

And my fear exactly. Three cats all very healthy. Two big guys, a third with pancreatitis and IBD. But all doing really well - NOW. The fear of poisoning them is with me every day.

[Steve]

"The pet-food crisis has claimed many victims. Just 16 animals have had their deaths directly attributed to the tainted food."



Newsweek Business

Updated: 4:16 p.m. CT May 7, 2007



Capitalizing on Pet-Food Panic



A year ago, FreshPet was a tiny upstart in the mass dog-chow market. But the tainted pet-food scare changed all that. How one maker of all-natural, refrigerated dog food emerged from the crisis with, um, a leg up.



http://tinyurl.com/2hr824



Okay here we go with the bullsh*t.

[Katherine]

I'm so afraid of something happening to my cats. Even now that I'm home-cooking I worry about melamine-contaminated poultry, or a stray bone getting into their food, or something. And I'd be lying if I said I didn't worry about whether or not my home-cooking was perfectly balanced, too.



They're rolling with it, though. In fact, they seem to be thriving. Cats know when you're trying to do right by them.

[Palomino82]

Rose L - I think knowing that von Eschenbach (FDA Admin.), Acheson ("food czar"), and Mark Wiens (Menu Foods CFO, sold shares when he found out about epidemic), will all suffer much more horrible fates than we are suffering right now. They, among others, will either die lonely old bitter alcoholics, or possibly in prison, or from the next food poisoning epidemic (which we are all hopefully savvy enough to live through). This may be some small consolation, but it doesn't restore our pets' health or lives.

[Kathi]

I'm having trouble locating that invoice from ChemNutra. (too many files on this computer).

Anybody have it handy?

[Mary Smith]

Why is there no criminal investigation going regarding the sale of stocks due to insider trading???!!!

[Carole]

Mary, just because we don't hear about it doesn't mean it's not happening. A lot of this stuff is started behind the scenes and no one is privy to it.

[Mike]

China: Pig Deaths Spark Concerns

http://afludiary.blogspot.com/2007/05/china-pig-deaths-spark-concerns.html

[Carole]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117829485443292337.html?mod=rss_whats_news_asia



Kathi, here is a link the WSJ article re the invoice.

[Mary Smith]

RE Comment by Carole May 7, 2007 @ 7:54 pm



Do you know something that has not been made public? Info please.

[Carole]

http://www.itchmo.com/read/chinese-exporter-denies-involvement-documents-say-otherwise_20070503



If you can't get into the WSJ, here is Itchmo's story.

[slt]

What was the other food "Scooby" (cat in story) was eating that has not been recalled?

It doesn't make sense. "Cross-contamination" killed that cat but it's ok for men, women and children to eat mela-chicken??????????

[Carole]

Mary, I have no knowledge of anything going on with Mark Wien. I was just pointing out that just because we haven't heard anything we shouldn't assume nothing is being looked into. I think we get so used to hearing about everything in the media that we sometimes forget that not everything is necessarily made public. Especially if they are trying to conduct an investigation. I find it hard to believe that the OSC is ignoring this.

[Margaret Bridge]

Kathi, there is a link to the purchase orders for Chem Nutra on this page. It's partway down the page in the story Chem Nutra posts invoice for contaminated wheat gluten.



http://www.ift.org/news_bin/news/newsBody.shtml

[Carole]

"Ontario Securities Commission spokeswoman Carolyn Shaw-Rimmington said the OSC routinely reviews insider trading reports and instances of unusual trading, but does not comment on individual cases."



This goes to what I was saying - the OSC doesn't comment on their doings.

[Carole]

An update from Purina...



Updated FAQs – Cyanuric Acid FAQs – May 7, 2007



What is cyanuric acid?



Cyanuric acid is a weak acid that is most commonly used in the U.S. as part of a swimming pool disinfection program to reduce the loss of chlorine in pool water. It is structurally similar to melamine, and the FDA calls it a "melamine-related compound."



What is its relationship to the recalled pet foods?



In a press conference on April 26, the FDA stated that cyanuric acid had been detected in the contaminated rice protein concentrate. The FDA also re-tested some of the melamine-contaminated wheat gluten samples and found cyanuric acid in some of those samples as well.



Why would cyanuric acid be in pet food?



Cyanuric acid is not an approved ingredient for food, and should not be found in pet food.



What is the importance of this finding?



According to the FDA, scientific research indicates that melamine alone, at the levels detected in the contaminated wheat gluten and rice protein concentrate, is not a human health concern.

