Dog Food Recall Update

Lately, I have received many emails and calls from people wondering if the pet food recall is possibly connected to the death of our dog Oliver. I have been following the news closely to see if this will offer any explanation into Oliver's sudden and mysterious death.

For you Aussies, or anyone who doesn't watch the news, there is currently a massive recall in the U.S. of dog and cat food manufactured by Menu Foods Corporation. Menu Foods, a Canadian company, makes most of the dog and cat food brands in North America, over 100 of all the top brands sold in pet stores and grocery stores. All canned and pouch foods of the wet "cuts and gravy" style (neither of which Oliver ate) manufactured between December 3 - March 6 have been pulled from the shelves due to contamination. It is believed that the gluten, a filler which gives the food that nice gelatinous consistency, has been tainted with a toxin. Initial reports claimed it was aminopterin, a chemical used in rat poison. Now new reports indicate that further testing found melamine, a chemical used to make plastic in the food and the gluten. They are still unsure of how it became tainted, but one theory is an accidental mixup by the gluten supplier, based in China. The exact cause, and how far it reaches are still unknown and being investigated, but they are estimating thousands of pet deaths will be attributed to this.

Back in December, our dog Oliver became ill and we took him to our vet so they could evaluate him. Dr. Grace conducted a variety of tests, bloodwork, xrays, even sending samples to a special lab in Memphis to try to determine what was making him ill. Both she and her partner in the vet practice were extremely puzzled and unable to find a cause. Prior to becoming sick, Oliver was the picture of health. He spent two nights in the Animal Hospital so he could be monitored continuously and receive IV fluids and the vets there were stumped as well. Their best guess was a possible toxin in his system or a very aggressive parasite. He deteriorated rapidly over the next 48 hours, ultimately having both kidney and liver failure.

I have obtained all of Oliver's labwork and xray information and even spoken to Dr. Grace again this week. She said at this point, since the recall only includes wet food, it is hard to say if that was the cause of his death. Although Oliver's food was manufactured by Menu Foods, he only ate dry food in the bag. Dr. Grace encouraged me to report his death so it could at least be considered. If enough deaths are reported, maybe they will investigate further to see if dry food has been affected as well. I left messages with both the FDA and Menu Foods (but I'm not going to wait by the phone) and filed a complaint with "Nutro", the brand of food that we fed Oliver. I also reported his death on the Pet Connection website, where over 2,500 deaths have been reported by individual pet owners. At this point, Menu Foods has received 300,000 complaints and the FDA has received 8,000 complaints and I'm sure these numbers will continue to rise. No matter what the cause, nothing will bring Oliver back and no one misses him more than me. I only hope that they are able to find the cause of all this so that these unnecessary deaths can be prevented in the future.