In a press conference on April 26, the FDA stated it is investigating whether cyanuric acid might increase the toxicity of melamine, and indicated there is some evidence that the combination of melamine and cyanuric acid could result in the formation of crystals in the kidneys that could lead to kidney failure.



Are you testing your products for cyanuric acid?



Yes. Nestlé Purina has implemented a new process to test for cyanuric acid in every load of wheat gluten. We also test every load of wheat gluten for melamine.

[Sandi K]

I find it hard to believe that the OSC is ignoring this.

Comment by Carole — May 7, 2007 @ 8:03 pm



Carole, do you really believe something is being done about the shares trading? Why would they not be ignoring that when FDA, PFI, USDA & everyone else is trying to ignore the pet food poisoning.....no one wants to do a darn thing about any of it other than have us all go away either voluntarily or by eating cyanuric souffle......

[Donna]

Kathi,

You can also go to ChemNutra's website - on the homepage click on "ChemNutra Launches News and Information Blog" (top center column).



Then scroll down to the 5th entry, dated 5/3/07 - Media Clarifications. At the end of the paragraph there is a link to see the invoice, purchase order and cert. of analysis. I think this is the same.

[Sandy]

Hello everyone and thanks to ALL the work and comments here, at petfood tracker, petfoodlist, and a few others--truly herculean.



I am *horrified* that the FDA/USDA have apparently 'cleared' the chickens and hogs fed tainted feed to enter the food chain--how long will it be until these animal are funneled into pet food manufacturers ... and assuming that no humans will be affected by eating these chickens and pigs (a big assumption as far as I'm concerned since there are virtually no toxicology studies on malamine). Well, my 2 cents for the moment.



By sheer luck alone my cats are okay so far--one cat that passed away about a year ago loved a couple of the recalled foods. My current kitties never cared for the taste, otherwise they'd likely be gone.



Thanks,

Sandy

[Sharon]

I just discovered something really cool on my computer.



With Windows XP, you can make your Word documents into faxes and send them directly from the computer. God help the poor Ag committee folks now. I'm having a field day here :)



I know, everyone probably knows how to do this and I'm behind the times. But if anyone wants help setting themselves up, let me know.



I just can't, CAN'T handle reading the article posted on the blog. We brought Cleo home today after 5 days on an IV. She's a shadow of her former self.

[VJ]

Comment by Mary Smith 7:51pm

Mary if I recall correctly, when my local chan 4 did the undercover story about MenuFoods, Kevin Dietz the reporter, did state that the stock sale was being investigated.

[The OTHER Pat]

I'm convinced the term "cross-contamination" is being used as a synonym for "commingling". Of course, "commingling" would imply FAR more adulteration, and we wouldn't want to imply anything like THAT now, would we . . . . . . . . . . . . .

[Amara]

I know I took some heat last night for mentioning wearing the chocolate brown ribbon in honor of the pets that have suffered and died due to the recall. It is something very small, but I don't believe insignificant. I made over 50 and passed them out at a recent Earth Day function. I had a display of a photo collage of just a few faces I found on Howl.911. It certainly caught people's attention. We are a rescue, so I also had a jar with 800 jelly beans inside that represented the 800 animals that are euthanized in shelters every hour in the U.S. People are visual and sometimes little things can strike them in a very profound way. I see on the Pets Need Voices Too website, www.pnv2.com where they are asking people to participate in a Nationwide Pet Food Crisis Awareness Day on May 19th. I will be at another function that day and I will have my ribbons and I will show my photos. Of course, the numbers have increased significantly since a few weeks ago. I hope you will join me. Distributing information on every level is at least a place to start. Some of us write letters, some of us make phone calls, some of us make little pawprint ribbons. I think the idea is that we can all play a part in making a difference.



Amara

[The OTHER Pat]

Sharon, please give Cleo a very gentle hug from me.

[Sharon]

Pat, thank you. The kindnesses shown here every day are absolutely invaluable to me.



I can't let her go, not without trying, ya know? I wrote a $1000 check today for her care, we are hitting our mutual funds to pay for this--my husband is an absolute saint of a man.



I need to go to bed. Love and hugs to all of you and your critters.

[Steve]

USA Today - 36 minutes ago

Although the first pet-food recalls started March 16, animals are still falling ill and dying because of tainted food.



http://tinyurl.com/yvta4h

[mal]

JUST LOOK AT THE CHEMICAL COCKTAIL:



SUBCHAPTER E--ANIMAL DRUGS, FEEDS, AND RELATED PRODUCTS PART 573 FOOD ADDITIVES PERMITTED IN FEED AND DRINKING WATER OF ANIMALS



http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfCFR/CFRSearch.cfm?CFRPart=573

[Steve]

May 8, 2007

Food safety concerns grow as imports to US surge





But some in the US say that government regulation and even voluntary guidelines would be burdensome overkill – and wouldn't solve the problems.



"No amount of regulation would have found the melamine," says Duane Ekedahl, president of the Pet Food Institute. Instead, he says, the Chinese government should step up to help certify its food products – or otherwise be stung by consuming nations that shift their trade to more careful trading partners.



"The US system is not broken; that's an oversimplification," says Mr. Ekedahl. "We shouldn't have to inspect it here. [Foreign governments] should inspect it all there."



http://tinyurl.com/2csmm6

[Steve]

Ekedahl is no friend of 120 Million pet parents and their pets.



That should be obvious by now.

[straybaby]

ugh. i should have finished working before reading the vets letter. very hard to line up drop shadows through tears . . . :(



"I notified the 2 companies, one of whom took 2 days to call me back despite repeated attempts. I also notified the FDA. That was April 23. (His necropsy unfortunately took 10 days to come back). I didn’t really get any sense that the 2 companies were going to do anything about the info, especially as he was eating several foods. One of those 2 foods was just recalled; it was one of the ones recalled due to “cross-contamination at the Menu plant. It did not contain wheat gluten. Supposedly. What a tragic little story."



it's beyond criminal the way they drag this out before recalling!! obviously they are lacking souls. i can't even comprehend their actions . . .

[Kathi]

Carole, Margaret, Donna

Thanks for invoice. Now it's in a folder where I can get to it.

[Maudigan]

The compassion in the vets story hit me like a ton of melamine. My vet was as heartbroken about my dog, as was his whole staff. My dog is the only one he has lost, so far and the worst. I know that our story will be one he has on his mind throughout his career and tells often with his heart on his sleeve everytime. As in the above story. Thank you Christie for posting this tonight.

As for this story growing daily, I am convienced we haven't heard it all, yet. Some will never be known. What we will know will be enough to change history.

This is still our America, united we stand. We are the people. China tea party, anyone?

Well, we can't throw it overboard, we'de kill all the local marine life.

[Carole]

Sandi K, I tend to believe that yes, this stock issue will be investigated, if it's not already, by the OSC. The stock and the pet food are two completely different issues, with different consequences, being handled by a different agency in a different country.



The stock situation is much more black and white than the pet food.

[Deanna]

Its unknown what melamine can do to humans, unless they can test on humans, and that's out, obviously. (Although, we may be the test subjects right now.)



They don't want to do testing on effect of melamine on animals to see what it could possibly due to humans because its not humane. I agree with that.



So, if you don't know, FDA, don't be putting that crap out there for us to buy! What ever happened to 'err on the side of caution'? You're making me feel like a human guniea pig, especially if you DO release those chickens. Just think about what you are doing. Get off your fat wallet from all the pay-offs and get some conscience and compassion.







S

[Deanna]

Comment by Elaine — May 7, 2007 @ 7:22 pm



Thank you, Elaine, I appreciate the reminder. I can remember reading things, but finding them again, forget it, especially so much for so long.

[cheryl]

"His poor mom is totally broke now and we are paying for his care.”



And those lousy murderers only want to cough up $500 to reimburse for medical care and that only after they make the pet owners jump thru hoops proving their claim! I hope she sues their a**es off. Let them go broke and be forced to eat their poisoned food. At this point in time I truly understand how a lynch mob happens. After reading this story - if I came across one of those greedy buggers - you'd have to pry my fingers away from their neck with a crowbar and my dog wasn't affected - I can only imagine what the affected owners are feeling.

[cheryl]

Has anyone noticed that not one of the ceo's or other management of any of these companies has stated that they lost a pet to the poison? They preach about being pet lovers and owners - but none of them has been in tears saying their cat or dog was affected. Makes you wonder what they feed their pets? hmmmm

[DeeAnn]

http://free.financialmail.co.za/07/0504/features/dfeat.htm

Excerpts from an article on tainted pet food from South Africa





Local pet food manufacturers insist there is no longer any danger of consumers buying contaminated food, after stocks of Royal Canin and Vets Choice dog food were removed from shelves. Royal Canin MD Gregory Watine confirmed that food made locally between March 8 and April 11 used Chinese corn gluten contaminated with the chemical melamine.



This is not the first poison scare to hit the pet food industry.

In recent months, rat poison and antifreeze have also been found in dog food. The discovery of melamine-tainted gluten in SA came a full month after US pet food companies withdrew similarly poisoned food.

Hundley says that after SA dogs started falling ill in early April, manufacturers did not immediately associate the problem with the US issue and assumed it was a previously experienced poison.



However, a report this week in The New York Times shows that in China - now a major international supplier of corn gluten, wheat gluten and rice protein concentrate - the addition of nitrogen-rich melamine is commonplace. It reports that factories boil coal to produce melamine for use in plastics and fertiliser.



Hundley says this is not the first time Chinese agricultural products have been heavily contaminated. Peasant farmers who supply large co-operatives regularly use huge doses of rat poison and other chemicals to protect crops



According to The New York Times, the melamine issue is the latest in a series of Chinese food scandals. These include making soy sauce and baby-milk formula from human hair, and feeding contraceptive pills to eels to make them long and slim.



Anyone buying a dog food marked "pure beef" would assume the beef content to be close to 100%. They would be wrong. To qualify as "pure", the food needs to contain only 65% beef. The rest is fat, starch and additives. A food promising "beef flavour" has less than 4% beef, "with beef" at least 4%, "high in beef" means 14%, and "beef dinner" is 26%.

"They may seem low percentages but these are globalised definitions," says Hundley. "The SA industry is following standards set in the rest of the world."

[Katie]

Sharon,

I'm glad Cleo is home, give her a big hug for me.



RE: Vets

This has to be hard on them too. Sometimes we forget they are on the front line fighting for those who can't speak.



My dog: we had a tough night, thought it was starting all over again - she goes in for a cysto on Fri. and will take it from there.



PFI: I can't believe there are people so heartless



As for the big White House dinner, I see they had Dover sole and Rack of Lamb....



Now I'm going to curl up with my dog and give her lots of hugs! hope you all do the same with your furry kids.



I'm afraid this is going to go on for a long time -



Katie

[Lynn]

A problem with uploading to the website again?

[Sandy]

As for testing (animal, human or otherwise), the only study I ever saw mentioned on melamine was one on dogs done in the 1940s or 1950s, long before there apparently was a social conscience or ethic about animal testing. HOWEVER, this agent/chemical remains prohibited from being used in/added to (however one wants to phrase it) feed, human food, etc. Just wondering what the basis for that decision was and why it's now "okay" to slip on that prohibition. Makes me sick.

[Marilyn]

Sharon, I'm so glad you could bring Cleo home. Many cats do much better once they get home. I see that all the time in our clinic. While being hospitalized may be part of necessary care for awhile, so many cats just aren't comfortable being away from their familiar surroundings. We always try to send them home as soon as possible because they eat and sleep so much better at home. So, here's my best wishes for a full recovery for Cleo.

[Palomino]

Why does the mainstream media continue to refer to the Poison Chinese Food Epidemic of 2007 as a "pet food scare"? A "scare" is something that goes away after a few minutes, hours or days: like a horror movie or good ghost story or Halloween. This is something which has obviously made it into the human food supply and is probably killing people globally as we speak. Is there any other country out there which received gluten shipments from China over the course of the last year? Is the FDA attempting to communicate with health authorities in those nations, to see if melamine made it into the human food supply there? How long before David Acheson's head explodes, too?

[Palomino]

Carole - Yes, and next week it will be another ersatz protein impersonator with deadly health implications. I like to get these updates, because it shows Nestle-Purina has no intention of correcting their bad behavior at all! They will continue to get ingredients from the cheapest source possible, China, India, Indonesia or whatever; and pets, eventually people too will keep dying.



BOYCOTT: Nestle-Purina (home of the "silent recall"), Del Monte, Proctor & Gamble. But most of all BOYCOTT PEKING! (Used to be called Beijing, BPP - Before Pet Poisoning). It's 2007, do you know what YOUR pet's eating?

[The OTHER Pat]

“No amount of regulation would have found the melamine,” says Duane Ekedahl, president of the Pet Food Institute. Instead, he says, the Chinese government should step up to help certify its food products – or otherwise be stung by consuming nations that shift their trade to more careful trading partners.



How about starting with - oh - maybe - US!!!!!!!

[Alasandra]

It's very understandable that you haven't had time to report these cases, you are busy trying to keep pets alive and healthy.



My thoughts will be with you.